Burglar has the heart of a saint
Source: Agencies |
March 5, 2012, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SOMEWHERE in Ireland, a burglar has the heart of a saint.
Officials at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin said yesterday they're distraught and perplexed over the theft of the church's most precious relic: the preserved heart of St Laurence O'Toole, patron saint of Dublin.
O'Toole's heart had been displayed in the cathedral since the 13th century. It was stored in a heart-shaped wooden box and secured in a small, square iron cage on the wall of a chapel dedicated to his memory. On Saturday someone cut through two bars, pried the cage loose, and made off with the relic.
"I am devastated that one of the treasured artifacts of the cathedral is stolen," said the Most Reverend Dermot Dunne, the cathedral's dean. "It has no economic value but it is a priceless treasurer."
Ireland's police force, the Garda Siochana, said detectives were studying hours of closed-circuit TV footage to try to identify the approximately 40 people who walked out the cathedral's front doors on Saturday morning.
The Garda said the thief may have hidden overnight in the cathedral and fled with the heart when its doors opened on Saturday. Worshippers didn't spot that the relic was missing until Saturday afternoon. Nobody has been arrested so far, the police said.
Officials at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin said yesterday they're distraught and perplexed over the theft of the church's most precious relic: the preserved heart of St Laurence O'Toole, patron saint of Dublin.
O'Toole's heart had been displayed in the cathedral since the 13th century. It was stored in a heart-shaped wooden box and secured in a small, square iron cage on the wall of a chapel dedicated to his memory. On Saturday someone cut through two bars, pried the cage loose, and made off with the relic.
"I am devastated that one of the treasured artifacts of the cathedral is stolen," said the Most Reverend Dermot Dunne, the cathedral's dean. "It has no economic value but it is a priceless treasurer."
Ireland's police force, the Garda Siochana, said detectives were studying hours of closed-circuit TV footage to try to identify the approximately 40 people who walked out the cathedral's front doors on Saturday morning.
The Garda said the thief may have hidden overnight in the cathedral and fled with the heart when its doors opened on Saturday. Worshippers didn't spot that the relic was missing until Saturday afternoon. Nobody has been arrested so far, the police said.
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