Fulton John Sheen was born in the second floor apartment at 25 West Front Street in El Paso, Illinois on May 8, 1895, the son of Newton Morris and Delia (Fulton) Sheen. The parents were then living in the rooms above their hardware store; the ground floor is still a hardware store today owned by Burton Baity. The Reverend Jeremiah H. Quinlan was pastor at St. Mary's Church when the baby boy was christened Peter John, on May 12, and usually thereafter was called P. J. He was a frail boy, who preferred reading books to indulging in the usual physical games of children. Newton Sheen sold his hardware store to a Mr. Guillemont and the family moved to Peoria, where the future Bishop began his education, graduating from Spaulding and continuing as a student at St. Viator College at Bourbonnais, Illinois.
He was a brilliant student and the next stop on his educational itinerary was at St. Paul, Minnesota, Seminary which he attended for one year. For as far back as the Bishop can recall, he had wanted to become a priest, and in 1919 he attained that goal, and was ordained. He next studied for two years at the Catholic University of America at Washington, D. C., and followed this with studies at the University
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