At the feet of the Crucified Jesus, the Roman soldiers fulfilled the prophecy of Psalm 22 by casting lots for the Saviour’s seamless Tunic: “They divide My garments among them.”
Newsroom (Gaudium Press) At the feet of the Crucified Jesus, the Roman soldiers fulfilled the prophecy of Psalm 22 by casting lots on the Saviour’s seamless tunic: “diviserunt vestimenta mea sibi et super vestimentum meum miserunt sortem” (They divided My garments among themselves and cast lots on My tunic).
From then on, the story of the Saviour’s seamless Tunic remains unknown. It is believed to have been kept by the first disciples after the Passion of Jesus Christ.
Arrival in France
History again mentions this relic of the Passion of Christ at the time of the Byzantine Empress, Irene of Athens of the Eastern Roman Empire. Irene wished to strengthen ties with Charlemagne, heir to the Empire of the West, so she presented the Emperor with the Holy Tunic around the year 800.
The Emperor Charlemagne entrusted the relic of the Tunic of Christ to the monastery of the Humility of Our Lady of Argenteuil, where one of his daughters, Theodrade, was prioress.
Exposition of the Holy Robe in 1934 and Events throughout History
Since then, the relic has never left Argenteuil, but there have been many adventures. With the invasion of the Vikings, the Tunic was hidden within the walls of the monastery and was only found after work had been carried out on the building in the Middle Ages.
During the time of the French Revolution, fearing for the safety and integrity of the relic, Abbot Ozet decided to cut the tunic into several pieces, which were distributed to trusted people. However, most of it was buried in the garden of the parish house. With the end of the Revolution, the Tunic was dug up but not all the parts were returned.
The last great tribulation the relic went through was in the 20th century. On the night of 12-13 December 1983, the parish priest of Saint-Denys discovered that the Holy Tunic had been stolen. On 2 February of the following year, the priest received a telephone call from an unknown person proposing the return of the relic on one condition: that the identity of the perpetrator of the theft should never be revealed. The condition was accepted and the relic was returned the same day.
Exposition of the Holy Tunic of the Passion of Christ
The relic of the Tunic of the Passion of Christ is exposed to the public only twice in a century, in the years 34 and 84. Exceptionally, Bishop Stanislas Lalanne, Bishop of Pontoise, decided to expose the relic on the occasion of the Year of Mercy in 2016. Last Sunday, March 26, Bishop Lalanne announced that the Tunic will be exposed again in 2025, the year of the Universal Jubilee.
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
