This article is written so that you may know the power of Jesus. It is a
true story and one that has forever changed my life.
When I was young, and in my teens, I remember walking to the store many times
and hearing men's cat calls and wolf whistles. When I worked later in
Manhattan, I heard the continual remarks
and cat calls of construction workers. When I had
conversations with many of the men at my place of employment or at social gatherings, they
always either talked about sex, or their comments had an underlying sexual
theme. After a while, I began to hate men. In those years, I
figured there was no way to get an intellectual conversation out of them.
They had one-track minds, which centered on sex.
One night, I had a dream. In the dream
I was very young, maybe five or six. Jesus and I sat under a tree on a
grassy hill. He had a staff and overlooked a herd of sheep. He wore a long white muslin-type tunic that had a rope around the waist.
I ran and played, as He sat under the tree. He talked to me, and I
remember being very peaceful. I loved it there. He was so good to
me and the thought that kept running through my mind was: "Here is a man
who talks only of the good in life and never about sex."
When I awoke from the dream, I had a different outlook with respect to men.
I no longer hated them and I realized all men do not concentrate on sex.
Jesus changed my life in that dream. Even to this day, I remember the
peaceful landscape and His reassuring face. Jesus had striking
features, but what I remember most is His face being long
and narrow. He was a tall man with thin lips and His skin was tanned from the
sun. With time, the dream faded.
Fifteen years had passed and I had enrolled in college. One day,
just a little before Easter, I was sitting in the Student Union, our school
cafeteria. I was thinking to myself: "Jesus,
we see so many pictures and paintings of You. It's almost Easter.
Why don't You show us what You really look like, so there will be no doubt in
our minds?" At that exact moment, I looked up and there was a black and
white picture, which took up the entire back cover of a book a male student
was reading opposite me. The picture on the book was the face in my dream!
I walked over to the gentleman and asked him the name of the book, and he
replied, "The Shroud of Turin." I went to the library and
checked out the book, and read it cover to cover in about two days. It was one of the best books I have ever read. I became very interested in
the Shroud and, after obtaining my degree in Chemistry, I went to a seminar
given by Dr. Alan
D. Adler, a porphyrin chemist who did the initial blood
chemistry on the Shroud. According to Dr. Adler, the blood was authentic
and so was the Shroud. Although the Shroud failed the initial carbon
dating screen [see the Update below], I know this is the image of Jesus. The face on the
Shroud is the face in my dream. The analogy I make is with
respect to a biological father. Let us assume one hadn't seen their
biological father for about fifteen or twenty years, and then was shown
a picture of him. There would be no doubt. We would all know our
biological father's face.
The same holds true with the Shroud. I don't need any
evidence. I know the Shroud contains the true face and body image of
Jesus and that it is His authentic burial cloth. We will see,
in time, this to be the case. Jesus wanted us to know the extent of His
suffering, as well as His physical appearance.
Although the image on the Shroud was produced by Jesus' body giving off
intense light during the resurrection, His face was etched in my mind after
the dream and, long before I had ever even heard of the Shroud of Turin.
-- Tamara Beryl Latham
Update: According to a National Geographic news release (April 9, 2004), there is now convincing forensic evidence that what was previously carbon-dated was actually a medieval repair to a damaged edge of the Shroud.
I find two things particularly interesting about Tamara's account. First, her life was transformed by a vision of Jesus Christ. We all have dreams, but how many dreams change our lives? The Bible says Jesus is the human image of the invisible God, and over 2,000 years after His birth, over a billion people on this planet claim their lives have been changed by Him. So that's at least food for thought. The other thing I find interesting is this: around Easter, an auspicious time, Tamara prayed to see Jesus, and her prayer was answered immediately in a surprising way. It turned out that Tamara had already seen Jesus, and the picture on the dust jacket of a book seems like an almost playful way for God to teasingly say: "You, of all people, want to know what I look like? Don't you remember? Here, let Me jog your memory."
