“So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.” – John 19:40
Brothers,
A recent two-year old study conducted by a team of Italian researchers (Dr Liberato de Caro), found that the fabric of the Shroud of Turin is consistent with first-century Israel linens, providing further evidence to the probability that the Shroud is indeed the burial cloth of Christ. The implications of this finding go beyond mere dating of the fabric – if true, it means we have not only a “photograph” of Christ but more importantly, evidence of the Resurrection!
For a long time, skeptics have used the findings of a 1988 study conducted by the laboratories of Oxford, Zurich and Arizona, which using carbon-dating techniques of the time, suggested the Shroud traced back to the 15th century. Since 1998 though, researchers like Sue Benford and Dr Raymond Rogers determined that the sample used for this research was contaminated with materials used to patch the Shroud, after it was damaged by a fire. Carbon-dating is itself not very accurate due to the short length of the carbon-14 half life, but works well with materials thousands of years old such as rocks.
The method used for the recent study is called wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS). It is a new method and so one must be prudent when analysing the results. One criticism of the method is that it assumes a constant range of temperature and humidity throughout the life of the Shroud. We know that it suffered through a fire in 1532, but to what extent is difficult to ascertain.
One popular counter-argument to the veracity of the Shroud as an ancient relic rather than a medieval forgery, is a letter written in 1389 by Bishop Pierre d’Arcis of Troyes, France to Avignon Pope Clement VII. In it, the bishop writes, “…this could not be the real shroud of our Lord…since the Holy Gospel makes no mention of it”. He then added, “…he (Bishop Henri of Poitiers) discovered the fraud and how the said cloth had been cunningly painted, the truth being attested by the artist who had painted it, to wit, that it was a work of human skill…”. The two bishops having a fairly good reputation in their time, it’s widely accepted that no ill-intention came into play. With that said, good intentions or reputations does not guarantee proof, and a couple questions need to be raised: the Gospels do make very clear that Christ was wrapped in a cloth, so what did the bishop mean by his first assertion? Secondly, who is the brilliant artist that was able to produce something in medieval times that no one to date can replicate? Where are his other works?
Until 1898, no one had seen the “photograph” image when it is viewed in negative. It wasn’t until 1931, that professional photographer Giuseppe Enrie showed the image in black-and-white negative. This means that for nearly 1900 years, generations of people from different families, different nations, venerated a cloth with an image they could not fully see. One can’t help but think of Jesus’ words to St Thomas, ““Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Jn 20:29
The Church has never made a definitive pronouncement on the Shroud. It wasn’t until 1983, when Umberto II of Savoy upon his death in his home in Portugal, bequeathed the Shroud to the Pope and his successors, marking first time in known history that the Shroud was formally owned by the Catholic Church.
The Shroud’s bloodstains show a man scourged on his back, crowned with thorns, and stabbed in the side. The cloth is made of weaving patterns found during Jesus’ time and particles of pollen that come from the Middle East were found lodged in the linen fibers. The blood type on the Shroud matches the one on the Sudarium (face cloth) and has 124 exact wound matches. And this is only the beginning (for more details, check out Fr Robert Spitzer’s Magis Center resource on the subject)
“Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed” – John 20:6-8
St Joseph, pray for us.
St Michael, pray for us.
Roberto Freire
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