Wednesday, March 9, 2022

The Shroud man and Jesus were crowned with thorns #38: The evidence is overwhelming that the Turin Shroud is Jesus' burial sheet!

THE SHROUD MAN AND JESUS WERE CROWNED WITH THORNS #38
Copyright © Stephen E. Jones[1]

This is part #38, "The Shroud man and Jesus were crowned with thorns," of my series, "The evidence is overwhelming that the Turin Shroud is Jesus' burial sheet!" For more information about this series, see the "Main index #1" and "Other marks and images #26." See also "The Shroud of Turin: 3.5. The man on the Shroud and Jesus were crowned with thorns." Emphases are mine unless otherwise indicated.

[Main index #1] [Previous: The Shroud man and Jesus were scourged #37] [Next: The man on the Shroud and Jesus were crucified #39]


  1. The Bible and the Shroud #33
    1. The Shroud man and Jesus were crowned with thorns #38

The man on the Shroud had been crowned with thorns The

[Right (enlarge)[2]: Bloodstains from puncture marks caused by a crown of thorns on the front (lower) and back (upper) of the Shroudman's head. Note the bloodstains on the back of the man's head (upper) are consistent with a cap, or helmet, of thorns, not a circlet (see below) The apparent image between the two head images is a water stain from extinguishing the 1532 fire[3]. Under the water stain there is a gap of about 6½ inches (~16.5 cms) between the two head images[4]. Evidently this was to accommodate "the face cloth [Gk. soudarion] that had been on [epi] Jesus' head" (Jn 20:6-7), i.e. the Sudarium of Oviedo[5].]

Shroudman had been crowned with thorns (see above)[6]. But it wasn't a circlet crown (see below) as portrayed by artists of the Middle

[Left (enlarge)[7]: Extract from "Christ Crowned with Thorns," by Dieric (Dirk) Bouts (c.1420–75). Even though Bouts may have seen the Shroud, he continued the traditional medieval depiction of the crown of thorns as a circlet, not a cap or helmet of thorns (see below) as indicated by the bloodstains over the back of the Shroudman's head (see above)]

Ages[8]. Rather, the man on the Shroud wore an Eastern style cap[9], or helmet, of thorns (see below)[10], forced down on his head by a Roman soldier[11] and bound around his head[12]. Only that would account for the pattern of puncture wounds over the Shroudman's head[13]:

"The multiple puncture marks with attendant rivulets of blood over the scalp, extending from the centre of the forehead towards the front round to the level of the ears at the back of the head, would suggest a clump of thorny twigs being pressed down upon the head, rather than a circlet, which artists frequently symbolize as a 'crown of thorns'"[14]

[Above (enlarge): "Helmet" of thorns in the permanent exhibition of the Shroud of Turin in the Pontifical Institute Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center[15].]

The puncture marks match the spines of Zizyphus spina Christi, a

[Right (enlarge): "Ziziphus ... spina-christi ... meaning `covered with Christ's-thorn.' ... Ziziphus spina-christi is one of several candidates for Jesus' crown of thorns, hence its name: `They dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him' (Mark 15:17)"[16].]

thorn-bearing tree which is common in Judea[17].

The origins of the reversed 3, or epsilon-shaped, bloodflow down the man's forehead from a thorn puncture wound (see "V" below) and an arterial wound (see "A1" below) correspond exactly with a branch of the frontal vein, and the frontal branch of the superficial temple artery,

[Above (enlarge)[18]: "The epsilon-shaped forehead clot lies exactly over the frontal vein, while the arterial wound numbered A1 ... precisely corresponds with the frontal branch of the superficial temple artery"[19].]

respectively[20]. This shows the distinction between venous and arterial blood, which was discovered by Andrea Cesalpino (1524-1603) in 1873[21], ~238 years after the Shroud first appeared in undisputed history in 1355 at Lirey, France, and ~333 years after the earliest 1260 radiocarbon date!

And part of Jesus' crown of thorns might exist today! Since at least the year 409, a relic which purports to be Jesus' crown of thorns (see below) was venerated in Jerusalem[22]. St. Paulinus of Nola (354-431)

[Above (enlarge)[23]: The Crown of Thorns, a circlet of plaited rushes[24], its thorns having been distributed over the centuries as relics[25]. John F. Cherry, an archeologist (not a botanist), claims the rushes are of Juncus balticus, which is native to northern Britain, the Baltic region, and Scandinavia[26]. But apart from it being highly unlikely (to put it mildly) that Northern European rushes would be used in 4th-5th century Jerusalem to fake Jesus' crown of thorns when local rushes were available, the late Prof. Avinoam Danin (1939–2015), author of Flora of Israel Online, identified the rushes as Juncus acutus, which has a wide distribution, including Israel[27]!]

wrote that, "The thorns with which Our Saviour was crowned was held [in Jerusalem] in honor together with the Holy Cross and the pillar of the scourging"[28]. Even earlier than that, in the second - early third

[Above (enlarge)[29]: Extract of "An early representation of the Crowning of Christ ... this fresco, in the Praetextatus Catacombs, and dated to the first years of the IIIrd century, does represent the Mocking of Christ. The figure at the right wears a purple robe; on his head are twiggy branches which the soldiers seem to be hitting with sticks"[30]. In this no later than early third century fresco, Jesus is depicted with a cap or helmet of thorns, just as the Shroudman wore on his head: a thousand years before the earliest 1260 radiocarbon date!]

century Catacombs of Praetextatus, there is "a rare depiction ... of Christ being crowned with thorns"[31]! The "preeminent in ... learning" St. Vincent of Lerins (d. 445) wrote, "They placed on His head a crown of thorns. It was in fact, in the shape of a pileus [hat, helmet], so that it touched and covered His head in every part"[32]. The Roman statesman and scholar, Cassiodorus (c. 485 – c. 585) wrote of the Crown of Thorns being at Jerusalem in his day, "There [at Jerusalem] we may behold the thorny crown, which was set upon the head of the Redeemer"[33]. Various pilgrims to Jerusalem recorded that the Crown of Thorns was in the Basilica of Mount Sion[34] (destroyed in 614 by the Persians), the Piacenza Pilgrim in the 6th century, and a monk Bernard in 870 states that the crown was still at Mount Sion[35].

