Posted on 09/21/2002 8:19:30 PM PDT by Swordmaker
Restored Shroud Unveiled
Photograph © 2002 Archdiocese of Turin
As I reported in August, a major restoration of the Shroud of Turin was undertaken by its owners in June-July 2002. All thirty of the patches sewn into the cloth in 1534 by the Poor Clare nuns to repair the damage caused by the 1532 fire were removed, allowing the first unrestricted view of the actual holes burned into the cloth by the fire. It appears that some of the most seriously charred areas around the burn holes were also removed during the restoration. The backing cloth (known as the Holland Cloth) that was added at the same time, was also removed and replaced with a new, lighter colored cloth, which can now be seen through the burn holes. As you can see, virtually all of the creases and wrinkles that had been previously evident on the Shroud are gone. For larger, more detailed views of the individual ventral and dorsal images and the ability to compare the old with the new, visit the Examine the Shroud page of this website
In a press conference held in Turin on September 21, 2002, the world was introduced to the newly restored cloth. New photographs and a full account of the restoration (in Italian) first appeared on the Archdiocese of Turin Website. In an effort to provide you with the most up-to-date information, I am including an Acrobat PDF file with a very preliminary computer software generated English translation of the "Story of the Restoration," graciously provided by Rev. Albert "Kim" Dreisbach, Jr. It is a bit rough, but should give you a good overview of the original article by Mons. Joseph Ghiberti that appears on the Archdiocese website. I also want to thank Emanuela Marinelli and Alessandro Malantrucco for keeping me informed over the past 24 hours. I will include a better quality translation in the near future, although I expect the multi-language Archdiocese website will soon be including an English language translation themselves.
Bigger words than I know alert!
Hopefully I'll learn something.
Need a little help opening some eyes around here.
Ah, but that is where the new stuff is. I've read the others.
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The history of the restoration 2002
Tuesday, July 23 rd 2002. The Shroud lay on the ' lettino Microtecnica' in the decent humility of its recovered nudity. It had left its chapel and 'reliquary Alenia' five weeks before and now it was about to return. To the arrival of Mons. Lanzettis entered in it ' sacristia nuova' all the persons that attended in the ' corridor to vetri'; to an instant of concentration it followed a brief comment on the moment that the history of the Shroud was living. The Auxiliary Bishop, led then a choral prayer in representation of the archbishop that had gone to reach the Pope in Toronto for the World Day of the Youth. A procession was immediately formed to accompany the Shroud to his chapel. Apart Mechthild Flury Lemberg and Irene Tomedi looked at the procession that was taken off with a stringimento to the heart: It seemed a funeral procession.. When it ended, the confidences came: During the job we strove to not think too much of the mysterious reality that passed between our hands, to not lose the thread of what we had to do. But every time that we interrupted, returned the tremor of the wonder at the end of a day. At the end it increased the desire to stop us in company of that cloth to excess, to be able to talk to that Suffering. The time there was not instead just now more. So it was for all those that had lived with grieved intensity those five weeks. From the Thursday evening 20 June to the Tuesday evening July 23 rd 2002 the Shroud had remained out of its reliquary and of its chapel. It returned somehow rejuvenated. But how much road was one due to cross from when it had entered for the first time in the 'reliquary Alenia', in November of 2000, on completion of the exposition.
The idea of a conservative intervention on the Shroud, on the basis of that that had been operated from the Clarisses of Chambéry in 1534, a lot of time first interior shot the Errand had been ventilated for the maintenance of the Shroud
The Cardinal Saldarini, who had received the trust of the Shroud in the period of the maximum polemic follows to the analyses of C14, had the delivery to not think of new scientific searches and to face systematically instead the problem of the maintenance of the same Shroud. It constituted therefore in 1991 a small group of job with the charge to prepare a meeting of competent persons to treat the problem of the maintenance. We were all new to Shroud enterprises organizational, strongly conditioned by a past that it weighed like a boulder. The delivery moving us in the total reserve was narrow since the beginning.
September 7 th 1992 a small errand, still a little bit informal, after a day of departed preparation to Pianezza it had the fortune to contemplate the Shroud, for quite a lot times, in the sacristy of the Cathedral (we now call it the 'sacristy vecchia', but the historians of the Cathedral say that it is not the most ancient), with the assignment to formulate judgments for its maintenance. It began to snow the proposals to improve a condition that, if it had his explanation in the historical circumstances of the Cloth, it didn't correspond to the acquisitions of the science of the maintenance of the ancient fabrics
The most worrisome observation concerned the presence of the folds on the figure of the Shroud, especially on the face: more and more numerous and aggressive. All agreed in requiring that the Shroud was no longer preserved rolled up; besides that it was freed by the numerous bonds that held it hold: her ' superior fodera', the frame of silk between the blue and the greenish one, the silver sticks present in the short sides of the frame. We also spoke - like of an utopia - of the liberation from the patches, taking back a discourse that had already leaned out in 1969 during the job of the scientific errand created by the Wandering Cardinal
Nothing was made of all this. The Shroud had to return in its closet, in it 'glory' of the altar of the Bertola, and of there one didn't know when it would have been able to be removed. The Providence however it drove the things in a mysterious way of which only at the end we succeeded in following the interlacements a little bit. 4 May 1990, party of the Shroud, in the chapel of the Guarini they were detached from the groins of the dome some pieces of marble. It was finishing the Mass of the festive day and, if the pieces of marble had struck some participant to the function, would have been a tragedy. Fortunately, nothing happened, but the authorities decided to close the Chapel and to undertake a radical restauration of the dome of the Guarini. What of it of the Shroud would have been there? In dialogue with the superintendence, the cardinal decided to move it to the choir of the Cathedral, in a small monument of glass designed by the architect Bruno. On February 24 th 1993, Ash Wednesday, the Shroud left that chapel that had been built for it and inaugurated three hundred years first, in 1694. It remained in the choir of the Cathedral for four years. About ten days past Easter of 1997, when in the night in the Friday 11 April and the Saturday 12 a furious fire brought the panic in the Cathedral, it damaged a wing of the palace building and it sowed destruction in the Guarini chapel. The Shroud didn't suffer any damage, but it was taken off for a year from its usual location
All these movements stimulated the Errand of the maintenance, that was gathered of so much in so much, to deepen the initiated reflections in 1992. Cardinal Saldarini was more and more convinced that it was not more eludibiles the application to preserve the Shroud firmly in extended position, of rest, on a lettino. But this demanded an afterthought of the architecture of the chapel of the Guarini, that had been planned instead to circular plant, in operation of an a little wider container of a meter: now it was necessary to place a container four times greater, without touching the ancient architectural structures. Suggestions, attempts, proposals followed without laying in a comparison that it saw architects, representatives of the Superintendence, members of the errand in continuous dialogue. Before a satisfactory solution was found came the terrible night of the fire. Unfortunately, the Guarini chapel would not be repaired for many years; it was then decided that the Shroud would be moved to the left extremity of the transetto, in the Cathedral
