The photo-negative image of the face. Photo by Barrie Schwortz-Shroud Photographer

THE HOLY SHROUD OF TURIN

For the most up-to-date scientific and historical information on the Holy Shroud, The Sudarium Christi and the Veil of Veronica, please view Mr. Iannone's new book:

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To View Article in the National Catholic Register - Rome, click the link below:

NATIONAL CATHOLIC REGISTER:  
http://www.ncregister.com/register_exclusives/the_face_of_god/

Below is an outline related to Shroud science and history:

THE HOLY SHROUD: "THE VISUAL GOSPEL":

Some Shroud authors refer to the Holy Shroud as the "Fifth Gospel." The late Dr. Robert Bucklin, Forensic Pathologist for Los Angeles County, referred to the Shroud as the "Silent Witness." I like to think of the Shroud, in addition to these vivid words, as the "Visual Gospel." The Holy Shroud contains in its linen telling images of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. This revered Cloth tells the story in compelling images that the four Gospels relay in revealing words. For this reason, it is important for people to understand why the Holy Shroud is the greatest treasure of our Christian faith.

THE SHROUD AS AN ANCIENT TEXTILE:

The Shroud is a linen cloth woven in a 3-over-l herringbone pattern measuring 14'3" x 3'7". These dimensions correlate with ancient measurements of the cubit which was 21.6 inches in Palestine. The Shroud is 2 cubits x 8 cubits - consistent with loom technology and textiles of the period. The finer weave of 3-over-1 herringbone is consistent with the New Testament statement that the "sindon" (or shroud) was purchased by Joseph of Arimathea, who, according to the Gospel account, was a wealthy man.

In June 2002, the Shroud was sent to a team of experts for restoration. One member of the Team was Swiss textile historian Mechthild Flury-Lemberg who  was surprised to find a peculiar stitching pattern in the seam of one long side of the Shroud (called a selvedge). The stitching pattern, which she says was the work of a professional, is quite similar to cloth fragments found in the tombs of the Jewish fortress of Masada  (the winter palace of King Herod). The Masada cloths date to between 40 B.C. and 73 A.D. This kind of stitch has not been found in Medieval or Renaissance tapestries in Europe. Chemist Dr. Ray Rogers of the STURP Team (Shroud of Turin Research Project) noted that no vanillin was found on the Shroud. Vanillin is found in linen and disappears with age. The linen wrappings of the Dead Sea Scroll also show no vanillin supporting the antiquity of the Shroud linen.

BURIAL CONSISTENT WITH ANCIENT JEWISH BURIAL CUSTOM:

The burial is consistent with ancient Jewish burial customs in all respects, including the use of cave-tombs, attitude of the body (hands folded over loins), and types of burial cloths and the presence of calcium carbonate (lime-stone dust) on the cloth. The Sindon (Shroud) enveloped the body. The Sudarium (also known as the Sudarium Christi) was a face-cloth used to cover the face out of respect, from removal from the cross to entombment. (see other heading in this website called Sudarium Christi). The Face Cloth was then removed and placed to one side as recorded in the Gospel of St. John. There was also a chin-band holding the mouth closed. The Othonia were bandages used to bind the wrists and legs. All are mentioned in the New Testament and evidenced on the Cloth. They are spoken of in the Misnah - oral traditions of the Rabbis written down in the second and third century. The practice of using a face cloth was referenced in the Babylonian Talmud (Moen Katan).

The Cave-Tombs were carved out of sides of limestone hills. The presence of Calcium Carbonate (limestone dust) on the Shroud was noted by Dr. Eugenia Nitowski (Utah archaeologist) in her studies of the cave tombs of Jerusalem on the Cloth. Optical Engineer Sam Pellicori noted in 1978 the presence of dirt particles on the nose as well as on the left knee and heel identified as Travertine Aragonite. Prof. Giovanni Riggi noted burial mites. Traces of aloe and myrrh have also been identified on the Cloth. All of these are consistent with Jewish burial customs of antiquity.

