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Argenteuil is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. Its Basilica of Saint-Denys enshrines the Holy Tunic, a seamless robe believed to have been the garment worn by Christ Jesus during his passion, and gambled over by Roman soldiers. The church also features two artworks representing the Virgin Mary as she weaves the Holy Tunic.
The first is a statue on the façade; the other is a fresco, painted inside, based on a mosaic in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, showing Mary weaving when the angel Gabriel appeared to her at the Annunciation, commissioned by Father Guy-Emmanuel Cariot, the basilica's rector.
Although there is no historical proof of this, "there is, however, a long tradition in Argenteuil according to which the Holy Robe was woven by Mary for Jesus, and is therefore also a Marian relic," assures the priest, for whom this tradition is "highly credible".
The Holy Tunic has long been considered to be a symbol of the unity of the Church intended by the Lord. It was Father of the Church St. Cyprian of Carthage, the 3rd-century bishop and martyr, who "first established this symbolic link", says Father Cariot. St. Cyprian based this belief on Saint John's important observation: "They also took the tunic; it was a seamless tunic, woven in one piece from top to bottom" (Jn 19:23).
The Argenteuil tunic is still seamless and woven from top to bottom, although it has suffered some damage: in 1793, during the Reign of Terror, the parish priest at the time, Father Ozet, cut it into several pieces, which he entrusted to various parishioners and buried in his garden, in order to protect it from the destructive fury of the revolutionaries. For Father Cariot, this historical episode also symbolizes "the reality of the suffering of the disunited Body of Christ".
In the face of this, Mary's role proves essential. "Mary, like a mother, watches over the integrity of her child's body, so that it remains whole. Thus, after watching over the Lord's human body, she guards his Mystical Body, the Church, of which Christ is the head. She never ceases to give birth to this Body. Her role in praying for the unity of the Church is therefore crucial. We must let Mary work in our hearts, to be convinced that the Church is truly the Body of Christ, and that this Body is one," the guardian of the Holy Tunic explains.