Damage to 2018 Stained Glass at Five Wounds Portuguese National Church in San Jose Considered Irreplaceable

"Three days after the vandalism attack, San Jose police announced the arrest of the man they said vandalized the Five Wounds church door and charged him with the attempted murder of a man at a nearby homeless encampment. "While we will try to replicate the glasswork design, nothing will replace the original from 1918," Avila told San Jose Inside this week. Police estimated damages totalled at least $20,000. Tribuna Portuguesa is a Portuguese-language Modesto-based newspaper with a statewide readership."

"Just as Rev. Father Julius Ntalo and Pato were beginning the 6pm family mass on Dec. 24, parishioners heard crashing sounds at the church's front vestibule. After the incident, San Jose police remained at the church, standing guard outside the church during the traditional midnight Christmas Eve mass. Police reported that on Dec. 27 officers responded to a 10:14am report of a disturbance involving a weapon in the area of Tully Road and Highway 101, near an encampment adjacent to the highway off-ramp. They said they found an adult male suffering "life-threatening injuries" who had been struck in the head with a metal pole."

An attacker wielding a metal pipe smashed the front vestibule door of the historic Five Wounds Portuguese National Church during a Christmas Eve family mass, prompting parishioners to duck for cover. The main centennial vestibule door was damaged and the original glass broken. A 107-year-old stained-glass window dating to 1918 cannot be repaired and will be replaced with a replica of the glasswork design. Police estimated at least $20,000 in damages. Police arrested a man three days after the vandalism and charged him with attempted murder in connection with an unrelated attack at a nearby homeless encampment.

Read at San Jose Inside