Many travellers have been venturing to a rural Missouri town to see the remains of a nun who died four years ago whose body seemingly hasn’t decayed.
Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster of the Most Holy Rosary, OSB died on May 29, 2019 at age 95, according to Catholic Key Magazine and the Catholic News Agency (CNA).
Sisters from Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles Monastery in Gower, Missouri, recently decided to move Lancaster’s body into their monastery chapel, where they discovered her remains had barely decayed, per CNA.
Sister Wilhelmina’s body was not embalmed after her death, according to CNA. Additionally, the wooden coffin she was buried in reportedly had a crack in it that allowed moisture and dirt to get inside, and mold had started to grow.
“We were told by cemetery personnel to expect just bones,” one nun told Newsweek.
In a May 22 press release, the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph said Sister Wilhelmina’s remains have “understandably generated widespread interest.”
“Incorruptibility has been verified in the past, but it is very rare,” the church added, using a term that refers to bodies that resist the normal decomposing process, a sign of holiness.
The sisters said the body was “in a remarkable preserved condition” and that “the ribbon, her crucifix, and rosary” that were buried with her “were all intact,” according to CNA’s report.
“They [sic] synthetic veil was perfectly intact, while the lining of the coffin, made of similar material, was completely deteriorated and gone,” the sisters added.
“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 skeletonized,” Nicholas Passalacqua, an associate professor and director of forensic anthropology, told Newsweek.
“Typically, when we bury people, we don’t exhume them. We don’t get to look at them a couple years out,” Rebecca George, an anthropology instructor at Western Carolina University, explained to the Associated Press. “With 100 years, there might be nothing left. But when you’ve got just a few years out, this is not unexpected.”
Since the discovery was made, many people have trekked out to the Midwest for a glimpse at the nun’s body. Lori Rosebrough of Overland Park, Kansas, told USA Today that she was thrilled to have the “incredibly rare opportunity” to see “the hand of God at work.”
“We were told to expect somewhere in the neighborhood of about 10,000, maybe 15,000 people per day — Saturday, Sunday, Monday,” said Clinton County Sheriff Larry Fish according to CBS affiliate KCTV.