Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Prehistory of the Shroud (4) #47: The evidence is overwhelming that the Turin Shroud is Jesus' burial sheet!

PREHISTORY OF THE SHROUD (4) #47

Copyright © Stephen E. Jones[1]

This is the twenty-first installment of #47, "Prehistory of the Shroud (3)," of my series, "The evidence is overwhelming that the Turin Shroud is Jesus' burial sheet!" For more information about this "overwhelming" series, see the "Main index #1." As I wrote in "Prehistory" (1): "... this new series will help me write Chapter "9. Prehistory of the Shroud" of my book in progress, "Shroud of Turin: Burial Sheet of Jesus!" See 06Jul17, 03Jun18, 04Apr22, 13Jul22 & 8 Nov 22. While the in-line referencing makes a blog text harder to read, it saves time in renumbering out-of-order footnotes, and in my book each reference(s) between square brackets will be one numbered endnote. For more information about this "Prehistory" series, see "Prehistory (1)".

[Main index #1] [Previous: Prehistory of the Shroud (3) #46] [Next: Prehistory of the Shroud (5) #48]


Prehistory of the Shroud (AD 30-1354).

711a Musa ibn Nusayr (640–716), the Muslim governor of North Africa, invaded Spain at Gibraltar[GM99, 127; BJ01, 31, 195; ADW] and in 718 captured the central Spanish city of Toledo[GM98, 15; BJ01, 32].

711b The Sudarium of Oviedo [see "616"] is taken from Toledo in its Arca Santa ("Holy Ark") chest to the northern Spanish kingdom of Asturias[BJ01, 29, 31, 195] where it was kept in a cave on a mountain called Monsacro, ten kilometres (6 miles) from what was to become the city of Oviedo[GM98, 15; BJ01, 32; GV01, 43].

722 A small Christian resistance force under the leadership of Pelagius of Asturias (c.685–737), aka. Pelayo, a Visigoth nobleman, defeated a much larger Muslim army at the Battle of Covadonga and then established the independent Christian kingdom of Asturias[GM99, 127; BJ01, 194]. This was the beginning of the Reconquista ("reconquest") of Spain after the muslim invasion of 711[BCW].

c. 725 Eighth century[WI79, 102; WM86, 105; SD91, 189, 191; WI91, 46H; WS00, 110], Christ Pantocrator fresco[WI79, 102; WI91, 46H; WS00, 110] (see below), heavily influenced by Byzantine icono-

[Above (enlarge): Bust of Christ Pantocrator from the catacomb of Pontianus, Rome[CPW]. Note in particular the Vignon marking on this 8th century fresco: "(2) three-sided [topless] `square' between brows"[SD91, 189, 191; WI91, 46H-47; WS00, 110; WI10, 142].

graphy[WI79, 102], in the depths of the catacomb of Pontianus, Rome[WM86, 105].

That the Image of Edessa/Shroud was the original of which this eighth century Byzantine icon was a copy, is evident in that it has at least eight[MR86, 77], and by my count eleven Vignon markings [see 18Mar12, 22Sep12, 27Apr14]:

"(1) Transverse streak across forehead, (2) three-sided [topless] `square' between brows, ... (5) raised right eyebrow, (6) accentuated left cheek, (7) accentuated right cheek, (8) enlarged left nostril, (9) accentuated line between nose and upper lip, ... (12) forked beard, (13) transverse line across throat, (14) heavily accentuated owlish eyes, (15) two strands of hair"[WI78, 82E].
out of the fifteen found on the Shroud[WI79, 104-105; MR86, 77; IJ98, 152-153; WS00, 110; TF06, 250-251]!

In the 1930s French biologist Paul Vignon (1865-1943) was struck by this "small square set above the nose and open at the top" and other oddities which were unnatural and had no artistic merit[WJ63, 157; AM00, 124; TF06, 252; WI10, 142], found in Byzantine depictions of Jesus' face, which are also found in identical positions on the Shroud[WM86, 105, 107]:

"Vignon thought. If the Shroud was the progenitor of the traditional Christ, then something of the parent must have carried over into the offspring! Eventually, after a long and minute comparison of the face on the cloth with hundreds of paintings, frescoes and mosaics, he found the answer. Certain peculiarities were evident in the Shroud- peculiarities that were really accidental imperfections in the image or the fabric itself, and that served no artistic purpose. Yet, he observed jubilantly, these very oddities appeared again and again in a whole series of ancient art works, even though artistically they made no sense. Surely, this could mean only one thing: ancient artists had taken their conception of a bearded, long-haired man from the image on the Shroud, and had included the anomalies because of a feeling that they were in some mysterious way connected with the earthly appearance of Jesus. There were about twenty of these items in all [later refined by Wilson to fifteen[WI79, 104-105; MR80, 114-115; SH81, 15-16; TF06, 249-250]; some very pronounced, some just strongly characteristic of the face on the cloth. Most arresting were such things as a small square set above the nose and open at the top, the result either of a defect in the weave or a unique, accidental stain. There was the distorted appearance of the nose, swollen at the bridge with the right nostril enlarged; the abnormal shading of the right cheek; a curved transverse stain that ran senselessly across the forehead" (emphasis original)[WJ63, 157].
So these "peculiarities" became known as the "Vignon markings"[CN88, 58; WI91, 46H; WS00, 111].

But as can be seen below, this "topless square" is merely the intersection of the man's horizontal eyebrows and a vertical flaw or change in the weave of the Shroud[SD91, 185; WI10, 142], which runs all the way down the

[Above (enlarge): Positive photograph of Shroud face[LM10a] showing outlined in red the `three sided' or `topless square' Vignon Marking no. 2, which can be seen is the intersection of the man's eyebrows and a vertical flaw or change in the weave; and superimposed on it the above 8th century bust of Christ in the catacomb of Pontianus, Rome, with the same "topless square" on it outlined in red.]

cloth (see 22Sep12), which explains its "starkly geometrical" shape[WI79, 103; WM86, 105; WI98, 159; WI10, 142]. Other Byzantine portraits of Christ which have the same `topless square' marking (albeit stylised) include the eleventh-century Daphni Pantocrator, the tenth-century Sant'Angelo in Formis fresco, the tenth-century Hagia Sophia narthex mosaic, and an eleventh-century portable mosaic in Berlin[WI79, 104]. And since this Pontianus catacomb was closed in 820 and only opened after 1852, a 14th century forger could not have known of the Vignon markings on this Pontianus fresco[WI98, 159; WI91, 168-169]. So as Wilson points out, just as "a single footprint on fresh sand provided for Robinson Crusoe the conclusive evidence that there was another human being ... on his island":

