CONTROVERSY.
(Singular One.)

In the sixteenth century Cardinal Vigerius wrote several books, one of which was to prove that Jesus Christ’s tunic ought to give place to Longinus’s spear. The occasion of this work is singular. Bajazet, emperor of the Turks, having two very precious reliques, viz, the seamless coat of our Saviour, and the spear which pierced his heart, presented the latter to the pope, and kept the former for himself. On this occasion a great dispute arose in Italy, whether the present made to the pope was better than that which the grand seignior reserved for himself. They carefully examined whether a Turkish prince had a good taste in point of reliques. Our Vigerius was ordered to make it appear, that the sultan was no nice judge in things of this kind, since the seamless tunic ought to give the precedence to the lance. In effect, the spear penetrated to the heart, and was tinctured with the very vital blood; but the tunic only touched the external parts. Bartholinus mentions this dispute.—Art.Vigerius.