About 1063, presumably due to the threat of the rising Seljuk Muslim Empire, the Crown of Thorns was transferred to Constantinople[36], the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Before the 1204 Sack of Constantinople by soldiers of the Fourth Crusade (1202–04), French crusader knight Robert de Clari (1170-1216), who wrote of seeing the Shroud in Constantinople [see "1216"], also wrote of seeing the Crown of Thorns in Constantinople's Pharos Chapel:

"The Holy chapel ... was so rich and noble that there was not a hinge nor a band nor any other part such as is usually made of iron that was not all of silver, and there was no column that was not of jasper or porphyry or some other rich precious stone. ... Within the chapel were found many rich relics. There ... was the blessed Crown with which he was crowned, and which was made of reed with thorns as sharp as the points of daggers ..."[37].
After the Sack of Constantinople in 1204, one of the Fourth Crusade leaders, Baldwin VI (1172-c.1205), who became Emperor Baldwin I (r. 1204–05), carried off the Crown of Thorns to Venice[38]. In 1238, Emperor Baldwin II (1228-1273) (not a descendant of Baldwin I) offered the Crown of Thorns to King Louis IX (1214-1270) (Saint Louis) of France[39]. The crown was then in the hands of the Venetians as security for a loan of 13,134 gold pieces[40]. At Baldwin II's request, Louis IX paid out the loan to the Venetians for the discount equivalent of 10,000 gold pieces[41]: 135,000 livres tournois[42] (1 livres tournois = 80.88 grams of fine silver[43], so 135,000 = 10,918.8 kilograms of fine silver)! In 1239, two Dominican monks, one who had seen the Crown of Thorns in Constantinople, carried the Crown first by sea to France and then overland to Sens[44], about 100km (62 miles) from Paris[45]. On 10 August 1239, Louis IX, accompanied by many prelates and his entire court, met the Crown's returning party five leagues (about 16 kilometres or 10 miles) outside of Sens[46]. Then Louis and his brother Robert I of Artois, both dressed humbly and barefoot, carried the Crown into Sens to the Cathedral of St.

[Above (enlarge)[47]: "King Louis IX Carrying the Crown of Thorns," Stained glass panel, c. 1245-48, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.]

Stephen[48]. The next day, 11 August 1239, Louis returned to Paris and later that day the Crown arrived and was taken by Louis and his brother amid an enthusiastic crowd chanting hymns and prayers to Notre Dame Cathedral and afterward to the Chapel of St. Nicholas within the precincts of the Royal Palace[49]. Later that same year the Crown of Thorns was taken to a chapel in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, about 19 miles (31 kms) west of Paris, where Baldwin II formally presented the Crown of Thorns to Louis IX[50]. In

[Above (original)[51]: Extract from "Louis IX places the crown of thorns at Sainte-Chapelle (illuminated manuscript from 1480s)"[52].]

1248 the Sainte Chapelle was completed and Louis IX installed the Crown of Thorns in its reliquary within it[53]. There the Crown of Thorns remained until the French Revolution (1789-99), when in 1791 it was carried to the Abbey of St. Denis; then in 1793 the Crown was deposited in the Hotel des Monnaies and then in 1794 it was placed in the Bibliothèque Nationale, after which in 1804 the Crown was taken to the Cathedral of Notre Dame[54]. There the Crown of Thorns remained for ~215 years until 15 April 2019 when a fire gutted the 12th century cathedral[55]. But due to the heroics of Fr Jean-Marc Fournier [Right (enlarge)[56]], the chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade, the Crown was rescued[57] and moved to the Louvre Museum, where it is today[58].

Is the Crown of Thorns relic in the Louvre part of Jesus' cap of thorns (see next)? Given that there is a ~379 year gap between Jesus' crowning with thorns in AD 30 and the earliest known mention of the the Crown of Thorns relic in Jerusalem in AD 409 (see above), it is impossible to know for certain. It could be an early copy from memory of Jesus' crown of thorns. But it seems highly likely that the disciples Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus who took Jesus' dead body down from His cross and buried Him in Joseph's tomb (Mt 27:57-60; Mk 15:43-46; Lk 23:50-53; Jn 19:38-41) , after removing the crown of thorns from Jesus' head, would not have thrown it away but would have kept it as a tangible link to their dead Master. The first mention of the crown of thorns in 409, if it was Jesus', is earlier than the Shroud's c.593 and the Sudarium of Oviedo's c.570! Certainly King Louis IX, who paid the equivalent of 10.9 tonnes of fine silver for it (see above) believed that it was Jesus' crown of thorns. I believe the louvre Crown of Thorns is indeed part of Jesus' crown of thorns, but I would like to see tests done on the rushes and on at least one of the thorns that had been given away by Louis as relics. Unlike the Shroud's linen, radiocarbon dating of one of the rushes and a thorn from the Crown of Thorns relic in the Louvre should be accurate. If they date from the first-century it would be strong evidence that the Crown of Thorns relic is part of Jesus' crown of thorns!

