The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-09-04
THE COAT OF TREyEs.

Goa" garment said to have been worn
by Christ throughout his Passion, his
trial before Pontius PLATE, and his agon-
izing journey toi the spot where his cru
cifixion was carried out. Between the
date mentioned and the 9th day of Octo-
Der, when the relic was again withdrawn
from public gaze, over a million people,
bishops, priests and laity, visited the ca
thedral of st. Pierre and Toasted their
eyes on the sacred robe, for the most
part with wonderment and veneratiOn.
On the Goth of this present month, after
an interval of exactly Al years, the "holy
coat will again be exposed to the view
of all corners, no matter what their
creed, and by virtue of an edict issued
by the church through Bishop Felix of
the local diocese, remain so for like
space of time. The event, it is needless
to say, has been for weeks and months
awaited with the greatest interest by all
true Catholics, not only of Germany, but
of the whole Old World. During this
period the influx of pilgrims and visitors
into the old cathedral city has been daily
increasing, until, from the latest &C
counts, their carriage and Judgment has
become a serious question to the railroad
authorities and the worthy berghers of
Treves. No small proportion of these
travellers consists of the sick and main,
in whose minds is firmly riveted the idea
that to touch or even look upon the
sacred garment will insure a complete
and instantaneous cure. Before enter
ing into any history or description of
the relic itself, few words concerning
its>previous exhibition may be of inter
est.
On that occasion pilgrims journeyed
to Treves from all quarters of Europe,
manv of them forming themselves into
large bands, with acolytes and banner
bearers marching before them. and mar
shaled by their several village priests.
Soon the good citizens of Treves found
1t impossible to lodge these foot-sore,
weary travellers, and all but the first ar
rivals found themselves compelled to
sleep on the floors and stairs of the few
inns the city could boast of, in barns and
out-houses, and even on the streets, with
nothing for pillow but their pilgrims
wallet. Few hours, however, were given
to sleep, and before dawn of each new
day long line, numbering many hun
dreds, had formed before the cathedral,
awaiting the opening of It's doors. On
many occasions this line of WORKOUT,
but expectant pilgrims was considerably
over mile in length. Even for the
early birds favorably located near the
doors four or five hours of waiting were
necessary before they could hope to APP
prOach the altar and its precious relic.
Men, women and children, even those In
robust health would faint and fall from
the heat and fatigue; yet the throng
knew no diminishment, and through
every hour of the day steady process
sion passed around the interior of the
building, each one finally making his OF
her oblation before the holy coat, and
then at once retiring. Invalids and Grip
Piles by the hundred vowed afterward
that they had entered the editice sick
and infirm and had left it cured and
whole in body. To quote some recent
words of the present Bishop of Treves,
to whom allusion has already been made:
Neither distance nor the difficulties Of
the journey did they shrink from; they
held themselves amply rewarded for
their labors if for some moments only
they might see the holy relic. My late
predecessor, Bishop Arnold, proclaimed
in the cathedral to all people-and trust
worthy records ratify his words-that
the Almighty Himself, through many
miraculous cures, notified the world
how acceptable the devotion to the holy
coat was to Him."
And now a few words as to the relic
ITSELF First, as to the actual garment.
The coat is a loose tunic, with short,
wide sleeves, simple in form and of
coarse material, its present color-though
this, perhaps, may be the result of age
being dark and rusty brown. The
most curious outward feature of the
garment is that it is entirely without
seam or join, which fact accounts for its
frequent nomenclature as the seamless
coat" 1t is perfectly devoid of any
binding or ornamentatiOn whatever. Its
measurements from the extremity of one
sleeve to the other is five feet and as
many inches; in length, from the collar
to the lower edge, it is five feet and two
inches. In several places the coat is
worn and almost threadbare. Some dark
stains which it bears are said, though
such history is naturally imaginative, to
arise from the wounds of the bruised and
bleeding body it once covered. The his
tory of this venerated relic-to the minds
at least of those whose religion bids
them venerate it's plain and sufficiently
well authenticated. 1t was obtained by
the Empress Helena, mother of Constan-
tine the Great, during her sojourn in the
Holy Land, and presented by her on her
return to Treves, then the capitol of
Belgie Gaul and residence of the Roman
Emperors, to the cathedral of the city.
This was during the episcopate of Agri-
thus, and some time between the years
314 and 1884. That the Empress did make
some such gift is proved by an ancient
ivory, for centuries in the possession of
the cathedral, which represents her
as tied at the church door awaiting the
arrival of procession closed by
chariot in which two ecclesiastics are
standing on guard before chest con-
tanning some precious gift. The ivory
was carefully examined and its legend
substantiated by the Archaeological So
ciety of Frankfort in the year 1916. At
the close of the twelfth century the holy
coat was translated from the choir-its
first resting place-to the high altar OF
the cathedral, and after an interval OF
300 years, was exhibited 'for the venera-
ton of the Faithful in 1919. During
the wars and stormy times of the seven
teenth and eighteenth centuries it was
deposited first for security at the castle
of Ehrenbseitstein and later at Augsburg.
From this latter hiding place it was re-
moved in the 1910 by special permission
of the first Napoleon and restored with
great ceremony to the cathedral of
Treves, then, and until the treaty of
1915, French possession, in spite of the
chaotic troubles through which all
Europe was then passing, over $4,000
pilgrims journeyed TO the city to cele-
brate the restoration of the relic.
The exhibition of the holy coat In 1914,
left mark, and almost an indelible one,
upon the history of the Roman Catholic
Church. The excitement caused by the
pilgrimage of million souls to one
small Prussian town was nothing com