"Just as the viewing of a single footprint on fresh sand provided for Robinson Crusoe the conclusive evidence that there was another human being (later revealed as Man Friday) on his island, so the presence of this topless square on an indisputably seventh/eighth-century fresco virtually demands that the shroud must have been around, somewhere, in some form at this early date"[WI91, 168; WI10, 142].
so is "this topless square on an ... eighth-century fresco" (and other Byzantine portraits of Christ) conclusive evidence that the Shroud existed in at least the eighth century! That is, six centuries before the earliest 1260 date given to it by radiocarbon dating[WI10, 142]. Moreover this `footprint in the sand' is not "single" - there are fourteen other different `footprints in the sand' which prove beyond reasonable doubt that the Shroud existed in at least the eighth century[WS00, 110]!

723 From 723 to 842 was a period of iconoclasm[WI79, 254; WI98, 267; WI10, 300] (Gk. eikon = "image" + klastes = "breaker"[ICD]). In 723 the Muslim Caliph Yazid II (r. 720–24) issued an edict in Damascus ordering the destruction of all Christian icons in his Umayyad Caliphate[YTW]. An outbreak of image-smashing ensued[WI79, 254]. For the next 120 years both the Byzantine and the Moslem empires suffer outbreaks of iconoclasm in which countless icons and artistically created images of Jesus are destroyed"[WI98, 26; AM00, 129; WI10, 300].

726 Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian (r. 717–41), under pressure from Islam[OM10, 28-29] decreed that all icons in the Byzantine Empire were to be destroyed as idolatrous[SD91, 184; GV01, 4]. As a result countless thousands of images of Christ were destroyed[WI79, 254; SD91, 184], which explains the paucity of visual documentation of the Image of Edessa/Shroud before the tenth century[SD91, 184]. But the Image of Edessa/Shroud survived because its imprint was obviously not artistically created[WI79, 254; SH81, 19; WI98, 267; OM10, 26]. Also the Cloth was kept hidden in faraway Muslim-controlled Edessa[OM10, 26], where paradoxically it was safer than it would have been in Christian Constantinople[OM10, 30]!

Indeed the Edessa Image was the main argument used against the iconoclasts[AM00, 129] [see "730" below]. However, most copies of the Image of Edessa/Shroud were destroyed[WI79, 36; WI91, 102,135; PM96, 193].

730 St. John of Damascus (c.675–749), aka John Damascene, in his De

[Right (enlarge): A "himation was with the ancient Greeks ... a loose robe ... worn over [clothes] ... alike for both sexes"[HMW].]

Imaginibus (On Images), writing in defence of images at the outset of the Iconoclastic Controversy[OM10, 26, 30], mentioned "sindons" ("shrouds") among the relics of the Passion to be venerated on account of their connection with Jesus[BP28, 146; BA34, 52; AF82, 17; CN84, 16]. That John was referring to the Image of Edessa/Shroud is evident in that he cited the Abgar V legend [see "SD97"] in support of its significance as an image[OM10, 26]. John also referred to the Edessa image as a "himation"[DR84, 39; IJ98, 110; WI98, 152; AM00, 132; GM09, 151-152; OM10, 27; WI10, 152; DT12, 186], a Greek outer garment [imation Mt 5:40; 9:20-21; 14:36; Mk 5:27-30; Jn 19:2; Ac 12:8][ZS92,773-774] about two yards (1.83 m) wide by three yards (2.74 m) long[DR84, 39; WI98, 152, 267; OM10, 26-27], which means that the full size of the Cloth was then known[OM10, 27, 36]. Finally John referred to the Edessa Image as "the miraculously imprinted image" that it "has been preserved up to the present time"[DR84, 62; GM09, 151-152; OM10, 27]. Again, this can only be the Shroud, more than five centuries before its earliest 1260 radiocarbon date, and more than six centuries before its first appearance in undisputed history at Lirey, France, in c. 1355!

c. 750 The Venerable Bede (c.673–735) had been told that in the Liber Pontificalis (Book of the Popes), Pope Eleutherus (r. 174-189)[SD02; SD10, 3] had received a letter from Lucio Britannio rege, probably between 183 and 189[SD97, 35], asking for Christian missionaries to be sent that he might become a Christian[WI98, 171; SD02] and to help convert those within his lands to Christianity[SD02; SD10, 3]. But this was a c. 530 interpolation by a copyist that: "This pope received a letter from British King Lucius [Latin Britannio rege Lucio] asking that he might be made a Christian through his agency"[WI98, 171, 266; SD02; SD97, 32]. Bede therefore thought there must have been a previously unknown second century British King Lucius[SD02; SD10, 3], so he wrote in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People that Lucius was a British king and that Christianity had commenced in Britain in the second century[WI98, 171, 267; SD10, 3]. But as the German church historian Adolf von Harnack (1851-1930) wrote in 1904, the only King Lucius who converted to Christianity in the second century was Lucius Abgar VIII of Edessa[WI98, 171-72, 267; SD10, 3] [see "183"], full name Lucius Aelius Septimius Megas Abgarus VIII[SD97, 35; WI98, 264], who took the forenames Lucius Aelius to honour his Roman overlord, the Emperor Lucius Aelius Commodus (r. 180-192)[WI98, 167], and who lived in the time of Pope Eleutherus[SD10, 3]. [see "202"]. And "Britannio" was short for "Britium Edessenorum," which in turn was the Latin rendering of the Syriac "Birtha of the Edessenes" which was the name of Agbar VIII's Edessa Citadel[SD02; SD10, 4] [see "205"]. But since every subsequent British historian and clergyman read Bede's Ecclesiastical History[SD02; SD10, 4], his non-existent King Lucius of Britain became an important `reality' as the king who brought Christianity to Britain in the second century[WI98, 172; SD10, 4]! It was due to Bede's misunderstanding[WI98, 172] that the French creators of the Holy Grail legends located their stories not in France but in England[SD10, 4]. From which the legend arose that Joseph of Arimathea had visited Englandl[SD02; SD10, 4] and in Glastonbury, from his staff a tree miraculously grew[GTW] (it's claimed descendent my wife and I saw at Glastonbury when we visited her aunt there in 1997)!