Jesus was crowned with thorns The Gospels record that Jesus was crowned with thorns (my emphasis)[59]:

Mt 27:27-31. "27Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. 28And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29and twisting together [plexantes "having plaited"[60].] a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, `Hail, King of the Jews!' 30And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. 31And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him."

Mk 15:16-20. "16And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. 17And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. 18And they began to salute him, `Hail, King of the Jews!' 19And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. 20And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him."

Jn 19:1-5.1Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3They came up to him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" and struck him with their hands. 4Pilate went out again and said to them, `See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.' 5So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, `Behold the man!'
The soldiers had placed a crown of thorns on Jesus' head, clothed Him in a purple robe and put a reed in his hand, pretending to address him as king, bowing down to him in mock homage[61]. Then, to further scoff at him, they made a crown out of thorns and forcefully placed it on his head[62]. The form of the crown is not described but the soldiers must have weaved it roughly of thorn branches with no artistic aim (see below)[63]. Their aim rather was of cruel mockery of Christ's claim to

[Above: An artist's impression of how Jesus would have appeared after His crowning with thorns[64].

be the King of the Jews (Mt 27:11; Mk 15:2; Lk 23:3; Jn 18:33-36; 19:19-21)[65]. The soldiers took the reed and kept striking him on the head[66]. Note that the crown of thorns was still on Jesus' head when He was brought back before Pilate after His scourging. Therefore Jesus may have worn the crown of thorns on the Cross[67].

The forehead, temple, and scalp contain a major network of highly sensitive nerves[68]. These nerves are tributaries of the Trigeminal Nerve and the Greater Occipital Nerve, which conducts pain perception from the front half of the head, and the back half of the head, respectively[69]. These major nerves in turn divide almost infinitesimally throughout the skin of the scalp[70]. Stimulation or irritation of branches of these two major nerves causes intense pain[71]. For example, irritation of only one of the tiny branches of the trigeminal nerve which supply the teeth can result in a very painful toothache[72]. A clinical condition associated with irritation of the trigeminal nerve is called Trigeminal Neuralgia[73]. This condition causes paroxysmal bouts of pain to the face, which sufferers describe as "knifelike stabs," "electric shocks," or "jabs with a red-hot poker"[74]. Trigeminal neuralgia is among the worst pain a human can experience[75].

[Above: The major nerve pathways of the head (yellow), including the Trigeminal Nerve and Greater Occipital Nerve[76] which would have conducted the additional agony that a cap of thorns would have caused the man on the Shroud to experience.]

The soldiers filed past Jesus, taking the reed from Him and striking it down on the crown of thorns (Mt 27:30)[77]. A cap of interwoven thorn twigs would have placed a large number of thorns in contact with the entire top of the head: front, back, and sides[78]. The blows from the reed on the cap of thorns would have directly irritated the nerves bringing on severe pains resembling a hot poker or electric shock[79]. The traumatic shock from scourging (see part 21) would have been enhanced by the paroxysmal pains across Jesus' face[80]. The throbbing bolts of pain would have recurred along the way to Calvary and would have been triggered by walking and falling, the pressure of the thorns against the cross, and from the shoves and blows by the soldiers, and during the crucifixion itself[80].

Crowning with thorns was not part of Roman crucifixion procedure[81]. Nor was crowning or capping with thorns ever a part of any other culture's penal procedure throughout human history[82]. The only mention of a crowning with thorns in all of ancient literature is that found in the Gospel accounts of the passion of Jesus of Nazareth[83]. No other crucifixion victim but Jesus is known to have been crowned with thorns[84]. Hence the crowning with thorns of the man on the Shroud is proof beyond reasonable doubt that he is Jesus[85]!

Problem for the forgery theory. See previous three: #35, #36 & #37. Problems for the forgery theory due to the crown of thorns include:

• No medieval or earlier artist had depicted Jesus wearing a cap of thorns[86]. Where traditional Christian art depicted Jesus wearing a crown of thorns it was a circlet type of crown (see above)87]. A cap of thorns would therefore be non-traditional and non-European and so would offend the sensibilities of medieval Europeans rather than impress them[88]. Moreover, this information would not be common knowledge to a medieval forger for centuries to come[89].

• No medieval artist has approached the physiological realism of the cap of thorns bloodflows on the Shroud[90]. Only a modern artist who has a thorough knowledge of the physiology of coagulation could portray the `reversed 3' bloodflow[91]. Even then, some mistake would betray it as a work of his imagination[92]. So the `reversed 3' bloodflow alone is enough to prove that the Shroud is Christ's and yet it is but one such proof among many others[93]. As the French biology professor, artist and sindonologist Paul Vignon (1865-1943) observed of the reversed `3' bloodflow, "No painter, in his most elaborate work, has ever risen to such exactitude":