Since then it is stored in that 'chapel of the Sindone'
To this it was worth the punishment to take back all the thematic of the maintenance touched to the beginning. it was invited to belong to the group and to give an American scientist, that united a love only to a rare competence and authoritativeness for the Shroud to his contribution. Alan Adler had been a conquest of Father Rinaldi, a Piedmontese Salesian transplanted to America, where he spread the most impassioned interest for the Shroud. It now became the providential bond that resulted in relationships with the American researchers and it allowed to recover the rich thematic of their searches. He came to Turin to more resumptions, up to the symposium of Villa Gualino, in the March of 2000. A little afterwards it came, on June 12, Adler died, preventing him from participating in the second exhibition. To him we owe many suggestions for the maintenance of the cloth, such as maintaining the Shroud in an atmosphere of inert gas
Adler was very worried of the possible harmful effects of the residues of the fire introduced under the patches applied by the nuns of Chambéry. When he spoke to the errand, he didn't escape from the most advanced hypotheses, that they remained in the drawer of the dreams: it so also happened with the proposal (not new, but now enriched of the weight of his authority) to detach patches and lining from the Shroud
But to the moment of the new official photos, in 2000, ideas returned to emerge, when he underlined more and more the dirt that had to be accumulated between the patches and the lining
In the preceding years had been already done interventions liberanti, what the removal of the frame of cloth and the silver sticks, and always if it was verified some advantage on the Cloth that returned a few for time to breathe: it was not advisable to complete the operation in definitive way? The reflection was long, but at the end the illuminating word came from the doctor Carla Enrica Spantigati, superintendent for the artistic and historical good of the Piedmont, a part of the Errand: five hundred years of cohabitation between Shroud, Holland cloth and patches almost confer really a characteristic of stable tradition in the life of a relic. For in comparison to this history and to the tradition of generations of believers and visitors of the Shroud that know it with these characteristics, it would be to recommend the permanence in the actual situation. If however they are us serious motives that have of a remarkable advantage thought for the maintenance of the same Shroud when patches and lining are removed, then those reasons can surrender the footstep to the emergent demands of the same object
The whole Errand stuck in this way to reason and a document was worded, to signature of everybody, to introduce ours to the pontifical Custodian to consider. The Cardinal Poletto examined it and definite to do coming to the Pope. It was the Cardinal Secretary of State that brought it personally to the Pope and, after taking it in consideration, gave permission for the intervention. The answer from the Cardinal Sodano, Secretary of State, was dated November 3rd 2001
Having gotten the permission, all advised to proceed to the realization without delays. But a non indifferent quantity of problems remained to resolve. First. between everybody, the place in which to bring the Shroud to perform the job. L'11 September of 2001, with the demolition of the 'towers' in New York, had left in the conscience of the opulent west the awareness of its vulnerability and in the big Italian cities had been identified important points, that can become object of attacks. To Turin the Shroud was on top of the list. In a meeting between civil authority and religious authority it was discussed the necessity to find a shelter for the Shroud, concluding in favor of him however ' status quo'. But would not the dangers be increased with the move? Any release of news was enough to bait a perverse chain of reactions to damage the object that was so much a jewel
It was taken in consideration the launch environments, but at the end the Cardinal Poletto, pontifical Custodian, definite for the 'sacristia nuova', that had already entertained all the preparatory and following operations to the last exhibition: the Shroud doesn't go out from the area of the Cathedral; they will take all the necessary precautions. First was the silence: it was decided to say to all those that would ask possible information that it was not happening (the difficulty of the mental restrictions!). Meanwhile the allertamento of the police came, the recourse to the faithful ones ' City of the ordine' (one which had already done service at all the public exhibitions since 1978) and the execution of a fence that continued with naturalness that of the yard of the sottoduomo and meanwhile it created a kind of go between the 'sacristy nuova' and the plaza
The preparations were slowed down from the reflection and discussion on the particular ones of the intervention on the Shroud. They were all of accord that the old cloth of Holland it was able alone to be musealizzato, dates his precarious conditions, especially in subject of cleaning. The patches which end they would have done? They had to follow the fate of the lining; but was it the case to think of a substitution? Despite there had been a precise orientation for the no in the proposal of the November 2000 and this orientation had been accepted from the pontifical Custodian and from the Pope himself, he still wanted to leave an open door to the reflection: the last decisions owed taking to being in progress of work
But soon he saw that it was not necessary to return on the discussion. Mechthild Flury Lemberg came to the last preparatory meeting with a facsimile of the job that proposed to perform on the Shroud: on a piece of cloth ' similsindonica' (prepared by Peter Vercelli) a scorch had been performed similar to those that they observe on the Shroud and on the bottom had been applied a piece of the lining that would have replaced that historical one. Cloth ' similsindonico' and lining were almost stopped from an invisible seam of perfect invoice. All the members of the Errand judged the really convincing conservative result and it were easy to confirm the primitive decision to remove the patches without proceeding to one substitution of theirs
I don't want to bore the reader with the relationship of the whole preparatory job that brought to the definitive result. It doesn't make sense to say that it was an optimal job, but humanly it is possible to affirm that we tried to not leave anything to chance and to avoid any form of risk
A big worry remained: documenting the most possible as would have happened and to acquire the biggest number of given to put to disposition of the community of the scientists. To complete job the appearance of the Shroud would be a partially new result, but a public exhibition was not thinkable that it allowed the vision to of it a large number of persons: it was necessary therefore to provide to an immediate acquisition of images to distribute as soon as possible. Then the side which would usually have been visible in progress of work hidden of the same Shroud, the back, when lining and patches had been removed. But it would have been a provisional situation, because it was absolutely necessary to apply a new lining: the cloth has preserved an exceptional sturdiness certainly, having also faced so many vicissitudes, during its history, but it needs a support, to be able to be handled with safety on the occasion of the exhibitions is above all because it can be preserved the parts damaged by the fire of 1532. The application of the new lining happened, the back or toward some Shroud would have returned invisible for the one that it knows how much time
