The Shroud of Turin (Italian: Sindone di Torino), also known as the Holy Shroud (Italian: 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 pH๏τographic negative than in its natural sepia color, an effect discovered in 1898 by Secondo Pia, who produced the first pH๏τographs of the shroud. This negative image is ᴀssociated with a popular Catholic devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus.
The documented history of the shroud dates back to 1354, when it began to be exhibited in the new collegiate church of Lirey, a village in north-central France. The shroud was denounced as a forgery by the bishop of Troyes, Pierre d’Arcis, in 1389. It was acquired by the House of Savoy in 1453 and later deposited in a chapel in Chambéry, where it was damaged by fire in 1532. In 1578, the Savoys moved the shroud to their new capital in Turin, where it has remained ever since. Since 1683, it has been kept in the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, which was designed for that purpose by architect Guarino Guarini and which is connected to both the royal palace and the Turin Cathedral. Ownership of the shroud pᴀssed from the House of Savoy to the Catholic Church after the death of former king Umberto II in 1983.
The microscopist Walter McCrone found, based on his examination of samples taken in 1978 from the surface of the shroud using adhesive tape, that the image on the shroud had been painted with a dilute solution of red ochre pigment in a gelatin medium. McCrone found that the apparent bloodstains were painted with vermilion pigment, also in a gelatin medium. McCrone’s findings were disputed by other researchers and the nature of the image on the shroud continues to be debated. In 1988, radiocarbon dating by three independent laboratories established that the shroud dates back to the Middle Ages, between the years 1260 and 1390.
The nature and history of the shroud have been the subjects of extensive and long-lasting controversies in both the scholarly literature and the popular press. Though accepted as valid by experts, the radiocarbon dating of the shroud continues to generate significant public debate. Defenders of the authenticity of the shroud have questioned the radiocarbon results, usually on the basis that the samples tested might have been contaminated or taken from a repair to the original fabric. Such fringe theories, which have been rejected by most experts, include the medieval repair theory, the bio-contamination theories, and the carbon monoxide theory. Currently, the Catholic Church neither endorses nor rejects the authenticity of the shroud as a relic of Jesus.
The shroud is rectangular, measuring approximately 4.4 by 1.1 metres (14 ft 5 in × 3 ft 7 in). The cloth is woven in a three-to-one herringbone twill composed of flax fibrils. Its most distinctive characteristic is the faint, brownish image of a front and back view of a naked man with his hands folded across his groin. The two views are aligned along the midplane of the body and point in opposite directions. The front and back views of the head nearly meet at the middle of the cloth.
The image in faint straw-yellow colour on the crown of the cloth fibres appears to be of a man with a beard, moustache, and shoulder-length hair parted in the middle. He is muscular and tall (various experts have measured him as from 1.70 to 1.88 m or 5 ft 7 in to 6 ft 2 in). Reddish-brown stains are found on the cloth, correlating with the wounds in the Biblical description of the crucifixion of Jesus.
The shroud was damaged in a fire in 1532 in the chapel in Chambéry, France. There are some burn holes and scorched areas down both sides of the linen, caused by contact with molten silver during the fire that burned through it in places while it was folded. Fourteen large triangular patches and eight smaller ones were sewn onto the cloth by Poor Clare nuns to repair the damage.
In May 1898, Italian pH๏τographer Secondo Pia was allowed to pH๏τograph the shroud. He took the first pH๏τograph of the shroud on 28 May 1898. In 1931, another pH๏τographer, Giuseppe Enrie, pH๏τographed the shroud and obtained results similar to Pia’s. In 1978, ultraviolet pH๏τographs were taken of the shroud.
There are no definite historical records concerning the particular shroud currently at Turin Cathedral prior to the 14th century. A burial cloth, which some historians maintain was the Shroud, was owned by the Byzantine emperors but disappeared during the Sack of Constantinople in 1204. Although there are numerous reports of Jesus’s burial shroud, or an image of his head, of unknown origin, being venerated in various locations before the 14th century, there is no historical evidence that these refer to the shroud currently in Turin.
