Sister Wilhelmina: Tourists have started flocking to the town in rural town in the US to witness the “miracle”.
In an extremely unusual incident from the US, a small town has become the talk of the Catholic world due to a discovery that is being hailed as a “miracle”. A nun named Sister Wilhelmina, who died in 2019, was recently exhumed to a shocking discovery. Her body has reportedly stayed intact despite 4 years having passed since her death.
Tourists have started flocking to the town in rural Missouri in the US to witness the “miracle”. The nun’s intact body which shows no decay is currently on display at the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles Monastery.
The discovery was made when authorities at the monastery chapel exhumed her body to relocate Sister Wilhelmina’s resting place. When the coffin was brought out of the earth, her body was found intact. As per Catholic tradition, it is being referred to as ‘incorrupt’, which means a body being preserved from natural decay. Her body is slated to be encased in glass at the chapel.
Who is Sister Wilhelmina?
Sister Wilhelmina was the founder of the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of the Apostles in Gower, Missouri. She founded the religious community when she was 70 in 1995. Her real name was Mary Elizabeth Lancaster, as per the Wikipedia page of the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of the Apostles. Nuns in the community are also recording artists.
Sister Wilhelmina was an African-American nun who was formerly part of the Oblate Sisters of Providence which was the first-ever Black religious order in America, it says. Finding her “traditional tastes incompatible” with the community, she decided to start her own. Sister Wilhelmina died in 2019 aged 95.
Can dead bodies stay intact?
While the case of Sister Wilhelmina is being hailed as a “miracle”, Western Carolina University Director of Forensic Anthropology Nicholas V Passalacqua was quoted as saying by CNN that it is not uncommon for dead bodies to stay well preserved for some years after death. Accurate number is hard to get as not many bodies are exhumed.
He said that a body is expected to take 5 years to become “skeletonised”. Bodies can stay better preserved in “environments with low oxygen that restricted bacterial growth and access of the remains to scavengers,” he said. Prof Passalacqua added that he “personally” did not find it “too surprising that the remains are relatively well preserved after four years.”
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Who was Sister Wilhelmina, ‘miracle’ nun whose body shows no decay 4 years after death? | Photo: Twitter")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}