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Tradition states that throughout his life Jesus wore a supernatural robe woven by the Virgin Mary in an ecru color made from top to bottom.
The particularity of this tunic is that it grew as Jesus grew, so his behavior was supernatural.
And unlike others from the 1st century of Christianity, it was seamless, in one piece, even on the sleeves.
There are several relics today that claim to be the true robe that Jesus wore.
Everything indicates that the one with the greatest likelihood, due to the tests that have been carried out, is preserved in Argenteuil, France.
Another is in Trier Germany and has in its favor that it would have been brought by Saint Helena from the Holy Land.
In this article we want to describe the mystery of Jesus’ robe, a shocking relic of Our Lord, since on Calvary the Roman soldiers took it from him and cast lots, according to the Gospel of Saint John.
Jesus went to Calvary wearing a seamless robe, woven from top to bottom, under his outer garments, according to John 19:23.
It was certainly a unique garment, because the tunic worn daily by men and women in Palestine was not seamless, but was made of two pieces of cloth put together.
It is often considered to symbolize the unity of the Church, and certainly the ripping of a garment by a prophet was considered a sign of disunity.
The inhabitants of that time wore a short tunic as the only underwear.
They were a piece with a hole for the head and two holes for the arms and which was fastened with a belt around the waist.
Sometimes they wore another similar robe over this one, but a little longer.
And Jesus would have worn a shawl or cloak over his tunic, known as a “Tallit.”
This was a fringed woolen shawl.
It was common for men of the time and was used to cover the head during prayers.
It could be dyed or styled, but for the poor it was generally not dyed.
There are several relics of robes that claim to be the authentic one.
The two most relevant are preserved, one in Argenteuil, France and another in Trier, Germany, which is the best known.
While the Eastern Orthodox claim that the authentic one is in a cathedral in Georgia.
But that of Argenteuil has the greatest credentials of having been the robe that Jesus has worn in his life.
The one that was woven by the Blessed Virgin and that was stripped from her by her scourgers.
How did the holy robe get to Argenteuil?
In the 6th century, Saint Gregory of Tours said that a tunic bought by the faithful was taken to Galata, in Asia Minor , about 150 miles from Constantinople.
There it was kept in a basilica, in a wooden chest. And then he made a journey to Argenteuil.
The robe was cut into pieces shortly after the French Revolution to avoid discovery.
And each of its fragments was hidden in order to prevent them from being destroyed. We explain this well in an article that I recommend you read.
Fear did what the Roman soldiers did not: divide it.
Two years later the abbot unearthed the pieces and collected the fragments that he had distributed, but not all the fragments were recovered.
It was rebuilt in the 19th century on a supporting satin, but modern satin has suffered more from the ravages of time than the wool of the original tunic.
The measurements of the Holy Tunic are 151 cm by 91 cm.
Obviously, scientists could not be oblivious to the discoveries of the relics of the Passion, since they have always been enigmatic to the scientific community.
In the book “Witnesses to the Mystery”: by Grzegorz Gorny and Janusz Rosikon, investigations into several of the relics are summarized, including those of the “little-known Robe of Argenteuil.”
In 1998, scientists at the Institute of Optics in Orsay decided to compare the patterns of bloodstains on Argenteuil’s tunic, and on the Shroud of Turin.
They created realistic computerized geometric models of what the robe would look like if it had been worn by a man of the same physical height and morphology as the man depicted on the Shroud of Turin.
The result was prodigious.
And he proved that the bloodstains on the tunic aligned exactly with the visible wounds printed on the Shroud of Turin.
By superimposing both images, a result was achieved that led the scientists to conclude that both garments were clothes stained by the wounds of the same man.
Could that man have been Jesus of Nazareth?
It was also confirmed that the tunic was made on horizontal looms, whose width was common to the proportions of the looms used in the time of Christ.
The weaving, made using a so-called “Z-turn” indicates that the tunic was probably made in the Near or Middle East.
The dyeing of the fabric had been carried out with Rubia Tinctorum, a dye widely used in ancient times around the Mediterranean basin.
Dyeing was carried out before the fabric was woven, and together with the dye, alum was used to coat the fabric.
Both practices were common in the first century.
Due to these results, interest in the robe steadily grew throughout the scientific community.
In 2004, the Institute of Molecular Anthropological Genetics in Paris did restoration work and the robe was cleaned with a special vacuum cleaner.
And the scientists decided to analyze the aspirated particles.
Using a scanning electron microscope, they discovered pollen grains belonging to 18 species of plants.
The most frequent types of pollen were: Nettle, with 41 grains, and Sirius Mesquite, with 13 grains.
Most of the pollen grains were of species that had already been discovered in the Shroud of Turin (six species) and in the Shroud of Oviedo (seven species).
Among them were Cedar of Lebanon and Scattered Pelosilla.
The most significant discovery, however, was about two endemic Palestinian species: the Terebinth and the Tamarisk.
Its pollen grains had also been discovered in the fabrics of Turin and Oviedo.
But the most interesting thing about the research done on the Argenteuil tunic is the studies of Professor Gerard Lucotte, a global specialist in genetic markers.
He analyzed the bloodstains on the robe, which had been invisible for years and could now be seen with an electron microscope.
Upon examining the fibers, he concluded that at some point the garment must have been completely covered in blood and that the back must have been raw.
In addition, he discovered many blood cells with traces of urea in the tissue.
Which, according to Lucotte, would indicate a rare phenomenon, “hematidrosis.”
That is, sweating blood, due to extreme anguish , which produces a high histamine load.
This matches the description made in the Gospel of Luke, which says that Jesus in the Garden “sweated blood.”
For his part, the North American pathologist Frederick Zugibe, affirms that this occurs in the face of the reality of an inevitable death.
Lucotte also mentions that many of the red blood cells discovered in the tunic are cup-shaped. This occurs when the body suffers a great trauma, or a prolonged agony.
White blood cells were also found in the relic.
White blood cells have chromosomes in their nucleus and therefore carry the person’s DNA.
No two DNAs are alike in the world, so that’s the molecular proof of a person’s identity.
And he discovered that whoever wore the tunic belonged to the ethnic group of the Jewish populations of the Middle East, of which Jesus was a part.
Because the ratio of red to white blood cells is 500 to 1, Lucotte had to examine thousands of blood cells and finally found 10 white blood cells in good condition.
And it was reaffirmed that the blood of the person who wore the tunic is type AB positive, as also discovered by a hematologist from Saint-Prix, in 1985.
It is the same type of blood found on the Shroud of Turin.
On the other hand we have another relic that he says is the authentic one, the tunic that is preserved in Trier.
History points out that Saint Helena discovered this robe around AD 328 along with other relics, including the True Cross where Jesus died.
By distributing the relics he had unearthed, he bequeathed the Holy Robe to the Diocese of Trier located in Trier, Germany.
Not much is known about the later history of this robe, also seamless, until the 12th century, when Archbishop John I of Trier ordered the consecration of the altar containing the robe.
Throughout its history, it has had pieces of silk sewn onto the fabric, and in the 19th century it was covered with a rubber solution in an effort to preserve it.
In short, as Pope Benedict XVI said: “This relic makes present the final dramatic moments of the earthly life of Jesus: His death on the cross.”
So far what we wanted to tell you about what is known about the tunic that Jesus wore during his life, which was woven by His Mother, and what has been discovered from the relics that are preserved today.
And I would like to ask you what other things you have felt said about the tunic of Jesus that was raffled off among the Roman soldiers at his crucifixion.
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