Monday, February 11, 2008

Shroud name index `A-Z'

This 2008 Shroud name index has been superseded by my new 2019 Turin Shroud Encyclopedia.

In my blog posts I like to hyperlink to significant persons and things associated with the Shroud of Turin, so that I, and

[Above: Frank O. Adams' "Sindon: A Layman's Guide to the Shroud of Turin" (1982) and Frederick T. Zugibe's "The Cross and the Shroud: A Medical Enquiry into the Crucifixion" (1988). Just to show that there is a Shroud A to Z!]

also my readers, some of whom may be completely new to the Shroud (as I was only three years ago last month) may learn about who and what these persons are.

However, while I usually can find informative links to things related to the Shroud, I often find it difficult to find online information about persons associated with the Shroud. So I have decided to start an alphabetic index of key persons associated with the Shroud of Turin, and this is the main page of that index.

Each alphabet letter below will eventually link to an alphabetic sub-index pages for persons associated with the Shroud, starting with that letter. Each person's entry in each sub-page will in turn be in alphabetic order, will be hyperlinkable (e.g. Wilson, Ian), but will necessarily be very brief. Each entry may have hyperlinks to other sites where there is information about that person.

After I post a sub-page for an alphabetic letter, I will not post it again, but will continually add and expand existing entries to it. If there is an entry that is factually wrong or lacks important information about a person, I would appreciate being advised of it in the comments under that sub-page.


Main name index: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z.

PS: See `tagline' quotes below from both Adams' and Zugibe's books above. Emphases are original.


"A GREAT NUMBER OF SCIENTISTS, laymen and churchmen of all denominations now believe that the winding sheet in which Christ was wrapped in the sepulcher is actually in existence and located in Turin (Torino), Italy. It is known as the Shroud of Turin ... . It is the most sacred, the most controversial, and perhaps even the most important relic in all Christendom. The Shroud itself is of impressive dimensions fourteen feet, three inches long and three feet, seven inches wide. It is a single piece of time-faded linen with a strip approximately three and one-half inches wide running the length of the left-hand side. Only one seam was used for this attachment. On this sheet is an image which is so faint it looks more like a shadow cast on the cloth. The figure is the pale imprint in a honey-straw color (except for the blood stains, which are a deep burgundy) of the front and back of a powerfully-built man with a beard and long hair, between five feet seven inches and six feet tall, weighing between 155 and 175 pounds, and laid out in the normal position employed in Jewish burials of the First Century." (Adams, F.O., "Sindon: A Layman's Guide to the Shroud of Turin," Patrick Walsh Press: Tempe AZ, 1982, p.5).

"All reference to a shroud disappeared from written history for centuries. Then it gradually began to be reported as existing, and having been seen. The first account could be a legend, preserved by Nicephorus. This story says that the lady who was beatified as St. Helena was shown a shroud in Jerusalem during the Fourth Century. Next, we have the report of a pilgrim in 570 who returned from Jerusalem and talked of a shroud that was kept in a monastery beside the Jordan. A little over half a century later, St. Braulion said he believed in the authenticity of a `winding sheet in which our Lord was wrapped.' There are other reports scattered through the centuries like tiny pinpoints of light. The earliest reference ... is St. Nino in the Fifth or Sixth Century; and Antonius Placentinus can also be cited for the same period. In 670, a French bishop named Arculph reported having seen and kissed the Shroud, and as the years rolled by, other men also spoke of it. Among these were the English theologian, the Venerable Bede, who is buried in Durham Cathedral in England, and the Emperor Baldwin. St. John Damascene mentions the sindon as being among the relics venerated by the Christians, and St. Willibald spoke of seeing a shroud in the neighborhood of Jerusalem. Then there is the song of the voyage of Charlemagne to Jerusalem. This mentions the sindon Jesus wore `when He was laid and stretched in the tomb.' There are a few others including a letter of the Twelfth Century historian, William of Tyre, which refers specifically to `a shroud of Christ.' There is also a letter of Alexius of Comenos, some documents of Peter the Deacon, and two catalogues made by pilgrims to Constantinople. There are less than twenty of these random reports from antique texts, stretching over a period of 700 years. They may all be apocryphal, or any one of them may be true." (Adams, 1982, pp.16-17).