754 A copy of the Image of Edessa/Shroud called the Acheropita, a

[Left (enlarge)[WI91, 46C]: The Acheropita 'holy face' that for at least twelve hundred years has been preserved in Rome's Sancta Sanctorum chapel, originally the popes' private chapel before papal residence shifted to the Vatican, under Pope Nicholas V (r. 1447-55). The icon's cover is thirteenth-century, and its 'face' a crude over-painting, but beneath lies a near totally-effaced original that dates at least as far back as AD 754[WI91, 46C]. Note that the head is centred in landscape aspect, exactly as it is on the Image of Edessa/Shroud[WI79, 120; WI91, 141; WI98, 152; WS00, 140].]

Latinization of acheiropoietos[WI91, 143] ("not made with hands" - Mk 14:58; 2Cor 5:1; Col 2:11) was in the Sancta Sanctorum Chapel of the Vatican's Lateran Palace by at least 754[WI91, 162]. That is because when Rome was threatened by the Germanic Arian Lombards after their capture of Ravenna in 751, Pope Stephen II (r. 752-57) in 754 personally carried this Acheropita barefoot at the head of a huge procession in Rome, praying for this icon to be instrumental in the deliverance of their city[WI91, 144]. Yet it is probably much earlier than that, being reliably regarded as having been brought to Rome in the last years of the sixth century by Pope Gregory I the Great (r. 590-604)[WI91, 143]. Before he became Pope, Gregory had been the papal legate in Constantinople at the court of the Byzantine Emperor Tiberius II (r. 574-82), when interest in acheiropoietic images, after the discovery of the Image of Edessa in 544 (see "544")[WI91, 140], was at its peak in Constantinople[WI91, 143]. Tiberius II's throne had a majestic image of Christ, since destroyed, derived from the Image of Edessa, which had been set there by his predecessor, Justin II (r. 565-574)[WI91, 143]. It is therefore very likely that this Acheropita icon now in the Sancta Sanctorum Chapel in Gregory's Lateran Palace in Rome, was specially commissioned by Gregory before 590 for him to take back to Rome[WI91, 144]! If so, that is at least ~670 years before the earliest earliest 1260 radiocarbon date of the Shroud and at least ~765 years before the Shroud's first appearance in undisputed history at Lirey, France, in c. 1355!

761 The Arca Santa (Holy Chest) containing the Sudarium of Oviedo

[Right (enlarge)[EP17]: The Holy Chest (or Arca Santa). Except it was plain oak until in 1075 when it would be covered with silver by order of King Alfonso VI (r. 1065-1109)[BJ01, 41-42, 196].]

(see above) and other relics, is placed in the primitive Monastery of San Vicente, near where the city of Oviedo was later founded[BJ01, 195].

769 In his Good Friday sermon delivered in Rome at the Lateran Council of 769[IJ98, 110; SD02; OM10, 27], Pope Stephen III (r. 768–72), opposing the Iconoclast movement (see above)[SD89b, 318], spoke in favor of the use of sacred images[GV01, 4; SD02]. In that sermon, Stephen referred to the Abgar V legend [see "50"] mentioning the Edessa towel (the Image of Edessa/Shroud) with its miraculous facial image[SD89, 88; SD02]. Stephen quoted Jesus' supposed response to Abgar's request for a cure:

"Since you wish to look upon my physical face, I am sending you a likeness of my face on a cloth ..."[SD89, 318]
And as we shall see in a twelfth century updated version of Stephen's 769 sermon [see "pre-1130"[WI98, 270]], a copyist had interpolated a reference to Jesus' "whole body" being visible on the Edessa cloth, reflecting the later discovery in Constantinople that Jesus' body was imprinted on the Image of Edessa/Shroud, not just His face[SD89, 88; WR10, 105].

787 The iconoclasm of Leo III (see above) was continued by his son Constantine V Coproymos (741–75)[CD82, 27; CFW], and grandson Leo IV the Khazar (r. 775–80)[OM10, 30]. It was only after the death of Leo IV that the first period of iconoclasm was brought to an end in 787 by the Second Council of Nicaea[SCW], the last of the first seven ecumenical councils of the whole Christian church, both East and West[OM10, 30]. The Council debated the veneration of holy images[FM15, 54] and in particular about the Image of Edessa not having been produced by the hand of man[FM15, 54]. Leo, the Lector (Reader) of Constantinople's Hagia Sophia Cathedral, reported to the Council that he had visited Edessa and seen there "the holy image made without hands and adored by the faithful"[WI98, 267; OM10, 27, 30; WI10, 154]. The Council endorsed the veneration of images[GV01, 4], and in particular the Image of Edessa, the "one `not made by human hands' [acheiropoieton] that was sent to Abgar"[IJ98, 111; GV01, 4; OM10, 30]. It was the main argument used by the bishops to defend the legitimacy of the use of sacred images[GV01, 4] and to which the iconoclast bishops had no reply[GM69].

812 King Alfonso II of Asturias (r. 783, 791-842), built a chapel in his capital Oviedo, which was later incorporated into Oviedo Cathedral. In

[Left (enlarge)[HD11]: The 9th century chapel built by King Alfonso II, within which was the Holy Chamber (Cámara Santa) that held the Holy Chest (Arca Santa), which contained the "face cloth [Gk soudarion], which had been on Jesus' head" (Jn 20:7) [see "30"], later known as the "Sudarium of Oviedo," and other relics (see below). See also 25May16].]

that chapel was a Cámara Santa (Holy Chamber), to hold the Arca

[Right (enlarge[BJ01, pl. 3]): "The Camara Santa, or Holy Chamber, within the chapel built in 812 by King Alfonso II, to hold the Holy Chest (see below) which contained the Sudarium of Oviedo and other relics. The chest can be seen past the metal bars in the centre background.]

Santa (Holy Chest - see 761 above) which contained the Sudarium of Oviedo and other relics, that had been in the nearby Monastery of San Vicente since 761 (see 761)[BJ01, 195].