"Let us turn now to another wound, the reproduction of which would have required even greater ingenuity and skill. We allude to the large drop of blood visible on the forehead above the left eyebrow. This drop springs from a definite point, indicated by its darker colour ... This dark point corresponds to one of the wounds made by the crown of thorns. The blood which has flowed therefrom has met in its course the two wrinkles of the forehead, and has, by this slight opposition, been forced to spread itself out, forming two small horizontal pools; thence it continued to flow, until it ended in a tear of blood close to the eyebrow, and having thus flowed, it dried upon the skin. Now any drop of blood, drying thus, upon a substance into which it does not penetrate, takes, when coagulated, a sort of basin-like shape, a section of which we give here ... The border or brim of the basin is formed by the fibrine of the blood, containing the red corpuscles in its coagulum; the centre is composed of the serum, which in drying takes a dull brown tint. Here, as the liquid part of the serum evaporates, the convexity of the centre is depressed. The contour of the drop of blood preserves, however, the same shape as it had when it was fresh. Now this description applies exactly to the blood-drop on the forehead. In the parts where the blood has flowed, and where it has accumulated in sufficient quantity, it is bordered by a dark edge. The centre of the little stream, and the centre also of the terminal tear, are of a lighter tint. This drop of blood is reproduced not only with the greatest minuteness and delicacy, but with entire faithfulness to scientific detail. No painter, in his most elaborate work, has ever risen to such exactitude, as a glance at any of the numerous representations of Christ, Crowned with Thorns, will show us"[94].
• The cap of thorns bloodflows on the Shroud reveal a knowledge of the distinction between arterial and venous blood, which was not known until the 16th century (see above) [95].

Conclusion Both the man on the Shroud and Jesus were scourged with a Roman flagrum (see #37), crowned with thorns, and as we shall see, underwent a Roman crucifixion. But there is no record of any other Roman crucifixion victim but Jesus having been crowned with thorns, nor any reason why any other would have been. As we saw above, Jesus was crowned with thorns in mockery of His claim to be the King of the Jews. And as a Google search reveals, no one but Jesus (since King Zedekiah of Judah (r. 597–586 BC)), has claimed to be the King of the Jews. As agnostic art historian Thomas de Wesselow (who accepts that the Shroud is Jesus', but not that He rose from the dead), pointed out:

