CV NEWS FEED// Sister Wilhelmina was the beloved foundress of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, an order she founded in 1995 after struggling against the laxity of the order she initially joined.
Sister Wilhelmina is the first American to be declared incorruptible, as CatholicVote previously reported.
The Benedictines of Mary published an online biography of Sister Wilhelmina, outlining her vocation story, her time as an Oblate Sister of Providence, and her decision to found the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles.
The biography states that Sister Wilhelmina was born as Mary Elizabeth Lancaster on April 13, 1924, and received her First Holy Communion on April 2, 1934. She said that Our Lord asked her if she would be His in an “unforgettable experience.”
“He seemed to be such a handsome and wonderful Man, I agreed immediately. Then He told me to meet Him every Sunday at Holy Communion.” She continued, “I said nothing about this conversation to anyone, believing that everyone that went to Holy Communion heard Our Lord talk to them.”
Sister Wilhelmina said she “hardly knew” what it meant to belong to Jesus, but when her confessor asked her if she thought about becoming a Sister and told her she would make a good nun, she “went to work on the idea right away.” At the age of 13 she wrote a letter to the superior of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, who responded saying that Sister Wilhelmina had to finish high school first.
Her parents founded a Catholic school called St. Joseph’s Catholic High School for Negroes because they did not want their daughter to attend public schools after her elementary and middle school years. She graduated when she was 17, and a few months later she left for Oblates’ convent in Baltimore, Maryland. She took her vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience on March 9, 1944.
While an Oblate, Sister Wilhelmina held various occupations, including cooking, cleaning, teaching, archiving, and assisting an elderly nun named Sister Beninga.
Sister Wilhelmina explained the gradual effects of modern trends on her order. She said that in 1967, “individual Sisters were allowed to experiment with the headdress.” She then stated, “I was not for this at all.” She also said, “The rule of silence and monthly chapter were long gone.”
She also explained how Sister Benigna encouraged her love of writing poetry and her love of music, and that the elder nun set one of Sister Wilhelmina’s poems to music and taught it to the choir.
Sister Benigna also wore the traditional habit that fully covered the hair. Sister Wilhelmina stated, “I had unfortunately gotten into the new habit – from June 1971 until Holy Saturday 1974 I was in it – to my great regret.” However, after the Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima came to visit her motherhouse, Sister Wilhelmina embraced the traditional habit. “Needless to say, my return to the habit was not just for that occasion, but for the rest of my life.”
Sister Wilhelmina said that she “had no thought or desire of leaving my community in those days, but I was gung-ho for seeing it reformed.” She submitted certain reforms, which sisters were invited to do, and also suggested that the sisters embrace contemplative life as a unit within their order.
She submitted the same suggestion for 20 years, from 1973 to 1993. Her suggestion “was hamstrung from the very beginning. I saw nothing ahead of me but silent perseverance in the community until I died.”
However, when the Priestly Fraternity Of St. Peter (FSSP), an order dedicated to celebrating the Tridentine Mass, arrived in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Sister Wilhelmina had great hope. She saw Pope St. John Paul II’s motu proprio Ecclesia Dei, which gave permission for all Catholic priests to celebrate the Latin Mass without needing special permission, “as salvific,” and she “was determined to return to and attend the Traditional Latin Mass as much as possible.”
There were two sisters at the house in Scranton, and Sister Wilhelmina decided to join them. She entered under the aegis of the FSSP in 1994 and renewed her vows as a Benedictine sister.
Commenting on her own decision, Sister Wilhelmina said,
It would seem I did a very foolish thing. After fifty years as an Oblate Sister of Providence, I started 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 didn’t make sense, I reply that it is understandable only in the life of faith.
The order moved to the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, in 2006, according to the order’s website, at the invitation of Bishop Robert W. Finn.
Sister Wilhelmina’s biography states that her last words were “O Maria,” and she died on May 29, 2019, with the Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima in her room.
The faithful can visit the grave of Sister Wilhemina at the Benedictines of Mary’s convent in Gower, Missouri.
