Dublin cathedral devastated at theft of precious relic

Irish police are continuing to hunt for a 12th-Century relic that was stolen in the Irish capital over the weekend. The relic, the preserved heart of the patron saint of Dublin, St Laurence O'Toole, was stolen from the Dublin’s Christ Church Cathedral, which is run by the Anglican church of Ireland.

The heart had been kept in a wooden sealed container in the Cathedral for the last 800 years.

“I am absolutely devastated because it feels like a desecration of the Cathedral”, says the Dean of Christ Church, the Very Reverend Dermot Dunne.

There have been a number of robberies recently in which relics were taken from Irish churches. “What we’re thinking is, it could be theft by order, that someone wants to collect relics”, Reverend Dunne told Lydia O’Kane.

St Laurence O’Toole was the second Archbishop of Dublin. When he died in Eu in Northern France in 1180 his body was buried in Normandy, but his heart was brought back to Ireland.

Reverend Dermot Dunne says the relic is a link to the cathedral’s spiritual past and he is appealing for its safe return. Listen