A 130-year-old church in Dunany, Quebec has been robbed of its signature feature – a stained glass window depicting St. Paul.

The window was stolen earlier this week, leaving the loyal parishioners of St. Paul's Anglican Church in this town about 90 kilometres north of Montreal completely shocked.

And heartbroken.

"It's a terrible, terrible thing that has happened to this community," parishioner Robert Percy told CTV Montreal's Tarah Schwartz on Thursday.

Percy co-chaired the church's recent renovation, a $75,000 project were more than half the funds came from this community.

"We also put a new roof on this church, we rewired this church," Percy said. "And the beautiful stained glass window that has just been stolen was all redone last year, too."

The outpouring of financial support for the renovations is a reflection of the degree to which the community cares about their church.

"I've been here about 15 years and it means a lot to me," church treasurer June Parker said. "I've had friends buried out of here, I've had friends christened out of here. It means a lot."

This wasn't the first time a church in the area was robbed in this way.

A church in Grenville, about 40 kilometers west of Dunany on the Outaouais River, had 16 windows taken recently, including a number of glass lamps.

"The main investigation leads us to believe it is the same people that went in both churches," said Benoit Richard of the Sureté du Québec.

The SQ says pictures of all the stolen windows have been sent out on art alert – a program that helps target these kinds of crimes.

Richard says there are also some leads for the SQ to follow up on.

"We have some foot prints that were taken on the scene," he said.

While police continue their investigation, the parishioners are left to wonder how anyone could do such a thing in such a sacred building.

"To steal something and to steal in God's place, in God's church, is just awful," says Sheryl Caron.

Still, most members of the congregation are relying in their faith to give them hope the window will eventually be found, because that is the only acceptable outcome to completely rectify the situation.

"It's been there for over a hundred years," Parker said. "It's irreplaceable."