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L1mburg
NOS News•today, 5:16 PM
A Roman Catholic porter’s guild from Maastricht has been robbed of its uniforms in Rome. According to the association, the damage runs into thousands of euros.
A porter’s guild is a Catholic association that carries and accompanies a specific statue of saint, relic or other religious object during a procession. The guild from Maastricht is dedicated to the statue of the apostle Peter. The members wear red and black uniforms during church processions.
‘First class disappointment’
The guild of Saint Peter traveled to Rome last Thursday to celebrate its twentieth anniversary. “On the occasion of the anniversary, we wanted to go to Peter’s grave,” chairman Jos van Rooij told L1 News. “A kind of pilgrimage.”
The uniforms were stored in a van that the members had taken to Rome. Unknown persons smashed a window of the vehicle on Thursday. Initially it seemed that only two coats, a sleeping pillow and some food had been stolen, but this morning the damage appeared to be greater.
“Then we noticed that all the clothes were gone. We had not seen it before because they were in dark bags,” says the chairman. This concerns 24 uniforms. “When we bought them, they were 650 euros per pack. Now it might be a little more.”
Repack
Members therefore had to visit Peter’s grave in their own clothes. The guild plans to file charges tomorrow. That was not possible earlier: the police station had been closed in recent days due to a national holiday.
According to Van Rooij, it did not stop at the theft from the van. “Four people from our guild were also robbed in the subway. Money and their passports were taken. They wanted to steal my wife’s jewelry,” he says. “It’s really deeply sad.”
The guild does not yet know how to proceed after the theft of the clothing. For example, there will soon be two processions in Maastricht “We have to regroup. And then we will see how we will survive this and how we can come out of this stronger. We do plan to walk all the processions.”
