Fr. Z's Blog

UPDATE 8 Jan 25 15:55:

Big news!

FIRST… this is an important topic.  I WARMLY recommend the book.  Every priest should be made to read it.  Get a copy for your priests.

The author/complier of the of book about Fulton Sheen’s writings entitled On The Demonic by Archbp. Fulton J. Sheen (US HERE), Fr. Dave Tomaszycki, contacted me today with more information.  We had spoken on the phone and exchanged email about the puzzling scribble on p. 162 which had defied deciphering.  (Photos of the page, below with previous stabs at an answer.)

Fr. Tomaszycki wrote today to inform me that one of the readers of this blog, having read the previous version of this post, applied himself to the question and “cracked the code”.

Fr. T asked that fellow (someone who has a background in reading handwritten medical records) if I could use what he wrote and Fr. T told me I could use what he wrote.  So, having cleared everything, HERE IS THE ANSWER.  I’ll cut and paste the text, but I will slightly redact it.

On Wed, Jan 8, 2025

Dear Fr. Z,

Inspired by your blog post a few months back, a man—D** F********** —reached out to me a few days ago, and I think he has “cracked the code” and solved the mystery of Sheen’s handwriting on page 162 of On The Demonic.

It’s very close to what you said, but instead of “Pulchra,” it’s “prism.” I had forgotten that Sheen uses an analogy of the sun hitting a prism, and the Light of Christ shining through the saints (and especially our Blessed Mother). Sheen talks about this in his book Preface to Religion (recently republished by Ignatius Press as Remade for Happiness, pp. 102-103). [HERE] Dan also takes into account the little dashes between the words (something I always felt a little uneasy about ignoring).

So, I think Sheen wrote: “Tota – prism – Feast of I.C. – NEED TO CRUSH SERPENT DEMONIC”

• “Tota” as in Tota Pulchra, as you suggested. This hymn points to the Immaculate Conception. The fact that the devil never had any hold on Our Lady. But “Tota” also as in “all.” This fits nicely with what a prism does…
• “prism” In Preface to Religion, Sheen writes: “Striking that Mystical Body as the brightness of the sun striking a prism splits up into seven rays of the spectrum. The procession of Divine Life broke up into the seven sacraments to flood the members of that Body with Divine Life for the seven states from the cradle to the grave.” (Fuller quote attached.) This is an interesting link between Our Lady and the Seven Sacraments. Our Lady is one of the main weapons against the demonic. And when people think the devil is attacking them, the first advice I always give them is to frequent the Sacraments.
• “Feast of I.C.” On this past Feast of the Immaculate Conception, I read through Pope Pius IX’s Ineffabilis Deus. The Holy Father has many awesome lines about how important it is for the Blessed Mother to be Immaculately Conceived so that the devil never would have had any hold on Her. That way Her triumph over the devil is not 99% triumph, but complete triumph. Here is my favorite line: “[T]he most holy Virgin, united with [Jesus] by a most intimate and indissoluble bond, was, with him and through him, eternally at enmity with the evil serpent, and most completely triumphed over him, and thus crushed his head with her immaculate foot.”

Below is the email from D**. He really did great work and a lot of work. He got out pieces of Sheen’s handwriting to compare how Sheen writes different letters and words.

The first four attachments are from D**, the fifth attachment is from me and is the original picture of Sheen’s handwriting that ended up in the book.

Thanks for the numerous posts about the book. It really inspired a lot of people to try to crack the code, and I think we finally got it.

God Bless,

Fr. Dave

Here are the attachments.

Tota – prism – Feast of I.C.

There it is.   That explanation ticks all the boxes.  It looks like “prism”. Samples of Sheen’s writing bear it out.   Sheen had used the analogy before.

UPDATE 30 Sept 24 13:08:

I received notes via email. See below.  Also, I think we might have gotten it.

Originally posted 28 Sept 24:23:43

So I sitting around with priest friends in Brooklyn and the new book about Fulton Sheen’s writings On The Demonic comes up.

Then we get to this… and we puzzled and puzzled and puzzled.

OKAY READERS!   Let’s solve this!

We wondered if that descending squiggle might not be something from shorthand,… are we in Latin?  English?

On The Demonic by Archbp. Fulton J. Sheen.

US HERE – UK HERE (not yet)

The forward explains that, toward the end of his life, Sheen was ever more convinced that we are living in a demonic age and that we may be seeing the “first cells of the Anti-Christ”.

He wrote that he wanted to write a book about the demonic, but he passed away before he could accomplish it.   The editor of this book has gone through all of Sheen’s material and collated what he found about the topic.

The volume includes not only excerpts from known published works but also from Sheen’s own handwritten notes, kept in his archive, for conferences, etc.

This book is

the closest thing the world will ever see to the long-lost book that Fulton Sheen promised to write on the demonic, all in Sheen’s own words.

UPDATE 29 Sept 24 13:08:

I received a note via email about the puzzling scribbles.

Message Body:

Hello Fr. Z, read the blog on Fulton Sheen’s book, pg 162. Comparing the script between words, i think the 3rd bullet is “Tats Jesum” Corporate Body of Christ, 4th bullet is autograph by: “Friend “J” (John) “I.C” (In Christ).
Note:
“Tats Jesum” definition of “Tates” means Corporate Body,
“Tats Jesum” search goes to Bach… https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV147-Eng3.htm. (Feast of the Annunciation .. Incarnation)

I dunno.

I’m not wholly convinced.

UPDATE: 30 Sept 24

Last night a group of us was chewing the fat after a great Chinese outing and, since the book question was sitting right there, the topic came up again.

I think we might have worked it out.   I contacted the author and he’s going to mull it over.  If anyone can confirm or demure it is he.

The solution, we think, is “Texts from feast of I.C.”… Immaculate Conception.

UPDATE: 30 Sept 24 – later

I checked my email… really, folks, for efficiency in posts like this use the comment form rather than sending email, which comes at me in torrents.

One person suggested that it pointed to reading the Imitation of Christ. Interesting.

Another sent something along the lines of what we came up with about the Texts from the feast of the Immaculate Conception.