A Salt Lake City diocese is asking for the return of a relic belonging to one of the New Testament’s most famous figures after it was stolen.
On July 10, a bone fragment smaller than a fingernail belonging to Mary Magdalene was stolen from the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City.
“It would be a miracle if it came back,” Father Martin Diaz said in a press release. “We have a pretty good idea who took the relic, and I don’t believe he even remembers being here.”
Cathedral staff discovered the relic was missing after finding the relic – the box in which the precious object is kept – broken on the floor.
The religious institution contacted police and is offering a $1,000 reward for information about the missing item.
On July 10, a bone fragment smaller than a fingernail, belonging to Mary Magdalene, was stolen from the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City.
Cathedral staff discovered the relic was missing after finding the relic – the box in which the special item is kept – lying broken on the floor
The church has owned the relic since 1918 and it is woven in red cloth with a fleur-de-lis pattern on it, which is glued to cardboard and placed in a bronze and glass reliquary, the Salt Lake Tribune.
Normally, it takes “two people to move the relic” and Diaz says the precious object “has no monetary value whatsoever.”
“In that sense it is worthless and priceless at the same time,” he said ABC4“For us there is no price and it breaks your heart when something so dear to the community, in some sense, is desecrated.”
Mary Magdalene is a figure from the New Testament of the Bible and one of the most famous followers of Jesus
While Diaz does not believe the person had “any knowledge” of “what he was doing,” he said the missing relic has caused “so much grief and pain in the community.”
Diaz has no faith that the relic will ever return, but he does hope for a miracle.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, he said, “Miracles happen all the time.”
DailyMail.com has contacted the Madeleine Cathedral for comment.
The second bishop of the diocese, Joseph Glass, brought the relic from France in 1918, along with a second relic taken from the cross of Christ.
But it’s not just Diaz who misses the special relic. Cristina Rosetti, an expert in religious studies, told The Tribune she was “devastated” by the news and that it had left a “wound” in the church.
The Salt Lake institution is the only cathedral in the country named after the devout follower of Jesus
Although Diaz said the church “could get another relic in Rome,” he conceded it would not be the Magdalene’s, as they are rare to find.
“We are losing connection with Bishop Glass, with our precious history,” he said.
The cathedral in Salt Lake City is the only cathedral in the country named after a devout follower of Jesus.
Mary Magdalene is a figure from the New Testament of the Bible and one of the most famous followers of Jesus.
Magdalene stayed with Jesus during the crucifixion and was present at his tomb.
She was also the first person to whom Jesus appeared after his resurrection.