Priest makes plea for return of reliquaries

by Mindy Aguon

Guam - Hundreds of people are praying for the return of two relics that were stolen from the altar at the Saint Fidelis Friary Chapel in Sinajana. KUAM News first brought you the story Tuesday, and now the friary is making a plea to the person or persons responsible to return the priceless, sacred artifacts.  One reliquary contained an artifact dating back 2,000 years.     

"It's just plain metal. It looks like gold and silver, but it's not - so there's no monetary value involved it's the sacredness of these objects," stated Father Eric Forbes. The priest says he and his fellow Capuchin friars were shocked when they realized that two reliquaries containing sacred relics were stolen from the chapel altar at the Saint Fidelis Friary. On Monday the friars did as they do every day by having afternoon mass and then convened for an evening prayer at five o'clock.

"I noticed that they were there, then we noticed that they were not there 7am, when we have our morning prayer," he recalled.

The two relics are under Forbes' personal care. He says the chapel is locked when not in use but it's possible that a door may not have been closed completely or someone snuck in unnoticed.  There were no signs of any break in and the friars cannot afford security cameras.  The reliquaries have been in the friar's possession for more than five decades.

Fr. Eric said, "In the old days, the documentation always went with the relic, which we have. So a splinter of the actual cross that our Lord was actually crucified on and the on the other one is a bone fragment of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, one of our own capuchins; he lived 500 years ago."

Because they are not worth much in monetary value, there are concerns that the items will simply be thrown away or discarded somewhere. "I appeal to this person or persons just to come back to the friary when they think it's safe, when nobody's around. The doors will all be locked obviously but they can put these relics outside on the bench. I'll keep an eye out for these things in the next week or two and hopefully they bring it back and go your way," he said.

The priest also said, "Have a peaceful conscience, make your peace with God. You have a higher justice to answer to than GPD if you don't bring these back."

He's is even pleading with pawn shop and gold dealers to keep an eye out for the items that are of tremendous sacred value, saying, "If they come in tell them you'll keep them, come back later for the money, and call me up and let me go rescue them. We're not interested in the people who have taken them; like I said, they have to answer to God for this. And that's a more fearful prospect than to answer to me or GPD or anyone else."

And for now the altar in the chapel remains bare until other relics are placed in the reliquaries. "You can be very sure now that we will just take them out for public veneration and put them right back under lock and key from now on," said Fr. Eric.

Until then, they continue to pray, as the priest said, "There's hundreds, if not thousands, of people praying and asking especially St. Anthony, the patron of lost things, to help us out here."

Anyone with information about the reliquaries are asked to the contact Fr. Eric at the Saint Fidelis Friary at 472-6339.