To the images it was thought to provide in more ways: applying to study it Giandurante, that had already made the official photos of 1997 and 2000, to get new traditional photos (with normal apparatuses and with digital apparatuses) of the straight one of the Shroud and traditional photo still (the first ones and for a lot of anchor the only ones) of the toward some Shroud is in global vision is in particular reduced; effecting a program of total scanning of the surface sindonica is in the straight one is in the verse (entrusted Electronic National Galileo Ferraris, that had already done a partial realization of scanning in 2000 with the equipment of Paul Soardo of the institute); the everything had to be accompanied by instant photographic documentation of the principal moments of execution of the jobs, for a documentation in support to the minutes (it was thought by Giuliano Marchisciano and his collaborators). Video was effected by a team from Telesubalpina (Daniel D’aria and Vittorio Billera) in particularly meaningful moments
We also discussed the possibility of picking up other data and him dovettero to face, as always, indeed the difficulties of the time and then those of the same nature of the Shroud, to which can not be had some risk taken. We excluded for instance, the fluorescence spectroscopy to RX, of delicate nature and of which some results of the measurements of 1978 still exist. They decided instead on reflectance spectrophotometry, UV VIS, ghosts of fluorescence and ghosts Raman on the front of the Shroud. Object of particular discussion was eventuality to operate miniprelievi on the toward of the Shroud. The prevailing tendency was for no, having been chosen the criterion of the visual reliefs only, but there was who made notice that on the verse they would not be each other more can not make probably interventions for a period brief. The matter was resolved in way of jeopardized by the pontifical Custodian, that allowed some collecting with adhesive ribbon (completed, in the same places, with process of aspiration), reserving him the exclusive one for the use of that material, that is preserved in its file sindonico. The course of the events would have made partially then superfluous this discussion, because how much was picked up to the moment of the leaving of the patches and the cleaning of the holes produced by the fire it got an unsuspected quantity of material for future examinations
A chapter itself could be represented from the preparation of the tools for the varied phases of the job. For the transport of the Shroud it was used the 'lettino Microtecnica', on which the Shroud usually lies, and the table mobile basculante, that allowed to face the brief trip without winces. In her 'sacristy nuova' was still used the 'lettino Microtecnica' on the table mobile basculante and, in alternation, the 'lettino Bodino' and a double table, preserved by the preceding jobs and repaired for the first phase of the photographic resumptions. The problem of the scanning and the moviment of the apparatuses of resumption above some surface sindonica was resolved with the construction of a mobile bridge (the ' bridge ADL') applied basculante to the table (already realized in 2000 from the ADL). For the necessities of the seam, that it required under the cloth sindonico and its lining a hard and smooth surface, that postponed the bent needle used by the operative ones, on the 'read Bodino' was applied a surface of glass and on of it would have abandoned the new lining with the Shroud above. To disposition of the operators Mrs Irene Tomedi had set a videomicroscope (enlargement from 80 to 450 times) with elements optic terminantis to the extremity of a cable to optic fibers, furnished of a monitor of a printer and of possibility of digital recording,: it allowed a perfect vision of all the particular of the fabric, distinguishing the polluting substances from the crustings of blood, and it gave safety to the action of pulitura of the operative ones. To the instrumentation it was still added a delicate aspirator and a vaporizer to ultrasounds, besides a series of slides and lead weights, to operate small conciliatory pressures on the folds of the Shroud. Sindonico for the protection of the cloth often resorted to the paper laughed Japanese anacida,; for the transfer from a lettino to the other he used a big sheet of paper melinex, resistant and easily removable
The execution of the conservation program happened three times: to a) remove the old lining (the famous ‘Holland Cloth) and of the patches and execution of the intervention ' distensivo' on the folds in the part of the toward of the cloth sindonico (21-25 June); b) photos, reliefs spectrophotometry and scanning of the verse and the straight one (26 giugno-15 July); c) fixation of the new lining indeed in the areas of the holes and then along the whole perimeter, last photographic action to create an image of the new figure of the Shroud, measurement of the Shroud in the new setup (16-23 July). Phase b), that required the greatest employment of time, inclusive also the preparation of the new lining and one his first provisional fixation, through impuntura of the superior side only, to give to the scanning of the anterior side (the straight sindonico) the definitive vision of the holes filled already by the lining
In the scanning of the times of the program a discard was usually verified in saving from the staplers and a discard in loss from the operators of the reliefs. Staplers were Mechthild Flury Lemberg and Irene Tomedi
First had been invited to interest in the Shroud since the time of the preparation of the analysis of C14, to half the years ' 80 (but she had left the group then), and subsequently, beginning from 1992, never missed any of our meetings. From the point of view of the fabric she is today the biggest authority in field sindonico. The second, formatasi near the Flury in the school of restauration of the Foundation Abegg, to Riggisberg, in the press of Berna, work from vent'anni as restauratrice in Italy. The agreement between the two restauratricis was always perfect
We don't underestimate the difficulties of the scucitura, the doctor Flury Lemberg repeated. An unknown initial it was really constituted by the splendid but dense seam with which the Clarisses of Chambéry had fixed the cloth sindonico to the lining and the patches. An unexpected help came from the scalpels gotten from Pier Luigi Baima Bollone: small, pointed, sharp, in the hands of the operative ones they replaced the earwigs too slow, fatiguing and insecure and they operated miracles
Operating some reliefs were the technicians involved by Peter Savarino (the Raman spectroscopy was performed from the doctors Tagliapietra and Courses, the examinations in riflettanza and fluorescence from the doctors Pilgrim and Caldironi) and Paul's Soardo équipe (Joseph Rossi, Paola Iacomussi, Natalia Bo)
To them they added each other, for the resumptions in fluorescence, the inspectors of the scientific police in Turin Diego Ambroggio and Charles Marchese, to the dependences of doctor Maurice Celia
The impressive discovery came to the opening of the patches, that authentic containers of carbonaceous residues and deposits of dirty waste were revealed. It was the confirmation of the necessity of the conservative intervention that was operating him. But meanwhile it began the problem of the management of that material, that to a large extent it originated from the primitive Shroud and however you/he/she had been for centuries to contact with it. Peter Savarino, scientific advisor of the pontifical Custodian, brought a whole battery of containers, that they came systematically labeled and they welcomed how much you/he/she originated from the varied points of the cloth, qualified all second a mappatura used already during the jobs of 2000 on a photo sindonica to natural greatness. Quite a lot facsimiles sindonici in these days was employed for varied uses, because the harvest of data happened in the most varied forms and it was necessary to predispose a guarantee of recognition for each of the operated reliefs. All the particular of the daily execution of the jobs was recorded in the minute, entrusted to the secretary of the Errand, Suor M
