Nuns Discover their Foundress Sister Mary Wilhelmina is Incorrupt - Possibly a Miracle! Here is a Brief Biography of the Saintly Sister's Life
Biography of Sister Mary Wilhelmina, who was found lying incorrupt in her coffin as discovered by the nuns. Hundreds of people have been visiting the convent to see and touch the incorrupt body of the saintly sister! (See details of the discovery below the biography)
Sister Wilhelmina of the Most Holy Rosary, OSB died Wednesday, May 29 at 8:35 pm. She was born Mary Elizabeth Lancaster on April 13, 1924 on Palm Sunday. Sister Wilhelmina had recently celebrated her 75th anniversary of vows and her 95th birthday.
As a young girl living in St. Louis, Sister Wilhelmina wanted to become a nun.
At age thirteen, she wrote a letter requesting to go to the convent as soon as possible because she wanted to become a nun. Later Sister Wilhelmina was able to join the Oblate Sisters of Providence. She began her formation in 1941. As a sister, she took the new name “Wilhelmina” when she took her vows. Wilhelmina was chosen in honor of her pastor, Fr. William Markoe, S.J. who encouraged her to pursue her vocation.
Sr. Wilhelmina spent many of her years with the Oblate Sisters of Providence teaching in schools. Throughout her career, she taught in the Archdioceses of Baltimore, Washington, Charleston, St. Louis, Philadelphia, and Miami. While in Baltimore, her habit saved her life. The stiff guimpe (the high necked collar) deflected a knife that was thrown at her by a troubled student. From 1973 to 1985, she was archivist for the Oblate community. From 1985-1995, she assisted in the Mount Providence Center of Music and General Culture.
In 1995 on the Feast of St. Bede, after 50 years in the Oblates Sisters of Providence, Sister Wilhelmina formally left her community to found the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles with Fr. Arnaud Devillers in the Diocese of Scranton in Pennsylvania. The order was totally consecrated to Our Lady in prayer and sacrifice for priests through the Rule of St. Benedict.
Today, the order devotes approximately five hours a day to the chanting of the Mass and Divine Office. The sisters’ remaining time is spent doing manual labor (such as sewing vestments for priests all over the world, gardening, cooking, cleaning, farm work and other duties), mental prayer, and prayerful reading. The order is primarily contemplative.
“It would seem I’ve done a very foolish thing,” Sr. Wilhelmina stated. “After fifty years as an Oblate Sister of Providence, I am starting religious life anew as the foundress of a new community affiliated with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. To those who say that my leaving my old community to found a new one doesn’t make sense, I reply that it is understandable only in the life of faith. When other people came, I welcomed them because I wanted to share what I had. ‘The disciples were persevering in prayer with Mary the Mother of Jesus.’ This is a perfect description of the religious sisterhood that has formed.”
In 2004, she broke ties with her community and made private vows until 2014, when the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles received formal recognition from the Vatican.
As a young girl living in St. Louis, Sister Wilhelmina wanted to become a nun.
At age thirteen, she wrote a letter requesting to go to the convent as soon as possible because she wanted to become a nun. Later Sister Wilhelmina was able to join the Oblate Sisters of Providence. She began her formation in 1941. As a sister, she took the new name “Wilhelmina” when she took her vows. Wilhelmina was chosen in honor of her pastor, Fr. William Markoe, S.J. who encouraged her to pursue her vocation.
Sr. Wilhelmina spent many of her years with the Oblate Sisters of Providence teaching in schools. Throughout her career, she taught in the Archdioceses of Baltimore, Washington, Charleston, St. Louis, Philadelphia, and Miami. While in Baltimore, her habit saved her life. The stiff guimpe (the high necked collar) deflected a knife that was thrown at her by a troubled student. From 1973 to 1985, she was archivist for the Oblate community. From 1985-1995, she assisted in the Mount Providence Center of Music and General Culture.
In 1995 on the Feast of St. Bede, after 50 years in the Oblates Sisters of Providence, Sister Wilhelmina formally left her community to found the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles with Fr. Arnaud Devillers in the Diocese of Scranton in Pennsylvania. The order was totally consecrated to Our Lady in prayer and sacrifice for priests through the Rule of St. Benedict.
Today, the order devotes approximately five hours a day to the chanting of the Mass and Divine Office. The sisters’ remaining time is spent doing manual labor (such as sewing vestments for priests all over the world, gardening, cooking, cleaning, farm work and other duties), mental prayer, and prayerful reading. The order is primarily contemplative.
“It would seem I’ve done a very foolish thing,” Sr. Wilhelmina stated. “After fifty years as an Oblate Sister of Providence, I am starting religious life anew as the foundress of a new community affiliated with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. To those who say that my leaving my old community to found a new one doesn’t make sense, I reply that it is understandable only in the life of faith. When other people came, I welcomed them because I wanted to share what I had. ‘The disciples were persevering in prayer with Mary the Mother of Jesus.’ This is a perfect description of the religious sisterhood that has formed.”
In 2004, she broke ties with her community and made private vows until 2014, when the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles received formal recognition from the Vatican.
