“I ask that you do not read this book like some novel, just for entertainment. I also ask that you do not read it like a schoolbook, just for information. This book should be read in prayer, with your eyes on Jesus.” —Father Dave Tomaszycki

Father Dave Tomaszycki had an ambitious plan when he took on the task of assembling Fulton Sheen’s essays, articles and talks on the subject of the evil one into a single volume, which he has titled On the Demonic. For starters, he was helping to put the finishing touches on a project that Archbishop Sheen had promised. In 1974, the archbishop announced his intent to write a book about the demonic; but that hadn’t yet happened when the celebrity cleric died in December 1979.

But secondly, Father Tomaszycki, priest-secretary to Detroit’s Archbishop Allen Vigneron, wanted to give the world the gift of Archbishop Sheen’s knowledge and wisdom about Satan’s influence in the world — a topic that came up frequently on Sheen’s television broadcasts and in his presentations.

Who Was Fulton Sheen?

Fulton Sheen was a priest, then a monsignor, then a bishop, and finally, an archbishop. Now he has been designated Servant of God — and perhaps eventually, we will see him beatified, and then named a saint of the Catholic Church.

As far back as I can remember, Bishop Fulton Sheen’s popular television show has been a familiar part of life. Even as a child, I remember watching him smile at his own jokes, his black clerics well-suited to the black-and-white TV in our living room, the chalk squeaking on the blackboard as he outlined the key points of his talk. Today he’s no longer with us in person, but his show is broadcast to the next generation by EWTN and other Catholic networks.

His message to the Church was captivating in its clarity, humility and originality. He had a way of explaining Catholic doctrine that drew many to better understand and embrace the Faith. He was a truly gifted scholar, and he used that gift daily, passing it along to people hungry for God’s word.

What Did He Say About the Demonic?

Archbishop Sheen recognized the serious threat that the devil posed to those on earth, and he warned about that risk in homilies, articles and television presentations. But Sheen was both a man of prayer and a man of action. He never found the time to assemble all his thoughts about the demonic in a single volume.

Today, years later, Father Tomaszycki has offered readers the gift of Sheen’s collected writings — in a well-organized volume that explains the characteristics of the anti-Christ and the signs of his influence in society, then delineates the weapons that we can use to defend ourselves.

Father Tomaszycki closes with a line from C.S. Lewis: “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” Bishop Sheen, we are told, fell into neither error; rather, he turned his focus to Jesus. Here, Sheen said, are the weapons we can use to protect ourselves from the demonic: the Name of Jesus, the Blood of Jesus, the Mother of Jesus. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. We turn to him.

Father John Riccardo, a fellow priest in the Archdiocese of Detroit and executive director of the missionary outreach organization Acts XXIX, said of Father Tomaszycki’s work On the Demonic: “This book is a treasure. It’s not only a compendium of everything Sheen wrote or said on the enemy of the human race, it is an immensely practical guide for warding him off in our own daily lives.”

Indeed.