In this X-ray view of the Shroud, you can see the image of a man (presumably Jesus).
Estimated reading time: 12 minutes
In this edition, I wanted to take a break and share something amazing I just came across. It may be something you’ve heard about before, but there’s been a new twist recently.
Biblical Evidence for a Burial Shroud
Have you ever heard of the Shroud of Turin? It’s probably one of the most talked about, intriguing, and investigated Christian artifacts ever discovered. When I first heard about it, I was skeptical but curious. Then, in 1988, one group of scientists said their analysis showed the shroud originated between 1260 and 1390 A.D., while another said their analysis showed it originated between 300 B.C. and A.D. 400. Like many, this analysis led me to conclude that the Shroud was probably a fake. But new evidence may change your mind! If you’ve read about the Sudarium of Oviedo, you know what I’m talking about. If not, read on! Science may, once again, help establish the authenticity of Christ’s death and even His resurrection!
Let’s start with the story of the Shroud of Turin. ((https://www.simplycatholic.com/face-cloth-of-jesus-burial-the-sudarium-of-oviedo/)) It is the type of artifact that you just want to believe in as it fits so well into the gospel narrative. The Shroud claims to be part of the linen cloth that was wrapped around Jesus as described in John 19 (NIV):
38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.
Then, on resurrection Sunday, John again references the linen wrap as well as a head cloth (John 20: 6-7 NIV):
6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen.
Note, in verse seven, John references a cloth wrapped around the head of Jesus. According to Jewish custom, this cloth would have been placed on Jesus’ head just after He died and while He was still on the cross because, out of respect for the dead, they would want to cover up the damages done to His head (e.g., the crown of thorns and any disfiguring marks resulting from the punishment He took from the Roman soldiers). These details will become enormously significant when we put all the pieces together. For now, let’s return to the Shroud and delve into its history.
History of the Shroud of Turin
- The first records of the Shroud of Turin occur in Lirey, France. In 1357, a French knight named Geoffroi de Charny allegedly presented it to the dean of the church in Lirey as Jesus’ authentic burial shroud. The Shroud is a 14-foot linen cloth bearing the image of a crucified man. There’s no record of how de Charny got his hands on the shroud, nor where it was during the 1300 intervening years since Christ’s burial outside Jerusalem – a good reason to discount its authenticity.
- A second point working against the shroud is that around 1389, Pierre d’Arcis—the bishop of Troyes, France—sent a report to Pope Clement VII claiming an artist had confessed to forging the shroud. Scientists later disputed that the image was painted on the fabric as no test confirmed the presence of any known dye or paint. In fact, it still remains a mystery as to how the images were created.
- In 1418, when the Hundred Years’ War threatened to spill over into Lirey, Geoffroi de Charny’s granddaughter Margaret de Charny and her husband offered to store the cloth in their castle. In 1453, Margaret de Charny sold the shroud to the Duke of Savoy in exchange for two castles. As punishment for selling the shroud, she received excommunication.
- In 1502, the house of Savoy placed the shroud in the Sainte-Chapelle in Chambéry, which is now part of France. In 1532, a fire broke out in the chapel. It melted part of the silver in the container protecting the shroud, and this silver fell onto part of the shroud, burning through it. The burn marks and the water stains from where the fire was extinguished are still visible today. In 1578, the house of Savoy moved the shroud to the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, which later became part of Italy.
Scientific Investigation of the Shroud
- In 1898, an Italian photographer named Secondo Pla was given permission to take photographs of the Shroud. To his astonishment, Pla discovered that the image on the Shroud is actually a negative. Its dim and blurred features sprang to life when ‘printed’ on the film in Pia’s camera.” (See photo’s below) The significance of this discovery intrigued scientists and prompted a series of scientific investigations, culminating in the 1978 Shroud of Turin Research Project, henceforth referred to by its acronym STURP.
- After 25 days of intense study and tests, the team concluded that the shroud depicts a “detailed picture of the naked and unwashed body of a bearded, long-haired male who appears to have suffered terrible torture (by scourging and other sources of trauma); bloody wounds on the wrists and feet, as well as the angle of blood flow along the arms, suggest crucifixion,’ which is supported by the fact that the man died from asphyxiation, as established by forensic specialists; peculiar wounds to head and side indicate strong parallels to a crown of thorns and piercing with a Roman lance; the nose, appears to be broken, the left cheek is swollen, and the shoulders are bruised. So complete is the information “coded” on the Shroud that scientists have even been able to reconstruct the scourge or whip used to inflict the particular wounds in the back and chest. Significantly, this reconstruction was found to be congruent with first-century Roman scourges discovered by modern archaeologists and unknown before this century.” ((The history I’ve presented here was extracted from a number of sources but, primarily from www.shroud.com and www.history.com.))
- Another important finding of the STURP study was that previous dating’s of the Shroud had been wrong. When they tested parts of the original Shroud (vs. parts that had been previously repaired and were cotton, not linen), they found its age to be appropriate to the time of Jesus.
When one examines just a few of the images of the Shroud, one can appreciate why it has fascinated and intrigued so many people for so long:
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Photo of the original Shroud |
Photo negative taken by Pia |
There’s even a rendition of what Jesus may have looked like based on the image on the Shroud.
All this research is impressive and tickles the brain, but it does not prove authenticity. There are too many questions, gaps, and open issues.