IMAGE FORMATION vs WORK OF AN ARTIST:

No one knows for sure how the images were created. The images are scorch-like, yet not created by heat, and are a purely surface phenomenon limited to the crowns of the top fibers. The Shroud is clearly not a painting. There are no signs of penetration by paints or binders. The blood was on the Cloth before the image (an unlikely way for an artist to work). There is no outline (which world-renowned artist Isabel Piczek calls the horizon event of art) nor are there brush strokes. There is no style of any period or directionality. The images show perfect photo-negativity and 3-dimensionality under the NASA VP-8 Image Analyzer. The image is not a Vaporgraph or natural result of vapors. A current theory suggests scorching caused by LIGHT from a miliburst radiant energy at the time of the Resurrection. The story of the Transfiguration in the New Testament supports the theory of light. In this, Jesus takes Peter, James and John up to a mountain and is transfigured before them manifesting (before the Crucifixion) His radiant, glorified body which the Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) describe in terms of an unearthly light.

Several Physicists, including Dr. John Jackson of the Colorado Shroud Center, point to a form of possible columnated radiation as the best explanation for how the image was formed, representing a scorch-like appearance (the scorch caused by light versus heat, as the image does not fluoresce). Dr. Thomas Phillips (nuclear physicist at Duke University and formerly with the High Energy Labs at Harvard) points to a potential miliburst of radiation (a neutron flux) that could be consistent with the moment of Resurrection. Such a miliburst may be a possible cause of the purely surface phenomenon of the scorch-like (scorch-by-light) images affecting the surface starchs of the linen fibrils. As Dr. Phillips points out: "We never had a Resurrection to study before." S.T.U.R.P (1978 Shroud of Turin Research Project involving approx. 24 scientists directly examining the Shroud for five days) determined that the image was caused by an event that in turn caused rapid dehydration, oxidation and degradation of the linen by an unidentified process.

PATHOLOGY OF THE WOUNDS OF CRUCIFIXION AND THE SIGNATURE OF THE HISTORICAL JESUS:

Numerous surgeons and pathologists (among the leading ones are Dr. Frederick Zugibe, the Medical Examiner - Rockland, New York), the late Dr. Robert Bucklin (Medical Examiner - Los Angeles County), Herman Moedder (Germany), the late Pierre Barbet (Surgeon in France), Dr. James Cameron (London) and David Willis (England) have studied the match between the Words, Weapons and Wounds, and agree that the words of the New Testament regarding the Passion clearly match the wounds depicted on the Shroud, and these wounds are in turn are consistent with the weapons used by ancient Roman soldiers in Crucifixion. They agree that the Man of the Shroud is clearly deceased and in a state of rigor mortis showing on some areas a post-mortem reliquification of blood clots after death leaving a telltale "serum albumin halo" view under ultra-violet fluorescence. In this regard, it is, as one Medical Examiner indicated "unfakable."

Specifically, they note that the scourge marks on the shoulders, back, and legs of the Man of the Shroud match the Flagrum (Roman whip) which has three leather thongs, each having two lead or bone pellets (plumbatae) on the end. The lance wound in the right side matches the Roman Hasta (4cm x 1 cm spear wound). Iron nails (7" spikes) were used in the wrist area (versus the palms as commonly depicted in Medieval art). These marks, combined with the capping of thorns which is not found anywhere else in Crucifixion literature of ancient Roman (Tacitus, Suetonius, Pliny the Elder or Pliny the Younger) or Jewish historians (Flavius Josephus, Philo of Alexandria) create a unique signature of the historical Jesus of Nazareth. He is the only person that matches this unique set of circumstances on a cloth always historically associated with Jesus.  Truly, this is the greatest Crime Scene Investigation - CSI - in history.

BLOOD EVIDENCE:

The blood on the Shroud is real, human male blood of the type AB (typed by Dr. Baima Ballone in Turin and confirmed in the U.S.). This blood type is rare (3 to 5% of the world population), the highest percentage being found in northern Palestine. AB blood is called a "bio-type of the Middle East). Blood chemist Dr. Alan Adler (Univ. of Western Connecticut) and Dr. John Heller (New England Institute of Medicine) found a high concentration of the pigment bilirubin, consistent with someone dying under great stress or trauma and making the color more red than normal ancient blood. Such finds rule out substances (paint, dye, ink, chalk, etc.) as constituting the blood. Dr. Victor Tryon, a DNA expert, and Nancy Tryon of the University of Texas Health Science Center found X & Y chromosomes (Ameligenin X and Ameligenin Y) representing male blood and "a highly degraded DNA (approx. 700 base pairs) "consistent with the supposition of ancient blood." (Dr. Victor Tryon).