814 A second iconoclast period (814-42) (see 723 above for the first) began early in the reign of Byzantine Emperor Leo V the Armenian (r. 813-20)[LK53, 296]. However:
"Leo V ... was much milder in his enforcement of the ban than had been some of his predecessors and the attack was not so much on icons in general as upon some of the uses of them, especially in worship in private houses. The veneration of icons seems to have continued outside the capital, especially in Greece, the islands, and much of Asia Minor."[LK53, 296]
The Patriarch of Constantinople (equivalent to Archbishop), Nicephorus I (r. 806-15) was an early opponent of Leo V's iconoclasm but he was removed from office by excommunication in 815[NIW]. A former painter of icons, the very learned John VII (nicknamed "Grammatikos"), had by 814 become an iconoclast and was later appointed Patriarch John VII of Constantinople (r. 837-43) by Emperor Theophilos (r. 829-42)[JVW]. That the Image of Edessa/Shroud was, as in the first Iconoclastic Period (see 723 above), cited as a major argument against the banning of images, is evident from Wikipedia's summary of iconophile arguments:
"Much was made of acheiropoieta, icons believed to be of divine origin ... Christ [was] ... believed in strong traditions to have sat ... for [his] ... portrait .. to be painted[BIW]!
For the end of the second iconoclastic period see future ["842] below.

c. 820 The Stuttgart Psalter is a richly illuminated 9th-century psalter, considered one of the most significant of the Carolingian period (780-900 — during the reign of Charlemagne (r. 768-814) and his immediate heirs)[SPW]. Written in Carolingian minuscule, it contains 316 images illustrating the Book of Psalms according to the Gallican Rite[SPW]. It has been archived since the late 18th century at the Württembergische Landesbibliothek in Stuttgart[SPW]. In Folio 43v

[Above (enlarge)[JBS]: Extract from folio 43v (keep clicking "+" to continuously enlarge the page) of the 9th century (c. 820) Stuttgart Psalter, presumably painted by a Byzantine artist during the Carolingian period (780-900), in the Aachen, Germany capital of Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne (r. 800–14). See 21Oct13 that this was posted on Dan Porter's blog by a Max Patrick Hamon.]

of the Psalter Jesus is depicted being scourged (presumably interpreting Psalm 39:10 as a Messianic prophecy). This 9th century depiction of Jesus being scourged has many Shroud-like features:
• Jesus is fully naked from the back (unique in medieval art);
• Jesus is being scourged by two scourgers, which was a modern discovery on the Shroud[BP53, 92; RG77, 61; SH81, 36; ZF88, 18] and required a close inspection of the full-length Shroud, front and back;
• The two flagrums each have three thongs with a ball at the end of each. This also was a modern discovery[BA34, 34-35; SH81, 118;

[Above (enlarge): Close-up of the left scourger's, three-thonged, metal ball tipped, Roman flagrum in folio 43v of the 9th century (c. 820) Stuttgart Psalter. Compare its historical accuracy with the flagrum below.]

WI98, 42; AM00, 100] which also required a close inspection of the entire Shroud;

[Left (enlarge): A reconstruction of a Roman flagrum by Paul Vignon[WS00, 56]. One similar to this was recovered from the Roman city of Herculaneum which, with its neighbour Pompeii[WI79, 48], was buried in the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in AD 79[DT12, 122; HLW].]


• The scourge marks are bleeding realistically;
• Jesus' feet are at an angle (as the man on the Shroud's appear to be).
• The unnaturally long and strangely configured fingers on the free hand of the scourger on the right, is in the shape of the epsilon (or reversed 3) bloodstain on the Shroud man's forehead (see below),

[Above (enlarge): The fingers of the scourger on the left of Jesus on the Stuttgart Psalter (left) [see above]; the reversed 3 bloodstain on the Shroud horizontally flipped (centre); and the fingers of the scourger on the right of Jesus on the Stuttgart Psalter (right). As can be seen there is a close match between the shape of reversed 3 bloodstain on the Shroud and the fingers of the scourger on the right (right).]

and if that bloodstain photo is flipped horizontally (because the scourgers' fingers are at the back of Jesus but the reversed 3 bloodstain is at the man on the Shroud's front), it then has the same basic shape as the scourger's fingers! And there is no reason why the scourger on the left would be pointing to his head and the scourger on the right would be pointing to Jesus' head.

The unknown 9th century artist must therefore have seen either the full-length Shroud, which was then in Edessa [see "544"], or an accurate copy of it. Either way, this would refute that part of Ian Wilson's theory that only after the Image of Edessa/Mandylion was taken from Edessa to Constantinople in 944 (see "944b"), was it discovered that behind its face of Jesus was the full-length Shroud:

"All this makes all the more intriguing the evidence that someone, sometime after the Mandylion's arrival in Constantinople [in 944], seems to have undone the gold trelliswork covering the cloth, untwined the fringe from the surrounding nails, carefully unfolded the cloth, and, for the first time since the days of the apostles, set eyes on the concealed full-length figure"[WI79, 157-158].

To be continued in the twenty-second installment of this post.

Notes:
1. This post is copyright. I grant permission to extract or quote from any part of it (but not the whole post), provided the extract or quote includes a reference citing my name, its title, its date, and a hyperlink back to this page.