Now, many people will be dubious about this, which is perfectly understandable. However, I find it interesting that Tamara and I somehow engaged in a conversation about the Shroud just as I was contemplating doing a feature on it for Mysterious Ways. What are the odds of that? Are there any accidents with God? And interesting things start happening when people pray. I didn't pray for decades, then at the age of 46, I began to pray. And as I began to pray in the name of Jesus Christ, many wonderful and inexplicable things began to happen in my life. We can choose to ignore or believe whatever we wish, but what we ignore and what we believe in no way changes reality. I can choose to believe the earth is flat, but I'm not going to fall off the edge, unless it's the edge of sanity reached via my own irrational fear. I can ignore gravity, but I can't escape it. Gravity cares not a whit whether I believe in it, or not. If there is a God, and if Jesus Christ is who He claimed to be, many mysterious, miraculous things about Him will surely surround and astound us. We can ignore such mysteries, or we can explore them. I choose to explore them, and I hope you'll tag along as I investigate the Mystery of the Shroud of Turin . . .
I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses ...
I too have come to the cave;
within: strange, half-glimpsed forms
and ghostly paradigms of things.
Here, nothing warms . . .
this lightening moment of the dawn,
pale tendrils spreading east.
And I, of all who followed him,
by far the least . . .
The women take no note of me;
I do not recognize
the men in white, the gardener,
these unfamiliar skies . . .
Faint scent of roses, then–a touch!
I turn, and I see: You.
My Lord, why do You tarry here:
Another waits, Whose love is true.
Although My Father waits, and bliss;
though angels call–ecstatic crew!–
I gathered roses for a friend.
I waited here, for you.
Footnotes and
the story of how this poem was written.
While
there's no way to "settle" the argument of whether the Shroud is the
actual burial cloth of Jesus Christ, or merely a clever forgery, or something
else, it is interesting to look at
the arguments for and against the Shroud. Interestingly, some of the arguments
that the Shroud is a forgery or hoax really don't add up (at least not to me,
when I consider what is actually known about the Shroud) . . .
Much has been made of the fact that the Shroud is a medieval forgery. However, this makes no sense. Arguing that the Shroud was created well over a thousand years after the death of Jesus Christ flies in the face of reason, for the following reasons:
Reason 1: The
Sudarium. Please click on the hyperlink to the left to read more about this
intriguing bit of cloth, which has been linked closely to the Shroud and has a
traceable history that goes back in time well before the suggested
forgery time of the Shroud. The Sudarium may be the linen cloth briefly
draped over the head of Jesus after he died. Such a cloth is mentioned in
the Gospel of John: "Simon Peter, following him [presumably John], also
came up, went into the tomb, saw the linen cloth lying on the ground, and also
the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloth but
rolled up in a place by itself." John clearly differentiates between this
smaller face cloth (possibly the Sudarium) and the larger linen cloth that had
wrapped the body (possibly the Shroud of Turin).
The following is a paraphrased (in places) and annotated excerpt of the hyperlinked article:
The Sudarium is a small, bloodstained, dishcloth-sized piece of linen believed
by some to be one of the burial cloths mentioned in John's Gospel. Tradition has
it that this cloth, commonly known as the Sudarium of Oviedo, was used to cover
Jesus' bloodied face following his death on the cross. We can trace the Sudarium
through multiple historical documents to Oviedo since the 8th century, and to
Spain since the 7th century. We can be quite sure the Sudarium came to Oviedo
from Jerusalem, and there is some evidence it dates back to the 1st century CE.
Its journey to its present location began in 644 CE, when Persians under
Chosroes II invaded Jerusalem. To protect the Sudarium, it was moved out of the
city to safety. We are uncertain of its route to Spain, but forensic pollen
evidence indicates that the Sudarium was in North Africa, just as the presence
of other pollen spores evidences that it was at one time in the Jerusalem
environs. Whatever the route, we know that after it arrived in Spain, it was
kept in Toledo for about 75 years. For some time after it arrived, it was in the
custody of the great bishop and an early-medieval scholar, Isidore of Seville.
Then in 718, to protect it from Arab armies, which had invaded Spain only seven
years earlier, it was moved northward with fleeing Christians. In 761, Oviedo
became the capital of a northern, well-defended enclave of Christians on the
Iberian Peninsula and it was to this city that the Sudarium was brought for
safekeeping. It has been in Oviedo ever since.