Clara Antonini, and to his collaborators. In some circumstances it was thought to resort to the guarantee of the Chancellor arcivescovile, that acts from notary in ecclesiastical hole for all the events that involve the Shroud however. This happened when on the side of the back it was in presence of small leaning threads, fruit of inequality of the fabric and that the restauratricis advised to remove. Nothing is meaningless in the Shroud and everything you/he/she can reveal precious to the goals of the search. It was therefore necessary to guarantee the authenticity of every more small rest or fragment. The same thing was necessary, and you/he/she was done, for the miniprelievis of which you/he/she is spoken him above (n. 9). The Chancellor arcivescovile also checked the operations of filing and it picked up all the small containers in an only general container, it affixed the seal to you arcivescovile and he withdrew same the material, that will stay so to disposition of the Saint Center, of the pontifical Custodian and - when the Pope will judge it opportune - of the scientists to which will be entrusted the future searches
Removing the patches, it came to light the painful reality of the effects of the fire of 1532. We learned that it is true, almost anywhere some cloth, because the Clarisses had refolded to the inside the edges of the damaged cloth, but making the accounts was necessary with the borders charred of the holes produced by the fire. Many fragments had already detached and they constituted the thin dust of present coal under the patches, but evidently the process of carbonization had ' camminato' (like Adler had affirmed) and it was not probably it is stuck halted. Which intervention had to be operated? The cut of the part charred for coming certainly on the part of uninjured cloth would have produced an unnatural effect and devastation
We decided to remove with the tweezers the whole material that would have surrendered to come to that edge color marroncino that allowed to realize the reality of the ancient disaster to the traction. So we reached the result of a cloth altered not more by the intrusion of patches, but also marked, in that thin browned edges, as from scars of a dramatic event
The second phase of the job departed from the condition of the Shroud with the toward in evidence, turned toward the tall one, and it finished with the return to the vision of the part of the image. The Shroud confirmed how much it was already been able to establish in the partial scanning of 2000: on the toward of the cloth sindonico all the blood was visible, that was pierced in such a total form to constitute rhyming sure for the identification of the corresponding point on the straight one; it was not instead recognizable anybody trace of image. The only point of possible discussion was constituted by the face, because in the verse they seemed identifiable the two gangs of hair. You insist therefore some acquirable details with all the means of relief. Waiting for the analyses that will be done beginning from these gives, the presents were found of accord in him to attribute the impression of image for that alone point of the whole surface sindonica to the fact that the two gangs bring traces of blood pierced from the facial surface and to the fact that is above all on the right part in that point it foresees a darkest strip on the same fabric, due to some cause insudiciante
Some difficulties in coordinating the interventions, giving the time to the delivery of the tools, brought above all to some days of reduced job. They were however always exploited for a completion of the documentation and for the relaxation of the cloth sindonico from the part of the verse. The greatest problems had presented in the preparation of the scanning. How would we be able to face the enormous surface of the Shroud and be able to manage the acquisitions subsequently? Information on the instrumentation to use dovettero to confine for motive for time (it could not go past the month of July, to not take the risk of ending in a period of vacations) and, it can be prepared of a possibility of resumption of the format only To 4 to the surrender of the accounts. You dovettero, accordingly, to perform for each some two surfaces 102 resumptions. The times of suspension were exploited for getting the ' back up' of the stored data. It will be the operators themselves, in the opportune center, to describe the innumerable surprises that made them remain with the breath suspended up to the term of the job. In our publication it is not still possible to offer a congruous number of reproductions of the job of the scanning, because the necessary time for the elaboration of the picked material and the identification of the single images overcomes the time of preparation of this first relating of events, that wants to give a timely communication of the whole action owing to make the accounts with the interruptions of the summer pause however
The new lining, on which the Shroud is now attached, is a raw flax, given by Mechthild Flury Lemberg
She had bought in Holland (still ' cloth of Holland'!) a cinquantina of years ago for possible family uses, that were not then. Mrs Flury washed it more times for disapprettarlo and to confer on it softness, without however neither bleach nor to color it. It preserves therefore the character of fabric treated not chemicallly and the color intense ivory, that gives soft relief to the void in the holes left by the fire of 1532. Its textile structure is normal, rather than very elaborate like that of the cloth sindonico, from which also for this it is easy to distinguish it
The photos performed by the équipe of Gian Charles During (Joseph Cavalli, Daniel Demonte, Tiziana Durante) with the consultation of Nello Balossino they can not enjoy any same elaborate preparation of 2000, but they bring equally the characteristics of total reliability of I Study it that they have accumulated the greatest experience in the field of Shroud photography. The Shroud has been photographed with the Shroud positioned on the ' third tavolo's, held up perfectly not from easels with angolatura ortogonale (around 105°), while the side with the image, photographed at the end of all the operations, was held up perfectly from the table basculante in position ortogonale. To photograph the toward some Shroud was employed a trabattello on which was positioned the photographic car, while for the side of the image the car was positioned on a tripod on the ground. As was previously done for the photos of 1997 and those of 2000, Gian Charles During also generously gave up all his copyrights for these new images, leaving the archdiocese of Turin as the sole owners of the photographs
Out particularly precious program was the recognition of details of the cloth sindonico performed with the microscope of Mrs Tomedi. The optic element can be fixed to the mobile bridge, in way to be able to move from point to point and then to maintain necessary immobility for the resumptions. You/they were taken of aim above all the points of great accumulation ematico and he immediately saw the advantage of the maintenance of extremely suggestive images. The recording was made on digital cassettes and it was motive for great emotion for how much they had occasion to take some vision in that days. Its suggestions are particularly accented by the effect of the filmed one produced by the same ribbon. The immediate connection with the printer made contemporarily made possible the photographic capture of the particular areas that aroused interest
To the microscope she still applied for the recording of details of other cloths, deriving from the Museum of the Shroud, with the purpose to establish a comparison between the cloth recante the true image sindonica and others gotten in attempts of reproduction of that image
At the end of the second section it was gotten off the mobile bridge fixed to the table basculante. Conceived by Giangi Ardoino, it had been performed to tappe requested from the firm ADL and one of the tools of more precious job was proven. It raced on rails fixed to the sides of the table basculante and it covered transversally contemporarily the whole surface sindonica, holding up the tools that of time in the times they were applied to it: the scanner, the optic element or circumferentor of the videomicroscope, the photographic car for the fluorescence photos, the sensors for the spectrophotometric reliefs. Two ribbons, gifted of digital numerator of the distances they allowed to individualize the entity of the moves automatically and to fix the positioning of every operation on the long side and on the short side of the cloth. Certainly, the mobile bridge didn't resolve all the problems (motive for worry, was the verification of the possibility that the scanner also operated the resumptions in the inverted position of the apparatus for the scannerization), but undoubtedly many reliefs would have been unthinkable without it
