How
does one connect the subject of the Turin Shroud to the celebration of
Christmas-the Birthday of Jesus Christ? Naturally the Holy Shroud is associated
more with the Paschal celebration - Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter.
What is the link between Christmas and Easter? The Story of Jesus can be told both ways: from beginning to end, that is, from the Cave of Bethlehem to the Empty Tomb of Jerusalem; or it could be told the other way round - from Easter back to Christmas. In one of the Gospels, it is recorded that the Baby Jesus at His birth was wrapped in "swaddling clothes" (Luke 2:7). It is the same Jesus, born at Bethlehem (almost 2000 years ago) whom we are celebrating at Christmas.... who was born to live for us; also to die for us and be buried - wrapped in "Linen clothes" (Holy Shroud), as another of the Gospels (the one referred to as the 4th Gospel) mentions so clearly, namely, John 19:40-41.
Among the millions of those who consider Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, or Master and Friend, or Prophet and SuperStar, Hero or simply as someone they admire.... who would not wish to know Him a little better - to love Him more - to serve Him more faithfully? And yet not many would realize that a study of the so-called 5th Gospel (as the Shroud of Turin is often referred to) could contribute immensely to this task. Since Jesus is "the same yesterday, today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8), the Holy Shroud could assist us to go through Turin, back to Jerusalem, even as far back as Bethlehem; to go through the Empty Tomb of Jerusalem back to the Cave of Bethlehem.... from Calvary to the Crib.... from the Cross to the Cradle.
Jerusalem is in central Israel and Turin is in the north of Italy. The Holy Shroud of Turin is said to be the "burial cloth of Christ". But the death and burial of Jesus Christ took place in Jerusalem. Is the Turin Shroud the very same cloth that was used to wrap the lifeless body of the Saviour after the crucifixion in Jerusalem?
If so, how and when did it arrive in Turin? Let it be noted first of all that the Turin Shroud is held in honour not simply for the sake of the cloth itself, but even more so for the unexplainable image of the crucified and lifeless Christ that is marked on the full length of it.
Here's a list of other pertinent questions which, like book-marks, could open for us the pages of the 5th Gospel - representing some of the aspects of the Shroud being researched by modern science. How much of the Shroud's journey is recorded in history? Are there any other scientific methods to trace the journey of the Shroud - other than documented history? How does the original Shroud (preserved in Turin) differ from the hundreds of copies that have been made from it through the centuries? Is there any trace of paints on the Shroud? How was the image formed on it? What are the characteristics of the Shroud-image which make it different from all other pictures and paintings in the world? Is there real human blood on the Shroud; how and when did it get into the threads of the cloth? Did the absorption of the blood and the formation of the image take place at the same time? Can science determine the exact height, weight and other personal characteristics of the human figure on the Shroud? Is science able to demonstrate whether or not there had been a corpse wrapped inside the cloth and if the dead body was corrupted or not? What are the scientific explanations as to how this corpse could have come out of the cloth without distorting the blood and wound marks? For that matter, when exactly did the world of scientists start getting interested in studying the Holy Shroud of Turin and why? How many scientific disciplines are interested or involved in Shroud-studies (Sindonology) presently? What were the major conclusions of the teams of 44 scientists regarding the Shroud at the 3 day research in 1978? What was the nature of the C-14 test done on the Holy Shroud in 1988? Can the negative result of the C-14 test be taken as conclusive without regard to the tests and opinions of other scientific disciplines? Is there any current contestation by scientists of the C-14 test itself - with regard to the Shroud - and on what grounds? Are there any more recent discoveries with regard to the Shroud-cloth itself and the image on it? Are there any other images on the Shroud other than the body-image and the fire marks? How does Computer-science help to deepen the research on the Shroud of Turin and foster a healthy Sindonological debate?
At Monte Fano, in the Sylvestro-Benedictine Monastery, where the author resides, there is exhibited a very rare, full-size replica of the Turin Shroud - plus the accompanying large-size negative plates (which are "sine qua non" for any comprehensive description of the Shroud).
The author chooses to make it very clear from the outset that, as far as his convictions are concerned, he firmly believes in the "authenticity" of the Shroud. That is, he is convinced that the Turin Shroud is indeed the original "burial cloth" of Christ which has been providentially preserved (without doubt, against innumerable odds) through the centuries, which offers to our modern times a "photographic" or "visual record" of the Gospels - precisely of the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. But, the author wholeheartedly respects any other conviction which others will have. The three dimensions discussed will be science, scripture and spirituality.
Scientific Research and the Holy Shroud
Although the Holy Shroud had been preserved and venerated as the "Burial Cloth" of Christ throughout many centuries, scientific interest and research on it began only just 99 years ago - to be precise, in 1898. How did this happen? It was during a public Exposition of the Holy Shroud in Turin (in May of 1898), when an Italian lawyer (an amateur photographer), Signore Secondo Pia, was allowed to take the first ever photograph of the Shroud. To his utter amazement, while in the process of developing the Shroud-photo in the "dark room", he discovered that on his "negative plate" there was already the clear "positive picture" of the Man in the Shroud. It was a scientific anomaly, an impossibility, a real "wonder of the world". In fact, this was like the "Copernican revolution" with regard to the Turin Shroud. Beginning from that stupendous discovery down to our times, the Shroud has been studied by all kinds of scientists using all sorts of modern scientific technology - not least, by the latest methods in the field of computer-science.
