Bone fragments attributed to Saint Nicolas were stolen from a church in France and allegedly burned and crushed.
Priests at Saint Nicolas de Port, one of the few French sanctuaries holding a relic associated with the saint, reported on November 2 that a reliquary containing a fragment of his body had been taken.
Police later arrested a suspect who reportedly said he acted spontaneously, driven by a ‘desire to destroy’ the relic because he regarded devotion to bones as a form of idolatry.
Saint Nicolas, the figure who inspired Santa Claus, lived from around 270 to 343 AD. He is remembered for inheriting wealth and distributing it to the poor, particularly in the story of giving three girls bags of gold to spare them from a life of prostitution.
Priests with the Saint Nicolas in Lorraine Parish said: ‘The police investigation led to the identification and arrest of the perpetrator. He admitted breaking open the display case before burning and crushing the relic.
‘Beyond the heritage value of this object, what affects us most today is the profound attack on our history, our faith and the devotion of generations of pilgrims.’
The desecration took place only weeks before the Feast of Saint Nicolas, which commemorates the anniversary of the saint’s death.
It is also the latest in a series of prominent thefts, acts of vandalism and arson attacks aimed at Christian heritage sites across France.
Saint Nicolas, who lived from around 270 to 343 AD, is best known for inheriting wealth and giving it to the poor, as well as the story that he gave three girls bags of gold to save them from a life of prostitution
Priests at Saint Nicolas de Port, one of France’s few sanctuaries holding a relic associated with the saint, reported the theft of a reliquary containing a fragment of his body on November 2
The basilica’s principal relic remains in its treasury, displayed in an arm-shaped reliquary, according to a November 7 statement by the Association Connaissance et Renaissance de la Basilique, which works to preserve the building.
The destroyed fragment had been placed beneath a statue of Saint Nicolas in the patronal chapel in the early 2000s, the association said.
The basilica is now preparing for its annual torchlight procession on December 5, held on the eve of the Feast of Saint Nicolas.
Observed across Lorraine, Belgium and northern Europe, the December 6 celebration gives the destruction particular significance for communities that revere the saint.
For nearly 1,000 years, Saint-Nicolas-de-Port has been a major centre for Saint Nicolas devotees in France.
That association began with a journey from southern Italy, where Italian sailors took Saint Nicolas’ skeleton in 1087 after removing it from Myra, in present-day Turkey.
In 1098, a knight named Aubert de Varangéville brought a bone fragment from Bari to Lorraine. Tradition holds that it was a finger bone from the saint’s right hand, known as the dextre bénissante, or ‘blessing right hand.’
The arrival of the relic drew pilgrims to the town and established it as an important destination in medieval Europe. Joan of Arc was among those who came to pray there, visiting in 1429 before continuing to Chinon to meet the Dauphin.
Priests with the Saint Nicolas in Lorraine Parish said: ‘The police investigation led to the identification and arrest of the perpetrator. He admitted breaking open the display case before burning and crushing the relic’
Saint Nicolas is the figure who inspired the story of Santa Claus
Saint Nicolas’s importance to Lorraine increased after Duke René II defeated Charles the Bold at the Battle of Nancy in 1477. The duke declared Saint Nicolas the region’s patron saint and commissioned the elaborate Gothic basilica to house his relics.
The basilica survived the Thirty Years’ War, the French Revolution and both world wars. During the revolution, its gold reliquaries were melted down, while the building was temporarily transformed into a ‘Temple of Reason.’
The story of the saint’s sacred relics leads back to modern-day Turkey, where Saint Nicolas is traditionally believed to have been buried after his death in 343 AD.
In 2022, researchers said excavations beneath St Nicolas Church in Demre had uncovered what they believed to be the site of his original tomb.
The Byzantine church pictured above was built over the ancient foundations and served as a place of worship for Orthodox Christians between the fifth and 12th centuries
The excavation revealed flooring from an earlier church beneath the surviving Byzantine structure, offering a glimpse of the sanctuary associated with the saint’s lifetime.
Osman Eravsar, then head of the provincial cultural heritage preservation board in Antalya, told Demirören News Agency at the time: ‘The first church was submerged as the Mediterranean Sea rose, and a new church was built above it several centuries later.
‘Now we have reached the remains of the first church and the floor on which Saint Nicolas stepped,’ he said.
‘The tiles from the floor of the first church, where Saint Nicolas walked, have been unearthed.’
