A Catholic media star will be beatified in St Louis, moving a step closer to sainthood

(RNS) — In 1953, Lucille Ball, the star of the hit show "I Love Lucy," was up for an Emmy for "Most Outstanding Personality."

She lost — to a Catholic bishop. then-New York Auxiliary Bishop Fulton J. Sheen.

"I feel it is time I pay tribute to my four writers — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John," then-New York Auxiliary Bishop Fulton J. Sheen reportedly quipped as he accepted the award.

This Thursday, the Catholic bishop who charmed millions while explaining theological concepts and scrawling on a blackboard for his show "Life Is Worth Living" will come one step closer to being declared a saint. His beatification — which comes after the Vatican found that he lived a life of "heroic virtue" and that his intercession was responsible for a miracle — leaves him one miracle shy of sainthood.