Stolen baby Jesus statue returned to Hoboken church after 90 years

<p>A statue of baby Jesus that was stolen from a Hoboken church in the 1930s was finally returned.</p>

News 12 Staff

Mar 16, 2018, 1:26 AM

Updated 2,478 days ago

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A statue of baby Jesus that was stolen from a Hoboken church in the 1930s was finally returned.
Rev. Alexander Santora of Our Lady of Grace says that the church received a strange package without a return address. Fearing that the package may be dangerous, the reverend called police to have them take a look.
Inside the package was a baby Jesus statue and an anonymous letter. The letter stated, “My mom told me that the baby Jesus had been stolen from the church nativity display from Our Lady of Grace when she was a young girl of about 12 years of age in the early 1930s."
The statue had apparently been passed down in the family for nearly 90 years. But the sender said that it was time to return the statue to where it came from.
“I think it’s lovely. People are good,” says one church parishioner.
Parishioners say that the statue’s return, so close to Easter Sunday, is very symbolic.
“This is a time of being forgiven and letting go of everything that you have from the past,” says parishioner Nilsa Robertson.
“I think it just shows that someone’s conscious always winds out to do the right thing,” says Rev. Santora.
The church plans to place the baby Jesus statue in the Nativity scene this coming Christmas.