Rev. Sébastien Roussel entered the burning Church of the Immaculate Conception in Saint Omer, France, on Monday morning to successfully rescue the Blessed Sacrament.
"The
vault has fallen down, so we can see the sky directly," Rev. Roussel
told BfmTv.com (September 2), adding: "The Blessed Sacrament remained
untouched. We were able to put the Lord back in another church."
In addition to the Blessed Sacrament, 20 objects of worship were taken to safety.
Bishop
Olivier Leborgne, 60, of Arras, has invited Catholics to pray at 8.30
am tomorrow in front of the destroyed church. Afterwards, he will
celebrate a Eucharist at the Basilique Notre-Dame-des-Miracles in
Saint-Omer.
In the meantime, a man who had been living in a
hostel before the incident, has been taken into police custody as part
of the investigation into the fire. The man, born in 1985, has a ‘long
history’ and is ‘known for similar acts of destruction by fire’. The
investigation revealed ‘traces of forced entry’ into the church, where a
stained glass window had been broken.
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