The ''Blood of Christ''

By Crusader1307

In Bruges, Belgium is an unusually named religious structure, called The Basilica of The Holy Blood. Within it’s walls is an even stranger religious relic which to this day is controversial . The relic is purported to be a small piece of linen upon which is stained with the blood of none other than Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Kept in a glass, cylindrical Reliquary, it’s Legend is as follows. When Christ was executed, Joseph of Arimathea donated His personal Tomb for burial. As was Custom, Christ’s body had to be washed and prepared for burial BEFORE Sundown (The Sabbath). Joseph reputedly took a cloth and wiped the blood from Jesus’ face. Kept in  The City of Jerusalem until the 12^th Century, it would be given by King Baldwin III to His Brother, The Duke of Flanders. From hand to hand, the unique artifact was passed until it ended up at a specially built Shrine (it’s current Home). As would be expected, The Church will not allow testing or samples to be taken of either the linen or any (long degraded blood serum). In fact, the last time the linen was ouched by ''human hands’’ was around the 15^th Century AD. Given the fact that Medieval Relic forgeries were quite common, there is no real way to verify IF the so called ‘’Blood of Christ’’ is real or fake. It is – above all, a matter of ‘’Faith’’.