Recent information suggests that bunches or bouquets of flowers were once placed on the Shroud, leaving pollen grains and imprints of plants and flowers on the linen cloth. It provides important evidence regarding the origin of this precious cloth in the Holy Land and of the fact that the Man of the Shroud was entombed with flowers from the waist up to the head.

In 1995, Israeli botanist and expert on the plant life of Israel Professor Avinoam Danin, of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, confirmed findings of Dr. Alan Whanger, Professor Emeritus at Duke University in North Carolina, of floral images on enhanced Shroud photographs. These were originally noted by German physicist Oswald Scheuerman who noted the image of a Chrysanthemum to the side of the face. They were joined by Dr. Uri Baruch of the Israel Antiquities Authority, a palynologist and expert on Israel's pollen. Danin studied the plant images and Baruch analyzed the pollen grains found by the late Swiss criminologist and botanist Dr. Max Frei via the sticky tape collection of materials that Frei had taken from the Shroud in 1973 and 1978.

To date the team has noted, from many images, the "inflorescence of the crown chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum Coronarium)"; the Rock Rose (Cistus creticus) lateral to the left cheek of the figure on the Shroud; a bouquet of bean caper plants (Zygophyllum dumosum) and a thorn tumbleweed (Gundelia tournefortii) which likely comprised the Crown of Thorns.

Professor Danin indicates that such pollen grains serve as "geographic and calendar indicators" demonstrating that the origin or provenance of the Shroud was definitely the Holy Land, and more specifically these are flowers indigenous to an area within 20 kilometers of Jerusalem. Zygoplyllum dumosum, for example, grows only in Israel, Jordan and the Sinai. Evidence also suggests that the flowers on the Shroud were picked in the Spring (Calendar indicators). Danin notes that "...they could have been picked up fresh in the fields in March or April. A few of the species could be found in the markets of Jerusalem in the Spring of the year - a period consistent with the time of the Passover and the Crucifixion.

1988 CARBON-14 TEST RECENTLY REFUTED

Very recent information refutes the accuracy of the 1988 Carbon-14 tests done at Oxford, Zurich and Arizona Labs. Among this information:

A Jan 20, 2005 article in the professional journal ThermoChimica Acta by the late Dr. Ray Rogers, retired Fellow with the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory and lead chemist with the original Shroud science team (STURP), has proven conclusively that the sample cut from The Shroud of Turin in 1988 was taken from an area of the cloth that was re-woven during the middle ages, representing a cotton repair made professionally on the linen of the Shroud and mingling medieval cotton with ancient linen - thereby compromising the test.  Dr. Rogers noted:

"Pyrolysis-mass-spectrometry results from the sample area coupled with microscopic and microchemical observations prove that the radiocarbon sample was not part of the original cloth of the Shroud of Turin. The radiocarbon date was thus not valid for determining the true age of the shroud." "Preliminary estimates of the kinetics constants for the loss of vanillin from lignin indicate a much older age for the cloth than the radiocarbon analysis." 

The re-weave probably occurred in 1534 following the near catastrophic fire of 1532, to mend unraveled edges of the cloth left by the removal of a 3 inch by 5 inch patch - likely as a souvenier. A cotton patch was dyed yellow (from the Madder Root Plant) and bound to the cotton with an aluminum oxide binder. The patch was carefully rewoven into the linen using a method called "French invisible weaving" used by Medieval artisans repairing tapestries and fine cloths. First noted by American sindonologists, the late Susan Benford and her spouse Joseph Marino), the cotton re-weave contaminated the linen, adding "rogue" fibers.

Thermochimica Acta, 20 January 2005, Vol. 425 Issue 1-2, Article #26, Pages 189-194.