"It is a fact known to historians of art that the physical appearance of Christ in paintings, sculptures and carvings is rather sharply divided into two periods, with the line of demarcation running through the Fourth Century. In the first period, from the evidence of the catacomb pictures and some early Christian sarcophagi, Christ is depicted as an Apollo-like beardless youth with an oval, innocent face. In none of the art that has been preserved from the first three hundred years after His death is He seen any other way. Then, with the emergence of Christianity under Constantine, this obviously symbolic portrayal was discarded and pictures of Christ began to appear quite differently. Now He consistently resembled the face we see on the Shroud of Turin. Many pictures and icons of this period exist today, coming from Russia, Greece, Egypt, the Balkans and Italy. In all of them, there are many significantly similar features: the mustache and forked beard, hair parted in the middle and falling to the shoulders. These were distinctive characteristics of the Nazarenes. In addition, there were the three-sided square between the brows, the second V above this, the transverse streak across the forehead, the accentuated cheeks and enlarged left nostril. The heavily drawn owlish eyes which were also evident in most of the reproductions could today be explained by the fact that the Shroud image is a negative, and what is seen is the outline of the eye socket." (Adams, 1982, pp.18-19).

"Paul Vignon, the foremost early researcher into the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, is the one who conceived the idea that these numerous icons and portraits had somehow been based on the face of the Shroud. Checking them in the museums and libraries of Paris, he discovered dramatic evidence that there was more than a casual link between them. Of the hundreds of Byzantine icons he examined, eighty percent had the identifying mark between the eyes as well as many other points of similarity. The earliest icons he found with sindonlike similarities were copies of what was known as the "Image of Edessa," ... Vignon wrote in a 1937 magazine, `There are many representations of Christ, notably the Image of Edessa, which could be derived only from the Shroud. A careful study of these copies, which I recently completed, shows that the ... face visible on the Shroud served as a model for artists as early as the fifth century. The artists did not copy slavishly, but tried to interpret the face, translating the masklike features into a living portrait, which was still a recognizable copy of the original.' [Vignon, P., "The problem of the Holy Shroud," Scientific American, Vol. 156, 1937, pp.162-164, p.162] Vignon noticed that the very oddities of the Shroud, certain peculiarities that were really accidental imperfections in the image or the fabric itself, were reproduced, appearing again and again in a whole series of ancient art works, even though artistically they made no sense. Surely, this could mean only one thing, he decided; ancient artists had taken their conception of a bearded, long-haired man from the image on the Shroud, and had included the anomalies which were aspects of the negative image because of a feeling that they were in some mysterious way connected with the earthly appearance of Jesus." (Adams, 1982, pp.20-21).

"An analysis of the Shroud of Turin very strikingly reveals dumbbell-shaped markings all over the front and back of the trunk and legs, essentially sparing the head, neck, and distal aspects of the extremities consistent with the use of bits of metal or bone on the end of a flagrum. The number of scourge impressions totals from 100 to 120 ... Some scientists, who have studied the Shroud in detail, indicate that the various markings on the Shroud are directed downward and inward toward the center of the body, suggesting either that two individuals executed the scourging or that one individual changed his position from one side to the other." (Zugibe, F.T., 1988, "The Cross and the Shroud: A Medical Enquiry into the Crucifixion," [1982], Paragon House: New York NY, Revised edition, p.18).

"Now that we have a basic knowledge of the characteristics of the plant used to plait the crown of thorns and a brief familiarity with the anatomy of the head region, with some insight into the effects of irritating the nerves that supply pain perception to these areas, let us now examine the probable effects of the crown of thorns during the mock coronation of Christ. Scriptures relate that the soldiers filed past Jesus, taking the reed from him and striking it down on the crown of thorns. It is important to note that the crown was made by interweaving (plaiting) the thorn twigs into the shape of a cap. This placed a large number of thorns in contact with the entire top of the head, including the front, back, and sides. The blows from the reed across Jesus' face or against the thorns would directly irritate the nerves or activate trigger zones along the lip, side of the nose, or face, bringing on severe pains resembling a hot poker or electric shock lancinating across the sides of his face or deep to his ears. The pain would stop almost abruptly, only to recur again with the slightest movement of the jaws or even from a wisp of wind, stopping Jesus `dead' in his tracks. The traumatic shock from the brutal scourging would be further enhanced with each paroxysmal pain across the face bringing him to his knees. Exacerbations and remissions of throbbing bolts of pain would occur all the way to Calvary and during crucifixion, being activated by the movements of walking, falling, and twisting, from pressure of the thorns against the cross stipes, and from the many shoves and blows by the soldiers. Because the head region contains a plethora of blood vessels, the blood would run freely down the face. This is very dramatically depicted in the Turin Shroud, which shows images representing rivulets and seepage points running down the forehead and confirms that the crown of thorns was plaited in the shape of a cap and not a circlet ... . This is an important fact for Christ's crucifixion. The various blows across the face are shown on the Shroud particularly in the region of the forehead, brow, right upper lip, jaw, and nose. The tridimensional pattern more vividly reveals a broken nose and confirms the above injuries ..." (Zugibe, 1988, pp.27-28).

Posted: 11 February 2008. Updated: 26 April 2019.

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