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LM10b. Extract from Latendresse, M., 2010, "Shroud Scope: Durante 2002 Face Only Vertical," Sindonology.org.
MR80. Morgan, R.H., 1980, "Perpetual Miracle: Secrets of the Holy Shroud of Turin by an Eye Witness," Runciman Press: Manly NSW, Australia.
MR86. Maher, R.W., 1986, "Science, History, and the Shroud of Turin," Vantage Press: New York NY.
NIW. "Nikephoros I of Constantinople," Wikipedia, 25 February 2024.
OM10. Oxley, M., 2010, "The Challenge of the Shroud: History, Science and the Shroud of Turin," AuthorHouse: Milton Keynes UK.
PM96. Petrosillo, O. & Marinelli, E., 1996, "The Enigma of the Shroud: A Challenge to Science," Scerri, L.J., transl., Publishers Enterprises Group: Malta.
RG77. Ricci, G., "Historical, Medical and Physical Study of the Holy Shroud," in SK77, 58-73.
SCW. "Second Council of Nicaea," Wikipedia, 14 March 2024.
SD89a. Scavone, D.C., 1989, "The Shroud of Turin: Opposing Viewpoints," Greenhaven Press: San Diego CA.
SD89b. Scavone, D., "The Shroud of Turin in Constantinople: The Documentary Evidence," in SR89, 311-329.
SD91. Scavone, D.C., 1991, "The History of the Turin Shroud to the 14th C.," in BA91, 171-204.
SD97. Scavone, D., 1997, "British King Lucius and the Shroud," Shroud News No. 100, February, 30-39.
SD02. Scavone, D.C., 2002, "Joseph of Arimathea, The Holy Grail & the Edessa Icon," BSTS Newsletter, No. 56, December.
SD10. Scavone, D.C., 2010, "Edessan sources for the legend of the Holy Grail," Proceedings of the International Workshop on the Scientific approach to the Acheiropoietos Images, ENEA Frascati, Italy, 4-6 May 2010, 1-6.
SH81. Stevenson, K.E. & Habermas, G.R., 1981, "Verdict on the Shroud: Evidence for the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ," Servant Books: Ann Arbor MI.
SK77. Stevenson, K.E., ed., 1977, "Proceedings of the 1977 United States Conference of Research on The Shroud of Turin," Holy Shroud Guild: Bronx NY.
.SPW. "Stuttgart Psalter," Wikipedia, 29 January 2021.
SR89. Sutton, R.F., Jr., 1989, "Daidalikon: Studies in Memory of Raymond V Schoder," Bolchazy Carducci Publishers: Wauconda IL
TF06. Tribbe, F.C., 2006, "Portrait of Jesus: The Illustrated Story of the Shroud of Turin," [1983], Paragon House Publishers: St. Paul MN, Second edition.
WB00. Walsh, B.J., ed., 2000, "Proceedings of the 1999 Shroud of Turin International Research Conference, Richmond, Virginia," Magisterium Press: Glen Allen VA, 122-141.
WI78. Wilson, I., 1978, "The Turin Shroud," Book Club Associates: London.
WI79, Wilson, I., 1979, "The Shroud of Turin: The Burial Cloth of Jesus Christ?," [1978], Image Books: New York NY, Revised.
WI91. Wilson, I., 1991, "Holy Faces, Secret Places: The Quest for Jesus' True Likeness," Doubleday: London.
WI98. Wilson, I., 1998, "The Blood and the Shroud: New Evidence that the World's Most Sacred Relic is Real," Simon & Schuster: New York NY.
WI10. Wilson, I., 2010, "The Shroud: The 2000-Year-Old Mystery Solved," Bantam Press: London.
WJ63. Walsh, J.E., 1963, "The Shroud," Random House: New York NY.
WM86. Wilson, I. & Miller, V., 1986, "The Evidence of the Shroud," Guild Publishing: London.
WR10. Wilcox, R.K., 2010, "The Truth About the Shroud of Turin: Solving the Mystery," [1977], Regnery: Washington DC.
WS00. Wilson, I. & Schwortz, B., 2000, "The Turin Shroud: The Illustrated Evidence," Michael O'Mara Books: London.
YTW. "Yazid II," Wikipedia, 16 December 2023.
ZS92. Zodhiates, S., 1992, "The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament," AMG Publishers: Chattanooga TN, Third printing, 1994.
ZF88. Zugibe, F.T., 1988, "The Cross and the Shroud: A Medical Enquiry into the Crucifixion," [1982], Paragon House: New York NY, Revised edition.

Posted 26 March 2024. Updated 15 April 2024.

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Date index 2024: The Shroud of Turin blog

The Shroud of Turin blog
DATE INDEX 2024
© Stephen E. Jones
[1]

This is the date index to the 2024 posts on this my The Shroud of Turin blog. The posts are listed in reverse date order (recent uppermost). For further information on this date index series see the Main Index. The linked subject headings of my future 2024 posts will be added to this page in the background.

[Main index] [Previous: 2023] [Next: 2025]


2024

[Above (enlarge)[see 20Feb24]: Comparison of positive (left) of the Shroud face (enhanced) and a Justinian II (r. 685–695, 705-11) 692-95 gold solidus coin (right). By my count there are at least twelve out of the fifteen Vignon markings on the Shroud face that are on Jesus' face on this coin [see 23Feb12]. It is obvious that the engraver of this late 7th century coin based his design on the face of the man on the Shroud: ~568 years before the earliest 1260 radiocarbon date of the Shroud! And ~663 years before the Shroud first appeared in 1355, in undisputed history, at Lirey, France!]


24-Mar-24: Date index 2024: The Shroud of Turin blog (this post)
11-Mar-24: Report of the 1973 Turin Commission on the Shroud (1): Turin Shroud Encyclopedia
20-Feb-24: Prehistory of the Shroud (3) #46: The evidence is overwhelming that the Turin Shroud is Jesus' burial sheet!
13-Feb-24: Report of the 1969 Turin Commission on the Shroud: Turin Shroud Encyclopedia
22-Jan-24: Prehistory of the Shroud (2) #45: The evidence is overwhelming that the Turin Shroud is Jesus' burial sheet!
20-Jan-24: My reply to Prof. Nicholas Allen (assumed) #2
02-Jan-24: Prehistory of the Shroud (1) #44: The evidence is overwhelming that the Turin Shroud is Jesus' burial sheet!


Notes
1. This post is copyright. I grant permission to quote from any part of it (but not the whole post), provided it includes a reference citing my name, its subject heading, its date, and a hyperlink back to this page. [return]

Posted 24 March 2024. Updated 24 March 2024.

Monday, March 11, 2024

Report of the 1973 Turin Commission on the Shroud (1): Turin Shroud Encyclopedia

Copyright © Stephen E. Jones[1]

This is the thirteenth and final installment of my "Report of the 1973 Turin Commission on the Shroud (1)," part #27 of my Turin Shroud Encyclopedia. This, and part #26, "Report of the 1969 Turin Commission on the Shroud," will help me write Chapter 14, "Science and the Shroud," of my book in progress, "Shroud of Turin: Burial Sheet of Jesus!" See 06Jul17, 03Jun18, 04Apr22, 13Jul22 & 8 Nov 22. Again my thanks to Joe Marino who scanned the report into PDFs and emailed them to me. As previously mentioned, the actual report is one 1976 document, which includes the reports of the 1969 and 1973 Turin Commissions on the Shroud.

