Eight-foot bronze statue stolen from St. Ambrose Church in Salt Lake City
For two decades, an eight-foot bronze statue of Saint Ambrose has greeted Sunday morning parishioners upon entering the Salt Lake City Catholic Church. Yesterday, however, there was a vacant concrete pedestal at the north entrance. The statue had been stolen sometime late Friday evening or early Saturday morning.
Father Andrzej (Andrew) Skrzypiec, pastor of St. Ambrose, arrived at the church Saturday afternoon to prepare for the 5 p.m. Mass and noticed the empty pedestal. A few screws were left lying on the ground.
Due to the size of the sculpture, he suspects the culprits may have used a crane to remove it. “There is really nothing sacred or respected anymore,” the priest said. “Churches were something that even criminals wouldn’t vandalize.” Father Andrew and members of the parish felt violated and sad.
Praying for the statue’s return – or at least that the thieves sell it as a statue and not for scrap.The statue, originally valued at $30,000, was sculptured by Angelo Caravaglia in 1988. Saint Ambrose is the parish’s patron saint. He was a bishop of Milan and a defender of orthodoxy against the Arians in fourth-century Italy. He was named a Father and one of the four original Doctors of the Church.
Salt Lake police found the statue of St. Ambrose Monday afternoon, now it’s back at the Catholic church that bears his name. The church got a tip from someone claiming their buddy stole the statue, and they knew where it was. Police looked into it, and found the statue in the garage of a home in Midvale and returned it to the St. Ambrose Catholic Church in Salt Lake City.SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - What once was lost, now is found. A statue stolen from a Salt Lake area church is back where it belongs.