Coming closer to our times, in 1978 (i.e., after the last public International Exposition of the Shroud in Turin), a team of 44 world-renowned scientists (among whom were agnostics, non-believers and atheists) went to Turin where they carried out the most intensive scientific experiments on the Shroud, lasting for five days (120 hours). The scientific experiments were coordinated by John Jackson (US physicist) and his wife Rebecca Jackson (Jewish scientist and ethnologist).
(1) "We can conclude for now that the Shroud image is that of a real human form of a scourged, crucified man. It is not the product of an artist. The blood stains are composed of hemoglobin and also give a positive test for serum albumin. The image in an ongoing mystery and until further chemical studies are made, perhaps by this group of scientists, or perhaps by some scientists in the future, the problem remains unsolved."
(2) "No pigments, paints, dyes, or stains have been found on the fibrils (threads). X-ray fluorescence and microchemistry on the fibrils preclude the possibility of paint being used as a method for creating the image. Ultra-violet and infra-red evaluation confirm these studies. Computer image enhancement and analysis by a device called a VP-8 image analyzer show that the image has unique, three-dimensional information encoded in it."
Let
us make a quick list of other findings which various scientific disciplines
have been able to make. Many of these discoveries have been possible due
to the three-dimensional nature of the figure of the Man in the Shroud:
height is 5 feet, 11 inches (almost a 6 footer); weight is 175 pounds;
not less than 120 scourge-marks have been identified all over the body
made by the "flagrum" (a Roman scourge); the two Roman coins
on the eyes - one a "Pilot lepton" and the other a "Julia
lepton"; marks of fresh bleeding wounds on the cloth from the unwashed
body from which A-B type of blood had got absorbed into the cloth (incidentally,
this is the same blood group discovered in the Lanciano Eucharistic miracle).
What is most amazing is that scientists have been able to calculate even
details of timing, e.g., that the real blood marks entered the cloth many
hours prior to the formation of the rest of the image of the Man - a difference
of almost 36 to 72 hours? As for the process of "image formation",
innumerable theories have been put forward which do not seem to adequately
explain every aspect of the image in the Shroud which is endowed with three-dimensional
characteristics. Just to mention a few scientists: Giles Carter (chemist),
Thaddeus Trenn (of the University of Toronto) and the German physicist
Oswald Scheuermann support the theory of "X-radiation light"
emanating from the body which "scorched" the image on the cloth
(which process took place within the fraction of a second). Most researchers
agree on an important and obvious property of the Shroud image, i.e., its
"snapshot" nature. This includes also the following facts: that
the image is not of a decaying body, but of a body in "rigor mortis";
that the man must have been dead a few hours before deposition in the cloth;
and that the body has come out of the cloth at roughly forty eight to seventy
two hours after death.
Scientific
experiments (carried out as early as the 1930's 40's and 50's by medical
men such as Dr. Pierre Barbet of the French Academy of Science) had explained
in detail the heavily bruised and flattened-face, the broken nose, the
torn lips, the deep wounds from the crown of thorns, the two major wounds
on the back made by the cross-beam (that had been tied to the two hands
at the back), the heart punctured by the lance (which had entered through
the fifth and sixth ribs, piercing the right ventricle), the nail marks
on the wrists and feet. Other more recent studies have even identified
details of finger-prints in blood on and around the feet of the corpse
- belonging to those who carried the body for burial! On the rear part
of the image, the presence of a long streak of blood collected right in
the centre of the cloth is proof enough for the authenticity of the above
ritual. Besides, by 1978, research by the botanists had brought out indisputable
evidence as to the origins of the Shroud prior to Turin, Chambery and Lirey.
Particularly, the Swiss botanist, Max Frei, was able to collect (by the
use of a microscope) 56 varieties of pollen grains present on the Shroud
cloth. Out of these, he was able to identify nearly 28 kinds as being from
plants and flowers of the Holy Land - Israel or Palestine. The rest of
the pollen grains were from the land of Turkey, Constantinople, France
and Italy. This was yet another fool-proof method in which the Journey
of the Shroud was established: from Jerusalem to Turin.
