Precious reliquary stolen
Precious relics stolen from Gütersloh church
After the theft of a relic cross from the church of St. Pancratius in Gütersloh, the police are asking for witnesses. They need to clarify whether the crime could have been a targeted art theft.
Was it an art robbery? This is the question that those responsible in the parish of St. Pankratius in Gütersloh are asking themselves after unknown thieves stole the reliquary cross from the church.
The cross from 1875 is made of gilded silver and carries two relics. Among them is one of Saint Laurentius - "one of the most important martyrs known to the Catholic Church", explains Elmar Quandte, the parish priest of St. Pancratius and head of the pastoral area of Gütersloh.
Relics "of unspeakable value" for the parish
"The thieves have desecrated the church because they have tampered with the saint. They have not only tampered with the cross, which is a goldsmith's work, but precisely also with the relics, which are of unspeakable value to the parish," Quandte said.
Pastor suspects art theft
The perpetrators had probably been in the church for the first time three days before the successful theft. The safety glass had been damaged and the cross had fallen over in the protective cave. The fact that the perpetrators came a second time suggests to Quandte that they were not only after the silver, but could have stolen the cross with the relics on behalf of a collector or for the foreign black market.
The police are asking for witnesses to come forward who have seen suspicious persons around the church of St. Pancras in the past week. They are still at the very beginning of the investigation. The question of whether the crime was a targeted art theft will remain open for a while.
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