The path of the Sudarium links its origin to the same time and place of the
Shroud. Moreover, forensic analysis of the bloodstains suggests strongly that
both the Sudarium and the Shroud covered the same human head at nearly the same
time! Bloodstain patterns show that the Sudarium was placed about the man's head
while he was still in a vertical position, presumably before he was removed from
the cross. It was then removed before the Shroud was placed over the man's face.
In 1999, Mark Guscin, a member of the multidisciplinary Investigation Team of
the Centro Español de Sindonología, issued a detailed forensic and historical
report entitled, "Recent Historical Investigations on the Sudarium of
Oviedo." Guscin's report detailed recent findings of the history, forensic
pathology, blood chemistry, and stain patterns on the Sudarium. His conclusion:
the Sudarium and the Shroud of Turin had been used to cover the same injured
head at closely different times. Here are some highlights from Guscin's report:
Dr. Max Frei analyzed pollen samples taken from the cloth, and found species
typical of Oviedo, Toledo, North Africa and Jerusalem. This confirms the
historical accounts of the movement of the Sudarium. There was nothing relating
the cloth to Constantinople, France, Italy or any other country in Europe.
An international congress was held in Oviedo in 1994, where various papers were
presented about the Sudarium. Dr. Frei's work with pollen was confirmed, and
enlarged on. Species of pollen called "quercus caliprimus" were found,
which are limited to the Palestine area.
Residues of what are most probably myrrh and aloe have also been discovered,
mentioned directly in the gospel of John, 19:39-40, "Nicodemus came as
well...and he brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes...They took the body of Jesus
and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, following the Jewish burial
custom."
The stains were also studied from the point of view of anthropology. The
conclusion was that the face that had been in contact with the Sudarium had
typically Jewish features, a prominent nose and pronounced cheekbones.
The Sudarium alone has revealed sufficient information to suggest that it was in
contact with the face of Jesus after the crucifixion. However, the really
fascinating evidence comes to light when this cloth is compared to the Shroud of
Turin.
The first and most obvious coincidence is that the blood on both cloths belongs to the same group, AB positive. [AB is by far the rarest blood group, with only about 4% of the world population belonging to it. The AB blood group is more common for Jews than for Europeans. The properties of AB blood are unusual. It is the "most recent" blood group. I quote Dr. Peter D'Adamo: "Blood group AB may be a purely human invention. This blood group takes the concept of tolerance to the extreme, as it sees all things A-like or B-like as self, and manufactures no opposing blood group antibodies." A man with AB blood is a "universal recipient" and his blood will not reject anyone else's blood. -- MRB]
The length of the nose through which the pleural edema fluid came onto the Sudarium has been calculated at eight centimeters, just over three inches. This is exactly the same length as the nose on the image of the Shroud.
If the face of the image on the Shroud is placed over the stains on the Sudarium, perhaps the most obvious coincidence is the exact fit of the stains with the beard on the face. As the Sudarium was used to clean the man's face, it appears that it was simply placed on the face to absorb all the blood, but not used in any kind of wiping movement.
A small stain is also visible proceeding from the right hand side of the man's mouth. This stain is hardly visible on the Shroud, but Dr. John Jackson, using the VP-8 and photo enhancements has confirmed its presence.
The thorn wounds on the nape of the neck also coincide perfectly with the bloodstains on the Shroud.
Dr. Alan Whanger applied the Polarized Image Overlay Technique to the Sudarium, comparing it to the image and bloodstains on the Shroud. The frontal
stains on the Sudarium show seventy points of coincidence with the Shroud, and
the rear side shows fifty. The only possible conclusion is that the Oviedo Sudarium
covered the same face as the Turin Shroud.
You can find more information about the research and findings of Dr. José
Villalaín and the other doctors and researchers mentioned above by clicking here.
Other facts of note:
NASA scientists placed the image of the Sudarium and the shroud over each
other and they match perfectly.
Reason 2: Veronica's
Veil. Please click on the hyperlink on the left to read the full article
"Has Veronica's Veil Been Found?" by Antonio Gaspari. The following
information has been excerpted from the full article ...
