A burglar at one of Ireland’s most famous churches has quickly ended
up in the arms of the Gardaí as a result of being caught in full view on
the internet television cameras installed some years ago.
Mount Argus church in Dublin, mother house of the Passionists of St
Patrick’s Province that includes Ireland, Scotland, Paris, Botswana and
South Africa, was the target of a burglary in recent days.
Famous and
known throughout Ireland, Mount Argus was where Saint Charles of Mount
Argus lived out his days, ministering to the poor and sick of Dublin in
the latter half of the 1880s.
Today, his tomb, which is fast becoming a
place of pilgrimage as his holiness becomes known more widely, is
located within the church.
In 2006, and to mark 150 years of the Passionist presence at Mount
Argus, a permanent exhibition was established in the church and which
chronicles the history of the Passionists from their first arrival into
Ireland and throughout their 150 years.
Many items from the archive,
including written records, notes, letters, and some precious items such
as the stolen chalice, were professionally displayed and freely open to
visitors.
In the six years since the exhibition first opened, there
have never been any difficulties so the unwelcome visitor last weekend
was a first.
The permanent exhibition is housed alongside a museum dedicated to
the memory of St Charles of Mount Argus, who was canonised by Pope
Benedict XVI in June 2007.
Thankfully, none of the artefacts or
memorabilia associated with St Charles and which includes such items as
the coffin in which he was buried, were disturbed.
Among the items stolen was a chalice and paten, presented to a Passionist by the people in the 1880s to mark his jubilee.
Speaking to CiNews, Fr Bernard Lowe, c.p., Superior at Mount
Argus said that the chalice was behind toughened Perspex and initially,
there was no indication of how this had been broken.
However, a
subsequent search revealed a crucifix and which is now believed to have
been the implemented used to break into the display.
When a complete review was made of the exhibition, it was also
discovered that a Waterford Crystal bowl, the Millennium Bowl, owned by
the late Taoiseach, Jack Lynch who attended Mass regularly at Mount
Argus and presented by his wife, Mairín, is also missing, along with a
skull cap that had belonged to Bishop Urban Murphy c.p., the first
Passionist bishop of Gaborone in Botswana and where the Passionists
first established a mission in the 1950s.
According to Fr Bernard, the Gardaí were quick to detain their
suspect once they had viewed the image from the internet television
cameras and the detained man brought them to a hiding place where the
missing chalice and its paten were located. Unfortunately, both had
suffered damage.
Some diamonds that decorated the chalice had been
prised off and the paten too had a piece missing from it, apparently in
an attempt to get a value for the gold from a dealer.
However, when questioned, the suspect denied any knowledge of the
Waterford Crystal bowl and of the missing skullcap.
Fr Bernard says
that the Passionists are now looking into whether it is possible that
these items may have been taken on a previous occasion but not
discovered until now.
The Passionists value both items and Fr Bernard
says they are greatly saddened to lose them.
While the majority of the items in both the permanent exhibition and
the Saint Charles exhibition have no monetary value, they nonetheless
are hugely important to a congregation that has made a significant
contribution to Irish life.
As a result, the Passionists are reviewing
the security precautions and, at least for the time being, they have
removed a number of precious items including a chalice used by Saint
Charles and, until now, available to be seen.
Fr Bernard went on to say
that continuing the keep the exhibition open to the public full-time is
important to the Passionists and it is not expected that this
unfortunate occurrence will result in the closure of either of the two
exhibitions.
Asked by CiNews to comment on the role that the internet tv
cameras had in apprehending the suspect so quickly, Tony Bolger, CEO at
churchservices.tv, said, “We’re very pleased that our technology proved
to be so instrumental in this outcome. Mount Argus is one of the
earliest churches in Ireland to use the churchservices.tv system and
while the primary purpose is to bring the church into the living room of
the visitor, it is clear that with these systems, there is a pair of
eyes in the church all the time and this has to be a good thing in these
days.”
Mount Argus is located on the south side of Dublin city, in the
Harold’s Cross area of the city.
Founded in 1856, the Passionists have a
long history in the city and since their foundation in Dublin,
established communities in Belfast (Holy Cross, Ardoyne), Enniskillen
(St Gabriel’s, the Graan), Crossgar (Tobar Mhuire) in Co Down as well as
other houses now closed including Colooney, in Co Sligo.
The
foundation stone for the church was laid on September 19 and the Church
was officially opened on the December 18 of the same year.
Mount Argus, or to give it its proper title, the church of St Paul of
the Cross, became a parish of the Archdiocese of Dublin in 1974.
In
December 2009, and following over 150 years in the original monastery,
the Passionists moved into their new monastery opposite the original.