Unknown persons have severely damaged a statue of the Virgin Mary in Saarbrücken’s St John’s Basilica (photo above). One of Mary’s hands had been severed and the head of the baby Jesus in her arms had been broken off, the police in Saarbrücken announced on Wednesday. The police are investigating damage to property. It is assumed that the perpetrator or perpetrators committed the offence on Monday.
In addition, two large candles were destroyed and the altar was damaged by a stubbed-out cigarette. According to the police, the broken head of the statue of the infant Jesus and the damaged hand were found near the statue of Mary. The newspaper “Saarbrücker Zeitung” had previously reported on this.
The cantor of the basilica, Bernhard Leonardy, wrote in a Facebook post: “The figure of Mary was badly damaged and the head of the baby Jesus was cut off.” He was “completely shocked at how people can come up with such ideas”, he told the news agency dpa. “This is not normal vandalism, but also has a very special symbolic meaning.”
Many people were horrified in the comments on the post: “I can’t believe it …”, “This leaves me speechless!” or “Who would do something like this? I can’t understand it!” were some of the comments.
According to Leonardy, these are original figures from the 18th century, which stand in a side altar in the basilica. “We have always endeavoured to be an open-door church in the basilica. With concerts and other events. Anyone can light a candle in this church.” The reaction now should not be: “We close everything, we seal ourselves off.”
Unbekannte brechen in Kirche bei Statue Kopf von Jesus ab (merkur.de)