A German Jesuit scholar, Father
Heinrich Pfeiffer, announced he had located "Veronica's Veil" —
the veil that, according to tradition, Veronica used to wipe the face of Jesus
on his way toward Calvary. Pfeiffer, Professor of Christian Art History at the Pontifical Gregorian
University in Rome, says he located the veil at a small Capuchin friary, the
Sanctuary of the Sacred Face, in Manoppello, a small town in the Abruzzo
region about 150 miles from Rome in Italy's Apennine mountains. "After 13 years of study, I am convinced that this is the authentic veil
of Veronica," Pfeiffer, official advisor to the Papal Commission for the
Cultural Heritage of the Church, said during the May 31 conference.
The Vatican has had no comment on Pfeiffer's claim. (His conclusion is a bit
controversial, since Veronica's veil should officially still be inside St.
Peter's Basilica. There, beside the main altar, one will find a statue of
Veronica and a Latin inscription saying the veil is preserved within.)
The Manoppello veil is a white transparent linen measuring 6.5 by 9.5
inches (17 by 24 cm).
From a distance the veil is barely visible. It is so thin one can easily see
through it ... "so ethereal that it is
possible to read a newspaper through it." The face on the linen is that of a young man who has suffered greatly. He looks tired. The
marks of blows that have struck him are clear: bruises and other scars on the
forehead, clotted blood on his nose, one pupil slightly dilated. Yet, in spite
of the evident signs of suffering and pain, the look is that of a serene man
enduring his suffering with patience.
"The fact that the face appears and disappears according to where the
light comes from was considered a miracle in the Middle Ages," Pfeiffer
notes. "This is not a painting. We don't know how the veil became colored
or how the image was impressed. We can only say that it has the color of
blood."
Another detail: the image clearly appears on both sides of the cloth, like a
photo slide.
As early as the 300s, there were documents, which spoke of the existence of
the veil, but only in the Middle Ages was it strictly connected to the Passion
of Jesus Christ.
Numerous descriptions note the veil's fine material — so fine that a breeze
can pass through — with an image stamped on both its sides of a still living
person with eyes wide open, a face full of suffering and with evident blood
spots. The great Italian poet, Dante Alighieri, mentions the veil in the
Divine Comedy (Paradiso, Canto XXXI, verses 103-111).
Many have said the veil in Manoppello is a simple painting. But the image does
not have the characteristics of any painter, artistic school or epoch. In 1977, Professor Donato Vittori of the University of Bari examined the veil
under ultraviolet light and found that the fibers do not have any type of
color.
Observing the veil under a microscope, it is clear that it is not painted and
not even woven with colored fibers. Through sophisticated photographic
technology (digital enlargements) it is possible to see that the image is
identical on both sides of the veil.
Scientific research carried out recently shows that the image on the Holy
Shroud of Turin and the image which appears on the veil in Manoppello are of
identical size and superimposable, the only difference being that on the relic
of Manoppello the mouth and eyes are open. Research carried out by Father Enrico Sammarco and Sister Blandina Paschalis
Schomer show that the dimensions of the face on the Holy Shroud are the same
as on the veil of Manoppello.
Comparing the two images, they say, it is clear that the face is the same,
"photographed" at two different moments.
To seek more evidence for his theories, Pfeiffer carried out a systematic
study of the main works of art, which represent Veronica's veil before the
image imposed by Pope Paul V. He found that several details — the hair cut,
the blood traces, the shape of the face, the beard's
characteristics and the cloth's folds — all reflect a single model: the
image in Manoppello. "When the different details are assembled in one image, it means the
image must have been the model for all the others," Pfeiffer argues.
"So, we can say that the veil of Manoppello is nothing other than the
original Veronica's Veil."
Reason 3: Methchild Flury-Lemberg, a leading authority on historic
textiles and the former curator of Switzerland's Abegg Foundation Textile
Museum, points out that the Shroud is similar to linen woven on Egyptian or
Syrian tombs and used in Roman occupied Palestine. She also reports that the
Shroud resembles unique ancient textiles found in tombs of the Jewish
palace-fortress Masada, reliably dated to between 40 BCE and 73 CE. If the
Shroud is a medieval forgery, what is the likelihood that the forgers would have
any knowledge of, or access to, linen woven within about a 100-year period of
time?
