before and
from behind, quite naked with the exception of a broad scarf
encircling the loins. It is pretended that this relic was saved by a
Christian at the taking of Jerusalem by Titus, and it was preserved
for many centuries by the faithful.

In 640 it was brought back to Palestine, from whence it was
transferred to Europe by the Crusaders. It was taken by a French
knight named Geoffroi de Charny, who presented it to the collegiate
church of a place called _Lire_, which belonged to him, and which is
situated about three leagues from the town of Troyes, in Champagne;
the donor declaring, on that occasion, that this holy sheet was
taken by him from the infidels, and that it had delivered him in a
miraculous manner from a prison dungeon into which he had been cast
by the English.

The canons of that church, seeing at once the great profits to be
derived from such a relic, lost no time in exhibiting it, and their
church was soon crowded with devotees. The bishop of Troyes, Henri
de Poitiers, finding however no proofs of the authenticity of this
relic, prohibited it to be shown as an object of worship, and it
remained unheeded for twenty-four years.

The sons of Geoffroi de Charny, about the year 1388, obtained
permission from the Papal legate to restore this relic of their
father's to the church of Lire, and the canon exposed it in front of
the pulpit, surrounding it with lighted tapers, but the bishop of
Troyes, Peter d'Arcy, prohibited this exhibition under pain of
excommunication. They afterwards obtained from the king, Charles
VI., an authorization to worship the _holy sudarium_ in the church
of Lire. The bishop upon this repaired to court, and represented to
the king that the worship of the pretended sheet of Jesus Christ was
nothing less than downright idolatry, and he argued so effectually
that Charles revoked the permission by an edict of the 21st August
1389.

Geoffroi de Charny's sons then appealed to Pope Clemens VII., who
was residing at Avignon, and he granted permission for the holy
sudarium to be exhibited. The bishop of Troyes sent a memorial to
the Pope, explaining the importance attached to this so-called holy
relic. Clemens did not, however, prohibit the sudarium to be shown,
but