The
holy Shroud of Turin
Frontal Negative Positive and Negative of the Holy Face, side by side
Please click on images to enlarge them
The Shroud of Turin, which many believe was Christ's burial cloth,
bears a faded image of a bearded man and what appear to be bloodstains that coincide with
Christ's crucifixion wounds. The 14-foot-long linen cloth has been kept in the city of
Turin, Italy since 1578.
See The Whole Shroud, and the Way Jesus was Buried
Pictures of the Shroud
during the 1898 Exhibition
The Shroud is 14.3 feet by 3.6 feet (4.36
meters long and 1.10 meters wide). The fabric is linen, spun with a Z twist, and woven in
a three to one (herringbone) twill. It was woven on a primitive loom and the technique is
often irregular.
It has four basic types of imprint:
1- The marks of the fire of 1532 when the Shroud was burned while
preserved in a casket, folded into 48 layers.
2- Water-stains left by the water to put out the fire of 1532.
3- In the center, the impressions of the front and the back of a
full-size human figure, of 5 feet 11 inches stature, both of the front figure and of the
back figure (180 centimeters). See Frontal and
Dorsal images of the Shroud
4- Bloodstains: In forehead, neck, wrist, feet, right chest. Their
shape and color are different from the rest of the body: Reddish and flat, without relief,
with clear-cut outlines
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.
Not a a painting, but a kind of radiation:
Scientist conclude that the image is not a painting, and they
all agree on this, nor was it caused by simple contact with the body, but from some kind
of radiation. In fact, it seems "illuminated from within"... at the time of the
Resurrection?.
It cannot be the work of human hand, as the image on the Shroud appears
as a photographic negative to the unaided eye. It would have been impossible for any
artist to reproduce a human figure in perfect photographic negative many centuries before
the discovery of photography (in the first half of the 19th century) and the concept of
negative images.
Although the imprint of the human figure on the Shroud appears as a
photographic negative, the bloodstains and the wounds are impressed on the Shroud as they
would appear in reality, as the blood itself has colored the Shroud through direct
contact. In a photograph, the photographic negative of the Shroud is revealed as a
positive image, with what appear to be bloodstains showing up in white.
The image is X-ray-like as it shows bones in hands, face, etc.
The imprint of the Man is a 3-dimensional negative, whereas the blood
(real human stain blood) are positive.
The image only appears on cloth where body surface is 3.5cm away or
less. Darkness on cloth is inversely
proportionate to this space. This results in the 3-dimensional nature of the image when
seen with the VP-8.
The image does not fluoresce like other burns in linen fiber... and
there is no image under the blood;
The Blood:
It contains stains formed by human blood of the group AB. The
blood of the Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano is also human blood of the
group AB.
The blood stains are exactly correct as modern medicine would
expect to see from a crucified victim, with high bilirubin content in blood from the
torture.
Scourge marks (approximately 120) have UV response around them, as
blood serum would have.
Odds are 200 billion to 1 that the Man of the Shroud is Jesus of Nazareth:
There are at least eight "coincidences" between the
Gospels accounts and the image of the Shroud.
A mathematician from the University of Turin, evaluating the
possibility that such an event may have happened to another individual in precisely the
same way says that the odds are1in 200 billion that the Man of the Shroud is not Jesus of
Nazareth.
1 - A Man who had been scourged.
2 - Capped with thorns.
3 - Injured by a heavy crossbeam on the
shoulder blades (by carrying of the Cross)
4 - Hands and feet nailed to the Cross:
Crucified with nails through the wrists. And both feet with a single nail. Crucifixion Reconsidered
5- He died suspended on a crossbeam: The
streams of blood of the wrists and forearms suggest an agony with arms extended, in a
state of being strongly pulled.
6- Pierced in the side by a lance: He has a
very visible wound on his right side, near the fifth rib
7 - Abrasions on the left knee due to a fall.
8 - Wounds, swelling and bruises to the face
and the bridge of his nose broken.
Close-up of a Jewish bronze Pontius Pilate lepton dating from 29 -31 AD. Click
picture for enlargement.
See http://www.shroud.org/galrm02.shtml
Passover-time flower pollens from the Dead Sea area in
the cloth, along with pollens from France & Turkey.
Travertine aragenite dust, as found in Jerusalem vicinity, is found on
the feet, knees, and nose.
The linen cloth is mentioned in all four gospels... microbiological
growth is found on linen fibers
In 1988, radiocarbon dating showed that the Shroud
of Turin, long regarded as the burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth, could not be from the
time of Jesus but was of a more recent origin. Radiocarbon
Dating of the Shroud of Turin (1989). "The 1988 Radiocarbon Dating
Reconsidered." (1989).
What scientists did not know at that time, but what author Dr.
Leoncio Garza-Valdes came to discover, is that bacteria produce an organic
coating (what he calls a bioplastic coating ) over time on ancient textiles, textiles
including the Shroud itself. This coating, which the author first discovered on Mayan
artifacts, so distorts the carbon dating process that objects on which it is found (such
as the Shroud) are actually significantly older than the data show. The scientific
community has hailed Dr. Garza-Valdes's findings since this new knowledge is of
significance for archaeologists around the world. For those interested in the mysterious
history of the Shroud, it is again possible to regard this artifact as originating
in the first century, and consequently as being the burial cloth of Jesus. Leoncio
A. Garza-Valdes
His Holiness John Paul II:
In the message of August 2000, John Paul II explained that "it is difficult to remain indifferent before the Holy Shroud. Indeed, the face speaks to the intelligence and heart. It speaks to the believer, the seeker, and the nonbeliever."
"For the believer, what counts above all is that the Shroud is a mirror of the
Gospel. In fact, if we reflect on the sacred Linen, we cannot escape the idea that the
image it presents has such a profound relationship with what the Gospels tell of Jesus'
passion and death, that every sensitive person feels inwardly touched and moved at
beholding it. Whoever approaches it is also aware that the Shroud does not hold people's
hearts to itself, but turns them to him, at whose service the Father's loving providence
has put it. Therefore, it is right to foster an awareness of the precious value of this
image, which everyone sees and no one at present can explain. For every thoughtful person
it is a reason for deep reflection, which can even involve one's life. The Shroud is thus
a truly unique sign that points to Jesus, the true Word of the Father, and invites us to
pattern our lives on the life of the One who gave himself for us". Complete
Text of the address given by the Pope about the Shroud of Turin on May 24, 1998.
Three-dimensional image of the uninjured face of the Man Shroud obtained by means of computer procedures (processed by G. Tamburelli e N. Balossino)
http://www.di.unito.it/shroud/index3.htm Barrie M. Schwortz:
The Official Documenting Photographer for the Shroud of Turin Research
Project, Inc., (STURP):
"Frankly, I am still Jewish, yet I believe the Shroud
of Turin is the cloth that wrapped the man Jesus after he was crucified. That is not meant
as a religious statement, but one based on my privileged position of direct involvement
with many of the serious Shroud researchers in the world, and a knowledge of the
scientific data, unclouded by media exaggeration and hype. The only reason I am still
involved with the Shroud of Turin is because knowing the unbiased facts continues to
convince me of its authenticity".
http://www.shroud.org/ (good pictures) http://www.shroud.com http://www.di.unito.it/shroud/index.htm