Angel statues beheaded in ‘devastating’ theft of $2 million tabernacle, NY church says
A pastor arrived at church and found its angel statues beheaded and a $2 million pure gold tabernacle missing in what he called a “devastating” theft in Brooklyn, New York.
The altar that stored the bejeweled, 18 karat gold tabernacle was “forcefully cut open” at St. Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church sometime roughly between May 26 and 28, the New York City Police Department said in a statement provided to McClatchy News. The receptacle had been protected by a metal casing, according to the Diocese of Brooklyn.
“To know that a burglar entered the most sacred space of our beautiful Church and took great pains to cut into a security system is a heinous act of disrespect,” Father Frank Tumino, the pastor of the church, said in said in the Diocese of Brooklyn’s May 29 news release.
The tabernacle dates back to the 1890s and is considered “irreplaceable due to its historical and artistic value,” according to the church.
A tabernacle is where Catholic churches store the Eucharist, the bread consumed during each Mass during the sacrament of Communion.
Tumino also discovered the Eucharist that was once inside the now stolen tabernacle was “thrown all over the altar,” his statement said.
“This is devastating, as the Tabernacle is the central focus of our church outside of worship, holding the Body of Christ, the Eucharist, which is delivered to the sick and homebound,” he added.
Now, the NYPD is calling on the public for any information that might lead them to who burglarized the church, according to the department’s statement.
Video of the church’s interior before it was damaged in the burglary can be viewed here.
This story was originally published May 31, 2022 at 1:20 PM with the headline "Angel statues beheaded in ‘devastating’ theft of $2 million tabernacle, NY church says."
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