A tug-of-war over the remains of 1950s TV-preaching NY Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen — which rest in a crypt under the alter at St. Patrick’s Cathedral — has made its way in Manhattan Court.

Sheen’s closest living relative is suing the Archdiocese of New York, saying it reneged on promises to send Sheen’s remains to his hometown of Peoria, Ill. The family needs a court order to end the corporeal rift, and remove Sheen’s corpse from under the altar of St. Patricks, where it was interred in 1979.

Archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling said his office had recently proposed Sheen’s “earthly remains” be sent to Peoria for beatification, and then returned to New York.