Who is Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, the Missouri nun whose body was found intact four years after death?

A recently exhumed nun’s body in a rural Missouri town in the United States has caught global attention. Hundreds of people are flocking to the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles Monastery, to view her corpse which apparently shows no signs of decay even four years after her death.

According to Catholic News Agency, the body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster – who passed away at age 95 in 2019 – was exhumed so that it could be shifted to her final resting place inside a monastery chapel.

What was found when her body was unburied and why has the incident hit the headlines? Let’s take a closer look.

Intact after four years

As per The Guardian, when the wooden coffin of Lancaster, the founder of the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, a monastery in Missouri’s Gower, was opened, her body was found intact even four years after her death.

Her body was never embalmed and her wooden coffin was cracked which exposed the remains to moisture, reported the Catholic News Agency.

“We were told by cemetery personnel to expect just bones in the conditions, as Sister Wilhelmina was buried without embalming and in a simple wood coffin,” one of the sisters from the monastery told Newsweek.

There was only a layer of mold on her body but most of the corpse was preserved, according to Catholic News Agency.

Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster found Incorrupted

Read all about it: https://t.co/1hkXT05goT pic.twitter.com/EqAg7M6u5n

— Catholic Online (@CatholicOnline) May 26, 2023

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In a statement about the discovery, the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph said, as per CNN: “The condition of the remains of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster has understandably generated widespread interest and raised important questions”.

“At the same time, it is important to protect the integrity of the mortal remains of Sister Wilhelmina to allow for a thorough investigation… Bishop [James] Johnston invites all the Faithful to continue praying during this time of investigation for God’s will.”

However, it is not clear yet when such an examination will take place.

In the Catholic Church, a body that does not putrefy naturally is considered incorrupt, and “incorruptible saints give witness to the truth of the resurrection of the body and the life that is to come,” as per Catholic News Agency.

The statement from the diocese mentioned that “incorruptibility” is quite rare, adding that the process for sainthood has not been started for Lancaster.

“We think she is the first African American woman to be found incorrupt,” Mother Cecilia, the abbess for the monastery, who was the first person to examine the body, was quoted as saying by Catholic News Agency.

Royce Hood – the host of a Catholic radio show – who drove for five hours with his family to view Lancaster’s body, told Catholic News Agency, “I feel like people are like, ‘Wow, we need this right now”.

Lori Rosebrough, a resident of Overland Park, Kansas, told USA Today in an email that she was not going to leave the “incredibly rare opportunity” to see “the hand of God at work”.

Some incorrupt saints

As per Catholic News Agency, more than 100 incorruptible bodies have been found so far.

The incorrupt remains of St Francis Xavier, popularly known as “Gõycho Saib”, are kept in a silver Mastrillian casket at the Basilica of Bom Jesus in India’s Goa, as per The Times of India (TOI) report.

Cardinal and Archbishop of Goa and Daman, Filipe Neri Ferrao, announced last year that the exposition of the sacred relics of the Spanish Jesuit missionary will be held from November 2024 to January 2025 at Old Goa, the report added.

As per Slate magazine, the body of St. Paula Frassinetti, who died in 1882, lies incorrupt in Rome, Italy. To preserve her corpse, she was bathed in carbolic acid.

St. Vincent de Paul’s incorrupt heart and bones are kept at different places in Paris, France. He had died in 1660.

Notably, incorruptibility is not likely permanent. Francesca Romana was considered incorrupt a few months after her death in 1440. However, when her tomb was reopened after two centuries, all was left were bones, reported Slate magazine.

Incorruptibility is also not considered a miracle anymore by the church.

‘Not uncommon’

Experts say it is not rare for bodies to remain well-preserved in the first few years after death.

Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, founder of the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, passed away in May of 2019.

While moving her remains to their new chapel, they found her to be incorrupt!

We joined thousands of pilgrims this week in Gower, MO to give thanks and praise! pic.twitter.com/zq7E695bpV

— Dr. Andrew Swafford (@andrew_swafford) May 27, 2023

In an email to CNN, Nicholas Passalacqua, an associate professor and director of forensic anthropology at Western Carolina University, said: “It’s hard to say how common this is because bodies are rarely exhumed after burial. But there are many famous cases of well-preserved human remains. Not just things like Egyptian mummies which were intentionally preserved, but also things like the Bog Bodies of Europe which were very well preserved for thousands of years because they were in environments with low oxygen that restricted bacterial grown and access of the remains to scavengers.”

“In general, when we bury a body at our human decomposition facility, we expect it will take roughly five years for the body to become skeletonised".

“That is without a coffin or any other container or wrapping surrounding the remains. So for this body, which was buried in a coffin, I personally don’t find it too surprising that the remains are well preserved after only four years," the associate professor added.

With inputs from agencies

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