Saturday, April 14, 2012

Relic


From Vatican Insider:
Over the next four weeks, around a million German Christians will be travelling to Trier to admire the "Heiliger Rock", or the Holy Robe: one of the most important relics in German Christendom, that Jesus supposedly wore before being crucified. Stephan Ackermann, the Bishop of Trier...has decided that the robe will be put on display for the eighteenth time in its history, until 13 May.

According to legend, Helena – the mother of the Roman emperor Constantine – brought the seamless garment to Germany, while the first documentary evidence to mention the relic’s presence in Trier dates back to 1196.

To mark the occasion, the Holy Father issued a statement on the Holy Tunic. Here's an excerpt:
The tunic, John says, is all of one piece. The soldiers who, according to Roman custom, divide the meagre effects of the One who is crucified, do not want to tear the tunic. They cast lots, and thus it remains whole. The Fathers of the Church see in this passage the unity of the Church, founded as a unique and indivisible community by the love of Christ. The Holy Tunic intends to make it visible. The love of Saviour holds together that which is divided. The Church is the unity of the many. Christ does not abolish the plurality of men, but links it together with being Christians, one for the other and with the other, so much so that they might become, in their diversity, mediators with God.

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