Ireland: Theft of a relic of a patron saint of Dublin
During the night between March 2nd and 3rd, someone stole the heart of the patron saint of Dublin, Laurence O'Toole, from the Christ Church Cathedral [Church of Ireland], where it had been kept for 800 years in a wooden heart-shaped reliquary secured in a small iron cage on the wall of a chapel inside the cathedral in Dublin, one of the most important monuments of the city.
St. Laurence O'Toole, born in the east of Ireland in 1128 and made the second archbishop of Dublin in 1161, was particularly appreciated for his role in the famine that struck the Irish capital in the middle of the twelfth century. Also known by the Gaelic name of Lorcan Ua Tuathail, he died at Eu, in northern France in 1180. His body was buried there, but his heart was brought to Ireland and preserved in the cathedral in Dublin. He was canonized 45 years later. (Sources: Apic / radiovatican - DICI No. 252 of 03/30/12)
