From the Holy Land to Constantinople (now Istanbul), Venice, and Paris: the relic believed to be Jesus' crown of thorns took a long route to the cathedral.

The Holy Crown came very close to becoming the property of the Venetians. If it hadn’t been for the intervention of King Louis IX of France, it would probably be part of the treasury of St. Mark’s Basilica today! But thanks to St. Louis’ ardent faith and his desire to place France — and his reign — under God’s gaze, he acquired it from the Venetians as a pledge. He carried it in procession to Notre-Dame while awaiting completion of the Sainte-Chapelle, the chapel he built specifically to house the holy relic.

According to tradition, St. Helena, mother of Constantine I, found the Crown of Thorns in Jerusalem in the 4th century, along with other relics of Christ’s Passion. Accounts of pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem in the 4th century do indeed mention the Crown of Thorns and the instruments of the Passion.

ST HELENA — St. Helena of Constantinople

Helena | CC BY 2.0

No one knows the exact date, but between the 7th century — which marked the return of the Persian and then Arab invasions to the Holy Land — and the 10th century, the Byzantine emperors transferred the Crown of Thorns from Jerusalem to Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.

It joined the treasury of the Byzantine emperors and was safeguarded in Constantinople’s imperial chapel, Our Lady of the Lighthouse. Its presence there is attested in the 10th century by an enameled gold reliquary dedicated to “Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, enthroned in 913.”

In 1204, the Crusaders invaded Constantinople. The Latin Empire, following the Byzantine Empire, took possession of the precious relic.

St. Louis acquires the relic

In 1238, the catastrophic financial situation of Baldwin II, Latin emperor of Constantinople, led him to give the Crown of Thorns to the Venetians as collateral in order to obtain credit. It was under these circumstances that Baldwin II proposed to his cousin Louis IX that he acquire the Crown of Thorns.

ST LOUIS IX — St Louis IX as depicted by El Greco

El Greco | Public Domain

St. Louis offered an enormous sum for the relic, the first in a major collection. The crown was acquired in August 1238 for the sum of 135,000 livres tournois — almost half the royal annual budget at the time. Around Christmas 1238, it set off for France in the custody of two Dominican friars, Jacques and André de Longjumeau, whose main task was to authenticate the precious relic. It made a stopover in Venice, in order to lift the lien on it, and continued its journey with a large escort.

On August 10, 1239, the king, accompanied by his brother Robert I d’Artois and his mother Blanche de Castille, met the delegation at Villeneuve-l’Archevêque (Yonne). He received the holy Crown of Thorns among some 20 other relics of Christ. It’s easy to imagine his emotion as he opened the chest containing the circle of braided rushes, studded with thorns, that Jesus bore during his Passion.

Entering Notre-Dame

Next, imagine a small army on its way to Paris. The party entered the capital on August 19, 1239, and marched in procession to Notre-Dame, which would temporarily house the relics until work on the Sainte-Chapelle was completed. Stripping off his royal finery, the king donned a simple tunic. Barefoot as a sign of respect and humility, he carried the Holy Crown to Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Two years later, in 1241, Louis IX continued his pious acquisitions. He bought a piece of the Holy Cross and seven other relics of Christ, including the Holy Blood and the Sepulchre Stone. The following year, pieces of the Holy Lance and the Holy Sponge were added to the “Holy Collection.”

To preserve these sacred objects, the Sainte-Chapelle was erected within the royal palace, and the relics were translated in 1248, two months before the king’s departure for the Crusade.

SAINTE CHAPELLE — The Sainte-Chapelle, a Gothic chapel built by King Louis IX (St. Louis) to house the Crown of Thorns and other relics of Our Lord’s Passion

© Isogood_patrick – Shutterstock

Of all the relics, the Crown of Thorns was the most precious to St. Louis. No doubt because it had not been broken up, but also because it possessed a powerful symbol: It underlined that the king had received, in the words of the liturgical office, “by divine election,” the Crown of Christ. St. Louis instituted a specific liturgical feast in honor of the Crown of Thorns, set for August 11, the anniversary of the relic’s arrival in Sens.

The Crown today

Today, the Crown is a circle 8.25 inches in diameter, made of bundled rushes held together by gold threads. There are no thorns left. They have been dispersed over the centuries as gifts by Byzantine emperors and the kings of France. No fewer than 70 thorns, scattered around the world, claim to have been part of the crown.

P Deliss | Godong

Belonging to the Notre-Dame Treasury since August 10, 1806, the Holy Crown has been kept since the fire of April 2019 at the church of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois. Since 1896, a crystal and gold tube has protected the Crown. The openwork frame features a branch of zizyphus or spina Christi, a thorny shrub common in Palestine. Although the Crown’s authenticity cannot be scientifically attested, it remains a clear sign of Christ’s love for humanity.

The new reliquary

During the fire of 2019, the precious Crown of Thorns was heroically saved from the flames by the Paris Fire Brigade and their chaplain, Fr. Jean-Marc Fournier. In order to reach the Crown of Thorns, the glass case in which this treasure of Christianity was enshrined had to be shattered. The Archbishop of Paris therefore entrusted architect and designer Sylvain Dubuisson with the task of redesigning this unusual object to once again house not only the holy relic, but also a fragment of the Wood of the Cross and a nail from the Crucifixion.

On November 19, the new reliquary took its place at the east end of the cathedral in the axial chapel. The blessing of the shrine will take place just after the opening of the cathedral on December 8, by the Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich.

couronne d'épines, reliquaire, reliques — Rendering of the new reliquary designed by Sylvain Dubuisson

© Sylvain Dubuisson

Resolutely modern, the reliquary is presented vertically, borrowing from the Eastern tradition of iconostasis. Measuring over 9 feet in height, it is made of cedar wood, the same wood used for the reliquary of the piece of the Cross held by the cathedral. Set with bronze thorns inserted into ever-widening notches, it offers a play of light with the stained-glass windows.

At its center is a blue half-sphere, where the Crown of Thorns will be displayed for veneration. Outside these times of prayer, the Crown will be kept in a highly secure safe, concealed in the base of the reliquary, which takes the form of a marble “altar tomb” over which LED lamps will be lit.

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