Thieves steal thousand-year-old saint’s remains from German church
MUNICH – Thieves have stolen the thousand-year-old remains of a saint from a medieval church in the southern German city of Regensburg, police said on Monday (26).
The remains of Saint Wolfgang, a medieval bishop, were forcibly removed from the Regensburg church of the same name, police said.
Thieves broke the relics out of “the bulletproof glass and the steel enclosure with extreme force,” the congregation reported on its website.
“The immaterial damage is immeasurable,” it added.
The theft comes just days ahead of Saint Wolfgang’s day on October 31, the church said.
Wolfgang, who died in 994, was the first bishop of Regensburg. He was canonized in 1052.
As is usual with medieval relics, parts of his body were buried in different places. There are two Wolfgang graves in Regensburg. Most of the relics are kept in the Emmerams basilica, with the smaller part kept in Saint Wolfgang church.
Further Wolfang relics can be found in Austria and Portugal.
Police appealed to witnesses for information about the crime.
-dpa