The cover image of this article is from thinglink.com.
On Thursday afternoon, a 31-year-old man was apprehended for breaking into a church in Arkansas and stealing two relic boxes embedded in the altar.
The incident took place at Subiaco Abbey, a part of Subiaco Academy, an all-male preparatory school, resulting in the temporary closure of the school ‘out of an abundance of caution’.
The Logan County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene upon the reports of an intruder having entered the church and damaged the altar with a hammer. Upon their arrival, the suspect was already gone but they collected evidence and took photographs of the destruction. Soon afterwards, the suspect returned to the scene and was arrested.
The deputy found a car which belonged to the suspect and it contained a tool that had marble dust on it. Additionally, they discovered an item in the truck that had been taken from a nearby vacant house. This was seized and the truck was towed away.
The altar was a huge import from Italy and had two reliquaries, small brass-coloured boxes, embedded in it. Each of these boxes had three relics of saints from over 1500 years ago. But, these had been stolen and the altar was left with a large hole in the middle and visible cracks and chips.
The suspect has been apprehended and taken to the Logan County Detention Center. He is expected to face charges of theft of property, criminal mischief in the first degree, residential burglary, breaking or entering and public intoxication. At this point, the investigation is still ongoing.
The church officials said that witnesses had reported seeing a strange man in and around the campus. Meanwhile, the monks continued their regular communal prayers.
Now that the man has been identified, the church has asked for a prayer for him.