Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 47.djvu/784

766 Jesus said within herself, "If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole." This is precisely the position taken by Jesus himself, who turned to the woman and said: "Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole." On another occasion it is expressly declared by the evangelist that in a certain place the unbelief of the people, or their lack of faith, prevented the doing of many wondrous works. Jaskowski does not deny that on this principle, which is now recognized by the most eminent physicians, some persons may have been restored to health by touching the holy coat of Trier; and there is no doubt that the popular belief in Bishop Korum's assertion that it is the same garment which Jesus wore and the woman touched, would greatly increase its healing efficacy through the force of auto-suggestion. In conclusion Jaskowski declares that the cases of healing, so far as they actually occurred, "were not due to a miracle or any direct interference of God with the established course of things, but happened in a purely natural manner."

The success, both devotional and pecuniary, which attended the exhibition of the holy coat of Trier in 1801 on German soil excited the religious and patriotic zeal of French Catholics, who resolved to try what healing virtue might still inhere in the "holy seamless coat" of Argenteuil. This rival relic, the gift of the Byzantine Empress Irene to Charlemagne, had not been officially exposed and had its therapeutic powers publicly tested since 1680, and it was decided that the "elevation" should take place from May 14 to June 10 in the year of grace 1894. No sooner was this announcement made than it greatly alarmed the jealousy of Trier, whose bishop published a pastoral letter denying the genuineness of the coat at Argenteuil, and inviting the faithful to pay their devotions only to that at Trier. This view was also taken by a French ecclesiastic, the Benedictine Abbé Vonel, who wrote a pamphlet declaring that the legend of the Argenteuil relic had no historical foundation, and that the whole thing was merely a "pious illusion," which the Church should have sufficient love of truth as well as sense of her own worthiness to repudiate. This conclusion filled the inhabitants of Argenteuil with consternation; especially the tradesmen and innkeepers of the little town on the Seine uttered loud and indignant protests against the attempt to tarnish the traditional glory of this sacred shrine and to diminish the prospect of putting money in their pockets, while the people of Trier rejoiced at the condemnation and probable extinction of a dangerous competitor. At this juncture Monseigneur Richard, Archbishop of Paris, intervened and induced the Abbé Vonel to withdraw his brochure from publication. In order to remove any lingering traces of skepticism from the public mind, the Bishop of Versailles submitted a small piece of the holy