The last phase of the job left jobless the greatest part of the members of the Errand and it weighed totally on the restorers. Mechthild Flury Lemberg had taken care of the perfect adherence of the cloth sindonico to that of the new lining and Irene Tomedi it was focused in the fixation of the holes of the scorches particularly. The job proceeded with quickness and how much they were leaned out on of it they didn't succeed in distinguishing the holes systematized already by the others, so much invisible era the intervention of the restoration. Thin and a little bit bent the needles, almost fleeing (like an 'angel’s hair'!), yet strong, the thread of silk that was employed. It is interesting to check on the photos of the surrounding surface the holes, to verify how much visible is some impuntatura
The fixation of the borders of the Shroud to those of the lining was performed with a thread more corposos
A small problem was introduced by the zones where it had been removed (in ancient times) some part of the fabric sindonico, above all to the extremities of the superior strip (in position ostensiva). The precedent ' Holland cloth' was extended for the whole original length of the cloth sindonico and also it was necessary now to reconstruct how much of it was missing. The thing was not easy, because the cloth sindonico is not perfectly rectangular, on the contrary it is lengthened to the four extremities. The experience of the restauratricis came of this problem happily to head. The Cardinal Poletto, Mons accompanying. Romeo, apostolic Messenger in Italy, was the first one to congratulate them for the result of their work of passage to Turin
Who observed the Shroud it rejoyced for its extended beauty. The signs of the vicissitudes continued to speak of the uneven walk that had crossed this holy Cloth, in the middle of the men, along the centuries
But the dramatic seems to have acquired a tone of serenity, in the acceptance of insults that he didn't pretend more than to hide and that the big testimonies of suffering were cooperated they you introduce in the image. It was still the same Shroud, but also the relaxation happened in the folds, that gave up the surly aggression that had made very uneven the cloth, brought a pleasant novelty
For case, was that novelty also extended to the dimensions of the Cloth? The first signals of a small change in the dimensions had already gathered them the operators of the scannerization, that had owed to see again the measures of the borders of overlap in every field of resumption. The verification was made at the end of all the operations on the cloth, to acquire the definitive measures of the Shroud, as it would have returned in the reliquary of its chapel. They were performed by Bruno Barberis and Gian Maria Zaccone, that they ascertained happens the growth in the proportion of some centimeters, on the base of measures that had already been effected in 2000. It is known that the measures of the Shroud can vary according to the tension to which the cloth is submitted. But a pair of data can be indicative: looking at the Shroud in position ostensiva (frontal figure to left and dorsal to the right), the side in low it measured in the 2000 cm
437,7 and in the 2002 cm. 441,5; the tall side (less indicative, because the extremities are constituted only by the lining, having been removed, anciently, two portions of the original cloth) in 2000 it was long cm
434,5 and in the 2002 cm. 442,5; the height to the extremities (with relative value, for the cause mentioned now) respectively cm. 112,5 to left and 113 to the right in 2000 and cm. 113 to left and 113,7 to the right in 2002
The present publication offers a first documentation of the history that we have now finished to narrate
The global photo will give the evidence of the new face of the Shroud. The succession of the details will allow to follow the carrying out of the jobs analytically. The presence of some documentary photos will grant a vision of the environment of the job and some of the persons that have participated to you. A ridottissimo I number of images scannerizzate it constitutes a small advance of the scientific publication that will crown the whole job
How much they have participated in this season of interventions they thank for the gift that we have received from the Lord for trust that has been them shown from the Saint Center and from the pontifical Custodian and for the help that has been lent to them by an incalculable number of collaborators and friends
Joseph Ghiberti
I hate to break this to you, but the Gospels were NOT WRITTEN IN ENGLISH. Here is my reply from another thread in which I replied to ALS about this very question:
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You think that because you read it in English that the original must be exactly what the translator meant when he found an English word that was close to the same thing in Greek. Amazing.
The Greek word sindon, meaning SHROUD, was used in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) when refering to the cloth that Joseph of Aramathea purchased and wrapped Jesus' body in. Sindon is SINGULAR, not plural.
Another Greek word was used in John to indicate the asssortment of cloths that were found. That word is othonia which is plural. In addition, John uses the term sudarion, singlar, which means either "napkin" or "kerchief" to indicate the seperate cloth laying aside from the other grave cloths.
ALS, I was posting from various translations to show you that the scholars who translated those passages from the earliest Greek manuscripts had, in that passage, found the SINGULAR form to be the most correct. Using a similar technique, I find that the word "wrapped" is variously translated as "wound", "wrapped", "folded", and "rolled", depending on which word the scholar preferred to translate the original Greek word.
Your ability to discern the meaning of one word from the original writers of the Gospels from a modern English translation without examining the original is truly amazing.
Your assertion that there were more than one cloth is a given. It is your assertion that these cloths were all "strips" that I am challenging. NOWHERE does it say that in any of the gospels about Jesus' burial.
It was common practice to bind the wrists to keep them from flopping down to the sides when rigor mortis passed. There is a Greek word, kerias, which can be variously translated as "bandages", "bonds", or "ties", which was used to describe the grave cloths of Lazarus... but these are considered the bindings on wrists, ankles, and jaw. It was common practice to tie a binding around the head and under the jaw to keep the mouth closed... hence the rolled up "napkin" or "kerchief", the sudarion, left in a different place from the other cloths, commented on as though this were something to be noted as important.
As for logical conclusions or assumptions, it IS logical to conclude that Lazarus was not bound like an Egyptian mummy because it was reported he WALKED out of the tomb under his own power. I challenge you to show me how even a living person wrapped as an Egyptian mummy (not as a Hollywood mummy) could walk.
Only YOU are assuming "strips" to fit your preconceived notions of how burials took place. I have quoted authoritative sources in the Gospels; I have shown you the Greek words and shown that there are alternate meanings, and yet you still continue in your ignorant rantings about "bindings" and "strips." You cannot place YOUR "wishes" in the place of facts. I am merely following the research and scholarship.
Even if the cloth were wrapped tightly around his face, we still wouldn't be able to see the sides of his nose, as we see in the shroud.
Instead, the shroud looks like a painting. It captures his entire face. The highlights of the nose, the lighter skin around the under-eyes, every hair in his mustache and beard, his dark lashes... Why should a cloth laid upon someone's head show a visual image of their lashes? This is obviously a painting, albeit in reverse.
