‘A deep sense of hope’ – An abbess reflects on Sister Wilhemina
The story has become well-known among American Catholics — In late April, the nuns of Gower Abbey, Missouri, exhumed the body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, who died in 2019, so that they could transfer it to a shrine to St. Joseph in their chapel.
To their surprise, Sister Wilhelmina’s body and habit were completely intact — not decayed after four years in the ground, even while the nun wasn’t embalmed, and there was a large crack in her casket’s lid.
Pilgrims flowed to Gower Abbey in the weeks after the discovery, while the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph said it would investigate the matter.
The pilgrims have slowed now, and the abbey’s superior, Mother Abbess Cecilia Snell, talked with The Pillar by email about what comes next, and what God might be saying at Gower Abbey.
Her interview is below.
What was the spiritual influence of Sister Wilhelmina on your community? How do you best remember her now?Â
Sister Wilhelmina was truly the rock of our community, being the foundress and the one defining the spirit of the community. She said that she wanted to instill true devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the community, and that the spirit would be passed onto all generations.
She was a great devotee and promoter of the most holy rosary, seeing this as the most powerful and living proof of that devotion Our Lady.
She also had a deeply religious sense, garnered from her many years as a religious living under house, and was a model of obedience. She showed us that obedience leads to order: the ordering of charity, and living in community with so many other women.
