Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster’s five-year old deceased body is being called a “miraculous preservation.”
Sister Wilhelmina died on May 29, 2019, and was buried within days in a grave on the property of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles monastery in Gower, Mo. She was buried without any embalming or other treatment of her body, in a simple unsealed wooden casket. Following the exhumation of the body of Sister Wilhelmina on April 28, 2023, for the purpose of moving her body into the Abbey church for interment, it was discovered that her body did not exhibit signs of decomposition that would normally have occurred after nearly four years of burial under the conditions described above.
Providing a 5-year update, Reverend Bishop James V. Johnston, Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph released results of examination and evaluation by medical experts regarding Sister Wilhelmina.
The report reads:
“On May 24, 2023, as the Bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, I commissioned a team of local medical experts to conduct an examination and evaluation of Sister Wilhelmina’s body.
The team was led by a Doctor of Pathology, who was assisted by two other medical doctors and a former Missouri county coroner.
In addition to examining and evaluating the mortal remains of the deceased, the team inspected the casket, and interviews were conducted with eyewitnesses to events immediately preceding the burial in 2019 and the exhumation in April 2023.”
In the final report, the investigative team noted that the condition of Sister Wilhelmina’s body during the examination was notable for a lack of any detected features of decomposition. The lining of her casket had completely deteriorated, but her habit and clothing showed no features of breakdown. The report also noted that the related history of Sister Wilhelmina’s death and interment does not describe conditions that would be expected to protect against decomposition.
The investigative team was only able to conduct a limited examination but still concluded that “the condition of her body is highly atypical for the interval of nearly four years since her death, especially given the environmental conditions and the findings in associated objects.”
Furthermore, soil tests revealed no unusual elements that would prevent the decomposition of an unembalmed body, according to Johnston and his team of researchers.
“Regarding what seems to be the miraculous preservation of Sister’s body, we are given the opportunity to contemplate the great gifts God gives us every day, especially the ones that are literally hidden from our eyes,” says an undated letter on the website for the Benedictines of Mary.
In both Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions, there are instances where individuals do not decompose as expected after death, a phenomenon known as “incorruptibility,” as described by the Catholic Answers website.
The site states, “Similar to how the Father did not allow Jesus’ body to experience corruption while in the tomb (see Acts 1:27), God provides that the bodily remains of some of his faithful ones will not undergo bodily corruption.”
Sainthood
According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to become an American Saint, there are three stages to canonization. The first step includes examining the life of a candidate, which does not happen until at least five years after their death. Once the bishop has investigated documentation is sent to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
The second stage includes beatification which requires a verified miracle that must be proven through another investigation.
The final stage, canonization, requires a second miracle after beatification.
Hundreds of people have been flocking to the town 40 miles north of Kansas City to marvel at the well-preserved body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, with many calling it a “Miracle in Missouri.”