Home News & Events Thousands Gather At Missouri To See Wilhelmina Lancaster’s ‘Incorrupt’ Body 4 Years...

News & Events

Thousands Gather At Missouri To See Wilhelmina Lancaster’s ‘Incorrupt’ Body 4 Years After Demise

June 1, 2023

-Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster Exhumed Body Draws Thousands To The City Of Missouri

Thousands have travelled from afar distance, to a small town in Missouri to get a glance of Wilhelmina Lancaster‘s body which hasn’t decayed after four years of her demise.

Wilhelmina Lancaste was the founder of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, established in rural Gower in 1995. And according to the nuns, her remains were exhumed last month in preparation for construction of a planned St Joseph Shrine.

Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster exhumed body is set to be placed in a glass for display at the abbey she founded.

According to reports, it was gathered that over 10,000-15,000 people come to visit each day. While they also expect many from various countries as Canada and Mexico to visit for months.

The nuns said visitors coming to see Lancaster’s body have not disrupted their life. They said “we remain unaffected and able to continue on in our life of ora at labora, prayer and work, as Sister Wilhelmina would have it.

“Unless we looked out the front windows, or out at the crowds attending our Mass and Divine Offices, we would not even know people are here,” they wrote in a statement.

According to the nuns, they said she was buried in a little wooden coffin, as they expected to see bones, but reverse was the case.

“The intent was devotional, and to carry this out in the privacy of our cloistered life,” they wrote. “Nevertheless, the discovery of what appeared to be an intact body and a perfectly preserved religious habit created an unexpected twist to our plans.”

Although many see the lack of decay as a sign of holiness an incorrupt.

“The only incorrupt remains considered extraordinary and thereby miraculous would be those which had not undergone some preservation process but had retained their lifelike color, freshness and flexibility for many years after death,” the Catholic Education Resource Center said.