Czech Police Find Stolen Skull of Saint
Police said the 800-year-old relic was found days after theft, and a suspect admitted taking it and faces up to eight years in prison.
- On Thursday, Czech police detained a 35-year-old man suspected of stealing an 800-year-old saint's skull from a basilica in Jablonne v Podjestedi on Tuesday, recovering the relic after investigators obtained information about its location.
- The suspect objected to the skull being displayed and intended to cover it in concrete and dispose of it in a river, striking just before mass on Tuesday evening when the church alarm was off, breaking the glass shrine.
- Saint Zdislava of Lemberk, born around 1220 and canonised by Pope John Paul II in 1995, was a noblewoman known for charitable work revered by pilgrims. Fuzzy security footage showed a figure in black fleeing through the Saint Lawrence and Saint Zdislava basilica, 110 km north of Prague.
- Detectives arrested the suspect in Mlad Boleslav yesterday, "following meticulous police work and a bit of police luck," Local Police Chief Petr Rajt said. Rajt warned that without the arrest, "the skull would probably never be found."
- Local detective Jan Ujka confirmed the man pleaded guilty to theft and now faces pre-trial custody with a potential eight-year prison sentence. The suspect, who has no previous criminal record, confronts restoration experts with an uphill task after he covered the skull in concrete before arrest.
32 Articles
32 Articles
Saint Zdislava of Lemberk: After a search lasting several days, the skull stolen from a church in the Czech Republic has been recovered. The suspect allegedly did not…
An 800-year-old relic believed to be the skull of Saint Zdislava has been recovered in the Czech Republic after a spectacular church robbery. The skull was found encased in concrete and a man has been arrested on suspicion of the crime.
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Northwest CatholicPolice recover beloved saint’s relic taken in brazen theft that shocked Czech Catholics
(OSV News) — Police announced May 15 that the stolen skull of one of the Czech Republic’s most beloved saints has been found. It was taken by a thief who slipped into a Dominican basilica just before evening Mass on May 12, smashed a glass reliquary and escaped in a flash with the remains of St. Zdislava of Lemberk, a 13th-century Dominican laywoman whose relics have been venerated by pilgrims for centuries. Police said they recovered the skull…
The man who planned to throw the relic into deep water so that no one could find it could get up to eight years in prison.
Investigators recovered the skull of St. Zdislava, a 13th-century Dominican tertiary nun, stolen from the Czech basilica in Jablonne, Liberec Region. The suspect was arrested on Thursday evening. Police reported a day later that the perpetrator had covered the relic with concrete.
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