MUSKOGEE, Okla. — Muskogee's catholic community is in shock after its only church in the city was left picking up the pieces of a cherished relic all but destroyed by vandals.
Leaders of St. Joseph Catholic Church said a five-foot-tall plaster statue of the Virgin Mary and one of the Holy Family were adored by generations of members.
"The one of Holy Mother, the one that was pretty well pulverized in the parking lot, that has a history that dates all the way back to 1893," church manager Lucille Ferguson told 2 News.
Father Robert Matthew Dye said he knows one worshiper who touched it before every mass for years.
"It's just something that always touched me when I would see her coming in and doing that," Dye said. "And when I saw it, my thoughts came to, 'What's she going to think?'"
It shocked maintenance manager Luis Carbone to discover the storied statue in shambles from vandalism on the morning of April 19.
"It was a pain in my chest. I almost cried. It was real, real bad," Carbone said.
The church's security camera shows three people at the catholic school's playground just after midnight April 19.
The three then walk by the entrance to the main building and topple its Holy Family statue and the Virgin Mary. Only the latter, which is said to be far more valuable, was completely broken.
As of April 22, the statues are still left as they were found because the church is waiting for an insurance adjuster to check the damage.
However, church leaders said there is simply no replacing a relic like the Virgin Mary one.
"And you can't put a financial thing on that," Father Dye said. "If this is actually connected to Saint Katharine Drexel, that technically would make it a third-class relic. You can't replace that."
Ferguson discovered the historical importance of the statue after it was destroyed. Though she hopes the three seen in the surveillance footage are caught, she said she doesn't know how her heart can heal from such an act.
WATCH: Surveillance video from church:
"And to think that people would have so much disrespect, you know, it hurts. It just really hurts," she said.
Muskogee Police Department asks anyone with information on the case to call its Crime Stoppers tip line at 918-682-2677.
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