A 780-year-old religious relic stolen from St. Anthony Church on Monday was recovered by police on Thursday.

Police recovered the relic at the Long Beach home of Maria Solis, 41, who was arrested on suspicion of commercial burglary, police chief Robert Luna told local media on Thursday.

Video surveillance tape captured the woman walking to St. Anthony Catholic Church on Monday, the day of the theft, Luna said.

Investigators said they found the relic in her living room, about a mile from the church, Luna said.

St. Anthony's pastor, the Rev. Jose Magana, said the relic appeared to be undamaged. He just wanted to come home because it belongs to everyone, Magana said.

Magana said worshippers had seen Solis before also, but she was not part of the parish community.

The relic was stolen from inside a cabinet before a morning Mass on Monday, the feast day of the church's namesake.

Magana said he decided to bring out the relic this year, on the 780th anniversary of the death of St. Anthony, because many of his parishioners have lost their homes and jobs in the rough economy.

In a similar incident in April 2007, a Latin translation of the Bible that was brought from Spain to Honduras in 1537 was stolen from a church in western region of the Central American country.

In December 1963, a holy relic was stolen from the Hazratbal Shrine in India's Kashmir region that triggered a massive agitation and that forced the authorities to launch a massive hunt and recover the relic.

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