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Dear Sophie, According to my book "Relics" by Joan Carroll Cruz, c. 1984 (an EXCELLENT book), it says: (verbatim, I scanned it in) A CLOTH believed to have served as the Baby Jesus' swaddling garment is kept in a unique reliquary in the shrine that Charlemagne built called Aix La Chapelle in Aachen, Germany. The city of Aachen was made the capital of the empire by Charlemagne and it remained the capital of the Holy Roman Empire until the middle of the 16th century. Thirty-seven German emperors were crowned there. When Charlemagne built the cathedral, he took pride in securing for it many important relics from the Holy Land and Rome. One of the most valued o£ these was the cloth believed to have been worn by the Infant Jesus. The golden reliquary, whose hollow encloses the relic, depicts the Presentation in the Temple. Called the Reliquary Shrine for the Arm of St. Simeon, the shrine was built to house the bone of the saint, but actually enshrines the Holy Cloth. On one side of the small short-legged, gem-studded table is a golden figure of the Blessed Mother with her outstretched hands holding the two doves of the temple offering. On the opposite end is the golden figure of Simeon with his outstretched arms holding a figure of the Infant Jesus. The relics in the cathedral are carefully guarded and were seldom exposed to public veneration before the 14th century. Since then they have been shown on an average of once every seven years, when great pilgrimages flock to Aachen to venerate them. Hope it helps, Wendy Reardon ----- Original Message ----- From: Sophie Oosterwijk <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Friday, March 31, 2000 8:55 AM Subject: More relic questions > Dear listmembers, > > As some of you were extremely helpful when I floated my previous > question, I feel bold enough to ask another one on a related topic. > > I have just returned from Rome where I visited S. Maria Maggiore with > its remains of the True Manger. However, I had read somewhere that > this church also housed a relic of Christ's swaddling clothes but > found no trace of them. An alternative church to possess this relic > is said to be S. Anastasia but to my great annoyance it was closed > for restoration. (Just my luck: my first visit to Rome, and not > only the Pope missing but also my favourite relic!) > > So, having failed to find the answer to my question in Rome, > perhaps someone on the list could help me find the true whereabouts > of Christ's swaddling clothes in Rome? I know there is a similar > relic in Aachen, and Byzantium also possessed one or more parts of > these clothes. If anyone knows of any other Holy Swaddling Clothes, > I should be very interested to hear from them off the list (as I am > still in e-limbo). > > With many thanks in advance, > > Sophie Oosterwijk > ------ > Dr Sophie Oosterwijk MA > Dept of the History of Art > University of Leicester > e-mail: [log in to unmask] > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%