I am looking for information on what happened to the "passions of
Christ" that were once kept at the Sainte Chapelle in Paris, France.

Hello abmik

Thank-you for your interesting question.

Two of the relics of Christ's Passion from the Sainte Chapelle are
still in Paris. The Crown of Thorns and a piece of the True Cross are
stored in the sacristy of Notre Dame cathedral and are on display to
the public. The other twenty relics have unfortunately not been seen
since the time of the French Revolution.

As you probably know, the Sainte Chapelle was built by Louis IX (Saint
Louis) to house the twenty-two holy relics he had assembled. They were
displayed in the lavishly designed Upper Chapel. In the run-up to the
French revolution Louis XVI tried to keep them safe by ordering their
transfer to the royal basilica of Saint-Denis. (Other treasures from
Sainte Chapelle went to other places.) The revolution led to the
dispersal of everything in the Saint-Denis treasury and in 1793 most
of the valuable pieces were melted down. The Sainte Chapelle was
damaged by the revolutionaries in the same year.

Although a few websites imply that more relics are scattered in
museums round Paris, in fact these are not the actual relics but other
related pieces from the collection at Sainte Chapelle. This is stated
definitively by experts from the Louvre:
"From Saint Louis' relics, only the Crown of Thorns and a piece of the
Holy Cross still remain today..."
You can read the illustrated material from the Louvre if you have
Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer:

www.louvre.fr/anglais/presse/ archives/expos/tresor_us.pdf

If you need to download Adobe go to:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/alternate.html#505     


The relics were originally brought to Paris in Byzantine reliquaries
but Louis IX wanted them to be displayed more visibly through crystal.
When the collection was sent for safekeeping to St. Denis the original
containers were stored separately and some of these survive, e.g. this
one in the Louvre in Paris:

http://www.louvre.fr/francais/presse/archives/expos/tresor.htm


FURTHER INFORMATION AND LINKS

I found information in French on the Notre Dame website explaining
that the crown is made of woven reeds though the thorns ("epines" - 
sometimes translated as spines) have fallen away over the centuries.

http://www.cathedraledeparis.com/FR/05.asp.

The relics are in the sacristy which is open on weekdays and Sunday
afternoons:

http://www.cathedraledeparis.com/FR/D4.asp

On the first Friday of every month there is a service of 'Veneration
of the Crown of Spines' at Notre-Dame.  English information is at:

http://www.cathedraledeparis.com/FR/06.asp

More on the Sainte Chapelle:

http://www.ca-paris.justice.fr/cour/fr/visite/uk/page/c_histoire_chapelle.html

Information on King Louis IX, explaining why he is known as "France's
most Christian king":

http://www.etrav.com/pathways/html/stchapelle.asp.

A page full of photographs of the Upper Chapel where the relics were
housed:

http://architecture.relig.free.fr/chaphaute.htm

More about the relics at Notre Dame, emphasising that relics of the
Passion are the most sacred of Christian relics (in French):

http://www.cathedraledeparis.com/FR/D3.asp

I hope this tells you what you wanted to know. If anything is unclear
or you have trouble with the links, please feel free to ask for
clarification.

Regards - Leli


Searches used:

For information on the relics:

://www.google.co.uk/search?q=sainte+chapelle+relics+OR+reliques&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&start=10&sa=N

For architectural information:

://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=sainte+chapelle+%22upper+chapel%22+OR+%22chapelle+haute%22&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

And I searched the website for the cathedral of Notre Dame at:

http://www.cathedraledeparis.com/FR/0.asp