It is a story worthy of the search for the Grail! A famous Dutch art detective, known for his expertise, found in front of his door a cardboard box containing the relics of the Precious Blood, stolen in Fécamp on June 2. Is this the thief’s repentance? The Dutch and then French police will have to confirm the authenticity of the package found.
Nicknamed “the Indiana Jones of the art world”, Arthur Brand is one of the world’s most famous art experts and sleuths. We owe him in particular for having found a Picasso, an Oscar Wilde ring and “Hitler’s horses”, life-size bronze sculptures, in recent years. However, a few days ago, he received an anonymous email, written in Dutch, telling him that he was going to be able to recover the relics of the Precious Blood, relics stolen from the abbey of Fécamp on the night of 1 to 2 last June. And on the evening of July 1, a quick ringing of the bell at his house around 10:30 p.m., the time to open his door, he discovered on the ground a cardboard box containing a gold reliquary, about 30 centimeters high, as well as several plaques. copper liturgies, representations of saints and an ornate goblet, stolen from the abbey church of Fécamp in early June.
For the 52-year-old detective, who is also a practicing Catholic, recovering these relics “is about feeling so close to Jesus and the legend of the Holy Grail, it’s a religious experience! “. Arthur Brand entrusted the precious box to the police in the Netherlands, who in turn should hand them over to the French police, following a request for mutual assistance from France, for an investigation into the identity of the thief and the authenticity of the coin. But for the expert, he has “no doubt” that it is the “real” reliquary. “Religious objects are almost impossible to counterfeit,” he says.
Curse or repentance?
For his part, Mgr Jean-Luc Brunin, bishop of Le Havre, the episcopal seat on which Fécamp depends, expressed his “satisfaction” to AFP on Tuesday evening. “It’s a surprise, I didn’t expect the relic to be found so quickly, I even wondered if we were going to find it one day. It’s a bit of an incredible affair”, he declared, recalling that “the abbey church of Fécamp was built around these relics. »
But how did he manage to recover these relics? Arthur Brand says he received the email from an anonymous sender claiming to have the stolen loot in his possession. “This person approached me on behalf of another, where the stolen relics were stored.” For the expert, “to have the ultimate relic, the blood of Jesus in one’s house, stolen, is a curse! “. Curse or not, what is certain is that the thief or thieves realized that they had stolen “unsaleable” relics because no buyer would want them! They quickly understood that they had to get rid of them, and that they could hardly return them directly to the abbey church, risking being caught… “These people know my reputation”, explains the expert again, from where making contact, he assures.
Two vials containing drops of the blood of Christ
As a reminder, it is in this reliquary that there are drops of Christ’s blood collected in two vials by Nicodemus, who accompanied Joseph of Arimathea during the descent from the Cross. Nicodemus would then have hidden the vials in a fig tree before throwing it into the sea to soon see them wash up on the French coast. Others say that these drops of blood would have transited towards France thanks to the Crusades. Be that as it may, the arrival of the relic in the town of Fécamp is at the origin of the construction of the abbey in 658. The bulbs were kept in a copper reliquary made in the 19th century and enclosed in a 16th century marble tabernacle, made by the Genoese sculptor Girolamo Viscardo, with scenes of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.
Stolen a few weeks before the feast of the Precious Blood of Jesus on July 1, the event had aroused great emotion among the people of Fécamp. Indeed, since the first centuries of Christianity, the Catholic Church has encouraged the veneration of relics. Very much alive in the 13th century, it was still recommended by the Council of Trent in the 16th century. The faithful attributed supernatural power to the relics. For to approach the remains of a saint is to touch God. Through the object, we thus gain access to the mysteries of faith. The relics are at the origin of many pilgrimages, processions, miracles and translations everywhere in France and in the world and were the object of a trade, more or less avowable, in the East as in the West. If the authenticity is confirmed, the return of the reliquary is likely to provoke great joy and undoubtedly great devotion, perhaps even among repentant thieves, who knows?
Also discover in pictures these relics attributed to Jesus:
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