Show the seamless coat chicago three miles from mcinenry a pretty tt 1 v village and elation station on the jo northwestern e r t bw estern railroad this eide side of 0 woodstock Wood a german settlement Bett lement called johnsbury attracts attention by a very handsome han deome church building which et tan anding dinn on an elevation is visible for a considerable distance this settlement waa was started about the year 1845 by a number of catholic families who emigrated from the neighborhood of the old german catholic few town of treves or trier whose history reaches back to t the he days when julius invaded G germany er at the bead head of the roman legions it continued to receive noces accessions ces cese lons from the same neighborhood until the beginning althe of the war but only very few since then this town is thoroughly german in spite of its english name lohing but german betas being spoken by the inhabitants and like the german towns from which its population has been drawn it la is conoll completely bitely identified with ita its one congregation the catholic priest is the most influential man in the place some or thirty years ago the for a larger church building was felt the original structure a mere log cabin having become too small love and af affection for tha the homo home of their fathers prompted the priest and bis his congregation to reproduce uce as nearly as possible poe aible the lieb frauen fration church of Treves next neit to the cathedral the most noted building of that city eity and the settlement Bett lement taxed itself very heavily for that purpose Bp about the came same time that johnsbury became the new home ot of emi granto from the trier country which by the way is the home of the famous moselle wines winea another group of emigrants ironi frona the same neighborhood located on the high bluffs north of kranston Kv anston called pow now grosse point and became be the nucleus for kur anotn finot ber er german catholic settlement wh when ev in 1851 anew a new township was orga organized n to take in the northeast corner of cook county this was strong enough to perpetuate the tile name of the old home in that of the new one and the town was called new trier A very large larg port loh foh it if not the ma barty of the german Cath catholic olion t who arrived in chicago daring during and founded the congregations of st peter st joseph and st 3 michael came from the same old historic hia torio locality the diocese of 0 trier or treves this old seat of roman civilization and of the CAt C bolic church in ona one of the most beautiful parts ot of germany possesses therefore a considerable interest for chicago an interest which ia Is i likely to experience a considerable sid old erable revival during the next few months among the many witnesses of 0 a cray past arevea contains one ol 01 the moat sacred relics ot of the catholic charchan chur chan old garment believed to have been the identical seamless coat which according to the gospel the roman soldiers removed from the body of jesus of nazareth before nailing 11 him am to the cross and for nit the he possession of 0 which dice dies were thrown the old relic has been carefully guarded by the church tor for centuries and has been the object of very active pilgrimage the last public ex hib tion of the relic during 1844 1144 brought enormous enor mona crowds of pil pilgrims rim to treves many of whom clef claimed me d to be cured of long and severe illness by gazing upon the relic but its is most important result was a revolt in the catholic church which tor for a time threatened to assume serious proportions beginning with the laet last week in august of the present year the relic is again to be on public exhibition for six weeks bishop dr Ko korum koremin in announcing the tle proposed exhibition expresses the firm belief that it will prove a great blessing for the fait faithful h and that in the face of this spirit ual gain all doubts as to the genuine nea does of the relic would lose their force besides the croves cathedral churches in argenteuil Argent euil mayance home rome moscow santiago oviedo constantinople london bolog cologne n e frankfort friauf thiers ghent nines barbic and claim to possess Fees the coat of the Savior but that in Fos a croves has the oldest history of them all having been mentioned in the records as early as the twelfth century the tradition then most common about this relic waa was that empress helena the mother of constantine Conet antine bad had found the coat with other relics in palestine and bad had deposited it in a chapel which later became a part of the cathedral of croves about A D the bishops themselves were not always very enthusiastic over the genuineness of the relic for in 1812 when emperor maximilian demanded the public exhibition of the coat as a means for reviving christian piety and f r increasing human reverence tor for god the clergy tried to dissuade him and prayers that t the he almighty would graciously avert whatever injury might result from the unearthing of euch such a sacred relic after this exhibition a papal bull wag was issued by leo X affirming the genuineness of the cloak thia bull added considerable fuel to the smoldering fires which a few years later burst forth in the great german reformation three centuries later gregory XVI issued a papal decree dated august 22 1843 which granted certain privileges to the altar of a church in ar gent gento euil uil because it was the resting place of the coat of the savior this was tho the immediate cause of the treves exhibition 0 f the holy coat in 1844 which became the forerunner of germanys germanas Germ anys revolutionary troubles fust lust as the exhibition in 1512 was followed by the reformation A perfect network of tradition has been woven around this coat by no means always in accordance with historical fact but possesses a great hold on the people of the moselle valley according to the oldest which has been exploited poetically since the twelfth century the coat was vi oven i by empress helene from wool spank by the virgin mary alary on the mount of olives it was made for the babe jesus and grew with him in size after the crucifixion herod herad gave e the coast to a jew who incised fogged it I 1 in 12 a stone coffin and then threw it ioto the ocean A siren finds the stone casket tossed about by the waves opens it and throws the coat on the beach where many years after a pilgrim finds and recognizes it feeling himself unworthy to possess it he be throws the coat back into the water A whale now swallows the coat and keeps it tor for eight years in his stomach m where here it Is found by the fishermen who had captured and slaughtered the whale king brendel of treves haq has about his this time a visit from tte virgin mother I 1 who tells him of the whereabouts of the coat and gives him the thirty pieces of silver tor for which judas eold sold bia his master to purchase the coat from the fl fisherman brendel did as be he was told and a n d became an in Invincible hero bero by wearing the coat t he ile finally deposited it in the albico altico altar 0 of f the treves chapel another legend makes pilate the of the coat which protected him against emperor Bt st wrath on account of the crucifixion until it was taken from him by the advice of A st veronica another legend makes the coat the po properly perty of a jew who lent it to 8 eol 01 diers as a protection against punishment until the king found out about the coat confiscated it and deposited it in the treves church after recognizing it as the seamless garment worn by the savior according to stil atil another legend the christian servant of a jew was seized by such a desire to possess an old coat be he bad had that she bought it for a years labor she took the coat with her to treves and had barely entered the city gate when all the church bells belle began to ring the bishop investigated vesti gated and found that the coat in the possession of the girl was the cause ot of the miracle and immedi immediato ly ty recognized it as the seamless coat the relic has been subjected lately to very searching examinations which havo have established its great fin antiquity without destroying t the he doubts regarding ita its genuineness but as tho the object of great veneration on the part of the catholic church it seems entitle to a treatment which is not too particular about its mere material history |