Here is what the Nuns wrote when they discovered her body lying incorrupt in the coffin:
~ With the preparation of our St. Joseph altar underway, and after much prayer, we decided the rightful place of our holy foundress was in the Church, This practice is very common in religious communities, even before their cause has been introduced.
- Sister had been buried in the ground in a simple wooden coffin, without any embalming or vault, with a puddle of water at the bottom of the grave, - On April 28, the Feast of St Louis Marie DeMontfort the Sisters exhumed her. The top had caved in at the time of burial, so dirt had gotten in and lay over her remains.
~ Not only was her body in a remarkable preserved condition, her crown and bouquet of flowers were dried in place, the profession candle with the ribbon, her crucifix, and rosary were all intact. Even more remarkable was the complete preservation of her holy habit, “made from natural fibers, for which she fought so vigorously throughout her religious life. “The synthetic veil was perfectly intact, while the lining of the coffin, made of very similar material was completely deteriorated and gone.
~The careful process of clearing and removing the dirt and mold began, and the body began to lose volume since the initial exhumation with exposure to air. Thus some shrinking and darkening took place. All facial features were visible, but as falling dirt had caused damage, especially to the right eye, a Sister carefully crafted a wax mask to cover the face.
Sister is laid out here until the completion of the St. Joseph altar, now under construction, and due to be installed.
Once the popular cultus is well established, her cause for sainthood may be introduced within the Diocese, so that Sister's holiness may eventually be recognized by Holy Mother Church
About the Community:
The community first began under the aegis of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter in 1995, in the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania. We were originally called the Oblates of Mary, Queen of Apostles to indicate the offering of ourselves to the Benedictine family and we had consecrated ourselves to Our Lady, and offered ourselves to her service. We began following a monastic horarium as laid out by St. Benedict in his Rule, chanting the traditional Divine Office in Latin as prescribed.
In March 2006, we accepted the invitation of Bishop Robert W. Finn to transfer to his diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri. We were established as a Public Association of the Faithful with the new name, “Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles”. By the grace of God and through the fatherly solicitude of Bishop Finn, we were raised to the status of Religious Institute of Diocesan Right on November 25, 2014. September 9th and 10th of 2018 saw the erection of our priory to an Abbey, the consecration of our Abbey Church, and the consecration of Mother Abbess Cecilia as our first abbess. On April 28th of 2019, seven intrepid sisters left the Abbey to establish the our first daughter house, the Monastery of St. Joseph in Ava, Missouri where they have extended our order and mission.- Our beloved foundress, Sr Wilhelmina (Lancaster) of the Most Holy Rosary, born in Louis Missouri, died May 29, 2019 at 95 years of age.
- Sister had been buried in the ground in a simple wooden coffin, without any embalming or vault, with a puddle of water at the bottom of the grave, - On April 28, the Feast of St Louis Marie DeMontfort the Sisters exhumed her. The top had caved in at the time of burial, so dirt had gotten in and lay over her remains.
~ Not only was her body in a remarkable preserved condition, her crown and bouquet of flowers were dried in place, the profession candle with the ribbon, her crucifix, and rosary were all intact. Even more remarkable was the complete preservation of her holy habit, “made from natural fibers, for which she fought so vigorously throughout her religious life. “The synthetic veil was perfectly intact, while the lining of the coffin, made of very similar material was completely deteriorated and gone.
~The careful process of clearing and removing the dirt and mold began, and the body began to lose volume since the initial exhumation with exposure to air. Thus some shrinking and darkening took place. All facial features were visible, but as falling dirt had caused damage, especially to the right eye, a Sister carefully crafted a wax mask to cover the face.
Sister is laid out here until the completion of the St. Joseph altar, now under construction, and due to be installed.
Once the popular cultus is well established, her cause for sainthood may be introduced within the Diocese, so that Sister's holiness may eventually be recognized by Holy Mother Church
About the Community:
The community first began under the aegis of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter in 1995, in the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania. We were originally called the Oblates of Mary, Queen of Apostles to indicate the offering of ourselves to the Benedictine family and we had consecrated ourselves to Our Lady, and offered ourselves to her service. We began following a monastic horarium as laid out by St. Benedict in his Rule, chanting the traditional Divine Office in Latin as prescribed.
In March 2006, we accepted the invitation of Bishop Robert W. Finn to transfer to his diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri. We were established as a Public Association of the Faithful with the new name, “Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles”. By the grace of God and through the fatherly solicitude of Bishop Finn, we were raised to the status of Religious Institute of Diocesan Right on November 25, 2014. September 9th and 10th of 2018 saw the erection of our priory to an Abbey, the consecration of our Abbey Church, and the consecration of Mother Abbess Cecilia as our first abbess. On April 28th of 2019, seven intrepid sisters left the Abbey to establish the our first daughter house, the Monastery of St. Joseph in Ava, Missouri where they have extended our order and mission.- Our beloved foundress, Sr Wilhelmina (Lancaster) of the Most Holy Rosary, born in Louis Missouri, died May 29, 2019 at 95 years of age.
Sources: https://benedictinesofmary.org/about-us/
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