Shroud Of Turin – Burial Shroud Of Jesus?

Mysterious Face And Body Of A Man

The shroud of Turin is a burial shroud bearing the image of the face and body of a man on the cloth itself. How the image was fixed to the cloth remains a puzzling mystery. Multiple radiocarbon tests date the cloth back to the Middle ages but many believe otherwise. Concerns have been expressed related to the testing method used to date the cloth. This still remains a hot topic among researchers, scientists and historians. The shroud has been kept inside the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, Italy since the 14th century. So why is this particular burial shroud so important? Many Christians believe the image of the man to be the face and body of Jesus of Nazareth.

Description Of The Shroud

The shroud is a rectangular piece of cloth measuring 14 ft 5 in × 3 ft 7 in. It was woven using a three-to-one herringbone twill. The most amazing characteristic is the brownish faint front and back image of a naked man. The man had his hands folded across the groin area with both views of the cloth aligning on the midplane. The image shows the man as having a beard, moustache and hair to his shoulders. It also appears that the man was muscular and tall. The images and details of the shroud can be better seen using photography in a black and white negative.

Brown and reddish stains on the cloth indicate bleeding wounds. The stains have been examined to great detail and they match the process of crucifixion and the Biblical description of the death of Jesus. Here are the forensic description of the wounds:

• One wrist bears a large wound from piercing
• Upward gouge in the side penetrating into the thoracic cavity.
• Small punctures around the forehead and scalp
• Linear wounds on the torso and legs.
• Swelling of the face
• Streams of blood down both arms

Hypothesis, Studies And The Catholic Church

One of the mains questions is, How did the image become part of the cloth? Some have suggested that Medieval tempera paint was used which produces transparent images. Other hypothesis include acid pigmentation, burial ointments, flash-like irradiation energy source and Maillard reaction. Despite all attempts to recreate the image with modern science all of them have failed. The next question is, Is this really the image of Jesus of Nazareth? In 1988 the University of Oxford conducted a test and dated the cloth fabric to 1260–1390 AD with 95% confidence. That’s more than a millennium after the death of Jesus. Since the cloth had to be repaired throughout history due to damages many claim that this was an “invisible” repair section analyzed. The source of the image and origins of the shroud remains an unsolved mystery. The Catholic Church has neither endorsed or rejected the Shroud of Turin. But in 1958, Pope Pius XII  approved the image in association to the devotion of the Holy Face of Jesus.