Czech Police Recover 800-Year-Old Saint Zdislava Skull, Arresting 35-Year-Old Suspect
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · May 16
Czech Police Recover 800-Year-Old Saint Zdislava Skull, Arresting 35-Year-Old Suspect
12 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 16
An 800-year-old skull believed to be Saint Zdislava’s was recovered after police found it encased in concrete and detained a 35-year-old suspect in Mladá Boleslav.
Police said the man confessed to stealing the relic from its glass shrine on Tuesday because he opposed its public display and planned to sink it in a river that day.
The theft happened shortly before evening mass while the church alarm was off; investigators said the suspect smashed the shrine and fled with the skull.
Experts are now trying to extract the relic from the concrete, while the suspect—who has no prior criminal record—has been charged, placed in pre-trial custody and faces up to eight years if convicted.
He encased a saint's skull in concrete to grant it 'peace.' Was this a crime or a misguided act of faith?
Can restorers rescue an 800-year-old sacred skull from its modern concrete tomb without destroying it?
How can sacred relics be protected from their most fervent, but dangerously misguided, believers?