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THE HEART OF Saint Laurence O’Toole has been stolen from Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin.
Gardaí in Kevin Street are investigating the theft of the 12th century relic from Saint Lauds Chapel within the cathedral. They believe the theft occurred sometime between yesterday evening and 12.30pm today.
They are now appealing for assistance from the public.
The Heart of Saint Laurence O’Toole is kept in a wooden heart-shaped container sealed within a small iron barred box. Inside is the preserved heart of the one-time archbishop St Laurence O’Toole who was born Lorcán Ua Tuathail in Kildare in 1128.
He was canonised by Pope Honorius III in 1225.
Gardai wish to speak to anyone who may have visited Saint Lauds Chapel in Christ Church Cathedral between yesterday evening and today at 12.30pm and seen anything unusual or suspicious. They have also appealed for anyone who may be in a position to assist with the investigation to contact them at Kevin Street at 01- 6669400, the Garda Confidential Telephone Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.
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Heartless thing to do.
Heartless bastards!
Don’t worry, they’ll be caught. They’ll soon realise it was all in vein.
What did they expect, Kevin Street is a major artery through the capital.
Morons. What is wrong with people.
The people who stole the heart, the ones that display it or both?
FFS
That is disgraceful .
What value is this to anyone but the people of the church …..
I’m at a loss to see what value it could be to anyone, particularly the church.
It’s a relic. That’s its value
2nd relic in 6 months thats gone missing
no value to anyone other than a catholic….
No value to anyone except Catholics? I’d say worth a fortune on the black market. There’s all sorts of weirdos out there who buy stuff like this. Remember the Auschwitz sign?
I believe that Relic was returned thttp://www.thurles.info/2012/01/17/holycross-reunited-with-stolen-relic-of-true-cross/ Christ Church Cathedral is not a Catholic Church , it is Church Of Ireland,…Christian ! … However I believe the value of this relic of Tt Lawrence O Toole is important to ”collectors”of such artefacts… I am not a religious person , but this theft is shocking and I hope it is returned asap.
Y ate a lot of people mocking n belittling this theft, if this was a muslim or Jewish relic that had been stolen n people mocked they’d b accused of racism !!! This is gonna make a lot of people very sad n I don’t c the need ta mock or joke about it….
No they are all crazy.
They would also be cowards to slag if it were Muslem.
Would you have us bring in the Catholic equivalent of Sharia law Sean? Always good to know there are still Christians who hold the Islamic world as an example on how to treat religion. Sorry Sean our country is all the better for people like me having the freedom to make jokes at the craziness of our species before it consumes us and makes us like the defunct Islamic societies you so admire.
Paul, can we mock or joke about your text speak so instead?
I agree with Paul, Jewish jokes are offensive Anne Frankly, I won’t stand for it.
Check your spelling?
No matter what anyone thinks of the church it’s wrong to steal. Especially something that would mean so much to those it is stolen from.
Although I agree with whoever said it was strange to be hanging on to body parts – surely that would be desecrating the body? I thought that was something the church was opposed to?
a heart locked in a cage. symbolism indeed.
Keith, you have said it all there for me. Good job!!!
Catholicism is such a morbid religion. A black heart in a cage. A man on a cross. It’s amazing they manage to make something with all kinds of shades of satanism and S&M (I’m not even being funny or facetious) come across as any kind of spirituality. I guess it’s the nature of evil to call itself something else.
Did you ever see Dogma? One of the characters at one point says that Catholics do not celebrate their faith, they mourn it.
Never fear the Gards will get to the heart of the matter
Kinda stupid thing to nick, who’s going to buy it?
Mr. Burns.
Tinman might want a look in….
Looks like the tinman is the main suspect
Dammit that was my joke.. Lucky i didn’t get ahead of myself and checked the comments.. ..ahead.. Why couldn’t a head have been stolen??
St Oliver’s head is in Drogheda ? ?
You sure that’s iron? Looks a lot like copper or bronze (maybe it’s just paint?), which would be a fair indication as to why it was nicked.
Enda kenny nicked it, well he has no heart of his own!!!!
In other breaking news the spleen of St. Augustine was stolen and the appendix of St. Bartholomew.
Have some respect please
Respect for what? What is it with religions (mostly christian as far as I know) and parts of human remains? What respect is shown to this blokes memory be having his heart as a keepsake? I thought it was the soul that mattered.
Check out second hand hearts on ebay, might turn up there.
Don’t worry James, once all the pieces have been put together, the mighty Frankensaint will teach him to respect the church.
But seriously, surely carving the heart from a corpse and locking it in an iron box for hundreds of years is lacking in respect, don’t you think?
Im sorry for anyone who feels the need to have respect for stuff like that. What have we become keeping the organs of dead people? The most favourable thing anyone can do is laugh at it. But is also a bit sick and disguisting.
There are several foreskins of Christ around Europe. Im not kidding.
@Noddy, You ask respect for what ? Respect for others views, opinions and rights
@John. I have every respect for the views and opinions of others. It’s the disrespectful deeds I have a problem with.
Did Laurence O’Toole give his permission for his hearty to be taken from his body and displayed in public? If he did then fair enough. But if he didn’t, then I find the display of his heart an appalling and utterly disrespectful deed, in much the same way many (including the religious) condemned the recent body parts exhibition.
Actually all religions deserve respect .