The main thing that has always bothered me, though, is the hair. The hair is of someone standing in an upright position. When someone is lying down, their hair does not fall in the same way as when they are standing up. The hair tends to fall backwards, towards the pillow or whatever. Instead, we see someone with their hair perfectly in place, looking exactly as it would if he were standing up. I've always been bothered by that.
I think, as of this moment, I have accepted the fact that the shroud is a painting. Perhaps some clever Renaissance man (Leonardo da Vinci?) or an unknown person created it. Whether they did it with the intent to deceive us into thinking it was Jesus' shroud, perhaps we'll never know.
Personally, I believe It's real.
Analysis of the microphotographs of the sample pieces actually show that anywhere from 40 to 60 percent of the samples are woven with a thread with an opposite twist than the original threads of the Shroud. This would indicate the linen was 'spun' on a wheel or other device in the opposite direction than the maker used on all the other threads. Very doubtful.
Not so strangely, the variation in dates reported by the three C-14 labs coincides almost exactly with the percentage of old/not-so-old fibers in their sample! Combined with the now known problem of the bioplastic residue of centuries of bacteria living and dying on the shroud, the results have been thrown completely out of the ball park.
Later examination of the Shroud itself shows that the area the sample was taken from AGAINST AGREED PROTOCOL was an area of heavy reworking.
Yes, if the image was made by transference. However, subsequent tests show this is a 3-D image depicted on a 2-D media, which is something the scientists could not explain. Furthermore, when the shroud was scanned using 3-D imaging it rendered a proportionate 3-D image.
The Shroud of Turin is a centuries old linen cloth that bears the image of a crucified man. A man that millions believe to be Jesus of Nazareth. Is it really the cloth that wrapped his crucified body, or is it simply a medieval forgery, a hoax perpetrated by some clever artist? Modern, twentieth century science has completed hundreds of thousands of hours of detailed study and intense research on the Shroud. It is, in fact, the single most studied artifact in human history, and we know more about it today than we ever have before. And yet, the controversy still rages.
Arguments against the Shroud's authenticity are prima facia, supported by carbon 14 dating and a prevailing view of the way things are in the world. On the other hand, the case for authenticity is a compelling preponderance of scientific and historic evidence. So daunting is the evidence that we can only wonder if, as postmodernists suggest, "no such thing as objective truth exists, that historic reality is an inherently enigmatic and endlessly negotiable bundle of free-floating perceptions."1 The alternative is to consider, as C. S. Lewis contends: rare exceptions to nature are possible.
For an excellent book on this subject, I highly recommend:
Resurrection of the Shroud by Mark Antonacci, a lawyer and comitted agnostic. In his book, Mr. Antonacci scientifically challenges earlier radiocarbon testing and presents new evidence in determining the Shroud's true age. In addition, he provides the first scientific explanation and demonstration of the cause of the image of the man on the Shroud.
Based on extensive research of both the author's twenty years of analysis and the findings of scientists commissioned by the author, this work provides scientific and concrete evidence that the Shroud of Turin was, indeed, used to wrap the body of the historical Jesus Christ.
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The Searching for Sister Ann's Bishop Who Thinks Ann is Nuts An Episcopalian's Perspective -- AN ONLINE ESSAY -- By Daniel R. Porter |
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Part 4: The Newer Evidence It is useful, here, to take a look at a brief outline of some of the most compelling evidence. Some of this evidence is very new and some of it is newly verified by recent studies. Some of it we will delve into in greater detail.
To face this evidence is to face the question of how the images were created. Are the images the byproduct of a resurrection event? Are they miraculous images? This is a problematic question for Christians and many non-Christians, as well. Most shroud researchers, to their credit, avoid metaphysical or supernatural interpretations and stress the point that science and objective history cannot provide such explanations for the images. But, as I stated earlier, it is hard for me, (and probably many people), to not speculate beyond such scholarly methodical restraint. It is hard to be totally objective in facing the evidence. Bias plays a role. What we may believe about the resurrection colors how we perceive the evidence - whether we believe it was a real, physical, bodily event as Tom Wright argues; a metaphor for God's promise as we might find among Jesus Seminar thinkers including Marcus Borg; or a myth devoid of any traditional meaning as John Shelby Spong would have it. Resurrection thinking even affects whether or not we will look at the evidence. It shouldn't be that way, but it is. If there is a downside to enlightenment thinking today, it is that it has become so prevalent that we are not open to some possibilities. Yet a founding principle of the enlightenment was to be open to possibilities. There is a feeling among some 'enlightened' scholars that the enlightenment has run its course. Tom Wright has called it bankrupt in that it now seems to owe more in the way of explanations than it can produce. What were once conclusions, derived by science and logic, have become our assumptions. The great philosopher of empirical skepticism, David Hume, some two hundred and fifty years ago, challenged very effectively (but never disproved) the possibilities of miracles when he wrote: No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact, which it endeavors to establish. Today's enlightened person (myself included) might simply state a derived conclusion as the assumption: "Miracles don't happen." We must get beyond such thinking and the Shroud does just that for us.
Dan Porter is an Episcopalian and a member of Trinity Church, Wall Street, in New York City. He may be contacted by email at porter@shroudstory.com or by mail at 20 McIntyre Street, Bronxville, NY 10708. (c) Copyright 2001, Daniel R. Porter. All Rights Reserved. This article may be reproduced in full for any non-commercial purpose without further permission. |
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Tanks for all your info.
C. Truman Davis, M.D., M.S. - Mesa, Arizona
In this paper, I shall discuss some of the physical aspects of the passion, or suffering, of Jesus Christ. We shall follow Him from Gethsemane, through His trial, His scourging, His path along the Via Dolorosa, to His last dying hours on the cross.
I became interested in this about a year ago when I read an account of the crucifixion in Jim Bishop's book, "The Day Christ Died." I suddenly realized that I had taken the crucifixion more or less for granted all these years - that I had grown callous to its horror by a too easy familiarity with the grim details - and a too distant friendship with Him. It finally occurred to me that as a physician I didn't even know the actual immediate cause of death. The Gospel writers don't help us very much on this point, because crucifixion and scourging were so common during their lifetime that they undoubtedly considered a detailed description totally superfluous - so we have the concise words of the Evangelists: "Pilate, having scourged Jesus, delivered Him to them to be crucified - - and they crucified Him."
I am indebted to many who have studied this subject in the past and especially to a contemporary colleague, Dr. Pierre Barbet, a French surgeon who has done exhaustive historical and experimental research and has written extensively on the subject.
