A medieval text stolen from the cathedral in the north-western Spanish town of Santiago de Compostela was found in a nearby garage on Wednesday after police arrested a handyman – fired after 25 years working at the cathedral – and three others.
The Codex Calixtinus, a 12th-century collection of sermons and liturgical passages, vanished last July from a safe deposit box in the cathedral, which marks the end of an ancient pilgrimage route, the Camino de Santiago.
Police said they had found the elaborately illustrated manuscript – a treasured part of Spain's cultural and religious heritage – in a garage near the Galician town.
The cathedral is the reputed burial place of St James the Greater, one of Jesus's 12 apostles, who, tradition has it, went to Spain to preach Christianity.
The codex tells the story of how the apostle's remains were transferred to Santiago de Compostela and details the various routes to the town – effectively a guide for early pilgrims.
Earlier, dawn raids on properties connected to the detained former church handyman, his wife, son and another woman had led police to the discovery of at least €1.2m (£950,000), eight copies of the codex and other ancient books that had also been stolen from the cathedral.
Officers also found documents and correspondence related to senior church figures and keys to various outbuildings. The cathedral's book of hours, a popular type of devotional book in the Middle Ages, was also recovered.
The main suspect, whom police have not named, is a man who was sacked after working for the cathedral as a freelance handyman and electrician for more than 25 years, police said in a statement.
He was made redundant after faking a work contract to make it look like he had a permanent job, and claimed he was owed €40,000 for unfair dismissal.
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