Reason 4: Pollen evidence tied to possible floral images, traces of
travertine aragonite that is unique to the Jerusalem environs, and the forensic
matching of the bloodstains on the Sudarium of Oviedo all suggest the Shroud
originated in Jerusalem and was later taken to Western Europe, where it has been
since the mid-fourteenth century. If the Shroud is a medieval forgery, what is
the likelihood that the forgers would have collected the correct spores and
floral images and somehow "dusted" the linen with them, when there was
no technology capable of detecting such things at the time? How could a forger
have matched the bloodstains on the Sudarium, which can be traced back hundreds
of years before any possible medieval forgery?
The Last, Best Reason: The cumulative evidence of science, logic and common sense. Ray Rogers, a Fellow of the University of California, Los Alamos National Laboratory, a chemist who has scientifically examined the Shroud—in Turin—and studied the object for more than 27 years, wrote: "With some legitimacy, we might put up a strong case for a First Century shroud with an image best explained as being that of a crucified man. Isn't that enough? Remember that there weren't any Christians or Christian fanatics (e.g., Templars) in the First Century. There wasn't anyone around so warped that they would crucify a person to create a relic, and the technology did not exist to produce an adequate fake." The best argument against the Shroud is that it's a forgery, but the cloth is too old, there are spores found only in the Jerusalem area, there are companion pieces (the Sudarium and Veronica's Veil), the three-dimensional and negative properties make no sense if they were employed hundreds of years before such things could be detected, and so on. The simplest explanation that fits the facts is that the Shroud wrapped the body of a man who wore a crown of thorns, whose back was flogged mercilessly, whose side was pierced with a spear, spilling out blood and water. How many men fit that description? -- only One.
Timeline: A timeline for the Shroud is presented; the facts presented have come from many different sources and researchers. These facts have been combined in a logical manner that can provide one possible scenario for the Shroud of Turin. -- Mitchel Whitington (with additions made by me, including those about the Sudarium -- MRB)
0000 A.D. - According to a clutch of early writers, the cloth that Christ's body was wrapped in after crucifixion was sent to the town of Edessa, present day Urfa in eastern Turkey. In Edessa, the cloth was reportedly instrumental in converting the city's king, Abgar, to Christianity.
0120 A.D. - St. Braulio of Seville, Spain, wrote of the Shroud as a well-known relic of the day.
0550 A.D. - A Byzantine icon in St. Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai is
painted that so accurately reflects the facial contours of the man on the Shroud
of Turin that Dr. Alan Whanger of Duke University counted more than forty points
of congruity when superimposing the two faces. The icon depicts Thaddaeus
holding the "Image of Edessa" while King Abgar stands by, receiving a
healing.
0614 A.D. - According to historical accounts, the Sudarium was in Palestine
until shortly before the year 614, when Jerusalem was attacked and conquered by
Chosroes II, the king of Persia from 590 to 628. The Sudarium was transported
for safekeeping, first to Alexandria by the presbyter Philip, then across the
north of Africa when Chosroes conquered Alexandria in 616. The Sudarium entered
Spain at Cartagena, along with people who were fleeing from the Persians. The
bishop of Ecija, Fulgentius, welcomed the refugees and the relics, and
surrendered the chest, or ark, to Leandro, bishop of Seville. He took it to
Seville, where it spent some years.
0718 A.D. - Saint Isidore, later bishop of Seville, took the chest containing
the Sudarium with him from Seville to Toledo, where it remained until the year
718. It was then taken further north to avoid destruction at the hands of the
Muslims, who conquered the majority of the Iberian peninsula at the beginning of
the eighth century. It was first kept in a cave that is now called Monsacro, ten
kilometers from Oviedo. King Alfonso II had a special chapel built for the
chest, called the "Cámara Santa", later incorporated into the
cathedral.
0769 A.D. - Pope Stephen III gives a sermon that says, "For the same mediator between God and men ... stretched his whole body on a cloth, white as snow, on which the glorious image of the Lord's face and the length of his whole body was so divinely transformed that it was sufficient for those who could not see the Lord bodily in the flesh to see the transfiguration made on the cloth."
0944 A.D. - A Byzantine army was sent to recover the Shroud from the city of Edessa and transport it to Constantinople.
1075 A.D. - On March 14th 1075, the chest containing the Sudarium was opened in the presence of King Alfonso VI, his sister Doña Urraca, and Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, better known as El Cid. A list was made of the relics that were in the chest, which included the Sudarium.
