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Incorruptibility

Sister Scholastica Radel (left) and Mother Abbess Cecilia Snell of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, discuss the recent exhumation of the order's foundress, Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, in an interview with EWTN News In Depth on May 30, 2023, at their abbey in Gower, Missouri. | EWTN News

"A unifying moment": Sister Wilhelmina’s Nuns Share their Story in Exclusive TV Interview

Jun 5, 2023

Her flashlight was dim, so when Mother Abbess Cecilia Snell first peered inside the cracked coffin lid and saw a human foot inside a black sock where one would expect to find only bone and dust, she didn’t say anything.

Thousands of pilgrims have lined up at the Abbey of Our Lady of Ephesus in Gower, Missouri, to view the remains of Sr. Wilhelmina Lancaster.

Thousands Visiting Sister Wilhelmina's Body Over Holiday Weekend

May 29, 2023

Thousands of pilgrims are descending on a Benedictine abbey outside rural Gower, Missouri, this Memorial Day weekend to view the surprisingly well-preserved body of its African American foundress, Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, who died in 2019.

Religious sisters of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, sing as the process with the body of their late foundress, Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, on May 29, 2023, at their abbey near Gower, Missouri. The sisters exhumed the nun's body on May 18 and discovered that it was apparently intact, four years after her death and burial in a simple wooden coffin. | Joe Bukuras/CNA

Body of Sr. Wilhelmina, African American Foundress, Placed in Glass Case

May 29, 2023

The body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, an African American nun whose surprisingly intact remains have created a sensation at a remote Missouri abbey, was placed inside a glass display case Monday after a solemn procession led by members of the community she founded.

A young man touches a religious statue to the body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, OSB, on May 18, 2023, at the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles monastery in Gower, Missouri. | Used with permission.

"Something special going on there": Morticians Mystified by Sister Wilhelmina’s Body

May 26, 2023

Expert morticians are scratching their heads at the recently exhumed body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, a Benedictine nun who died in 2019 and now appears to be in an unexpected state of preservation.

Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, whose body was discovered apparently incorrupt, founded the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of the Apostles. | Courtesy of the Benedictines of Mary

Sr. Wilhelmina Lancaster, African American Foundress Whose Body is the Center of Attention

May 24, 2023

When the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of the Apostles exhumed the body of their foundress Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, OSB, on May 18, they found the unexpected: Four years after her death and burial in a simple wooden coffin, her body appeared remarkably well preserved.

A pilgrim venerates the incorrupt body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, OSB, on May 20, 2023. Lancaster was recently exhumed in Gower, Missouri. | Credit: Kelsey Wicks/CNA / Kelsey Wicks/CNA

Body of Benedictine Sisters’ Foundress Thought to be Incorrupt

May 22, 2023

Hundreds of pilgrims have descended on a Benedictine monastery for religious sisters in rural Missouri in recent days after news began to spread on social media last week that the recently exhumed remains of the contemplative order’s African American foundress appear to be incorrupt, four years after her death and burial in a simple wooden coffin.