During this Easter period, the town of Argenteuil (northwest of Paris) becomes, for a time, the stage of an unusual event: the "ostension of the holy tunic of Christ," as termed by the Catholic Church. From Friday, April 18, to May 11, this garment, said to have been worn by Jesus during his Passion, is on display to the public in the Saint-Denys Basilica.
Over 400,000 tourists and pilgrims, including Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's second-in-command, are expected by the municipality and the diocese. What is the history of this tunic? How can such anticipation be explained in a secularized France? Historian Nicolas Guyard, author of Les Reliques du Christ. Une histoire du sacré en Occident ("The Relics of Christ: A History of the Sacred in the West," 2022), provides answers.
What do we know precisely about the tunic of Argenteuil?
According to tradition, it is a part of the tunic that Christ is said to have worn either at his burial or crucifixion – the exact moment is debated. From the 12th century onward, several texts shaped the legend that it was given by Charlemagne, who died in 814, to his daughter Théodrade, abbess of the Argenteuil monastery. An extensive body of literature, notably through chansons de geste, recounts a journey by the Frankish emperor to Byzantium and then to Jerusalem, from where he reportedly brought the tunic back.
All this lacks historical foundation. However, it is known that there were numerous exchanges between Charlemagne and Byzantium, and the Frankish emperor harbored ambitions to emulate the practice in the Eastern Roman Empire of associating sacred objects with imperial power. During his reign, he imported various objects from the East and distributed them to several sacred sites within the Empire, and his descendants continued this practice. Legends later emerged, especially during the Crusades, when claiming to have received a relic from Charlemagne was a mark of distinction.
Is the authenticity of the Argenteuil tunic subject to the same debates as the Shroud of Turin, supposedly used to wrap Jesus in the tomb?
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