"The bloodstains on the head, then, are traces of a crown of thorns, removed from the head of a man who was crucified in the Roman manner and buried according to the custom of the Jews. Historically, we know of only one Roman Jew who was crucified wearing a crown of thorns: Jesus. The implication is that the Shroud is the very cloth in which Jesus was wrapped for burial (my emphasis)[96]!
Notes
1. This post is copyright. I grant permission to quote from any part of it (but not the whole post), provided it includes a reference citing my name, its subject heading, its date and a hyperlink back to this page. [return]
2. Latendresse, M., 2010, "Shroud Scope: Durante 2002: Horizontal," (rotated left 90°), Sindonology.org. [return]
3. Weaver, K.F., 1980, "Science Seeks to Solve...The Mystery of the Shroud," National Geographic, Vol. 157, June, pp.730-753, 740; Brooks, E.H., II., Miller, V.D. & Schwortz, B.M., 1981, "The Turin Shroud: Contemporary Insights to an Ancient Paradox," Worldwide Exhibition: Chicago IL, p.13. [return]
4. Barnes, A.S., 1934, "The Holy Shroud of Turin," Burns Oates & Washbourne: London, p.12; Humber, T., 1978, "The Sacred Shroud," [1974], Pocket Books: New York NY, p.37; Wilson, I., 1979, "The Shroud of Turin: The Burial Cloth of Jesus?," [1978], Image Books: New York NY, Revised edition, p.54; de Wesselow, T., 2012, "The Sign: The Shroud of Turin and the Secret of the Resurrection," Viking: London, p.148. [return]
5. Guscin, M., 1998, "The Oviedo Cloth," Lutterworth Press: Cambridge UK, p.9; Bennett, J., 2001, "Sacred Blood, Sacred Image: The Sudarium of Oviedo: New Evidence for the Authenticity of the Shroud of Turin," Ignatius Press: San Francisco CA, pp.156-157; Guerrera, V., 2001, "The Shroud of Turin: A Case for Authenticity," TAN: Rockford IL, p.114-6; de Wesselow, 2012, pp.147-148. [return]
6. Reference(s) to be provided. [return]
7. "File:Dirk Bouts Christ Crowned With Thorns.jpg," Wikimedia Commons, 1 January 2022. [return]
8. Barnes, 1934, p.34; Robinson, J.A.T., "The Shroud and the New Testament," in Jennings, P., ed., 1978, "Face to Face with the Turin Shroud ," Mayhew-McCrimmon: Great Wakering UK, pp.69-81, 78; Morgan, R.H., 1980, "Perpetual Miracle: Secrets of the Holy Shroud of Turin by an Eye Witness," Runciman Press: Manly NSW, Australia, p.108; Ricci, G., 1981, "The Holy Shroud," Center for the Study of the Passion of Christ and the Holy Shroud: Milwaukee WI, p.81; Adams, F.O., 1982, "Sindon: A Layman's Guide to the Shroud of Turin," Synergy Books: Tempe AZ, p.81; Iannone, J.C., 1998, "The Mystery of the Shroud of Turin: New Scientific Evidence," St Pauls: Staten Island NY, p.70; Ruffin, C.B., 1999, "The Shroud of Turin: The Most Up-To-Date Analysis of All the Facts Regarding the Church's Controversial Relic," Our Sunday Visitor: Huntington IN, p.28; Guerrera, 2001, p.38. [return]
9. Tribbe, F.C., 2006, "Portrait of Jesus: The Illustrated Story of the Shroud of Turin," [1983], Paragon House Publishers: St. Paul MN, Second edition, p.75. [return]
10. Barnes, 1934, p.34; Robinson, 1978, p.78; Morgan, 1980, p.108; Adams, 1982, p.81; Iannone, 1998, p.70; Bennett, 2001, p.87; Guerrera, 2001, p.38. [return]
11. Adams, 1982, p.81. [return]
12. Barnes, 1934, p.34; Adams, 1982, p.81. [return]
13. Morgan, 1980, p.107; Adams, 1982, p.81; Bucklin, R, 1998, "The Shroud of Turin: A Pathologist's Viewpoint," in Minor, M., Adler, A.D. & Piczek, I., eds., 2002, "The Shroud of Turin: Unraveling the Mystery: Proceedings of the 1998 Dallas Symposium," Alexander Books: Alexander NC, pp.271-279, 274; Oxley, M., 2010, "The Challenge of the Shroud: History, Science and the Shroud of Turin," AuthorHouse: Milton Keynes UK, p.171. [return]
14. Cameron, J. M., "The Pathologist and the Shroud," in Jennings, 1978, p.58; Ruffin, 1999, p.28. [return]
15. Danin, A., 2010, "Botany of the Shroud: The Story of Floral Images on the Shroud of Turin," Danin Publishing: Jerusalem, Israel, p.59. [return]
16. "Flora of Israel Online by Prof. Avinoam Danin and Dr. Ori Fragman-Sapir," 2003-2022, [return]
17. Barbet, P., 1953, "A Doctor at Calvary," [1950], Earl of Wicklow, transl., Image Books: Garden City NY, Reprinted, 1963, p.94; Morgan, 1980, p.109. [return]
18. Extract from Latendresse, M., 2010, "Shroud Scope: Durante 2002 Face Only Vertical," Sindonology.org. [return]
19. Rodante, 1981, p.8; Antonacci, 2000, p.26. [return]
20. Rodante, S., 1981, "The Coronation of Thorns in the Light of the Shroud," Shroud Spectrum International, No. 1, December, pp.4-24, 8; Antonacci, M., 2000, "Resurrection of the Shroud: New Scientific, Medical, and Archeological Evidence," M. Evans & Co: New York NY, p.26. [return]
21. Borkan, M., 1995, "Ecce Homo?: Science and the Authenticity of the Turin Shroud," Vertices, Duke University, Vol. X, No. 2, Winter, pp.18-51, 26; Petrosillo, O. & Marinelli, E., 1996, "The Enigma of the Shroud: A Challenge to Science," Scerri, L.J., transl., Publishers Enterprises Group: Malta, p.14; Iannone, 1998, p.67; Antonacci, 2000, p.26; Tribbe, 2006, p.99; "Andrea Cesalpino: Medical and physiological works," Wikipedia, 27 January 2022. [return]
22. "Crown of thorns," Wikipedia, 11 March 2022. [return]
23. "File:Couronne d'epines - Crown of Thorns Notre Dame Paris.jpg," Wikimedia Commons, 5 March 2021. [return]
24. Barbet, 1953, p.94; Morgan, 1980, p.110. [return]
25. Cruz, 1984, p.35. [return]
26. "Crown of thorns: France," Wikipedia, 11 March 2022. [return]
27. "Thorns of Ziziphus, Parkinsonia and Juncus, Flora of Israel Online by Prof. Avinoam Danin and Dr. Ori Fragman-Sapir," 2003-2022, [return]
