Mary Elizabeth (religious name Sr. Wilhelmina) Lancaster was born on April 13, 1924 at St. Louis, Missouri to an African-American Catholic family. In 1944, at the age of 20, Wilhelmina entered the Oblate Sisters of Providence (the first African-American religious congregation, founded 1829 by St. Mary Elizabeth Lange in Baltimore).
For 50 years (1944–1995), Wilhelmina served the Oblate Sisters of Providence.
In 1995, at the age of 70, Wilhelmina founded the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles at Scranton, Pennsylvania — the traditional Benedictine women's community dedicated to the traditional Latin liturgical office. In 2006, the community moved to Gower, Missouri.
The Benedictines of Mary became famous for their systematic Gregorian chant recordings — producing multiple #1 Billboard Classical Traditional albums during the 2010s.
Wilhelmina died at the Gower Abbey on May 29, 2019 at the age of 95.
On April 28, 2023 — at the four-year anniversary of Wilhelmina's death — her body was exhumed for the planned transfer to the new abbey church. The Sisters discovered her body was incorrupt — the documented Catholic incorrupt-body relic of the 21st century.
The discovery attracted massive Catholic pilgrimage attention — producing tens of thousands of pilgrims to the Gower Abbey during the weeks.