A would-be robber nearly pulled off the theft of a St. Michael the Archangel statue from a church in Mexico. However, the pilfering was thwarted by one consequential misstep by the thief.
During the early hours of Jan. 14, a man broke into the Christ the King Parish in Monterrey, Mexico, approximately 150 miles from the border with Texas. Carlos Alonso, 32, reportedly hopped over a fence, smashed a glass door, and broke into the Christ the King Parish.
The man tried to steal a statue of St. Michael the Archangel. According to local reports, the thief was intoxicated during the attempted robbery.
While attempting to steal the holy statue, Alonso allegedly tripped and fell on top of Saint Michael’s sword. During the stumble, the man seriously injured his neck.
ABC Noticias said, “The tip of the Archangel’s sword pricked the neck of the alleged 32-year-old thief.” The Mexican media outlet called the thief’s karmic self-sabotage “a matter of divine justice.”
A passerby witnessed the severely injured man clutching his neck at the church and called for emergency medical help.
The Catholic News Agency reported, “Monterrey Civil Protection personnel arrived at the scene, cut the padlock on the main gate of the fence, and saved the would-be thief’s life.”
The man initially declined medical treatment for his wounds. However, the drunk man was taken to a clinic for medical treatment of his injured neck.
Monterrey Police will reportedly turn over Alonso to the public prosecutor’s office once he is out of the hospital. The statue of St. Michael the Archangel was unharmed. The owner of a store that sells religious items across from the Christ the King Parish believes that karma struck down the would-be thief.
“That happened to him for doing bad things,” the store owner said. “Saint Michael is for protection, to combat evil, I think that’s why that happened to him.”
A neighbor added that St. Michael the Archangel is “the great protector.”
Saint Michael is an archangel, protector, and leader of the army of God against the forces of evil. Saint Michael is often depicted with a flaming sword and scales of justice.
St. Michael triumphantly defeats Satan and his hordes, banishing them from heaven, according to the Bible.
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found anymore in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the Earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”