CLERICAL THIEVES.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1434, 8 May 1912, Page 7

CLERICAL THIEVES.

EOBBEIUES FROM MONASTERIES. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyrislit. (lie?. May 8, 0.50 a.m.) Berlin, May 7. Tt is alleged that Liebe stoic jewels from tho C'zestochowa Monastery. Liebo served as a, chaplain at Ailesis, where lie was associated with the Russian monks concerned ill the thefts of the chalice, which was discovered to lie worth .£20,000, and was stolen from tho Met?. Cathedral. Father Mamasius Mncoch, a Polish monk, was arrested in October, 1910, and confessed to tlio murder of his brother— a post man—and to the robbery of jewels from the famous image of the Virgin and Child at the Church of C'ssestochown, Russian Poland. The jewels missing from tho image, to which are ascribed uiincuious powers and which is visited annually by some 300,000 Poles, are stated to be worth X'ooo,ooo. The body of the monk's brother was found inside a sofa which had been thrown in the river Warta. His widow, with whom the monk disappeared, was also arrested. In his confession Maeoch stated that ho enticed his brother into an underground cell. There he gave him drugged wine, .struck him on the head, and then hastily confessed him. After granting him full absolution lio strangled him with both hands. The monk volunteered a statement respecting alleged malpractice in the C'/.estoeliowa Monastery, to which lie was attached. He says that of the. jewels sewn in tho Virgin's robe many were not genuine. The monks had disposed of the original gems and substituted artificial stones long ago as lie discovered when he attempted to sell them. He said that tho monks regularly appropriate!! tho votivo offerings- of the pilgrims. He himself had taken hundreds and squandered the proceeds on his sister-in-law. As a result of the revelations tho monastery was occupied by-the military, and a thorough search was made behind-walls, under floors, and in tho garden in tlio hopo of discovering the real jewels. ■An incalculable number of pilgrims have visited tho shrine, in tlio past GOO years—tho image lias been at Czestochowa since 1382—and tho innumerable gifts included priceless offerings from popes, emperors, and kings.