The Virgin Mary's Veil at Chartres Cathedral and how the relic reached France

Chartres is the first Gothic cathedral of France, dedicated to the Virgin, where one of the greatest Christian relics is kept: the veil of the Virgin Mary, in which she was clothed when she gave birth to Jesus. The silk camisia has been kept in the city since the 9th century; the undergarment came here as a gift from Charles II. In France the veil of the Mother of God had appeared several decades earlier: it was presented to Charlemagne by the Byzantine Empress Irene. But originally the robe, strange as it may seem, was stolen from its lawful owner, a pious woman in whose family the garment of the Mother of God had been preserved since the death of the Virgin. It is believed that the veil of the Mother of God was made off with by two pilgrims who had stopped for the night in the house where it was kept. A rather typical story for many Christian treasures.