I will say that find some of the
comments quite humorous :)
In other religions they have very strict protocols involving their religious
texts, for instance, and how and even who handles them ….
Eileen If you wish to grant respect to Iron age primitive folklore that is your right. But you cannot demand it from others. Those who would demand such respect need to be challenged. What people wish to do in private is their business but when nonsense is preached in public then rational people have a duty to stand up to it.
Cyril ,
I have not ”demanded” any such thing . I have asked just as many other posters have done to respect peoples beliefs .
I am not overly religious , I don’t ”pray ” to relics, however I respect other people’s right to do so
and that is what I am asking people to respect ….Other people’s right to their beliefs.
I have not preached anything , nor have I seen anyone else preaching…
I respect your beliefs too. :)
What an odd relic..
I keep old toenail clippings
I’d say it was someone from Chelsea. They’ve lacked heart all season.
Fianna Fail is in town. Coincidence?
lol mick – very good – :-)
That’s the second time at least that this body part has been stolen, we can only hope he was dead the first time it was stolen.
I’d take that as a given, whether it was still working when they took it out, or not.
;)
As regards the cage-seems it was iron after all, and open on the side facing the wall, so they didn’t need to nick it with the heart. Strange.
I would be curious to know how such a relic survived the Reformation and in a Protestant church, to boot!
High Anglican church. Not a huge difference between that and Catholicism.
a heartless crime. no. wait…
This is so sad and the people/person involved obviously have no brain…
Hannibal Lecter was hungry but obviously hadnt checked the best before date.
It’s a terrible crime and I don’t condone any type of thieft but, why is a person’s heart on display in the first place? It seems very medieval to me.
It is medieval, why do people try to judge this from our modern viewpoint? It was probably an object of much veneration in the 12th century, and still important enough to someone today to want to steal it!
Have they checked the Halfpenny Bridge yet? it’s probably locked to the railings ;)
Somewhere,right now theres a junkie trying to flog it for €5 to put towards a bag of skag.
I’d say enda Kenny took it, he has very little heart a 12th century one could help. All he needs now is a brain and a set of balls and we might get out of this mess
Wait………… Maybe he could give it to the IMF he seems determined to sell off all our other assets…..what would we get for The book of Kells
We are having a bit of a crusade here tonight. Popular or not I will always call out dumb stuff for what it is.
Cyril, everytime I see your face pop up on a story I can’t help thinking about Tom from Fr Ted. You’re the image of him. Have you got a T-shirt which says “I shot JR”?
Tis my money I just didnt want to fill out the forms.
Watch that chip or your shoulder, its getting bigger by the hour!
@Irish-in-USA In the presence of crazy stuff that chip gets a lot bigger.
Perhaps it ascended?
What a creepy place the religious mind must be to not be disgusted by this zombie worship.
It came as a surprise to me that the heart of St Laurence O’ Toole was in Christ Church Cathedral. The retention of body parts was indeed a medieval practice and the fact that St Laurence’s heart was in Christ Church until now must be a bit of a miracle considering what has happened in Ireland since he died so many centuries ago. Such relics were often disposed of during the Reformation and succeeding episodes such as Cromwell’s campaigns in the 17th century.
The custodians of Christ Church must have been rather ingenious and devoted to have been able the retain the heart through all the centuries. In many ways it symbolises the continuous historical connection between the Church of Ireland and the ancient Irish Church prior to the English Pope Adrian’s authorisation of the Anglo-Norman invasion.
It will be interesting to see if it will ever be found and if the thieves are ever caught.
http://365rosaries.blogspot.com/2011/11/november-14-saint-laurence-otoole.html?m=1 quiet an interesting man by all accounts.
The preservation of saints bodies continues today, whereas particular body parts may have been preserved, typically the entire corpse is preserved. Though it may seem odd, the reason a saint becomes an officially recognised saint is due to miracles occurring after death. Most saints are recognised after people receive healing at their grave or their relics. Many saints have been exhumed to show that they are incorrupt, St Bernadette is still perfectly preserved. I have received a blessing from a first class relic and was healed. I can understand how it seems medieval but when you understand relics it’s simply miraculous. St Pio’s body emitted a sweet smell long after death, so the soul is important but the remains can heal.
Padre Pio was a fraud and a con man.
Maryhelen, I’m glad you are better.
But……this whole relic nonsense, and even more so – first class relics???
What a load of superstitions tosh.
What about the people who have received blessings from so called relics who did not get cured?
Could there be something else at play? Like medicine perhaps, or good doctors?
I’ve never heard of a miracle where someone with no legs suddenly grows a pair…..
@MaryHelen K: It wasn’t the Holy Stone of Clonrickert was it? Ah no, wait, that was only a Class 3 relic…
sccumbags id love to kick the head off whoever robbed that, what sort of vermin regenerate tool would steal that.
One who knows what a degenerate is?
Or no heart
put it with the head in drogheda in and thats the brain and the heart all we need now is courage and the country might just get back back to normality!! oh i for got we still have to go to oz
Maybe Kurt Cobain needed back.
Part of James II’s body is in a church in St Germain-en-Laye near Paris. Irrelevant comment, but interesting.
It seem to be ongoing we had two more incidents where there were relics take from Churches.What is their problem. It is of no monetary value. Maybe the box that was containing the relic was the target .
Where is the rest of this boy? Maybe the corpse/ skeleton has a heart now!
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