Shroud of Turin displayed

Press, 28 August 1978, Page 8

Shroud of Turin displayed

| NZPA-Reuter Turin A stained linen cloth imj printed with the likeness of a long-haired, bearded man land revered by millions as i Christ’s shroud was shown in i public on Saturday for the first time in 45 years. I The 4.36 m-long, yellowing cloth was exhibited on the high altar of St John’s Cathedral in a specially built case with a bullet-proof glass screen that also keeps out ultra-violet light.

Normally it is locked in a silver casket in the cathedral. The shroud, which has i baffled scientists for years and has never been declared authentic by the Roman Catholic Church, was spread out horizontally in the case in which the temperature is carefully controlled to prevent deterioration during the 43-day display.

i The shroud bears scorch marks and patches from a fire that damaged it in 1532. The eyes, nose, long hair, and beard stood out with startling clarity. Imprints on the shroud show two arms crossed over each other, and the upper right wrist bears a blotch thought to be a bloodstain from one of the nails that held Christ to the cross.

The fingers were clearly Visible. But the shroud, which is being displayed to mark the 400th anniversary of its transfer from Chambery in France to Turin in north Italy, shows even more when photographed.

The camera lens reveals that the cloth, which was folded over the body on both sides from head to toe, has I the qualities of a photographic negative. I Researchers say they can

trace the exact process of Christ’s Passion and Crucifixion from the scars and stains revealed photographically. ) The Archbishop of Turin I (Monsignor Anastasio Bailes-i trero), celebrating Mass with; 17 local bishops to mark the, formal opening of the exhi- 1 bition, said he hoped the, shroud would provide a spiritual experience for the two million visitqrs expected. Among those present were some experts who had never seen the object of their research. It was televised in 1973 but not put on public display. “My emotions are indescribable,” said the Rev. Francis Filas of Chicago, a' 'committee member of thej American Shroud Guild who has spent 30 years studying) photographs and books on! the subject.

f "It was worth waiting all -(this time to see it. It's unll believable to behold an -(image which the technology of modern science is conij eluding beyond doubt to be -Ithat of Jesus Christ.” 11 Pollen tests on the shroud, 11 which came to Europe via | Constantinople, have established traces of plants which i grew in Palestine at the : time of Jesus of Nazareth. Although it is not unusual for woven cloth to survive i for thousands of years, scien- • tists are still eager to subject the shroud to modern carbon-dating tests. Scientists are still puzzled by how the image was formed on the cloth. Some are convinced that it was (formed naturally by a mixjture of blood, aloe, and | myrrh which Biblical accounts say were rubbed on (Christ’s body before burial.