LEWISTON – Two men were arrested and one of them was in critical condition Wednesday night after an early morning break-in at Saints Peter and Paul Basilica.

A church secretary broke up the 8 a.m. burglary at the Ash Street church, sending the two suspects scampering over a granite wall. One of the men fell and knocked himself out while trying to run across the wall, police said. The second man was arrested as he ran from the scene.

Khiron Kinney, 22, of Auburn was in critical condition at Central Maine Medical Center after he was found unconscious outside the church. Police officers searching for the suspects found Kinney after he had slipped on the ice while trying to run from the church.

“He has a serious neck injury as well as an injury to his head,” police Lt. Michael McGonagle said.

Kinney was charged with burglary and theft. Also charged was 22-year-old Carl Harrington of Auburn, who was caught near the church. Harrington confessed earlier this year to stealing a cross from a Livermore Falls church.

Police investigating the Wednesday morning break-in at Saints Peter and Paul said they don’t know why the two men entered the church.

“They were in there for about 15 minutes,” McGonagle said. “They were rummaging through the office area.”

Gloria Doyle of Greene knew something was wrong almost as soon as she entered the building at about 7:55 a.m. Some of the doors that are normally closed were left open.

“I didn’t know why, and it didn’t seem quite right,” Doyle said.

She had to pass through three doorways to get to her office and by the time she got to the second one, she knew something was out of whack, she said.

She heard someone rummaging around in one of the offices as she walked through the third doorway, turned a corner and flicked on the lights.

That’s when she came face to face with the intruders.

“I asked them what they were doing, and they ignored me,” she said. “I asked again, and one of them said, Trespassing.'”

The men didn’t threaten her. Doyle said the pair made their way out of the building while she called 911.

“It took them a while to get out,” she said. “They got stuck by an old door, and they had a hard time working the door knobs because they were carrying some things.”

Doyle said she watched them from a window until they disappeared over a 10-foot granite wall.

Police captured the pair on the other side. They caught Harrington running from the scene but didn’t find Kinney at the foot of the wall for several minutes.

Not much was taken, Doyle said. They allegedly took two pairs of vinyl gloves from a classroom, a candle and a piece of church mail. A church janitor was checking rooms Wednesday to see if anything else was missing.

Harrington’s trouble with churches dates back to April, when he was caught with a cross stolen from a church in Livermore Falls.

In that case, Harrington was charged with theft after the 8-foot, wooden cross was found in his apartment. The cross had been stolen April 6 from the Eaton Memorial United Methodist Church.

When it was found, police said the cross had a photograph of convicted killer Charles Manson taped to it. There was also an encyclopedia of devil worship found inside Harrington’s apartment, leading to accusations of Satanism.

Harrington, who denied being a devil worshipper during interviews with reporters, was investigated by the attorney general’s office after the recovery of the stolen cross.

The state accused Harrington and his brother, 19-year-old Brian Harrington, of violating the Maine Civil Rights Act.

Instead of requesting a trial to fight the civil charges, the brothers each signed a consent decree, agreeing to stay away from the church and abide by other terms of a court injunction.

Harrington was released from the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn on Wednesday afternoon. He could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.