BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) – When Monsignor Salvatore Matano is ordained Tuesday as coadjutor bishop of the Catholic diocese, a chalice that was a gift to Vermont’s first bishop will not be used, the first time since 1899 that the de Goesbriand chalice will not be present on the altar during a Burlington bishop’s ordination.

The vessel was taken, along with several other chalices and religious items, from a vault at diocesan headquarters during an Easter weekend burglary.

Kevin Scully, a former Burlington police chief who now works in the chancery office at the diocese, had the job of breaking the news last month to the bishop, the Most Rev. Kenneth Angell.

“I could just see the heartbreak in his expression,” Scully said. “A man so pastoral and of such grace of heart can’t even begin to imagine why something so hurtful would occur.”

The missing chalice was a gift to Burlington’s first bishop, the Most Rev. Louis de Goesbriand, from Pope Pius IX in 1873.

The ornate, gold-plated vessel features three tiers of ornaments, stretching from the base of the chalice to the cradle of the cup. The heads of a man, lion, ox and eagle appear on the base of the chalice and represent the four evangelists – saints Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The four great theologians of the church – saints Jerome, Augustine, Gregory the Great and Ambrose -are recreated on the stem of the chalice and a reproduction of the Last Supper rings the base of the cup.

Used mostly for special occasions, the chalice was first present at the 1899 ordination of the Most Rev. Bishop John Michaud and most recently at the 1992 ordination of Angell, the diocese’s eighth bishop.