[Index #1] [Previous: Report of the 1969 Commission #26] [Next: Date index 2024]


REPORT OF THE EXPERTS' EXAMINATION OF THE SHROUD

Exiled ex-King Umberto II (r. 1946), the legal owner of the Shroud[GV01, 56; WI10, 55], on 18 January 1973, gave his consent to the proposed televised exhibition, and authorised the removal of minimal particles of the Shroud's material and the unstitching of at least one edge of its Holland cloth backing[JM76, 12].

So, on 22 November 1973 (Thursday), the grille of the safe on the High Altar was opened with the three keys, and the casket containing the Shroud was removed and transported into the corridor in front of the entrance to the Royal Chapel[JM76, 13]. Here, the casket was opened and the roll bearing the Shroud removed and placed on the special table covered by a white cloth[JM76, 13]. The relic was unrolled, placed in a suitably arranged frame and then transferred into the Hall in the Royal Palace, called the Hall of the Swiss, where the lights and TV cameras for the transmission had previously been set up[JM76, 13].

During 22 and 23 November in daytime, the technicians of the RAI-TV

[Right (enlarge)[IH73]: On 22 and 23 November, RAI-TV technicians film the Shroud[JM76, 14]. It is hanging vertically in a frame[WI79, 78; WI98, 302; WI10, 308], in the Royal Palace's Hall of the Swiss[WI79, 20; CN88, 32; WI98, 302.]

filmed the Shroud and prepared the transmission which then took place on the evening of 23 November at 9 pm. on TV's Channel I[JM76, 14].

Present in the hall on 22 November, before the filming of the televised exposition began[WI98, 302], was a group of thirty people expressly invited to honour the Shroud as representing the People of God[JM76, 14]. This evidently refers to Shroud writers and

[Left (enlarge): Photograph of the Shroud hanging vertically in a frame at the 1973 exposition, taken by author Robert K. Wilcox (1943-)[WR10, 128I].

The coins over the Shroudman's eyes are most evident in the 1931 negative face photograph taken by Giuseppe Enrie (1886-1961), but they are less evident in modern photographs of the same area[FM15, 311]. This might be because Enrie's photographs had a higher contrast than modern ones[FM15, 311]. And/or it might be because for the first time ever, the 1973 exposition displayed the Shroud vertically, rather than horizontally, which caused a slight vertical movement of the lengthwise threads relative to each other, which fragmented the eye images[WA08, 136-137.]]

researchers, including the USA's Fr Adam Otterbein (1916-98)[WI79, 15; CD85], Fr Peter Rinaldi (1911-93)[WI79, 15] and Robert Wilcox[WR10, 56-61], as well as Britain's Dr. David Willis (1913-76)[WI79, 15; WI98, 302], Fr. Maurus Green (1919-2001)[WI79, 15; WI98, 302] and Ian Wilson[WI98, 3-4], are allowed to view the Shroud directly during this time. Wilson recorded his eye-witness experience of seeing the Shroud for the first time:

"By lunch-time on 22 November [1973], I found myself, with some thirty others, being given a brief preliminary introduction by Turin's then archbishop, Cardinal Michele Pellegrino. The group was escorted up a grand marble staircase of Turin's Royal Palace and into a huge, frescoed hall, the Hall of the Swiss. At the far end of this the Shroud hung upright in a simple oak frame, its fourteen- foot length brilliantly illuminated by high-powered television lights. Then came the second shock. It did not look at all as I had expected. Everything that I knew of the Shroud up to this point - and I thought I knew quite a lot - had been based on black-and-white photographs that ... make it look a lot darker than it really is. To see the original's faintness and subtlety was really quite breath-taking. Framed by the burns and patches from the ... fire ... at Chambery in 1532 - there was the familiar `body image' that to me was the Shroud's central mystery. If you stood back you could make it out readily enough: a bearded face, a pronounced chest, crossed hands, legs side by side, together with, as one looked up at the back-of-the-body image, a long rope of hair, taut shoulders and buttocks, and soles of the feet. But the image colour was the subtlest yellow sepia, and as you moved in closer to anything like touching distance ... it seemed virtually to disappear like mist. Because of the lack of outline and the minimum contrast to the ivory-coloured background, it became wellnigh impossible to `see' whatever detail you were trying to look at without stepping some distance back again. To me, as a practising life-painter and an enthusiast of art history, it seemed absolutely impossible that any artist-faker could have created an image of this kind ... The succeeding day and a half during which I was allowed some eight hours of further direct examination served to reaffirm my conviction, despite all the obvious rational objections, that this cloth simply had to be genuine" (my emphasis)[WI98, 3-4].
On 23 November 1973 (Friday), not mentioned in the report, Swiss forensic science pioneer, Max Frei (1913–83), founder and Director of the Zurich Police Scientific Laboratory, and specialist in the pollen of Mediterranean plants, using strips of adhesive tape, took 12 samples of dust particles on the surface of the Shroud[PM96, 169; MG99, 34; WI98, 302; OM10, 200-201]. Previously, on 4 October, Frei had been one of three notaries appointed to the Commission to affirm the genuineness of colour photographs of the Shroud taken in 1969 by Dr Giovanni Judica Cordiglia's son, Giovanni Battista Judica Cordiglia (1939-2018)[JM76, 25; MR80, 53; AF82, 87; CD83; WI98, 98-99, 302; DA99, 7]. On that occasion, examining the Shroud under a microscope,

[Right (enlarge): Prof. Max Frei at the microscope while examining the photographs of the Shroud on October 4, 1973, with, Mgr. Pietro Caramello (1908-97), Custodian of the Shroud[MG99].]

Frei noticed that there were dust particles covering the surface of the Shroud, which he suspected contained pollen grains, and so he had asked for and was granted permission to remove some for analysis[MR80, 53; AF82, 87; DA99, 7].