In 1353 the village of Lirey, in north-central France, was enriched with a small collegiate church endowed by the local feudal lord, a knight named Geoffroi de Charny. Geoffroi died in 1356 at the Battle of Poitiers. Around 1355, the dean of the chapter of Lirey, Robert de Caillac, began exhibiting in the church a long fabric that bore an image of the mangled body of Jesus. In 1390, the Bishop of Troyes, Pierre d’Arcis, who had jurisdiction over the church in Lirey, wrote a lengthy memorandum to Antipope Clement VII (recognized as Pope by the Church in France during the Western Schism), declaring that the Shroud was a forgery and that a previous Bishop of Troyes, Henri de Poitiers, had identified the artist who had made it. Clement issued a bull allowing the canons of Lirey to continue exhibiting the Shroud as long as they made it clear that it was an artistic representation of the pᴀssion of Jesus and not a true relic.
In 1415, during the last phase of the Hundred Years’ War, the Shroud was removed from the church of Lirey with the intention of depositing it temporarily at the castle of Montfort for safekeeping. Marguerite de Charny, the granddaughter of the knight who had endowed the church of Lirey, then took possession of the cloth and exhibited it at the church of Saint-Hippolyte, Doubs. Marguerite’s refusal to return the Shroud to Lirey led to litigation. She carried the Shroud in traveling exhibitions, including to Chimay and Mons. In 1453, Marguerite deeded the Shroud to Louis, Duke of Savoy. For having sold the Shroud and disregarded the rights of the canons of Lirey, Marguerite was excommunicated by the curia of Besançon in 1457.
The Shroud became the palladium of the House of Savoy, and by 1466 it had been deposited in the ducal chapel in Chambéry, the capital of the Savoyard state. In 1506, Pope Julius II authorized the veneration of the Shroud as a true relic of Jesus. In 1532, the Shroud was damaged by a fire in the chapel of Chambéry, when molten silver from the reliquary pᴀssed through the layers of folded cloth, leaving a symmetrical pattern of holes in the unfolded Shroud but without doing much damage to the image areas. The Poor Clare nuns in Chambéry later sewed patches over those holes. In 1578, Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy ordered the cloth to be brought to Turin, the new Savoyard capital, and it has remained in Turin ever since.
Since the late 17th century, the Shroud has been displayed in the chapel designed for that purpose by architect Guarino Guarini and attached to both the cathedral and the Royal Palace of Turin.Repairs were made to the Shroud in 1694 by Sebastian Valfrè, improving upon the earlier patching by the Poor Clares. Further repairs were made in 1868 by Princess Maria Clotilde of Savoy. The Shroud was first pH๏τographed in 1898, during a public exhibition. The Shroud remained the property of the House of Savoy until 1983, when it was bequeathed to the Holy See according to the terms of the will of former king Umberto II of Italy.
A fire, possibly caused by arson, threatened the Shroud on 11 April 1997. In 2002, the Holy See had the Shroud restored. The cloth backing and thirty patches were removed, making it possible to pH๏τograph and scan the reverse side of the cloth, which had been hidden from view. A faint part-image of the body was found on the back of the Shroud in 2004. The Shroud was placed back on public display (the 18th time in its history) in Turin from 10 April to 23 May 2010; and according to Church officials, more than 2 million visitors came to see it.
On Holy Saturday (30 March) 2013, images of the Shroud were streamed on various websites as well as on television for the first time in 40 years.Roberto Gottardo of the diocese of Turin stated that for the first time they had released high definition images of the Shroud that can be used on tablet computers and can be magnified to show details not visible to the naked eye.As this rare exposition took place, Pope Francis issued a carefully worded statement which urged the faithful to contemplate the Shroud with awe but, like most of his predecessors, he “stopped firmly short of ᴀsserting its authenticity”.
The Shroud was again placed on display in the cathedral in Turin from 19 April 2015 until 24 June 2015. There was no charge to view it, but an appointment was required.