The infinite psychic and spiritual suffering of the Incarnate God in atonement for the sins of fallen man I have no competence to discuss; however, the physiological and anatomical aspects of our Lord's passion we can examine in some detail... what did the body of Jesus of Nazareth actually endure during those hours of torture?
This led me first to a study of the practice of crucifixion itself; that is, the torture and execution of a person by fixation to a cross. Apparently, the first known practice of crucifixion was by the Persians. Alexander and his generals brought it back to the Mediterranean world -- to Egypt and to Carthage. The Romans apparently learned the practice from the Carthaginians and (as with almost everything the Romans did) rapidly developed a very high degree of efficiency and skill in carrying it out. A number of Roman authors (Livy, Cicerl, Tacitys) comment on it. Several innovations and modifications are described in the ancient literature: I'll mention only a few which may have some bearing here. The upright portion of the cross (or stipes) could have the cross-arm (or patibulum) attached two or three feet below its top -- this is what we commonly think of today as the classical form of the cross (the one which we have later named the Latin cross); However, the common form used in our Lord's day was the Tau cross (shaped like the Greek letter Tau or like our letter T). In this cross the patibulum was placed in a notch at the top of the stipes. There is fairly overwhelming archeological evidence that it was on this type of cross that Jesus was crucified.
The upright post, or stipes, was generally fixed in the ground at the site of execution and the condemned man was forced to carry the patibulum, apparently weighing about 110 pounds, from the prison to the place of execution. Without any historical or biblical proof, medieval and Renaissance painters have given us our picture of Christ carrying the entire cross. Many of these painters and most of the sculptors of crucifixes today show the nails through the palms. Roman historical accounts and experimental work have shown that the nails were driven between the small bones of the wrist and not through the palms. Nails driven through the palms will strip out between the fingers when they support the weight of a human body. The misconception may have come through a misunderstanding of Jesus' words to Thomas, "Behold My hands." Anatomist, both modern and ancient, have always considered the wrist as part of the hand.
A titulus, or small sign, stating the victims crime was usually carried at the front of the procession and later nailed to the cross above the head. This sign with its staff nailed to the top of the cross would have given it somewhat the characteristic form of the Latin cross. The physical passion of the Christ begins in Gethsemane. Of the many aspects of this initial suffering, I shall only discuss the one of physiological interest; the bloody sweat. It is interesting that the physician of the group, Luke, is the only one to mention this. He says, "And being in agony, He prayed the longer. And His sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground." Luke 22:44 Every attempt imaginable has been used by modern scholars to explain away this phrase, apparently under the mistaken impression that this just doesn't happen.
A great deal of effort could be saved by consulting the medical literature. Though very rare, the phenomenon of Hematidrosis, or bloody sweat, is well documented. Under great emotional stress, tiny capillaries in the sweat glands can break, thus mixing blood with sweat. This process alone could have produced marked weakness and possible shock.
We shall move rapidly through the betrayal and arrest; I must stress again the important portions of the Passion story are missing from this account. This may be frustrating to you, but in order to adhere to our purpose of discussing only the purely physical aspects of the Passion this is necessary. After the arrest in the middle of the night, Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin and Caiaphas, the High Priest; it is here that the first physical trauma was inflicted. A soldier struck Jesus across the face for remaining silent when questioned by Caiaphas. The palace guards then blindfolded Him and mockingly taunted Him to identify them as they each passed by, spat on Him, and struck Him in the face.
In early morning Jesus, battered and bruised, dehydrated, and exhausted from a sleepless night, is taken across Jerusalem to the Praetorium of the Procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate. You are, of course, familiar with Pilate's action in attempting to pass responsibility to Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Judea. Jesus apparently suffered no physical mistreatment at the hands of Herod and was returned to Pilate. It was then, in response to the cries of the mob, that Pilate ordered Bar-Abbas released and condemned Jesus to scourging and crucifixion. There is much disagreement among authorities about scourging as a prelude to crucifixion. Most Roman writers from this period do not associate the two. Many scholars believe that Pilate originally ordered Jesus scourged as his full punishment and that the death sentence by crucifixion came only in response to the taunt by the mob that the Procurator was not properly defending Caesar against the pretender who claimed to be the King Of The Jews.
Preparations for the scourging are carried out. The prisoner is stripped of His clothing and His hands tied to a post above His head. It is doubtful whether the Romans made any attempt to follow the Jewish law in this matter of scourging. The Jews had an ancient law prohibiting more than forty lashes. The Pharisees, always making sure that the law was strictly kept, insisted that only thirty-nine lashes be given. (In case of a miscount, they were sure of remaining within the law.)
The Roman legionnaire steps forward with the flagrum (or flagellum) in his hand. This is a short whip consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two small balls of lead attached near the ends of each. The heavy whip is brought down with full force again and again across Jesus' shoulders, back, and legs. At first the heavy thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continue, they cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissues, producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles. The small balls of lead first produce large, deep bruises which are broken open by subsequent blows. Finally the skin of the back is hanging in long ribbons and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. When it is determined by the centurion in charge that the prisoner is near death, the beating is finally stopped.
The half-fainting Jesus is then untied and allowed to slump to the stone pavement, wet with His own blood. The Roman soldiers see a great joke in the provincial Jew claiming to be a King. They throw a robe across His shoulders and place a stick in His hand for a scepter. They still need a crown to make their travesty complete. A small bundle of flexible branches covered with long thorns, (commonly used for firewood) are plaited into the shape of a crown and this pressed into His scalp. Again there is copious bleeding (the scalp being one of the most vascular areas of the body.)
After mocking Him and striking Him across the face, the soldiers take the stick from His hand and strike Him across the head, driving the thorns deeper into His scalp. Finally, they tire of their sadistic sport and the robe is torn from His back. This had already become adherent to the clots of blood and serum in the wounds, and its removal, just as in the careless removal of a surgical bandage, causes excruciating pain....almost as though He were again being whipped ---- and the wounds again begin to bleed. In deference to Jewish custom, the Romans return His garments. The heavy patibulum of the cross is tied across His shoulders, and the procession of the condemned Christ, two thieves and the execution detail of Roman soldiers, headed by a centurion; begin its slow journey along the Via Dolorosa. In spite of His efforts to walk erect, the weight of the heavy wooden beam, together with the shock produced by copious blood loss, is too much. He stumbles and falls. The rough wood of the beam gouges into the lacerated skin and muscles of the shoulders. He tries to rise, but human muscles have been pushed beyond endurance. The centurion, anxious to get on with the crucifixion, selects a stalwart North African onlooker, Simon of Cyrene, to carry the cross. Jesus follows, still bleeding and sweating the cold, clammy sweat of shock. The 650 yard journey from the Fortress Antonia to Golgotha is finally completed. The Prisoner is again stripped of His clothes--except for a lion cloth which is allowed the Jews.
