The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-08-27

ing Invalids and cripples by the hun
dreds vowed afterwards that they had en-
tered the ediice sick and intirm, and had
left it cured and whole in body. To quote
some recent words of the present
ready 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 pre-
decessor, Bishop Arnold, proclaimed in
the cathedral to all ,people-and trust
worthy records ratify his words-that the
Almighty Himself, through many miracu-
lous cures, notified to the world how &C
ceptable the devotion to the holy coat was
to Him."
And now a few words to the relic itself.
First, as to the actual garment. The coat
is a loose tunic with short wide sleeves, SIM
pie in form, and of coarse material, it's
present color-though this perhaps may be
the result of %age-being a dark and rusty
BROW The most curious outward feature
of the garment is that it ID entirely without
a seam or join, which fact accounts for it's
frequent nomenclature as thu seamless"
coat. IT is perfectly devoid of any bind
ing or ornamentation whatever. Its meas
urement 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 al
most %threadbare: some dark stains which it
bears are said, though such theory is en-
tirely imaginative, to arise from the wounds
of the bruised and bleeding body it once
covered.
The history of this venerated relic-to the
minds at least of those whose religion bids
them venerate it's plain and snfficient ly
we'll authenticated. 1t was obtained by the
Empress Helena, mother of Constantine
the Great, during her ~sojourn in the Holy
nnI nyl H., A-- - 80. 49,.
to Treves, then the capital of Belgic
Gaul and residence of the Roman empe-
rors, to the cathedral of the city. This was
during the episcopate of Agritius. and some
time between the years 3l4 Fand 1884. That
the empress did make some such gift is
in the possession of the cathedral, which
represents her seated at the church door
awaiting the arrival of a procession
closed by a chariot in which two &C.
clesiastics are standing on 9uard before a
chest containing some precious gift. The
ivory was carefully examined and its legend
sustantiated by the Archaeological society
of Frankfort in the year 1915. a
At the close of the twelfth century the
holy coat was translated from the choir
it's first resting place-to the high altar of
the cathedral, and, after an interval of 300
/ years, was exhibited "for the veneration Of
the faithful in 1912. During the wars and
and stormy times of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries it was deposited for
security first at the castle of Ehrenbreit-
stein. and later at Augsburg. From this
latter hiding place it was removed in the
year 1910 by special permission of the first
Napoleon, and restored with great cere-
mony, to the cathedral of Treves, then. and
until the treaty of 1916, a French possession,
In spite of the chaotic troubles through
which all Europe WAS then passing, over
$4,000 pilgrims journeyed to the city to
celebrate the restoration of the relic.
The exhibition of the holy coat in 1914
left a mark, and almost an indelible ono,
upon the history of the Roman Catholic
church. The excitement caused by the
pilgrimage of n million souls to one small
Prussian town was as nothing compared
with subsequent events which arose solely
from the action of the church in allowing
the relic to be displayed and worshipped.
Certain members of the church, stigma
tized then and now as rationalists, took
offense at the proceedings, and argued in
writing not only against the authenticity
of the holy cont. but against the advisable
ty of thus working upon the feelings and
credulity OF such vast numbers of their fell
| low relipionists.