Brian Thomas Gallagher was born to a faithful Catholic family on a military base at Fort Knox, Kentucky, in 1982. He lived for less than an hour due to complications during delivery. His parents, Shawn and Mary Pat (Ruhlman) Gallagher, requested baptism from the Catholic chaplain who was notified. Though no baptismal certificate was filed and they did not witness the baptism, it was their explicit desire and request.

Knowing Fort Knox would not be their long-term home, the Gallaghers chose to bury Brian in Highmore, South Dakota, near Shawn’s extended family. In 2019, as they made plans for their eventual burial at the Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis, SD, they decided to have Brian’s body reinterred there so they could one day be buried beside him.

During the disinterment process, a backhoe tine pierced the original casket. In opening the casket to move Brian’s body to a new casket, the funeral director discovered that his remains showed no signs of decomposition whatsoever—37 years after burial. His body was entirely intact: lifelike in color and form, with supple skin, fully intact facial features, no drying, wrinkling, odor, mold, mildew or disfigurement. His body tolerated gentle handling without skin slippage or hair loss. His blanket and gown were removed, washed, and replaced, and his body was gently cleaned and re-dressed—unthinkable in typical exhumation cases after such time. In the words of the Funeral Director, “His body was still flexible for an embalmed infant—enough that we were easily able to remove his clothes to wash them.”

While Brian was embalmed following an autopsy, and embalming does slow decay, it does not prevent decomposition entirely—particularly over such an extended period. Modern funeral science shows that even expertly embalmed remains typically dehydrate, discolor, shrink, and stiffen over decades, and would reasonably be expected to be completely skeletal after such a time interval. Funeral directors familiar with the case have unanimously expressed astonishment at the complete lack of expected post-mortem changes. In their professional opinions, Brian’s condition is well outside the scope of what embalming and burial conditions would reasonably explain.

In Brian’s case, the condition of his body seems to defy reasonable natural explanation and aligns with descriptions of bodies found to be miraculously incorrupt, inviting further discernment of what God might be revealing through this grace.

The Church does not recognize incorruptibility alone as proof of sainthood, but it may be recognized by the Church as a divine sign of favor and sanctity. The photos and story of this infant bring immense hope and healing to parents who are grieving the loss of an infant or young child and affirms for many the inherent sanctity of all of God’s children.