The crucifixion begins. Jesus is offered wine mixed with Myrrh, a mild analgesic mixture. He refuses to drink. Simon is ordered to place the patibulum on the ground and Jesus is quickly thrown backward with His shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flexion and movement. The patibulum is then lifted into place at the top of the stipes and the titulus reading, "Jesus of Nazareth, King of The Jews" is nailed in place.
The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed. The Victim is now crucified. As He slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrist, excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain--the nails in the wrist are putting pressure on the median nerves. As He pushes Himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He places His full weight on the nail through His feet. Again, there is the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet.
At this point, another phenomenon occurs. As the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward. Hanging by His arms, the pectoral muscles are paralyzed and the intercostal muscles are unable to act. Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise Himself in order to get one short breath. Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and cramps partially subside. Spasmodically, He is able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen. It was, undoubtedly during these periods that He uttered the seven short sentences which are recorded.
The first, looking down at the Roman soldiers casting lots for His garments, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." The second, to the penitent thief, "Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise." The third, looking down at the terrified, grief-stricken, John, (the beloved Apostle), He said, "Behold thy mother," and looking to Mary, His mother, "Woman, behold thy son." The fourth cry is from the beginning of the 22nd Psalm, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"
Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber; then another agony begins. A deep crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. Let us remember again the 22nd Psalm (the 14th verse). "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels."
It is now almost over -- the loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level -- the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick sluggish blood into the tissues -- the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues send their flood of stimuli to the brain. Jesus gasps His fifth cry, "I thirst," Let us remember another verse from the prophetic 22nd Psalm: "My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death."
A sponge soaked in Posca, the cheap, sour wine which is the staple drink of the Roman Legionnaires, is lifted to His lips. He apparently doesn't take any of the liquid. The body of Jesus is now in extremis, and He can feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues. This realization brings out His sixth words -- possibly little more than a tortured whisper. "It is finished."
His mission of atonement has been completed. Finally He can allow His body to die.
With one last surge of strength, He once again presses His torn feet against the nail, straightens His legs, takes a deeper breath, and utters His seventh and last cry, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit."
The Straight Dope on the Shroud
The most troubling information to me is that the bishop yanked this as a forgery soon after it was put on display, and that we have a memo from his successor that the artist confessed to the fraud (unfortunately, the memo doesn't detail HOW he did it). The Church, particularly in that era, while reasonably skeptical has approved miracles after appropriate investigation. Given the value of contemporary evidence, that bothers me.
Another concern is that "scientists", bless their hearts, tend to have tunnel vision, especially when something is not purely factual but has a possible human intervention factor. Remember how Uri Geller had all the "scientists" convinced that he was for real, but a professional magician unmasked him pretty quickly?
But, ultimately, is this really important (unless you doubt the FACT of the Resurrection)?
Hmmm. How long after Christ had actually expired was he placed into this shroud? And how long after that did the burst of unknown power come and why? Does the soul loiter in the body for a time after you're dead? And if so, how long and how do you know this? Just curious.
The Straight Dope is a good resource, but hardly definitive. I read their article from your link and they are several years behind the latest research.
Church officials of the period did not, as a rule, attempt to block the veneration of any icon. Their attitude was that if something brought believers to church, it was OK with them. In addition, many of them were as gullible as the general population. "Scientific" proof, or even a plausible provenance, was unnecessary for any icon to be venerated. Several crude painted copies of the Shroud were displayed for veneration and garnered MORE income than did the shroud itself from gullible worshippers because they were displayed in large cities.
The Bishop of Trois did indeed attempt to quash the exhibition of the Shroud in Lirey in 1358. He had a very good reason for doing so: money. He feared the receipts of his Cathedral would be impacted by donations being made to the small church at Lirey instead of into HIS coffers. His attempt failed. Incidentally, HE had his own "piece of the 'True Cross'" icon to display to pilgrims coming to his Cathedral.
His successor again attempted to stop the exhibition of the Shroud about 25 years later. It was not concern for factual evidence but rather again monetary interests that motivated him. He wrote the "memo" to the Vatican. The Vatican intervened and permitted the exhibition to continue but required the announcement that the Shroud was a "representation of the Shroud of Christ." No investigation was done and the decision appears to be merely bureaucrati in nature... similar to other requests regarding display of icons.
In actual fact, there is no primary evidence that the first Bishop spoke to "an artist" who supposedly "painted" the shroud. We have only the unsupported hearsay report of the successor and his memory of what he claims to have been told by his predecessor.
The other thing to consider is the reputation of the owner of the Shroud. Geoffrey de Charney was a not someone who would be associated with chicanery. He was no mere knight. He was the Standard Bearer of the King of France, the knight who fought at the right hand of the King in battle, carried the King's Banner, and acted as the King's battle advisor. De Charney was also the author of the French Code of Chivalry which detailed the obligations of modesty, honesty, piety, courage, and honor a knight accepted when swearing his oath of fealty. This is hardly a man who would countenance any charlatan or his products. De Charney funded the church he built to house the Shroud at Lirey from his own purse. During his lifetime, he would not allow the Shroud to be displayed or exhibited except on certain high holy days like Easter.
De Chaney's widow and daughter, years later, being strapped for cash to support the church, were the ones who came up with the idea of the Exhibition of the Shroud that brought it to the attention of the Bishop of Trois, successor to the one who, according to this Bishop, had attempted to originally quash the shroud.
As to the gullibility of scientists. The opportunity is there for ANYONE to duplicate the features of the Shroud. Many have tried, including professional magicians and artists who were certain they knew how it was done, and all have fallen short of the mark. Magician Joe Nickel has perhaps come closest with his Iron Oxide transfer/washed linen approach, but under microscopic examination, his method produce copious amounts of iron oxide residue that are not present in the image on the Shroud.
Finally, I will quote what David Hume said (from Stavka2's post above):
"No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact, which it endeavors to establish."
The Shroud is just such a "miracle". If, indeed, it IS a fraud, then its making by an unsung genius in the 13th or 14th Century constitues even MORE of a miracle than if it really was the shroud of a First Century man already associated with miracles.
It's OK, I understand Italian photo's. And, Google's translation feature can be lots of fun.
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