7 66 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



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 oc- 

 casion 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 emi- 

 nent 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 gen- 

 uineness 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 Abbe" 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 conster- 

 nation ; especially the tradesmen and innkeepers of the little town 

 on the Seine uttered loud and indignant protests against the at- 

 tempt 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 extinc- 

 tion of a dangerous competitor. At this juncture Monseigneur 

 Richard, Archbishop of Paris, intervened and induced the Abbe" 

 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 seam- 



