PITTSFIELD — Father Martel of St. Agnes Church in Pittsfield was looking upon Tuesday’s rain as a blessing of sorts. He was praying that the rain would melt the snowbanks and help his parishioners find the missing Baby Jesus.

The statue was taken from the church’s creche Saturday, probably while evening Mass was under way, according to police. No other statuary at the traditional manger scene was disturbed.

Martel said his parishioners are “devastated, of course.” With Tuesday’s rain, Martel was hoping that if the thief tossed the statue into a snowbank, the rain would melt enough away so that it could be discovered.

Martel’s Christmas also was marred by another incident, which police say may or may not be linked to the missing Baby Jesus.

On the day after Christmas, Friday, a well-dressed woman came to the rectory about 4:30 p.m. asking for money. According to police reports, the woman said she had come to Maine from Canada and recently had been living in Lincoln. She then hitchhiked last week to Pittsfield and was staying there until she could get enough money together to go to Portland and get a job.

The woman told the priest that she needed about $40 a day to tide her over and asked for just over $200. Father Martel told Sgt. Timothy Roussin of the Pittsfield Police Department that the woman was extremely well-dressed and “looked like she had just stepped out of a magazine.”

The woman told Martel that she had been in the church earlier and had seen money placed in the collection plate and knew he had cash. When Martel told her he could not give her money, she became irate and began threatening him, telling him, “Your days are numbered.”

Martel hit a panic alarm button at which point the woman chose to leave. No sign of her was found by local police. The woman was described as being about 22 years old and very attractive, with dark, shoulder-length hair, and well-dressed.

The statue of the infant Jesus, listed on police reports as “a lawn ornament,” was discovered missing when parishioners left Saturday afternoon Mass. Its absence was not noticed by those going into Mass, and Roussin said he believes the statue may have been taken while church was under way.

Roussin said he notified other area churches and issued a statewide bulletin, but he has not been informed that any other church had a similar problem this Christmas season.

Martel said the statue has an “irreplaceable” value to his parishioners and had been part of the annual creche display since before Martel came to Pittsfield, more than seven years ago.

Anyone with information on the missing statue is asked to call the Pittsfield Police Department at 487-3101.