Human body starts decomposing slowly after death. But in an interesting turn of events, the dead body of a nun named Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, is showing negligible signs of decay even four years after her death. While the chapel and catholics are hailing it as a ‘miracle’, an anthropology expert has claimed it to be not a rare happening.
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Lancaster’s body was exhumed in April in Gower, a small town 40 miles north of Kansas City. Thousands of people are arriving at the chapel of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles in Gower to pay their homage to the nun. Many of them are bewildered and proclaiming the nun as “miracle”. Lancaster’s body has been coated in a protective wax and being displayed in the chapel where visitors are even praying over her.
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“It just felt like the presence of God was there as soon as I went into the monastery. It’s a true miracle. I really think that. God works in strange ways with miracles,” Rita Cospelich, a visitor from Blue Springs, Missouri, told FOX4 and was quoted by New York Post.
According to a report by New York Post, the remains of the nun were exhumed from a wooden coffin, to be put in a new shrine. The Benedictine nuns had expected to find bones of Lancaster in the coffin but they were shocked to see her preserved body. The nuns tried to keep the incident private but an internal email regarding the matter, got leaked online, creating headlines.
Meanwhile, local administration are gearing up for the increasing number of visitors to witness the nun. Clinton County Sheriff Larry Fish highlighted the impact on local infrastructure due to the visitors. Fish said: “We are going to put a very large pressure on our infrastructure that is not designed for it.”
As per reports, cops have created a mobile command center to deal with the crowd of travellers in the small town. Near the chapel, local administration has cleared land for creating parking space.
The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph said: “The condition of the remains of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster has understandably generated widespread interest and raised important questions. At the same time, it is important to protect the integrity of the mortal remains of Sister Wilhelmina to allow for a thorough investigation.”
“Incorruptibility has been verified 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.
Meanwhile, Rebecca George, an anthropology instructor at Western Carolina University in North Carolina, has said that the body’s lack of decomposition is not a very rare occurrence. George highlighted un-embalmed bodies could stay preserved for many years, if allowed to.
Coffins and clothing also help to preserve bodies, said George.
“Typically, when we bury people, we don’t exhume them. We don’t get to look at them a couple years out. With 100 years, there might be nothing left. But when you’ve got just a few years out, this is not unexpected,” she added.