St. Anthony statue at Main Plaza beheaded - San Antonio, TX
Posted by: WalksfarTX
N 29° 25.456 W 098° 29.635
14R E 549089 N 3255098
Early Sunday, a man threw a rock at the statue in Main Plaza, knocking its head off. A statue of San Antonio De Padua made of Italian marble stands headless in Main Plaza Sunday near San Fernando Cathedral.
Waymark Code: WMXTCW
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 02/24/2018
Views: 4
My San Antonio Website
San Antonio police are looking for a man who defaced a 54-year-old Italian marble statue at Main Plaza early Sunday morning.
People preparing for mass in San Fernando Cathedral told police they heard a man shouting obscenities in the plaza around 5:45 a.m. He tried to throw a rock into a building nearby, said Deacon Pat Rodgers, spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio, and then became agitated as he ran through the courtyard and passed a statue of St. Anthony of Padua.
"As he was running, he stopped for a moment and threw the rock at the statue, right at the head, and the head came off," Rodgers said. "Miraculously, the head's intact; it survived the fall." The head is being kept inside the cathedral.
Rodgers said the statue, which stands about 15 feet tall, was donated in August of 1955 and was placed in front of the Bexar County Courthouse until last June, when a statue of Lady Justice replaced the religious icon. On June 11, the statue of St. Anthony was moved to Main Plaza. Rodgers said the statue belongs to the City of San Antonio, and he said officials have been notified of the incident.
"It's a historic icon and a religious symbol, and he's the namesake of the city," Rodgers said. "It means a lot to a lot of people, and it's hard to even begin to imagine a motive."