The Holy Shroud of Turin

The Holy Shroud of Turin - One of the most intriguing mysteries connected with Our Lord’s life is what happened to the shroud in which He was buried. Surely the disciples must have taken it and kept it securely. But what happened to it later? Many people believe that the Shroud is still in existence and is kept in a special chapel in Turin in Italy.

      The Shroud of Turin, or the Holy Shroud as it is usually called, is reputed to be the cloth in which the body of Christ was wrapped for his burial. It is undoubtedly the most controversial relic of all time, the object of mystery and fascination for Christians for centuries. No other such object has been subjected to such intense and prolonged scrutiny particularly in this century. From the time it first came to light in the 14^th century, it has repeatedly been proclaimed a fake by historians, by scientists, and even by Church leaders. Shortly after its discovery the Bishop of the diocese where it was being publicly displayed appealed to the Pope to stop the scandal caused by its veneration. He claimed that an artist had confessed to have painted it. In our own century the 1912 edition of the Catholic Encyclopaedia states flatly that it was painted, but the 1967 edition, though more cautious, claims that “its acceptance today is more common than it was in the past.” Yet none of this has discouraged millions of people from venerating it as the Shroud of Christ. Such crowds were anticipated for its public showing in the year 2000, that it was necessary to have a ticket even to get on the line to view it.

      What does the shroud look like? It is an ivory-coloured linen cloth with a small admixture of cotton, but without any wool. Its weave is herring-bone twill. It is a little over 14 ft. in length and 3½ in width, or for our younger readers, 4.36 m x 1.1 m. It is at least 600 years old. As we shall see, these details are important in determining the authenticity of the Shroud. There are many marks on it. On the night of 3/4 December 1532, a fire broke out in the chapel where it was kept in a silver repository. The molten silver scorched the cloth in several places before it was rescued. Later triangular patches were sewn in to repair the worst of the scorch damage. Fortunately those marks are at the sides and do not interfere with the main image.

      But it is the marks down the centre of the cloth which are intriguing. They are a faint representation of a human body, both back and front, a bearded male with long hair, 5’ 11” tall and weighing approximately 175 lbs. Apparently the body was laid on the cloth with its feet at one end, and the cloth doubled back over the head down to the feet again so that the whole body was covered. Consequently there are two life-size images, back and front, lying head to head down the middle of the cloth.

      The man has apparently suffered considerable violence. Careful examination reveals abrasions, bruises and swellings, there are traces of various blood flows, from the head, the wrist, feet, and particularly from the side, from which the blood flows apparently from an incision between the fifth and sixth rib. His back, from the shoulders down to the ankles, is liberally spattered with more than a hundred dumb-bell shaped cuts where the skin has apparently been broken by blows with a leaded whip such as the Romans used. His right cheek is swollen as if from a blow. Contrary to Roman custom, his legs are not broken.

      But there is no trace of actual blood on the cloth, nor has scientific analysis been able to discover traces of any other material which might have been used to imitate blood, or of pigment which might have been used to paint the marks on the cloth. Perhaps the strangest fact of all is that those marks are only on the surface, they have not penetrated the fibres at all as they would have done if they were made by real blood or by any sort of paint. Yet, the representation of the various blood-flows on the cloth is, according to scientists, highly accurate.

      So much for what the shroud actually looks like. Let us take a look at its history. It can be traced back by documentary evidence to the village of Lirey in France where, in 1354, it was in the possession of a knight, Geoffrey de Charny. A century later, in 1453 it came into the possession of the Duke of Savoy and was placed in Chambery, the capital of Savoy, where it sustained the damage mentioned above. The Duke of Savoy later became ruler of part of the north of Italy and moved the Shroud to Turin where he planned to move his capital. A special chapel was built for it and until recently it was kept rolled up around a pole, inside a silvered wooden reliquary behind a grill above the altar. Recently, because of several attempts to destroy it by people breaking in and setting fire to the chapel, it has been removed to a place of greater security. However, an exact replica is on public display at all times in the chapel. The late ex-king of Italy, Umberto II, who lived in Portugal, willed it to the Church, so that it is now the property of the Vatican.