‘His Heart Started to Beat’

September 1, 2026

The miraculous return to life of a baby born without a pulse paved the way for Venerable Fulton Sheen’s beatification

By By Jennifer Brinker

September 1, 2026

Engstrom Family 2019.jpg — Bonnie and Travis Engstrom are pictured with their eight children in 2019. James Fulton Engstrom holds up an image of Archbishop Fulton Sheen. (Photo by Jeffery Noble)

For 61 minutes after his birth, James Fulton Engstrom’s heart didn’t beat. Delivered at home on Sept. 16, 2010, Bonnie and Travis Engstrom’s son entered the world with a knot in his umbilical cord and no pulse.

He was rushed to the hospital, where medical professionals worked on his tiny body for roughly 20 minutes, then ceased resuscitation efforts.

“It was like ‘all hands off’ so that they could call time of death,” Bonnie Engstrom recalled. “And it was at that moment, when everyone stopped working, that instead of calling time of death, his heart started to beat.”

The Engstroms had already chosen Fulton as their son’s middle name in honor of the 20th-century author, media evangelist and archbishop, Venerable Fulton J. Sheen. During her pregnancy and after James was born, Bonnie prayed for Sheen’s intercession. Looking back now, the family can’t forget the weight of that moment — their newborn was lifeless for 61 minutes, one minute longer than Sheen’s beloved daily Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament.

By any measure, James shouldn’t have survived, much less grown up without lasting brain damage. When a follow-up MRI at 3 months old indicated a healthy brain, Bonnie picked up the phone at the urging of her mother, Alberta Fandel, and called the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation in Peoria, Illinois, to report what had happened to their son.

Within a year, the Diocese of Peoria had convened a tribunal to investigate the possible miracle, gathering medical records and testimony from everyone involved. Nearly a decade later, in 2019, Pope Francis formally approved James’ healing as a miracle attributed to Sheen’s intercession, clearing the way for his beatification.

The long-awaited beatification Mass will take place Sept. 24 at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, where tens of thousands are expected to gather to celebrate the man the Engstroms now describe as a “close family friend” in heaven.

‘THIS IS A BIG DEAL’

James, the third of eight children, was born in his family’s home in Goodfield, Illinois, a suburb of Peoria, where Sheen was an altar server and was later ordained to the priesthood in 1919. The Engstroms, who now live in nearby Washington, chose each of their children’s names with saints and other holy patrons in mind.

“It was during my third pregnancy that the Lord brought Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen into our lives,” Bonnie explained. “Travis and I began watching reruns of his show Life Is Worth Living and we loved Bishop Sheen’s wit and passion. Knowing he was born, raised, and ordained in the same area we call home, Travis and I chose Fulton for our baby’s middle name and began asking for Archbishop Sheen’s intercession.”

When James was delivered without signs of life, Travis, a member of Father John Menco Council 6707 in Washington, distinctly remembers hearing someone say he needed to baptize his son. He took water from a nearby cup Bonnie had been sipping from during labor and, calling upon the Holy Trinity, baptized the newborn James Fulton.

James Fulton Engstrom stands with his parents outside St. Patrick Church in Washington, Ill., in July. (Photo by Kara Kamienski)

Sometime in the past year, while recalling the story of his son’s birth, Travis learned that no one in the room that day had actually said those words out loud.

“To me, it feels like divine intervention, like — ‘Hey, you need to do this,’” he said. “It was clear as day, somebody told me to baptize him.”

Also present that day was Jenny Witt, a family friend who later described feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit in the room and having a vision of Sheen’s ordination day at the Cathedral of St. Mary in Peoria.

“I remember watching Jenny ask him, ‘What is his name?’” Bonnie said. “I remember sitting on the floor and in my head repeating Fulton Sheen’s name: Fulton Sheen, Fulton Sheen, Fulton Sheen. That really in itself was a prayer, but that was as eloquent as it got.”

James was admitted to the NICU, where he remained hospitalized through early November. Given that he had been without a detectable heartbeat for 61 minutes, doctors expected catastrophic brain damage. But a follow-up MRI at 3 months old showed that his brain was “perfectly normal,” Bonnie said.

After the MRI results, Bonnie’s mother encouraged her to call the Sheen Foundation.

“I said, ‘I don’t need to bother them,’ and she replied, ‘Honey, this is a big deal, they’re going to want it in a file somewhere,’” Bonnie recalled.

As a young child, James sometimes found the public attention uncomfortable. On occasion, he would come along when his mother gave talks about their story, and some people wanted to “touch the miracle,” almost treating him like a relic, Travis noted.

“When he was little, and people would come up and get too much in his face, that was really hard for him,” Travis said. “I think for years that forced him to kind of separate and distance himself and want to be away from it.”

As he’s gotten older, that dynamic has changed. People are less physically intense and more likely to say things like “That’s really cool, James,” Travis said. James has come to embrace his story and is more comfortable with it being public.

Now a 16-year-old high school sophomore, James navigates a typical teen life much like his peers — school, friends, yard work and odd jobs for older parishioners, who are very protective of him, Bonnie said. Last year, he was manager of the freshman football team at Washington High School, where his dad is the offensive coach and teaches physics. James’ classmates sometimes recognize him from news stories about the miracle, and he has taken that attention in stride.

“Miracle babies can still grow up to be little boys who get in trouble and teenage boys who are delightful and frustrating,” Bonnie said. “He’s just a normal kid. It’s incredibly exciting and humbling, and it’s such an honor that he will forever be this footnote in the biography of Fulton Sheen, and the history of the Church in America.”

A FAMILY’S DEVOTION

As tens of thousands of pilgrims fill The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis for the beatification Mass this month, all eyes will be on James as he carries a relic of Sheen in the entrance procession, accompanied by his family.

It’s a fitting role for a boy whose healing paved the way for this moment — and a fitting tribute to Sheen, an innovative evangelist who spread the Gospel through radio, print and television and inspired a strong devotion in the Engstrom family.

“He’s just a normal kid. It’s incredibly exciting and humbling, and it’s such an honor that he will forever be this footnote in the biography of Fulton Sheen, and the history of the Church in America.”

While watching Sheen’s television programs with Travis during her pregnancy, Bonnie recalled telling him, “He’s so amazing; he’s obviously going to be a saint. We should name our baby after him.”

The family’s knowledge of Sheen and devotion to him have increased in the years since James’ birth, especially in their understanding of his love for the Blessed Mother and the Eucharist, Bonnie said.

Bonnie credited Sheen as a pivotal influence in helping her form a relationship with the Blessed Mother. Through Sheen’s book The World’s First Love, Bonnie said she came to understand Mary “not just as a statue … but as a real woman who was a real wife and mother.”

Travis, who returned to the Catholic Church while in college, said his devotion to the Eucharist and understanding of the real presence have grown and deepened since learning more about Sheen, whose daily Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament resonates with him.

Bonnie said their son’s miraculous healing was given to their family, but it was also “given to the Church, for the Church.”

“I think it might be a little providential that the beatification will take place now that James is older and just more aware and more present, and will remember it,” Travis said. “I just feel grateful.”

As for James, he describes Sheen as a “guide” and “protector” and prays to him every day, though he tends to keep the details of those prayers private.

“I talk to Fulton Sheen and God every day,” James said. “Bishop Sheen is a friend, and I know he is praying for me.”

*****

JENNIFER BRINKER is a reporter for the St. Louis Review and Catholic St. Louis, publications of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

‘His Heart Started to Beat’

‘THIS IS A BIG DEAL’

A FAMILY’S DEVOTION

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