28. Cruz, 1984, p.34; O'Rahilly, A. & Gaughan, J.A., ed., 1985, "The Crucified," Kingdom Books: Dublin, p.116; Crispino, D.C., 1989, "Questions in a Quandary," Shroud Spectrum International," No. 31, June, pp.15-19, 16. [return]
29. Extract from Crispino, D.C., 1989, Shroud Spectrum International," No. 31, June, front cover. [return]
30. Crispino, 1989, p.19. [return]
31. Crispino, 1989, p.19; "Catacombs of Rome: Catacombs of Praetextatus," Wikipedia, 14 March 2022. [return]
32. Barbet, 1953, p.93; Cruz, 1984, p.34; Oxley, 2010, pp.170-171. [return]
33. Cruz, 1984, p.35; O'Rahilly, 1985, p.117. [return]
34. Ibid, Ibid. [return]
35. Ibid, Ibid. [return]
36. Ibid, Ibid. [return]
37. Wilson, 1979, p.156; Currer-Briggs, 1988, "The Shroud and the Grail: A Modern Quest for the True Grail," St. Martin's Press: New York NY, p.184; Oxley, 2010, p.33. [return]
38. O'Rahilly, 1985, p.117. [return]
39. Barbet, 1953, p.94; "Crown of thorns," Wikipedia, 11 March 2022. [return]
40. Barbet, 1953, p.94; Cruz, 1984, p.35; "Crown of thorns: France," Wikipedia, 11 March 2022. [return]
41. Currer-Briggs, N., 1995, "Shroud Mafia: The Creation of a Relic?," Book Guild: Sussex UK, p.6. [return]
42. Crispino, 1989, p.18; "10 interesting facts about the Sainte-Chapelle," Un Jour de Plus à Paris, 2022. [return]
43. "Livre tournois," Wikipedia, 1 March 2022. [return]
44. Cruz, 1984, p.35; Wall, J.C., 2019, "How the Crown of Thorns Arrived at Paris," Catholic Exchange, April 25. [return]
45. Cruz, 1984, p.35. [return]
46. Cruz, 1984, p.35; Wall, 2019. [return]
47. "File:King Louis IX Carrying the Crown of Thorns MET cdi37-173-3.jpg," Wikimedia Commons, 24 February 2022. [return]
48. Cruz, 1984, p.35; Wall, 2019. [return]
49. Cruz, 1984, p.35; Wall, 2019. [return]
50. "Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye," Wikipedia, 16 March 2022. [return]
51. "File:Livre des faiz monseigneur saint Loys - BNF Fr2829 f17r (Saint Louis et la couronne d'épine) detail 02.jpg," Wikimedia Commons, 22 September 2017. [return]
52. "Sainte-Chapelle: The relics and the reliquary," Wikipedia, 26 December 2021. [return]
53. Wall, 2019; "Sainte-Chapelle," Wikipedia, 26 December 2021; "Crown of thorns: France," Wikipedia, 11 March 2022. [return]
54. Cruz, 1984, p.35; Wall, 2019. [return]
55. "Notre-Dame de Paris: 2019 fire," Wikipedia, 24 March 2022; "Crown of thorns: France," Wikipedia, 11 March 2022. [return]
56. "5:20 AM · Apr 16, 2019 from Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris·Twitter for iPhone." [return]
57. "A brave chaplain and a human chain saved holy relics from Notre Dame Cathedral fire," CBS News, 17 April 2019. [return]
58. "Crown of thorns," Wikipedia, 11 March 2022. [return]
59. Wilson, 1979, p.52; Stevenson, K.E. & Habermas, G.R., 1990, "The Shroud and the Controversy," Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville TN, p..85; Iannone, 1998, p.54; Antonacci, 2000, pp.119-120; Guerrera, 2001, p.38. [return]
60. Green, J.P., Sr., ed., 1986, "The Interlinear Bible: One Volume Edition," [1976], Hendrickson Publishers: Peabody MA, Second edition, p.765. [return]
61. Stevenson, K.E. & Habermas, G.R., 1981, "Verdict on the Shroud: Evidence for the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ," Servant Books: Ann Arbor MI, p.122; Borkan, 1995, p.26; Antonacci, 2000, pp.119-120. [return]
62. Ibid. [return]
63. Wuenschel, E.A., 1954, "Self-Portrait of Christ: The Holy Shroud of Turin," Holy Shroud Guild: Esopus NY, pp.41-42. [return]
64. Ricci, 1981, p.83. [return]
65. Wuenschel, 1954, p.42; Robinson, 1978, p.77; Wilson, 1979, p.37; Morgan, 1980, p.108; Zugibe, F.T., 1988, "The Cross and the Shroud: A Medical Enquiry into the Crucifixion," [1982], Paragon House: New York NY, Revised edition, p.19; Scavone, D.C., 1989, "The Shroud of Turin: Opposing Viewpoints," Greenhaven Press: San Diego CA, pp.71-72; Tribbe, 2006, p.236; Wilson, I., 2010, "The Shroud: The 2000-Year-Old Mystery Solved," Bantam Press: London, p.44; de Wesselow, 2012, p.149. [return]
66. Wuenschel, 1954, p.41. [return]
67. Barbet, 1953, p.95. [return]
68. Antonacci, 2000, p.33. [return]
69. Zugibe, F.T., 2005, "The Crucifixion of Jesus: A Forensic Inquiry," M. Evans & Co.: New York NY, 2005, p.33. [return]
70. Ibid. [return]
71. Ibid. [return]
72. Ibid. [return]
73. Zugibe, 2005, p.34. [return]
74. Ibid. [return]
75. Ibid. [return]
76. "The nerves of the scalp, face, and side of neck," (extract), Wikipedia, 23 January, 2007. [return]
77. Zugibe, 2005, p.36. [return]
78. Ibid. [return]
79. Ibid. [return]
80. Ibid. [return]
81. Ricci, G., 1977, "Historical, Medical and Physical Study of the Holy Shroud," in Stevenson, K.E., ed., 1977, "Proceedings of the 1977 United States Conference of Research on The Shroud of Turin," Holy Shroud Guild: Bronx NY, p.67. [return]
82. Wilson, 2010, p.44. [return]
83. Bennett, 2001, p.85. [return]
84. Ricci, 1977, p.67; Ricci, 1981, p.80; Iannone, 1998, p.54; Antonacci, 2000, p.120; Tribbe, 2006, p.236; de Wesselow, 2012, p.149. [return]
85. Wilson, 1979, p.52. [return]
86. Iannone, 1998, p.70. [return]
87. Robinson, 1978, p.78. [return]
88. Wilcox, R.K., 1977, "Shroud," Macmillan: New York NY, pp.170-171. [return]
89. Wilcox, 1977, p.171. [return]
90. Green, M., 1969, "Enshrouded in Silence: In search of the First Millennium of the Holy Shroud," Ampleforth Journal, Vol. 74, No. 3, Autumn, pp.319-345; de Wesselow, 2012, p.130. [return]
91. Barbet, 1953, pp.96-97. [return]
92. Barbet, 1953, p.97. [return]
93. Barbet, 1953, p.97. [return]
94. Vignon, P., 1902, "The Shroud of Christ," University Books: New York NY, Reprinted, 1970, pp.29-30. [return]
95. Wilson, 1986, p.20; Antonacci, 2000, p.26; Tribbe, 2006, p.99. [return]
96. de Wesselow, 2012, p.132. [return]