HISTORICAL REFERENCES

There are many historical references. Among them are the ancient Abgar Legends which place the cloth in the City of Edessa (Turkey), 400 miles north of Jerusalem during reign of King Agar V, somewhere between 30-40 AD. Pollen, identified by Swiss Criminologist Dr. Max Frei) confirm the presence in Edessa (Anatolian Steppe in eastern ancient Turkey on the fringe of the Roman Empire). Ancient historian Eusebius (325 A.D.) speaks of the Legend of King Abgar referred to as the Image of Edessa   and relates that when the cloth was brought to the King with the image by the Disciple Thaddeus, the King was cured of his leprosy. Evagrius (590 A.D.) speaks of the cloth as "acheiropoietos" - not made by human hands. The Acts of Holy Apostle Thaddaeus (6th Cent.) speaks of the "tetradiplon" (cloth doubled-in-four). Dr. John Jackson's raking light test of 1978 confirms fold marks matching tetradiplon. St. John Damascene, during the iconoclastic debates of the 8th century, called the Shroud a "himation" or long-cloth. The Byzantine Greeks continue to speak of the Acheiropoietos: (image not made with human hands) and as the "mandylion" - or little towel. This was the Shroud doubled-in-four showing only the Face for manageability. Later works of art (10th century) show the mandylion in the hands of the Byzantine Emperor holding the facial area but showing a long, streaming cloth. The Hungarian Pray Manuscript of 1192-95 AD has an illustration showing four burn holes which are found on the Shroud well before the carbon-14 dates. There is a reference by a Chronicler of the 4th Crusade (Robert de Clari) that the "sindoine" disappeared from Constantinople in 1204.

SHROUD ILLUSTRATED IN PRAY MANUSCRIPT

In the Budapest National Library is The Pray Manuscript, the oldest surviving text of the Hungarian language. It was written between 1192 and 1195 (65 years before the earliest Carbon-14 date in the 1988 tests). One of its illustrations shows preparations for the burial of Christ. The picture includes a burial cloth with the same herringbone weave as the Shroud, plus 4 burn holes near one of the edges. The holes form an "L" shape. This odd pattern of holes is found on the Shroud of Turin. They are burn holes, perhaps from a hot poker or incense embers.

THREE-D IMAGE AND ANCIENT COINS OF PONTIUS PILATE

3-D imagery of NASA's VP-8 Image Analyzer (Dr. John Jackson, Dr. Eric Jumper and Rev. Kenneth Stevenson in 1978) shows "dense, button-like objects over the eyes" about the size of a U.S. dime. Macrophotography (by the late Fr. Francis Filas, S.J. of Loyola U. in Chicago), and digitalization of the eye area (Dr. Robert Haralick -U. of Virginia Spatial Data Analysis Lab) suggest coin-lettering consistent with the Lepton (Widow's Mite) minted by Pontius Pilate between 29-32 A.D. Specifically, Filas makes a case for the letters UCAI, which he makes out on the lepton, and Haralick's digitalization appears to confirm these four raised letters. They are consistent with the U of Tiberius and CAI of Caisaros (Tiberiou Caisaros) printed on the coins. Normally, coins would be minted with Greek lettering and we would have anticipated UKAI. However, many leptons were misspelled with Latin UCAI, and examples are on file.

HOLOGRAMS CREATED FROM ENRIE PHOTOS:

More recently, Dr. Petrus Soons of the Netherlands and his team utilized the high resolution photos of 1931 taken by Guiseppe Enrie. After digitalizing and enhancing them, they were able to create a hologram of the Shroud showing in three dimensions the findings of pathologists regarding the position of the body with head bowed forward and knees flexed, the left foot over the right.

They noted also a oval plaque under the beard containing three Hebrew letters translated by some Hebrew scholars as meaning "The Lamb."

FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT OUR ON-LINE BOOKSTORE ON THIS WEBSITE FOR MY BOOK;

                           THE THREE CLOTHS OF CHRIST:
        THE EMERGING TREASURES OF CHRISTIANITY

Text Copyright 1999-2001 John C. Iannone. All rights reserved. Shroud photos courtesy of Official Shroud photographer Barrie M. Schwortz, and of Archbishop Damianos of St. Catherine Monastery at Mt. Sinai and Professor Avinoam Danin - Hebrew University  Jerusalem.

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