A New Piece of Evidence
Enter the Sudarium of Oviedo! Remember how I pointed out in John’s Gospel records that two parts of Jesus’ burial clothes were lying on the bench where He once lay? There was the main linen cloth in which His whole body was wrapped (The Shroud), and there was a “cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head.” (Such a cloth was called a “sudarium).” It is important to understand what Jewish tradition dictated in the use of this cloth if we are to understand its importance. According to Simply Catholic ((The Shroud of Turin: A Mystery Across the Ages (https://orthochristian.com/81330.html )), “In the case of severe trauma and when blood flowed at the time of death, Jewish law mandated use of a sudarium to retrieve the victim’s blood. Since blood was viewed as the “seat of life,” it was unthinkable to move a disfigured corpse without covering it, and it was imperative not to lose the blood because it was just as much a part of the body as the flesh. Burial of the blood was required, even to the extent of digging up blood-soaked earth and interring bloodstained clothes and linens.” Thus, in the case of Jesus, a sudarium would have been placed over His head as soon after death as possible while He was still on the cross.
Here’s where it gets interesting. To no surprise to any Catholic (or ex-Catholic), the presumed actual cloth is stored in a Catholic church in Oviedo, Spain. But, unlike the Shroud, it has a much better provenance tracing its movement since the crucifixion.
- Tradition claims that St. Joseph of Arimathea gave Christ’s sudarium to St. Peter, who sometimes used it as a relic when praying for someone to be healed. It was later cared for by religious women in a cave close to the Monastery of St. Mark on the far side of the Jordan River. Its history took a turn when the Persians invaded Jerusalem in 612, necessitating drastic measures.
- The face cloth was taken to Alexandria, Egypt, along with many other relics, and stored in a chest. The Sudarium is much smaller than the Shroud (only 84 by 53 centimeters) and is nowhere near as impressive as the Shroud, which consists mostly of a variety of blood stains.
The Sudarium of Oviedo
Only two years later, the Persians conquered this city as well, but by that time, the chest of relics was already on its way to Spain, where it was placed in the custody of St. Isidore (560-636), bishop of Seville, an influential figure in the Western Church.
- After Isidore’s death, St. Ildephonsus, his disciple who became bishop of Toledo, brought the relic to that city, the new Christian capital of Spain. It remained there until the Muslim invasion.
- The Moors invaded Spain in 711, reaching Toledo from the coast in a matter of days. The Christians, in fear for their relics, fled north to mountains that even the Romans had never conquered. Arabic manuscripts state that the relics were hidden in a well on a mountaintop called Monsacro, an ancient sacred peak near the city of Oviedo. St. James’ pilgrims would later visit a small hermitage at the site, making the treacherous climb to pay their respects.
- After the danger had passed, King Alfonso II the Chaste (c. 759-842) built the Holy Chamber for the relics at his palace in Oviedo, now part of the Gothic cathedral. Their fame quickly spread throughout the Christian world.
- The chest, however, was never opened or examined until 1075, when it was opened in the presence of King Alfonso VI. At that time, a list of all the relics (including the Sudarium) was made, and then the chest was re-sealed and covered with silver plating.
- In 1988, the Spanish Center for Sindonology was formed in Spain to study the Sudarium scientifically and thoroughly
The Two Together are Even More Convincing!
Here are some of the findings of that study:
- Both the Shroud and the Sudarium have multiple samples of blood in various locations, all of which have been determined to be Type AB blood. This finding alone is impressive as AB blood is extremely rare.
- Botanical traces in both cloths show they were once present in Jerusalem and Constantinople. Those who would debunk the Shroud cannot explain how either cloth could have such traces within it if it was created in Europe. From 1260-1390, when it was supposedly forged, the Shroud is known to have been in Europe. How, then, does one explain this evidence from pollen and flowers in the Shroud?
- One scientist used a polarized image overlay to study in greater detail the congruence of the blood stains between the two cloths. Their findings showed seventy points of congruence on the face side and fifty more made when the cloth was unfolded to reach around the back of the head on the cross, pinned at the base of the neck, and knotted to form a cap. This number of matching points is greater by a factor of 10 than the number required to match two fingerprints. This finding alone suggests that a forgery of either relic would be impossible since (except in the tomb) there is no evidence that the two items were ever in the same place. Plus, no one in the first century would even think of matching up the blood stains.
- One test required over 6,000 trials before they were able to produce bloodstain patterns that were identical to those on the Sudarium. The conclusions were amazing! It suggested that there were three distinct times when blood was deposited on the cloth:
- The first set was when Jesus was on the cross and in an upright position.
- The second set was made when Jesus’ cross was laid on the ground with Jesus being face down on the ground – a common practice before removing the body from the cross. Remember, the cloth would still be on His head at this time.
- The third set was made when Jesus was carried face up to His tomb. Once in the tomb, the Sudarium was removed from His head, folded up, and placed next to the body. The body was then wrapped in its burial linen.
All three circumstances led to distinctly different stain patterns.
- In addition to matching the bloodstains, the Sudarium shows multiple smaller stains all over the head of the type that might have been made by small, sharp objects – like a crown of thorns!
I realize that none of this evidence proves that either of these relics ever came within 50 feet of Jesus, but the evidence that the two are linked is impressive!
I’ll leave it up to you to decide.
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