That evening of 23 November, for 30 minutes from 9:15-9.45 p.m.[; CD83; WI98, 302; DT12, 112-113], a black-and-white television exposition of the Shroud was

[Left (enlarge)[IH73]: Extract of the Shroudman's face as it appeared on the TV transmitted. The 30 minutes TV exposition evidently ran in a loop, or there was a lot more to it, because this clip only ran for 40 seconds.]

transmitted on Italy's leading RAI-TV network[JM76, 14; WI79, 15; TF06, 1]. The exposition was introduced by a filmed message from Pope Paul VI (r. 1963-78)[CN88, 30; WI98, 302; TF06, 1] and concluded with a brief homily and prayer by Cardinal Michele Pellegrino, Archbishop of Turin (r. 1965-77)[JM76, 14]. Through the Eurovision network the exposition would later be seen throughout Western Europe, including Spain, France, Portugal, Belgium, and parts of South America[WI79, 15; CN88, 30; TF06, 1]! Possibly 200 million people saw the Shroud for the first time, but its scientific aspects, for example that the man's image was a photographic negative, were deliberately not mentioned to avoid controversy[WR10, 66-67]. But that meant that those viewers:

"... had sat through thirty-five minutes of pious devotion to what must have seemed to many of them, who had never heard of the Shroud, to have been nothing more than a religious cloth with a strange painting on it"[WR10, 66].
The invited Shroud writers and researchers, saw the televised exposition at the local television station but were disappointed by it[WR10, 68].

Early in the morning of Saturday 24 November, after the Shroud had been removed from the wooden frame to which it had been attached in the Hall of the Swiss, it was transported to another room, smaller and more secluded, where it was to be put at the disposal of the experts for their observations and studies[JM76, 15]. The Shroud was attached to a metal frame in a horizonrtalal position, with the sidestrip (see 24Aug15) at the top[JM76, 15].

The invited experts arrived: Prof. Cesare Codegone (1904-92), Director of the Technical Physics Institute of the Turin Polytechnic; Prof. Silvia Curto (1919-2015), Superintendent of the Museum of Egyptology, Turin; Prof. Enzo Delorenzi, Head of the Radiology Dept. of the Mauriziano Hospital, Turin; Prof. Guido Filogamo (1916-2018), Director of the Institute of Human Anatomy and Histology of the University of Turin; Prof. Eugenia Mari Rizzati and Prof. Emilio Mari, colleagues of Prof. Giorgio Frache, Director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine of the University of Modena. Prof. Frache took part in the examinations of 1969 but was unable to take part in the present one for health reasons and is substituted by his colleagues who were also authorised to remove eventual samples; Prof. Noemi Gabrielli (1901-79), ex-superintendent of the Piemonte Galleries; Prof. Giovanni Judica Cordiglia, Lecturer in forensic medicine; Prof. Mario Milone, Director of the Institute of Chemistry at the University of Turin[JM76, 16-17]. Compare 13Feb24 that only four members of the 1969 Commission continued as members of the 1973 Commission: Dr Judica Cordiglia; Silvio Curto; Noemi Gabrielli and Enzo Delorenzi. New members of the 1973 Commission were: Profs Rizzati, Mari, Codegone, Filogamo, Milone, and Gilbert Raes (1914-2001) of the Ghent Institute of Textile Technology[WI79, 67]. Raes is not in the list of experts above, because, as we shall see, he arrived late[JM76, 18; WI10, 70]. Nor is Max Frei on the list because, as we shall see[JM76,

[Left (enlarge)[MG99, 43]: The caption is, "The Commission of experts [a]round the Shroud ... G.B. Judica Cordiglia." The page heading is "1969 - For the first time the Shroud [is] examined by scientific experts." But the person leaning over and pointing at the Shroud appears to be Max Frei (see above, and he was not a member of the 1969 Commission. So presumably this photograph is of the 1973 commission members.]

28], he was not an expert member of the Commission, but as we saw above, his role was to be one of the three notaries to affirm the genuineness of colour photographs of the Shroud taken in 1969 by photographer G.B. Judica Cordiglia. However, Frei was presumably present because neither was the photographer, G.B. Judica Cordiglia, mentioned in the list above, and he was present (see next).

The experts examined the Shroud, some for the first time[JM76, 17]. Also present was the photographer G.B. Judica Cordiglia, who was tasked with providing negatives of colour close-ups with a chromatic scale so as to obtain the maximum fidelity of reproduction of the colours of the Shroud and of the imprints, particularly of those which are presumed to be bloodstains[JM76, 17]. He later took many photographs, including colour ultraviolet and infra-red ones[PM96, 169], but he was not a professional photographer and although he used advanced photographic equipment, his photographs were often inferior to those taken by Enrie in 1931[WI79, 66-67].

Then the experts and Count Umberto Provana di Collegno (1906-91), who was present throughout as representative of the owner, ex-king Umberto II, passed into the office next to the Chapel of the Shroud where, under the chairmanship of Mons. Jose Cottino (1913-83), they discussed the programme of work[JM76, 17-18].

A colour photograph of the Shroud taken by G.B. Judica Cordiglia in 1969, reduced to one quarter of the Shroud's 4.36 x 1.10 m. dimensions, was displayed horizontally on the

[Right (enlarge). The first colour photograph of the Shroud, taken in 1969 by G.B. Judica Cordiglia[MG99, 33]. With Cartesian coordinates A111 and A1 added. The report's description of the letter coordinates along the short sides is confusing, so I haven't included them after A.]

above frame by Prof. Codegone[JM76, 18]. Codegone had traced a 5 by 5 centimetres grid across the photograph's length and breadth and added Cartesian coordinates of letters and numbers along its sides, so it could be used as a map of the location of samples taken[JM76, 18]. The map was favourably received by all present[JM76, 18]. The map was not included in the report.

A discussion of the plan of works followed[JM76, 18]. Note was taken of the study presented by Prof. Codegone, a prominent Turin physicist, who was apponted to the commission to consider the feasibility of radiocarbon dating the Shroud[WI79, 67]. Codegone had concluded that dating the Shroud with the C-l4 method should not then proceed, but wait until further technical and scientific progress allowed reliable results to be obtained on much smaller amounts of material[JM76, 18-19].

