Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1500345
15 WORLD Above: Thousands of people have flocked to the church to see the nun's remains Left: Her body was exhumed after four years in a wooden casket. Picture: Alamy maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 31 MAY 2023 SOME say it is a sign of holi- ness in Catholicism - with calls for her to be made a saint, while others say the lack of decom- position may not be as rare as people think. Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster was exhumed in April, accord- ing to a statement from the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, in Gower, Missouri. Her body was buried outside of the monastery and was dug up to be placed in an improved tomb inside the chapel. When they exhumed Ms Lan- caster, they were told to expect only bones, since she had been buried in a simple wooden cof- fin without any embalming four years ago. Instead, they discovered an intact body and "a perfectly preserved religious habit", the statement said. The nuns had not meant to publicise the discovery but someone posted a private email publicly and "the news began to spread like wildfire". Her body was carefully cleaned and her body was put on display with as many as 1,000 people turning up each day to see it. Her body will be laid out for public viewings until Mon- day, where visitors are allowed to touch it and pray. Visiting hours run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. A sign next to the body, which is surrounded by flowers, reads: "Please be gentle when touch- ing sister's body, especially her feet." Volunteers and local law en- forcement have helped to man- age the crowds in the town of roughly 1,800 people, as people have visited from all over the country to see her. "It was pretty amazing," said Samuel Dawson, who is Catho- lic and visited from Kansas City with his son last week. "It was very peaceful. Just very reverent." Dawson said there were a few hundred people when he visit- ed and that he saw many out- of-state cars. Visitors were allowed to touch Lancaster, Dawson said, saying the nuns "wanted to make her accessible to the public ... be- cause in real life, she was always accessible to people". The monastery said in a state- ment that Ms Lancaster's body would be placed in a glass shrine in their church on Mon- day. Visitors will still be able to see her body and take dirt from her grave but they will not be able to touch her. The Diocese of Kansas City- St Joseph also released a state- ment. "The condition of the remains of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster has understandably generated widespread interest and raised important questions," the dio- cese said. "At the same time, it is im- portant to protect the integrity of the mortal remains of Sister Wilhelmina to allow for a thor- ough investigation." "Incorruptibility has been ver- ified in the past but it is very rare. There is a well-established process to pursue the cause for sainthood but that has not been initiated in this case yet," the diocese added. The Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, also said Lancaster has not yet reached the required minimum of five years since death for the saint- hood process to begin. Rebecca George, an anthro- pology tutor at the Western Carolina University in North Carolina, said the body's lack of decomposition might not be as rare as people are expecting. George said the "mummifica- tion" of un-embalmed bodies is common at the university's fa- cility and the bodies could stay preserved for many years, if al- lowed to. Coffins and clothing also help to preserve bodies, she said. "Typically, when we bury peo- ple, we don't exhume them. We don't get to look at them a cou- ple years out," George said. "With 100 years, there might be nothing left. But when you've got just a few years out, this is not unexpected." Catholics flock to US church to pray over body of nun who was exhumed after four years with almost no signs of decay