The Tunic on display in Argenteuil

SEBASTIÉN writes:

The Paris region is fortunate to have two relics directly related to the Passion of Our Lord. The Crown of Thorns, exposed every Friday during Lent at Notre Dame is known the world over, but the lesser known Tunic of Christ, said to be woven by the Holy Virgin and worn by Jesus on his bloodied body as he walked along the Via Dolorosa to Golgotha, when the Roman soldiers removed it before the Crucifixion, can also be seen at the Basilica of St. Denys in Argenteuil in a highly Islamicized northern suburb.

The seamless tunic is usually kept rolled up in a reliquary, but is occasionally exposed for short periods. The current exposition will last two weeks and began on Good Friday. It was last exposed in 1984. The day before yesterday, Easter Monday, we waited two hours along with hundreds of other pilgrims who made the trip to Argenteuil for this occasion. Judging by the crowds, Jorge Bergolio still has a long way to go before completely destroying the faith of Novus Ordo Catholics who made up the majority of the pilgrims.

The tunic, therefore, like the Turin Shroud has traces of blood that can can be analysed and both relics have been shown to contain a rare AB blood type. The same blood type is revealed in the Sudarium of Oviedo. Further analysis shows that it is the blood of semitic male who has has suffered massive trauma. The blood type found in the Lanciano Eucharistic miracle is also AB.

The tunic is seamless, exactly as described in John 19:23-24.

Analysis of the cloth reveals pollen and sand from 1st-century Palestine. A little more information in English can be found on the exposition website but it omits some of the more providential anecdotes related to the tunic.

The tunic came into the possession of Charlemagne and it was passed on to the monastery of Argenteuil. It was hidden in a wall to protect it from Norman pillages in the middle of the ninth century and wasn’t rediscovered until the 12th century. During the French Revolution, a priest cut up the tunic into several pieces, again to protect it from harm, and buried some parts whilst distributing the rest amongst parishioners. In 1795, released from prison, the priest tried to reassemble the tunic but a major part remained unreturned. These segments were sewn onto a satin support in an attempt to reassemble the tunic in a presentable way.

Finally in 1983, the tunic was stolen, but it was returned a year later after the priest offered complete anonymity to whomever returned the item.

During the first three months of 2016, the remains of the tunic were removed from the satin support that was shrinking and pulling on the fibers of the relic. The parts have now been sewn to a woolen support with a colour closely matching that of the tunic.

Another tunic of Christ is said to be at the Cathedral of Trier in Germany, but its absence of blood suggests that the tunic of Argenteuil has more evidence to back up its claim of being a relic of the Passion of Our Lord.

Basilica of St. Denys

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