1192 A.D. - Hungarian Prayer Manuscripts were illustrated with drawings of a naked figure of Christ, being folded into the burial cloth in the manner that mimics the figure in the Shroud of Turin.
1201 A.D. - A written account of the full burial Shroud was given by a Greek, Nicholas Mesarites, who was the Keeper of the emperor's relic collection in the Pharos chapel of Boucoleon Palace in Constantinople. He wrote, "In this chapel Christ rises again, and the sindon with the burial linens is the clear proof ... still smelling fragrant of myrrh, defying decay, because it wrapped the mysterious, naked dead body after the Passion ..."
1307 A.D. - King Phillip of France orders the arrest of all Knights Templar, and seizure of their wealth.
1353 A.D. - Geoffroy de Charny of the Knights Templer purportedly presented the Shroud to the Dean of the Lirey Abbey.
1355 A.D. - The Charny family resumed charge of the Shroud, where it remained until 1389.
1357 A.D. - Pilgrims made a holy pilgrimage to view the Shroud, which was placed on view by the canons of Lirey.
1389 A.D. - The Shroud was put on public display once again.
1389 A.D. - Bishop Pierre d'Arcis writes a letter to the Pope to inform him of a forged image of Jesus after crucifixion that was being displayed by the tiny collegiate church of Liery.
1453 A.D. - The Shroud was ceded to the Duke Louis of Savoy, in whose family the Shroud remained until 1983.
1464 A.D. - Pope Sixtus IV writes that the Shroud was "coloured with the blood of Christ."
1504 A.D. - The nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, Pope Julius II, gave the Shroud a special feast day as THE Holy Shroud.
1532 A.D. - A fire damages the Shroud, which was kept in a silver casket locked behind a grille set into the wall of the Sainte-Chapelle at Chambery, France. Since it was folded, one corner bore the brunt of the damage. When unfolded, there are four triangular holes. These were patched by nuns caring for the Shroud.
1578 A.D. - The Shroud was transferred to Turin, Italy, to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.
1898 A.D. - A photographer doing a study of the Shroud looks at a negative, and sees a positive photographic image. This discovery led researchers to the realization that the Shroud itself is a negative image of a crucified man.
1902 A.D. - Yves Delage, professor of anatomy at the Paris Sorbonne, stated in a lecture that "the Shroud body image and wounds are physiologically so flawless and meaningful that he found it they could be the work of an artist." Deluge went on to say that he had no difficulty in believing that the body wrapped in the Shroud was that of Jesus.
1931 A.D. - Giuseppe Enrie photographed the Shroud in greater clarity.
1931 A.D. - Dr. Pierre Barbet, chief surgeon at St. Joseph's hospital, Paris, was fascinated enough with Enrie's photographs showing some of the thitherto unexpected features of crucifixion, that he began remarkable experiments on cadavers. He subsequently published a book very supportive of the Shroud entitled, "A Doctor at Calvary."
1931 A.D. - The Shroud was put on public display.
1933 A.D. - The Shroud was put on public display.
1939 A.D. - Because of World War II, the Shroud was moved for safekeeping to the remote Abbey of Monte Vergine, a Benedictgine monastery in the mountains of southern Italy.
1945 A.D. - A wooden panel with a replica of the Shroud painted on it is discovered at Templecombe, Somerset, England, the site of a former Knights Templar preceptory. It was dated to the 1200's, which indicates that the Knights Templar might have once been in possession of the Shroud.
1976 A.D. - Physicist Dr. John Jackson put a detailed replica of the Shroud in an Interpretation System VP-8 Image Analyzer developed by NASA. The special feature of the analyzer was that it translated light and shade, as on a black-and-white photograph, into relief, viewable "in the round" on a television monitor. For example, photographs of the moon could be fed in, and a three dimensional image could be viewed for study. When the Shroud photo was fed in, the 3D image of a man was displayed by the computer -- a detail that would be almost impossible for a painter or forger to create.
