The Catholic Morning Show
Baby Brian: An Infant Found Incorrupt 37 Years After Burial – Fr. David Axtmann – 08/06/2026
Episode Summary
Fr. David Axtmann joins Bo Bonner on The Catholic Morning Show to tell the story of Brian Thomas Gallagher, an infant who lived less than an hour in 1982 and whose body was found seemingly incorrupt when it was disinterred 37 years later in Highmore, South Dakota. Fr. Axtmann walks through the timeline — the accidental discovery during reinterment, the funeral director's testimony, the mother holding her son again after nearly four decades, and the five years the family kept the story private. He also explains how the story finally went public, why it has brought comfort to parents grieving miscarriage, stillbirth and infant loss, and what it means that the Diocese of Rapid City has opened an active investigation into its miraculous nature.
Episode Notes
- June 16, 1982 — Brian Thomas Gallagher is born at a hospital on the military base at Fort Knox, Kentucky, weighing 7 pounds 4 ounces after a normal pregnancy. He is the firstborn son of Shawn and Mary Pat Gallagher and lives less than an hour due to complications during delivery.
- A week later — Knowing Fort Knox is not their long-term home, the Gallaghers bury Brian at St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Highmore, South Dakota, near his father's extended family.
- 2019 — Now retired and planning to be buried at Black Hills National Cemetery outside Sturgis, the couple arranges to have Brian's remains relocated so they can one day rest beside him. Funeral director Tiffany Hofer of Highmore is retained for the disinterment.
- The discovery — A backhoe pierces the original casket. Opening it to transfer the body, Hofer finds it astonishingly free of any sign of decay: entirely intact 37 years after burial, lifelike in color and form, supple skin, full facial features, no drying, wrinkling, odor, mold, mildew or disfigurement. In her words, he looked like he was sleeping.
- November 8, 2019 — Shawn and Mary Pat travel to Highmore with two of their children and Shawn's sister. Photographs are taken, including one of Mary Pat holding her son again. Brian is placed in a new casket and reburied at Black Hills National Cemetery, with a Catholic priest assisting.
- March 2025 — Mary Pat attends a presentation by author Bri Edwards at a Catholic church in Spearfish, South Dakota. Edwards, who lost her own infant son Lachlan to SIDS, urges her not to keep the story quiet and begins collecting witness testimonials, photographs and documentation.
- May 2025 — babybrian.org launches, publishing the funeral director's testimony, the parents' accounts, other witness statements and the photographs.
- May 27, 2026 — After the story is presented to the Diocese of Rapid City, the parents receive word from the diocesan chancellor that an active investigation has been opened with the intention of establishing its miraculous nature.
Why it resonates Fr. Axtmann points to two things: the comfort it brings parents who have lost children in the womb or in infancy, and its force as a faith-building sign that God is present and active in the modern world. He notes the Gallaghers are cradle Catholics who met at Mount Marty in Yankton, South Dakota — Shawn went on to a law degree from the University of Notre Dame, Mary Pat to a master's in education — and that they were not seeking publicity; they simply did not know how to share the story for five years. Fr. Axtmann was the celebrant at their 50th wedding anniversary on July 18. He calls it a resurrection story: birth, death, and this appearance of an incorrupt child.
Where to go next
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