Shroud of Turin

The Shroud of Turin: modern photo of the face, positive (left), and digitally processed image (right)
Full-length image of the Turin Shroud before the 2002 restoration.
Pilgrimage badge of Lirey depicting the Shroud and dating between 1355 and 1410.

The Shroud of Turin (in Italian: Sindone di Torino), also known as the Holy Shroud (Sacra Sindone), is a length of linen cloth that bears a faint image of the front and back of a naked man. Because details of the image are consistent with traditional depictions of Jesus of Nazareth after his death by crucifixion, the shroud has been venerated for centuries, especially by members of the Catholic Church, as Jesus's actual burial shroud upon which his image was miraculously imprinted. The human image on the shroud can be discerned more clearly in a black and white photographic negative than in its natural sepia color, an effect discovered in 1898 by Secondo Pia, who produced the first photographs of the shroud. This negative image is associated with a popular Catholic devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus.

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Quotes

A

  • It shows an image that could only have been produced photographically.
    • Nicholas Allen, as quoted in Is The Shroud of Turin a Medieval Photograph? A Critical Examination of the Theory by Barrie M. Schwortz.

B

C

F

G

  • Both artefacts (the Shroud and the Holy Face of Manoppello) are true miracles that challenge scholars, as they appear to have been created by light, but with two different effects: in the case of the Shroud, as if it had been exposed to a photographic negative, and in the case of the Holy Face, as if it had been exposed to a positive. [...] The Shroud highlights both the human and divine nature of Christ, thanks to the bloodstains and the negative image. [...] Only with faith, then, is it possible to explain this energy within a dead body. This is why the two artefacts challenge reason, demonstrating the limits of science.

J

  • Christ gives us the relics of saints as health-giving springs through which flow blessings and healing. This should not be doubted. For if at God’s word water gushed from hard rock in the wilderness-yes, and from an ass’s jawbone when Samson was thirsty -why should it seem incredible that healing medicine should distill from the relics of saints
    • John of Damascus. As quoted in Relics: The Shroud of Turin, the True Cross, the Blood of Januarius: History, Mysticism, and the Catholic Church, by Joan Carroll Cruz, 1984 , p. 37.

M

  • The examination of a fabric is extremely problematic from the point of view of contamination, because a fabric is entirely exposed to the environment in which it is found. For a bone or a piece of wood, it is possible to sample an internal part, but this is not possible in the case of a cloth.
  • (About the radiocarbon dating) All the sindonologists in the world, and there are hundreds of them, had contested that absurd verdict. Only those who had conducted the analyses persisted in defending it, obviously together with those who denied its authenticity, people who have a preconceived rejection of the Shroud, out of partisanship. Among the Sindonologists there are many scientists, including non-Catholics, who had judged the angle of the sample to be unrepresentative of the entire shroud due to the manipulations it had undergone, in addition to all the other vicissitudes experienced by the relic. Among the various studies conducted on the subject, that of chemist Raymond Rogers stands out, demonstrating that the corner had actually been mended.

N

O

  • Not long ago the head of what should be a strictly scientific department in one of the major universities commented on the odd (and ominous) phenomenon that persons who can claim to be scientists on the basis of the technical training that won them the degree of Ph.D. are now found certifying the authenticity of the painted rag that is called the "Turin Shroud" or adducing "scientific" arguments to support hoaxes about the "paranormal" or an antiquated religiosity. "You can hire a scientist [sic]," he said, "to prove anything." He did not adduce himself as proof of his generalization, but he did boast of his cleverness in confining his own research to areas in which the results would not perturb the Establishment or any vociferous gang of shyster-led fanatics. If such is indeed the status of science and scholarship in our darkling age, Send not to ask for whom the bell tolls.

P

  • Just pay and the research will be done. And you can even find someone to publish it. It is undeniable that behind some of these studies there are groups that want to make people believe that the Shroud is a historical fake. One example among many: there is a fine documentary called La notte della Sindone (The Night of the Shroud). Well, this documentary was never broadcast by Rai because it contains a statement that perhaps some people do not like. This statement is represented by a letter on the letterhead of the Curia of Turin, which Cardinal Anastasio Ballestrero, then custodian of the Shroud, sent to his scientific advisor, engineer Luigi Gonella, in which he firmly stated that in the matter of carbon-14 dating (later refuted by several subsequent studies, ed.), there had been the hand of Freemasonry, which wanted at all costs to prove that the Shroud was medieval. In short, there is annoyance towards a "real Shroud on the part of those who want to deny not only Christ but also his Resurrection".
  • We are made of flesh and bones, we need to experience, to touch, to see, to feel. Christianity is not spirituality, it is mysticism. Mysticism means experiencing, touching. The Shroud is a bit like the Sacraments, a kind of Sacrament. The Sacraments are a sign of an experience, of an encounter with Christ. And so it is with the Shroud. First of all, the Shroud immediately takes you back, with its image, with its reality, to two thousand years ago; and then it introduces you to that experience of resurrection and encounter with the Risen One: the Risen One who is present. Only you need to feel this presence, to touch it, and the Shroud introduces you to this experience.
  • “This is very pretty,” said Elizalde...
    “It’s morbid,” snapped Sullivan. “Burying a bunch of dead bodies, and putting a fancy marker over each one so the survivors will know where to go and cry. What if the markers got rearranged? You’d be weeping over some stranger. Not some stranger, even, some cast-off dead body of a stranger, like a pile of fingernail clippings or old shoes, or the dust from inside an electric razor. What’s the difference between coming out here to think about dead Uncle Irving, and thinking about him in your own living room? Okay, here you can sit on the grass and be only six feet above his inert old body. Would it be better if you could dig a hole, and sit only one foot above it?” He was shaking. “Everybody should be cremated, and the ashes should be tossed in the sea with no fanfare at all.”
    “It’s a sign of respect,” said Elizalde angrily. “And it’s a real, tangible link. Think of the Shroud of Turin! Where would we be if they had cremated Jesus?”
    “I don’t know—we’d have the Ashtray of Turin.”

V

Fiction

  • [Inside the Wedding dress shop, Louise enters in Janet's chosen wedding dress]
    Donna: [Gasp] You look like a sweet!
    Louise: ...a sweet what?
    Donna: No, just a sweet, like a Campino, or a truffle. Better than that, you look like a toilet roll cover!
    Louise: Thank you!
    Janet: That's a wedding dress...
    Louise: Janet, we're in a wedding dress shop, what do you expect me to be wearing? The Turin Shroud?

See also

Authority control: WorldCat search
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