By last year, 1996, as the Whangers reported and demonstrated at the New York Symposium, science had probed even further and deeper into the Shroud and its mysterious image (images). By the use of a new method called PIO (Polarized Image Overlay), they have been able to decode more in-depth information from the Cloth, e.g., the clear identification of the skeleton-like structure of the wrist-images. In the face-area: identification of the skull, eye-sockets, nasal-cavities and even the details of up to 20 teeth down to their roots! A breathtaking and major conclusion from these latest discoveries has been that the auto-X-ray or radiation light emanating from the body which formed the image (by a process similar to "scorching") came not just from the surface but from every part of the body - including internal organs and the skeleton (i.e., at a certain point the material body would have been transformed into light). The application of the PIO method over the rest of the Cloth has revealed other non-body images present on the Shroud, e.g., images of 28 varieties of flower petals and leaves (found to be perfectly corresponding to the pollen of Palestinian origin already discovered in 1978). Furthermore, these flowers have been proven to be from plants which grow within a 12 mile radius from Jerusalem.... and if that is not enough, science has calculated that the flowers had been plucked from the plants more or less 36 to 72 hours prior to the Shroud-image formation.... and to top it all, these flowers all bloom in Israel within the months of March and April.... perfectly zeroing in and on to the person of Jesus Christ and His passion, death and resurrection.
Continued next week
It is generally accepted, that Christmas is the most universally celebrated festival. Though of special significance to Christians, everyone, irrespective of race, creed, or country joins in the celebrations. It is significant that most of the activities connected with Christmas start with 'C' .
In Sri Lanka Christmas is celebrated with the same degree of zeal and enthusiasm as anywhere else. In fact, in some parts of this country, Christmas begins as early as the 1st of December. This is especially evident in predominantly Catholic areas like Colombo North and the coastlines down South and West. In these places one could hear a burst of Cracker - fire at 12 noon on the first day of December. This is to announce to the world around that the month of Christmas is here, let all men of goodwill set about getting ready for the great event.
Crackers
constitute the first of the 'C's.Next comes Colour washing and the painting
that inevitably follows. There was a time when considerate landlords, had
the houses they owned religiously colourwashed and painted well in time
for Christmas. I do not think that they are as charitably disposed nowadays
but notwithstanding their disposition, the exercise will be successfully
concluded by the tenants themselves.
Next in the line of 'C's come Clothes. Everyone in the family and especially the kids, must get a Christmas outfit. In days gone by, all clothes were sown at home or entrusted to tailors or dressmakers. Today, invariably all Clothes are bought readymade. It saves so much labour as well as enabling one to choose from a large variety of garments. This goes for shoes too. In the olden days of course the shoemakers had a thriving business but today they face severe competition from manufacturers.
Next in our line-up, comes Cards. Christmas is the time of sending out greeting cards. Formerly only Cards of foreign origin were available, but now there is a proliferation of cards of local manufacture which are very competitive and offer a wide choice. Christmas is indeed a time of remembrance and even those who have been forgotten year-round are thought of at this time and sent cards.
Is most homes, Christmas is not complete without the home-made Cake. Though today the price of ingredients are so costly and makes the exercise prohibititive yet there are a good many who still insist on making a Cake as a 'must.' So, the Cake takes its place in the line of 'C's.
Christmas for the children is not complete without Santa Claus. Though today, children are far more precocious than those of an earlier era, the belief in Santa Claus still persists and as long as children continue to so believe Christmas will not have lost its romance.
Santa Claus is an abbreviation of Saint Nicholas, a saintly Bishop of early times who was supposed to be very generous to children. So kids of the modern day whether they live in climes that do not have snow and ice, still look forward to Santa coming in his reindeer-drawn sleigh and bringing his fill of every child's yearning. The 'C' in Santa Claus comes into the line.
Now we come to Christmas Day proper, the highlight of which is the Midnight Mass. Most people prefer to attend this Mass more than those celebrated during the rest of the day for the climate and the atmosphere lend themselves beautifully to the celebration. When the 'Glorie' is intoned the screen is opened on a side where the Crib has been constructed. After Mass everybody goes to the Crib to pay homage to the new-born Babe. The Crib is the scene of the Christmas story, because it was in this humble setting that the Christ was born. Apart from the Church, almost every home has a little Crib which is one of the most prized of all the Christmas decorations.
We have inadvertently skipped the Christmas Tree which takes its rightful place in our enumeration of 'C's.
The origin of the trees is from Germany and the Scandinavian countries where Cypresses and firs grow in profusion.( This legend has been preserve in the popular Christmas song 'O Tannenbaun'). Most people have Christmas trees which they take much time and trouble in decorating. Like everything else prices of Christmas trees keep soaring completely out of proportion to their height. Those who cannot afford the commercial variety settle for the branches of the whip tree or a suitable substitute.
We have almost come to the last of our lay, but we do so with Carols. This musical manifestation has now come to stay as a regular Christmas celebration. They have now acquired an ecumenical flavour where all Christian communities join in, whilst many commercial institutions have also come in to sponsor Carol recitals.
Though we have come to the end of our list of 'C's there is one other 'C' which is the greatest and the most precious of all. That is 'Charity'. Loving, Giving and Sharing is the essence of the Christmas celebration. At this great season let us think of our lesser fortunate brethren and bring some joy and contentment into their lives. Then we can really claim to have had a Happy Christmas which is what I wish you all.
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