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The seamless robe of Jesus is the robe said to have been worn by Jesus during his crucifixion.
According to the Gospel of John, the soldiers who crucified Jesus did not divide his tunic after crucifying him, but cast lots to determine who would keep it because it was woven in one piece, without seam.
The tradition of the Roman Catholic Church holds that that robe is now housed in the cathedral of Trier, Germany. The historical record supporting the identification of this relic as genuine is not proven.
The history of the seamless robe is certain only from the 12th century. On May 1, 1196, Archbishop Johann I of Trier consecrated an altar in which the seamless robe was contained. It is no longer possible to determine the exact historical path that the robe took to arrive there, so that many hold it to be a medieval forgery. The tradition holds that Helena, mother of Constantine the Great discovered the relic in the Holy Land and had it sent to the city of Trier. (The monk Altmann of Hautvillers wrote in the 9th century that Helena was born in that city, though this report is strongly disputed by most modern historians.)
The relic is normally kept folded in a reliquary and cannot be directly viewed by the faithful. There are normally two or three special viewing periods in each century, the last being in 1959 and 1996.
The various attempts at preservation and restoration through the centuries makes it difficult to determine how much of the relic (if genuine) actually stems from the time of Jesus.
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