Posted 9 March 2022. Updated 6 June 2022.

Tuesday, March 8, 2022

Date index 2022: The Shroud of Turin blog

The Shroud of Turin blog
DATE INDEX 2022
© Stephen E. Jones
[1]

This is the date index to the 2022 posts on this my The Shroud of Turin blog. The posts are listed in reverse date order (recent uppermost). For further information on this date index series see the Main Index. The linked subject headings of future 2022 posts will be added to this page in the background.

[Main index] [Previous: 2021] [Next: 2023]


2022

[Above (enlarge)[2]: Dr. John Jackson (left) about to begin STURP's five-day examination of the Shroud, from 8th to 13th October, 1978. This will be in a future post, "Chronology of the Turin Shroud: Twentieth century (4)".]

08-Dec-22: Pierre d'Arcis, Turin Shroud Encyclopedia
08-Nov-22: Chronology of the Turin Shroud: Twentieth century (5)
19-Oct-22: History of the Shroud (1355-1400).
17-Sep-22: Prehistory of the Shroud (701-1000)
27-Aug-22: 2. A Linen Cloth #4: Shroud of Turin quotes
24-Aug-22: 1. What is the Turin Shroud? #3: Shroud of Turin quotes
23-Aug-22: Bibliography #2: Shroud of Turin quotes
22-Aug-22: Main index #1: Shroud of Turin quotes
16-Aug-22: Shroud of Turin News, May - July 2022
13-Jul-22: Prehistory of the Shroud (AD 29-700)
20-Jun-22: Chronology of the Turin Shroud: Twentieth century (4)
05-Jun-22: The Shroudman and Jesus were crucified #39
29-May-22: Ashe, Geoffrey. Turin Shroud Encyclopedia.
22-May-22: Shroud of Turin News, January - April 2022
16-Apr-22: Chronology of the Turin Shroud: Twentieth century (3)
04-Apr-22: Shroud of Turin News, July - December 2021
09-Mar-22: The Shroud man and Jesus were crowned with thorns #38
08-Mar-22: Date index 2021: The Shroud of Turin blog (this post)
11-Feb-22: Chronology of the Turin Shroud: Twentieth century (2)
11-Jan-22: Barbet, Pierre. Turin Shroud Encyclopedia


Notes
1. This post is copyright. I grant permission to quote from any part of it (but not the whole post), provided it includes a reference citing my name, its subject heading, its date, and a hyperlink back to this page. [return]
2. Wilson, I. & Miller, V., 1986, "The Evidence of the Shroud," Guild Publishing: London, p.46a. [return]

Posted 8 March 2022. Updated 20 August 2025.

Friday, February 11, 2022

Chronology of the Turin Shroud: Twentieth century (2)

Chronology of the Turin Shroud: AD 30 to the present
TWENTIETH CENTURY (2)
© Stephen E. Jones
[1]

This is part #26, "Twentieth century" (2) of my "Chronology of the Turin Shroud: AD 30 - present" series. For more information about this series see the Index #1. Emphases are mine unless otherwise indicated. This page was initially based on Ian Wilson's 1996, "Highlights of the Undisputed History: 1900."

[Index #1] [Previous: 20th century (1) #25] [Next: 20th century (3) #27]


20th century (2) (1940-68).

[Above (enlarge)[2]: Photograph of the Sudarium of Oviedo ("the face cloth [Greek soudarion] that had been on Jesus’ head" - Jn 20:7), taken in 1965 by Giulio Ricci (1913-95). Ricci compared his photographs of the Sudarium with those of the face of the Shroud and "found a perfect correspondence" between bloodstains on the Sudarium and the Shroud (see below). See also 08Aug07, 17Jun08, 08Dec09, 17Apr10, 28Jul12, 21Jan16, 25May16, 24Jun16, 16Sep19 & 27Apr21.]

1940 10 June. Under Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini (r. 1922-43), Italy entered World War II on the, eventually losing, Axis side by declaring war on Britain and France[3].

1942 Dr Jean Volckringer (c. 1906-91), pharmacist at St Joseph's Hospital, Paris (the same hospital where Dr. Pierre Barbet was Chief Surgeon), publishes a paper[4] on the relationship of the Shroud's

[Above (enlarge)[5]: Volckringer's comparison of an image of a pressed plant Lysimachia vulgaris (left), and the positive image of the Shroud face (right), to support his theory that both images are the result of cellulose degradation[6], albeit from different causes.]

image to the phenomenon of images of plants occurring on the pages of pressed plant collections[7]. In 1935 Volckringer had theorised that both the imprints of plants pressed between paper in museum and herbarium collections, and the image on the Shroud, were both the result of cellulose degradation, thus anticipating STURP's finding that it was, nearly 50 years later[8]!

1943a 25 July. Following a series of Italian military defeats[9] and Allied forces invading Sicily and bombing the Italian mainland[10], King Victor Emmanuel III (1900-46) dismisses Mussolini as Prime Minister and has him arrested[11].

1943b 3 September. Allied forces land on the `toe' of Italy and on that day the Italian Government agrees to an armistice with the Allies[12]. The armistice was publicly announced by the king on 8 September, but it would not be until 8 October that Victor Emmanuel declares war on Germany[13].

1943c 12 September. German paratroopers rescue Mussolini and after a meeting with Hitler, Mussolini agreed to set up a new regime, the Italian Social Republic, based in the north Italy town of Salò[14].

1944a May. Discovery by a Mrs Molly Drew, after a World War II German bombing dislodged plaster over its ceiling hiding place[15],

[Above (enlarge): "The Shroud-like Templar panel painting discovered at Templecombe, England, during the Second World War, which represents the prime clue that the Knights Templar may secretly have owned the Shroud during the period immediately following the capture of Constantinople and up to their suppression in 1307"[16]. Ian Wilson later abandoned his theory that the Templars obtained the Shroud in the 1204 Sack of Constantinople and brought it from Acre, Palestine to France in 1291[23Sep17a]. But the Templars began in Jerusalem in 1120, in which later there were Shroud-like artworks[23Sep17b], so it seems likely that this Templar panel face was indirectly based on the Shroud!]]

of a Knights Templar panel painting in the English village of Templecombe, in what had been an outbuilding of a 12th century Templar Preceptory[17].

1944b 4 June. Rome is liberated by the Allies, and the retreating Germans ignore Hitler's order to blow up the Tiber bridges[18].