1978 A.D. - The Shroud is put on display for the public.
1978 A.D. - Twenty-four American scientists were given permission to study the Shroud.
1978 A.D. - The television documentary about the Shroud called "The Silent Witness" was produced.
1980 A.D. - The Shroud was displayed privately for Pope John Paul II.
1983 A.D. - At the death of Umberto of Savoy, the Shroud was willed to the Vatican.
1984 A.D. - Dr. Alan Adler of Western Connecticut State University, a specialist in the heme and porphyrin components of human blood, addressed the Chemistry Department of Queen Mary College, University of London, on the findings of his study of the supposed blood stains on the Shroud: "The chemistry is saying the same as the forensics. There is only one way that this kind of chemistry could appear on the cloth. This cloth had to be in contact with the body of a severely beaten human male."
1988 A.D. - Laboratory carbon-dating on samples taken from the edge of the Shroud dates it to the 14th Century (the 1300's). However, in April 2004, National Geographic in a news release reported that there is now convincing forensic evidence that what was previously carbon-dated was actually a medieval repair to a damaged edge of the Shroud.
1996 A.D. - The 1988 Radiocarbon testing on the Shroud is challenged by certain members of the scientific community, saying that the samples were from patched areas that had been handled by many people over the last two centuries.
1997 A.D. - A fire breaks out in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, the home of the Shroud.
1999 A.D. - Studies on pollen samples that were previously taken from the Shroud supported the source and time of the resurrection of Christ.
2001 A.D. - The Shroud was returned to its home in the reconstructed
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.
2004 A.D. - According to a National Geographic news release (April 9,
2004), there is now convincing forensic evidence that what was previously
carbon-dated was actually a medieval repair to a damaged edge of the Shroud.
2004 A.D. - The images on the Shroud do not seem to be manmade: the conclusion
from an announcement in the peer-reviewed, scientific Journal of Optics
(April 14, 2004) of the Institute of Physics in London.
2005 A. D. - Excerpts from an article published in the New York Times in
an article entitled "Shroud of Turn Could Date to Jesus' Time"
(published January 29, 2005): "ROME (AP)
-- A chemist who worked on testing of the Shroud of Turin says new analysis of
the fiber indicates the cloth that some say was the burial linen of Jesus could
be up to 3,000 years old. The analysis, by a scientist [Raymond N. Rogers, a
retired chemist from the University of California-operated Los Alamos National
Laboratory in New Mexico] who was on the original 1978 team that was allowed to
study tiny pieces of the cloth, indicates the shroud is far older than the
initial findings suggesting it was probably from medieval times ... 'The
chemistry says it was a real shroud, the blood spots on it are real blood, and
the technology that was used to make that piece of cloth was exactly what Pliny
the Elder reported fort his time,' about 70 A.D., Rogers said, referring to the
naturalist of ancient Roman times. 'It's a shroud from the right time, but
you're never going to find out (through science) if it was used on a person
named Jesus,' said Rogers, whose findings were published recently in the
scientific journal Thermochimica Acta. Rogers wrote that in 2003, the
scientist advising the cardinal of Turin, where the shroud is kept, provided him
with pieces of thread taken from the radiocarbon sample before it was
distributed for dating. The American chemist said he decided to analyze the
amount of vanillin, a chemical compound that is present in linen from the flax
fibers used to weave it. Vanillin slowly disappears from the fiber over time at
a calculated rate, he said. Judging by those calculations, a medieval-age cloth
should have had some 37 percent of its vanillin left by 1978, the year the
threads were taken from the shroud, Rogers said. But there was virtually no
vanillin left in the shroud, leading the chemist to calculate it could be far
older than the radiocarbon testing indicated, possibly some 3,000 years old.
Asked why carbon-dating might have been off, Rogers contended that 'the people
who cut the sample didn't do a very good job of characterizing the samples,'
that is, taking samples from many areas of the cloth ... The chemist said he
doubted the shroud could be reliably tested any more, contending that a
top-secret restoration in 2002 likely would influence chemical results ...
Disputes have flourished over the 1988 declaration by the scientific team that
carbon-dating indicated the cloth came from medieval times. Researchers at The
Hebrew University has said that pollen and plant images on it put its origins in
Jerusalem sometime before the eighth century.
Links: The following sites were used as references, and I recommend
highly that you explore them for further information:
Shroud Story
The
Sudarium
The Sudarium of Oviedo
The Sudarium, the Face-Cloth of Jesus
Veronica's
Veil