Missouri: nun's body intact 4 years after death

[pellinore]

Hundreds of people in the US have traveled to a monastery in a small Missouri town to view a nun’s body that seemingly has no signs of decay four years after her death.

Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster was the founder of the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, a monastery in Gower, Missouri, about an hour outside of Kansas City.

Lancaster’s body was exhumed on 18 May so it could be moved to its final resting place in a monastery chapel, four years after her death in 2019, reported the Catholic News Agency.

But when the coffin was opened, Lancaster’s body was intact with almost no signs of decay. Lancaster’s body had never been embalmed and was buried in a cracked wooden coffin that exposed her corpse to moisture and debris, news media reported.

Nun’s body intact four years after death draws people to Missouri monastery | Missouri | The Guardian

Edited May 27 by pellinore

[tcgram]

I wonder if the soil she was buried in had something to do with the lack of decomposition.   

[Piney]

And??????

Oh.....It's a miracle! 

[Antigonos]

In Serbia 300 years ago her body would have been staked, decapitated and burned for being a vampire. 

From vampire to miracle in three centuries. See how far man has progressed? 

In truth it’s not unusual for a body that has been buried for years to remain intact if it is completely sealed off from the outside air.

I know of a few similar incidents. The poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti buried a small volume of love poems he had written to his wife with her when she died. Seven years later, he decided that he wanted to publish them and got permission to exhume her grave. On first seeing her when the coffin was opened, she was described as being exactly the same as on the day of her funeral.

For a minute, anyway. He went to retrieve the book, which he had entwined in the locks of her hair, which suddenly turned brittle and started falling away in clumps, and she entered into a state of dissolution right before his eyes on exposure to the fresh air. 

Edited May 27 by Antigonos

[quiXilver]

Well clearly, she's been rising from the grave regularly to feed on blood and fill the local shadows with predatory tension.

I mean, that's so obvious we all see it.... right?

 

RIGHT?!?!

 

[+and-then]

"Lancaster’s body will be moved on 29 May and encased in glass in the chapel, where visitors can continue to view it"

 

Why?  Is it just me or doesn't that seem weird and disrespectful?

 

[Antigonos]

21 minutes ago, and-then said:

"Lancaster’s body will be moved on 29 May and encased in glass in the chapel, where visitors can continue to view it"

 

Why?  Is it just me or doesn't that seem weird and disrespectful?

 

It’s weird and disrespectful. And downright creepy on multiple levels.

[Occupational Hubris]

I've seen herpictures and been around thousands of embaled bodies. She's clearly been embalmed. 

[Davros of Skaro]

Don't they know that black don't crack.

[Piney]

8 hours ago, Occupational Hubris said:

I've seen herpictures and been around thousands of embaled bodies. She's clearly been embalmed. 

Yup. 

[Orphalesion]

15 hours ago, Antigonos said:

In Serbia 300 years ago her body would have been staked, decapitated and burned for being a vampire. 

From vampire to miracle in three centuries. See how far man has progressed? 

Eh incorruptibillity has been a thing in Catholicism for ages. They think it's a sign of being a saint. 

 

13 hours ago, and-then said:

"Lancaster’s body will be moved on 29 May and encased in glass in the chapel, where visitors can continue to view it"

 

Why?  Is it just me or doesn't that seem weird and disrespectful?

 

The viewing and veneration of the bodies and remains of saints has been a long-standing tradition and cultic practise in Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. To them it means she's a saint and God wants them to see and awknowledge this miracle and it's the biggest kind of respect they can give her. 

Religious practises often seem weird (and possibly disrespectful) to those outside the religion, but to them it's something normal and wonderful. 

Edited May 28 by Orphalesion

[quiXilver]

They really have some incredibly effective blinders on when it comes to idols and worship, those cathols in particular... 

[HollyDolly]

 Read an article somewhere, that the funeral home that  got the coffin,etc. said that they did not embalm her and the body was not put into a concrete vault. When she was exhumed, they noticed there was a crack in the coffin, and yes, the soil can be a factor. I think if there is naturally occuring arsenic in the soil, it will preserve the body. I'm Catholic, and even I find  viewing dead bodies weird, unless you are seeing medical speciums in the famous Mutter Museum. I don't doubt that she  might well be a very holy person., however all this brouhaha may not be what Sister Wilhelmina would want.