‘INCORRUPT’

Hundreds Flock to See Intact Body of Nun Dead Four Years

The impressive preservation of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster’s body could justify her path to sainthood.

A recently exhumed body of a nun that apparently is in nearly perfect condition four years after her death is drawing hundreds of travelers to a small town in Missouri for what some see as a miracle. The founder of the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, 95-year-old Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster died in 2019 and was unearthed last week to be moved to her final resting place in a monastery chapel, Catholic News Agency reported. But her exhumation came with a shocking discovery—Lancaster’s body seemed “incorrupt” with no signs of natural decay, even though she lay in a cracked wooden coffin and had never been embalmed. The impressive preservation of her body is a sign of holiness and could warrant a “well-established process to pursue the cause for sainthood,” the diocese said in a statement.