Tabernacle stolen from Dublin church

The tabernacle was stolen from St Brigid's Church in Killester yesterday afternoon.

Gardaí are seeking the public's assistance in helping to track down a tabernacle stolen from a church in Dublin yesterday.

The tabernacle was stolen from St Brigid's Church, Killester, between 12 noon and 3pm while the church was open to the public.

The religious object has a very distinctive celtic design on the front and on the two sides.

It also has double doors on the front and had been in the church for over 50 years.

Believed to be worth €10,000, the distinctive press, fashioned in the style of St Patrick’s Bell, housed a small piece of St Brigid’s skull brought back to Ireland from Portugal in 1929.

But parish officials had only removed the relic, which is fixed to a cruciform, in recent weeks as the double-door reliquary underwent renovations as part of general maintenance at the church on Howth Road.

The theft was carried out two days before St Brigid’s Day.

It follows the robbery in Co Tipperary last October of another ancient relic, reputed to be from the cross on which Jesus was crucified.

That priceless artefact was returned to Holycross Abbey, near Thurles, earlier this month after gardai carried out a search in the midlands.

Killester parish priest Monsignor Alex Stenson said it was unclear if the latest theft was targeting the relics of St Brigid, one of Ireland’s three patron saints.

Tabernacle stolen from Dublin church - The Irish Times - Tue, Jan 31, 2012

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