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Jakob Marx on the Exhibition of the Holy Shroud in Trier (1844)

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all to a new kingdom, without chains and only in freedom. In this unity, our celebration was a picture of the Catholic church in which the same faith, understanding, and worship come together as one. Unity in faith is a requirement of godliness and a feature of its truth. This criteria supported the faith which brought forth our celebration and so made it shine upon His face, but faith also carried the feature of holiness within itself, namely love, without which faith is dead. At the celebrations, all pilgrims were joyous in their faith and spirited in their belief. Who heard or saw any acts of hatred against those of other beliefs, who took part in any attacks on the faith of other groups? Not a trace of any of this was to be found. The nature of truth and right possession is such that those who stand by its side can be joyous without disparaging or disturbing others, and that they surround and uphold their possessions with love and without offending the rights of others and without fighting over things with other people. This is the sad inheritance of those who have chosen rejection and who are divided among themselves and only come together in one thing, not in God, but in Satan, from whom all deniers are descended since the beginning of time.



Source: Jakob Marx, Geschichte des heil. Rockes in der Domkirche zu Trier [The History of the Holy Shroud in the Cathedral in Trier]. Trier: Lintz, 1844.

Original German text reprinted in Wolfgang Schieder, Religion und Revolution: Die Trierer Wallfahrt von 1844 [Religion and Revolution: The Trier Pilgrimage of 1844]. Vierow bei Greifswald: SH-Verlag, 1996, pp. 80-86.

Translation: James Sievert

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