In the course of some research on the cemetery in Lake Forest, I came upon the newspaper article in question. It is accompanied in the archives files by a handwritten testimony to the same event by a Jesuit brother from Holy Family Parish, Chicago.

“The Academy of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, at No. 485 West Taylor Street, has been abandoned, and the nuns of the order are moving into the new home of the academy at Lake Forest. The old seminary had been in use for forty-nine years, and in a little green plot behind it were no less than twelve graves. In transferring the bodies to Calvary Cemetery for reinterment it was found that two of the twelve had become petrified, and the combined weight of each coffin and its contents required the exertions of eight men in the removal.

“The bodies were of Mother Galway, the founder of the local school, and of Mother Gauthreaux, her successor, remembered as a delicate French woman of culture who was one of several score of her faith who came to the United States and Canada years ago.”

Both Mothers Margaret Gallwey (usual spelling) and Rose Gauthreaux were vicars in “the West” in the 1860’s and 70’s. Parish records indicated that there were burials at West Taylor Street, though apparently there was no city record of the cemetery. A reporter was sent to the convent – by then inhabited by only a skeleton crew – to interview the superior about the matter; she declined to see him but sent one of her “subordinate sisters” who is quoted as follows:

“ ‘Dear me, there isn’t much Mother Riley [superior] could tell you. We know nothing of the world outside our own circle of teaching and of trips to the altar. There isn’t much left for us here except the joyous memories of our work. All we care for is to be gone from here.’ She waved her hand in comprehensive indication of the great reception room, now bare of all furniture except a chair or two.” One hopes that this is a free paraphrase of the nun’s own words, perhaps based on some of the reporter’s own stereotypes.

Speculation follows about the explanation of this phenomenon. It appears that, though rare, it was not unique: two petrified bodies were found on the island of Guadaloupe, one of which was in the British Museum at the time the article was written. “Possible action of water on the bodies in the convent cemetery is one explanation,” according to a British geologist quoted at length in the article. When we turn to the eyewitness account of the Jesuit brother, we read that, indeed, the two coffins were found to be submerged in several feet of water, “which through its chemical action had had the effect of petrifying both the bodies and garments. The remains of Ven. Mother Gallwey (who had died Dec. 21, 1873) was one of those found in that condition. Rev. Father Ferdinand Moeller, S.J., was present at the exhumation, performed the funeral rites and then the bodies were conveyed to Calvary Cemetery.”

There is no record of what was found when the bodies were removed again, this time from Calvary Cemetery to the burial ground on the convent property at Lake Forest. It would be interesting to know if the petrification endured, or what, if any, further mutations took place. Is there a scientist among us or among our collaborators who would like to study this case?