An 800 year-old skull that was stolen from a Czech church has been recovered and one suspect is in custody, following the daring heist earlier last week. According to The Straits Times:
Police said they had arrested a suspect, who had admitted to taking the skull of St Zdislava of Lemberk from a glass shrine in the basilica of St Lawrence and St Zdislava in the town of Jablonne v Podjestedi on May 12.
The 35-year-old man had objected to it being displayed, police said, and had intended to cover it in concrete and dispose of it in a river.
St. Zdislava of Lemberk was a 13th-century Bohemian noblewoman who was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1995. Her skull, which has remained separated from her body in its own private reliquary since her beatification, is an important relic for Czech Catholics, who frequently make pilgrimages to the basilica to see it.
Police chief Petr Rajt told reporters:
“We know he wanted to sink it in the river today to bid farewell in this way. If we had failed to detain the man yesterday, the skull would probably never be found.”
