HOLT
401
HOLY
rt has, however, been conclusively proved by incon-
testable documents, that since a))out the year 1100
the people of Trier were fully convinced that they
possessed the seamless garment of Christ and that it
had come to them from St. Helena. The life of St.
Agritius, Bishop of Trier, written in the eleventh
century (before 1072), mentions the relics sent to
Trier by St. Helena during the lifetime of Agritius,
and relates from the " reliable tradition of the fore-
fathers" that at one time a pious bishop of Trier
wished to have opened the relic shrine kept in the
treasury of the cathedral, containing among other
relics a garment of the Lord, of which some said
that it was the seamless coat, and others that it was
the purple garment with which He was clothed at the
time of His Passion (Monumenta Germ. Hist., Script.,
VIII, 211). The " Gesta Trevirorum ", written in 1105,
bears witness to the existence of the Tunica Domini
and to the tradition regarding the manner of its being
brought to Trier (Mon. Germ. Hist., Script., VIII, 152).
An ancient witness to the tradition of the sending of
relics to Trier by St. Helena (no special mention, how-
ever, being made of the Holy Coat) is the panegyric of
St. Helena composed by Almannus of Hautvilliers
about 8S0 (Acta Sanctorum, Aug., Vol. Ill, p. 952). A
still more ancient witness is an ivory tablet preserved
in the cathedral treasury of Trier, dating from as early
as the fifth or sixth century according to some, and
according to others from a later period. It is explained
to be a representation of a translation of relics to
Trier with the co-operation of St. Helena. While this
testimony may not furnish actual proof of the authen-
ticity of the relic, it goes far to confirm the probability
of the same.
The arguments of the opponents of the relic are merely their own opinions; these writers furnish no substantial proof of their contention. The relic itself offers no reason to doulit its genuineness. Archa:o- logical investigations (l.SOOand 1S91) have proved that " the material of the plain brownish coloured fabric is to all appearances linen or cotton". It has been impossible to discover any traces of original seams on the relic, which is coverecl on both sides by protecting veils. The investigation therefore furnished no reason to doubt the ancient tradition at Trier. In 1196 the Holy Coat was solemnly transferred by Archbishop Johann I from the St. Nicholas chapel of the cathedral to the high altar at that time consecrated by him (Continuation of the "Gesta Trevirorum", Mon. Germ. Hist., Script., XXIV, 396). Here the relic seems to have remained unseen and untouched until 1512. In that year, in accordance with the wish of the Emperor Maximilian I, on the occasion of the holding of a Diet at Trier, it was taken from its rest- ing-place in the altar on 14 April by the archbishop, Richard von Greifenklau, and on 3 May, and for many days after, solemnly shown to the assembled princes and people. In the years following, up to 1517, an exposition of the Holy Coat took place annually. The auxiliary bishop, .Johann Enen, composed a Mass "de Tunica inconsutili," found in the Trier Missals printed at Speyer (1516) and at Coblenz (1.547). At the solicitation of the archbishop, Leo X, by a Bull of 26 January, 1515, granted a plenary indulgence to all pilgrims who should visit the cathedral of Trier at the time of the exposition of the Holy Coat, which henceforth was to take place every seven years, and always in the same year as the Aachen pilgrimage. This order for an exposition of the Holy Coat every seven years was observed from 1517, in which year the next Aachen pilgrimage took place, to 1545. Then the regular succession ceased, and the next expositions occurred only in the years 1585 and 1594, and then not again until 1655 after the close of the Thirty Years War.
In the warlike times that followed, the relic was repeatedly taken to the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein, VII.— 26
and from there brought back again to the cathedral
at Trier. When the French invaded the principality
of Trier in 1794, the relic was carried for safety into
the interior of Germany, to Bamberg and then to
Augsburg, whither the last Elector of Trier, Clemens
Wenceslaus, also Bishop of Augsburg, had withdrawn.
It was not until 1810 that, through the repeated
efforts of Bishop Mannay, it was returned to Trier, on
which occasion the bishop organized a solemn ex-
position of the Holy Coat, from 9 to 27 September of
that year, it being the first since 1655. It was very
largely attended by the Catholics of the surrounding
country. Of still greater importance were the two
following expositions, which took place in the nine-
teenth century. The first was organized by Bishop
Arnoldi from 18 August to 6 October, 1844. Large
and enthusiastic crowds of pilgrims, over a million,
it is said, flocked from all quarters to Trier. Apart
from the influence which the Trier pilgrimage of that
year exercised on religion, a number of wonderful
cures were accomplished. On the other hand, this
exposition was the occasion of much fanaticism. On
15 October, 1844, the suspended priest Johann Ronge
published his open letter to Bishop Arnoldi, the
result of which was the so-called " Deutsch-katho-
lisch" or "German Catholic" movement. Among
other hostile writings which appeared at that time,
that of the Bonn professors, J. Gildemeister and
H. von Sybel, purporting to stand on scientific
grounds, made the most stir. An exposition rivalling
that of 1844 was the last one, ordered by Bishop
Korum from 20 August to 4 October, 1891. On
this occasion the pilgrims numbered 1,925,130. To
encourage this exposition, Leo XIII gave his approval
to the Office " de Tunica inconsutili ", and granted by
a Brief of 11 July, 1891, an indulgence to the pil-
grims. An account of the miracles and manifesta-
tions of Divine favour which occurred was published
in 1894 by Bishop Korum himself.
The Argenteuil tradition claims that the garment venerated in that city as the Holy Coat was brought there by Charlemagne. The oldest document re- lating to the existence of this relic dates from 1156. This is the "Charta Hugonis"j in which Archbishop Hugh of Rouen testifies that in the treasury of the church of the Benedictines at Argenteuil is preserved the Cappa pueri Jesu (garment of the Child Jesus) a temporibus anliquis (from ancient times); that he himself, in company with other bishops and ab- bots, had examined it and found it genuine, and that it was then exposed in the presence of King Louis VII, and afterwards publicly for the veneration of the faithful; he proclaimed at the same time an indul- gence for pilgrims who should come to honour it (the "Charta" is printed by Jacquemot, p. 233 sqq., also in P. L., CXCII, 1136-38). The words Cappa pueri Jesu were interpreted by the later advocates of the tradition of Argenteuil to mean the Tunica inconsittilis worn by the Saviour during His Passion. The medieval chronicles, from the twelfth to the fourteenth century, which speak of the relic and of its exposition in 1156, make it clear how this change in the tradition was effected; it was brought about by the intermingling of the details of the two legends, accounted for by the belief that the garment woven by the Blessed Virgin for the Child Jesus grew with Him, and was thus worn by Him during His entire life on earth. The modern advocates of the Argen- teuil tradition now designate the relic honoured there simply as the seamless garment of Christ; they deny to the Church of Trier the right to call their relic by this name, conceding however that the Trier relic is genuine, but that it is not the Tunica inconsutilis, but the outer garment of Christ.
Those who believe the Trier tradition claim on the contrary that the relic of Argenteuil, which is woven of fine wool and is of a reddish brown colour, is not a
