Between Monday 17 and Wednesday 19 June 2025, an unknown individual severely damaged a liturgical gospel at St Ulrich's parish church in Steyr, Austria. Parish staff found the Gospel, which had been left open on the side altar, completely vandalised — every single one of its 300 pages had been torn down the middle.
Klaus-Peter Grassegger, the parish assistant, made the discovery as he was preparing the church for the weekend liturgy. Despite the extensive damage to the book, nothing else in the church was stolen or destroyed, adding to the mystery of the incident. "We’re puzzled about what the motive could have been," Grassegger stated. The act was deliberate and time-consuming, as the book, which had been placed with great care and reverence, had to be dismantled page by page.
The Evangeliar is a liturgical Gospel book, containing selected readings from the four Gospels of the New Testament, intended for proclamation during Sunday and feast-day Masses. In St. Ulrich, as is traditional, the book is laid open on the side altar with the relevant readings visible after Mass. The vandalised copy, bound in leather and estimated to be worth around 800 euros, likely dates from the 1970s or 1980s.
This is not the first such case in the region. Several years ago, a similar act of desecration occurred in the neighbouring parish of Steyr-Ennsleite, also involving a Gospel book. Based on the method and the exclusive targeting of liturgical scripture, church officials suspect that the perpetrator may be mentally disturbed.