Seventeen samples were removed from the Shroud for the experts by Sisters of the Turin Institute of the Daughters of St. Joseph, who were experts in darning and embroidery[JM76, 21]. The samples were mostly single threads, from various parts selected during the 1969 survey, to take back to their laboratories for scientific study[JM76, 21-23];BR78, 69; RC99, 74; GV01, 56]. The removal operations took place in the following order:
1. A thread was removed from the weft (widthwise), measuring 12 mm. from the point that corresponds, on the plan, with the centre of the square with coordinates 110 A.
2. Another thread 13 mm. long in the same square 110 A. This thread, as were all those following, was a warp (lengthwise) thread. These two samples were consigned to Prof. Raes.
3. A thread 28 mm. long in the same square 110 A.
4. A thread 8 mm. long from a blood stain in square 33r.
5. A thread in square 32r which broke on extraction so two fragments were obtained, one 4 mm. and the other 6.5 mm. It was observed that the reddish tint of the thread was· limited to the surface, while the inside appeared to be perfectly white[JM76, 21-22]. Since this would have been a bloodstained image area, without realising it, the 1973 Commission first discovered, and independently confirmed, that the blood was on the cloth before the image and prevented the image forming! See "No image under blood #25".
6. A thread 19.5 mm. long at the centre of square 36 V.
7. Two thread fragments, both 12 mm. long in square 7 l.
8. A thread 17 mm. long in the same square 7 l.
9. Two thread fragments 7 mm. and 16 mm. long in the same square 7 l.
10. A thread 13 mm. long from another blood stain in square 5 o.
Samples 3 to 10 were consigned to Profs Mari and Rizzatti.
11. A thread, 13 mm. long, parallel to the previous one. This was consigned to Prof. Filogamo. [JM76, 23].
12. Another thread 18.5 mm. long, also from square 5 o. This sample was also consigned to Prof. Filogamo.
13. Cutting of a sample from the edge across the two squares 110 AB, of a triangular form (see below). This also was consigned to Prof. Raes. [JM76, 23].

By my count this is 16 samples, counting 5. above as 2 samples.

[Above (enlarge)[BS24]: Photo © Barrie Schwortz, 1978 (cropped), taken by him during STURP's 1978 examination of the Shroud (see "1978t"), showing the white `triangular' area from which Raes' 1973 sample was cut, at the bottom left-hand corner of the Shroud's frontal image. In 1988, the radiocarbon dating sample was cut from adjacent to this area (see 04Mar20).]

Thus ended the removals for structural, fabricatcry, haematological and ultrastructural research[JM76, 23].

The experts had completed their task and proceeded to their respective laboratories with the researches scheduled. Consequently the Shroud was replaced as referred to in another report[JM76, 24].

There followed 44 pages of reports on why the Shroud should not be radiocarbon date. So I will continue at a later date in part (2), "A definitive report on the haematological investigations carried out on material taken from the shroud," page 49.

Notes:
1. This post is copyright. I grant permission to extract or quote from any part of it (but not the whole post), provided the extract or quote includes a reference citing my name, its title, its date, and a hyperlink back to this page. [return]

Bibliography
AF82. Adams, F.O., 1982, "Sindon: A Layman's Guide to the Shroud of Turin," Synergy Books: Tempe AZ.
BR78. Brent, P. & Rolfe, D., 1978, "The Silent Witness: The Mysteries of the Turin Shroud Revealed," Futura Publications: London.
BS24. Barrie Schwortz, 2024, Email to S.E.Jones, "Re: Could you please email me the link, or the photo, of the original Raes' Corner diagram?," 22 March, 2:58 am.
CD83. Crispino, D.C., 1983, "In Memoriam - Max Frei," Shroud Spectrum International, No. 6, March, 61.
CD85. Crispino, D.C., 1985, "Notes About the Authors," Shroud Spectrum International, No. 16, September, 32.
CN88. Currer-Briggs, N., 1988, "The Shroud and the Grail: A Modern Quest for the True Grail," St. Martin's Press: New York NY.
DA99. Danin, A., Whanger, A.D., Baruch, U. & Whanger, M., 1999, "Flora of the Shroud of Turin," Missouri Botanical Garden Press: St. Louis MO.
DT12. de Wesselow, T., 2012, "The Sign: The Shroud of Turin and the Secret of the Resurrection," Viking: London.
FG09. Fanti, G., ed., 2009, "The Shroud of Turin: Perspectives on a Multifaceted Enigma," Proceedings of the 2008 Columbus Ohio International Conference, August 14-17, 2008, Progetto Libreria: Padua, Italy.
FM15. Fanti, G. & Malfi, P., 2015, "The Shroud of Turin: First Century after Christ!," Pan Stanford: Singapore.
GV01. Guerrera, V., 2001, "The Shroud of Turin: A Case for Authenticity," TAN: Rockford IL.
IH73. "Italy: Shroud of Turin shown on television (1973)," British Pathé Ltd, 2024.
JM76. Jepps, M., ed., 1976, "Report of Turin Commission on the Shroud," Turin, Italy.
MG99. Moretto, G., 1999, "The Shroud: A Guide," Neame, A., transl., Paulist Press: Mahwah NJ.
MR80. Morgan, R., 1980, "Perpetual Miracle: Secrets of the Holy Shroud of Turin by an Eye Witness," Runciman Press: Manly NSW, Australia.
OM10. Oxley, M., 2010, "The Challenge of the Shroud: History, Science and the Shroud of Turin," AuthorHouse: Milton Keynes UK.
PM96. Petrosillo, O. & Marinelli, E., 1996, "The Enigma of the Shroud: A Challenge to Science," Scerri, L.J., transl., Publishers Enterprises Group: Malta.
RC99. Ruffin, C.B., 1999, "The Shroud of Turin: The Most Up-To-Date Analysis of All the Facts Regarding the Church's Controversial Relic," Our Sunday Visitor: Huntington IN.
RTB. Reference(s) to be probvided.
WA08. Whanger, A.D. & M.W., "Revisiting the Eye Images: What are They?," in FG09, 134-139.
WI79. Wilson, I., 1979, "The Shroud of Turin: The Burial Cloth of Jesus Christ?," [1978], Image Books: New York NY, Revised edition.
TF06. Tribbe, F.C., 2006, "Portrait of Jesus: The Illustrated Story of the Shroud of Turin," Paragon House Publishers: St. Paul MN, Second edition.
WI79. Wilson, I., 1979, "The Shroud of Turin: The Burial Cloth of Jesus Christ?," [1978], Image Books: New York NY, Revised edition.
WI98. Wilson, I., 1998, "The Blood and the Shroud: New Evidence that the World's Most Sacred Relic is Real," Simon & Schuster: New York NY.
WI10. Wilson, I., 2010, "The Shroud: The 2000-Year-Old Mystery Solved," Bantam Press: London.
WR10. Wilcox, R.K., 2010, "The Truth About the Shroud of Turin: Solving the Mystery," [1977], Regnery: Washington DC.

Posted 11 March 2024. Updated 1 April 2024.