1945a 10 April. Victor Emmanuel, being irrevocably tainted by his earlier support of the Mussolini's Fascist regime, under pressure from the Allies, transferred most of his constitutional powers to his son, Crown Prince Umberto (1904-83)[19].

1945b 28 April. While attempting to escape to Switzerland from the advancing Allied forces, Mussolini and his entourage were executed by communist partisans[20].

1945c 8 May. World War II in Europe ends (V-E Day)[21].

1945d 2 September. Formal signing of Japanese surrender documents aboard the USS Missouri (V-J Day)[22].

1946a 9 May. Victor Emmanuel formally abdicates as King of Italy in

[Right (enlarge)[23]: Prince Umberto in 1944. "Umberto II ... was the last King of Italy. He reigned for 34 days, from 9 May 1946 to 12 June 1946, although he had been de facto head of state since 1944 and was nicknamed the May King"[24]. Umberto II would also be the last Duke of Savoy[25] (see future "1983").]

favour of his son who ascends to the throne as King Umberto II (r. 1946)[26].

1946b 1 June. Willard Libby (1908-80) publishes his theory of radiocarbon dating[27] for which he will be awarded the 1960 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (see below).

1946c 6 June. Formal proclamation of the Italian Republic and end of King Umberto II's 34-day reign, following a referendum on 2-3 June as to whether Italy should remain a monarchy or become a republic, which was narrowly decided 54% to 46% for a republic[28]. All male members of the House of Savoy were required to leave Italy forever, with Victor Emmanuel III chosing exile in Egypt[29] and Umberto II, the Shroud's legal ownerl[30], in Portugal[31].

1946d 28 October. The Archbishop of Turin, Cardinal Maurilio Fossati (r. 1930-65), returned to the Sanctuary of Montevergine, in southern Italy, to bring back to Turin the Shroud which he had secretly taken there for safekeeping in September 1939[32]. [see "1939d"]. The Shroud is exhibited to the monks, most of whom didn't know it had been there, and then is returned to Turin's now state-owned Royal Palace on 31 October[33].

1948 Pioneer forensic scientist Max Frei-Sulzer (1913-83)[34] founds the Zurich Police Scientific Laboratory and would be its Director for the next twenty-five years[35]. See future "1973" and "1978".

1950a Publication of French surgeon Pierre Barbet (1884–1961)'s book, La Passion de N. S. Jesus-Christ selon le Chirurgien, which would in 1953 be translated into English as, "A Doctor at Calvary"[36].

1950b May. First International Shroud Congress held in Rome and Turin[37]. Barbet presented a report showing how the various `bloody' stains on the Shroud, exhibit the subtlest morphological characteristics of the stains and marks of coagulated blood[38].

1950c Fr. Adam Otterbein (1916-98) founds the "Holy Shroud Guild" in Esopus, New York[70].

1955a Easter. British war hero, Group Captain Leonard Cheshire,

[Left (enlarge)[40]: Front page photo of the Shroud face in Britain's Daily Sketch of 7 March 1955.]

VC (1917-92), publishes articles about the Shroud with a photograph of its face in the British Daily Sketch and Picture Post magazines[41]. For many in the UK this was their first and lasting introduction to the Shroud[42]. One of those for whom the photograph of the Shroud in Cheshire's Picture Post article was his first and lasting introduction to the Shroud, is Ian Wilson:

"During that same year [1955], flicking through a popular weekly journal called Picture Post I came across an article by World War Two hero Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC on the subject of the Turin Shroud. In my rampantly anti-Christian mindset of that time, any Roman Catholic relic automatically had to be a fake. But in this particular instance my strong interests in art and art history came into play. Priding myself that I could look at any section of an `old master' and identify the artist from the style, the sight of the Shroud's `photographic' face and body image - to my eyes so self-evidently not the work of any artist - profoundly challenged my hitherto complacent agnosticism"[43].
1955b 11 May. "Cheshire receives a letter from Mrs. Veronica Woollam of Gloucester, asking if her ten-year-old daughter Josephine, crippled with osteomyelitis in the hip and leg, 'could be blessed with the relic of the Holy Shroud'. Cheshire takes Josephine and her mother by train, first to Portugal, for ex-King Umberto's permission, then to Turin in the hope of her being healed via the Shroud. The Shroud is taken out of its casket [by order of the Archbishop of Turin, Cardinal Maurilio Fossati (r. 1930-65)], its seals are broken and Josephine is allowed to put her hand in beneath the silk covering. But it is not unrolled. Although there was no immediate change in Josephine's condition, she later recovers to lead a normal life, though she will die young"[44] (1945-81 = 36).

1957 Discovery of the Sakli or 'Hidden' Church, after a landslide had

[Above (enlarge)[45]: Sakli (Hidden) Church, Goreme. The fresco depicting the Image of Edessa/Shroud tetradiplon "four-doubled' is above the arch (see below).]

blocked its entrance for five hundred years[46]. It is one of the abandoned rock-cut churches in the Goreme region of Cappadocia (Acts 2:9; 1 Peter 1:1), central Turkey, about halfway between Urfa/Edessa and Istanbul/Constantinople[47]. It is also one of the least visited of those churches because it can be reached only by a steep, rocky track which requires the help of a guide to find it[48]. Above one

[Above (enlarge)[49]: Tenth to mid-eleventh century fresco copy of the Image of Edessa, in the church of St. John at Sakli, Cappadocia[50]. See its equivalent area of the Shroud below.]

[Above (enlarge)[51]: The equivalent portion of the Shroud when "doubled in four" compared to the Sakli fresco (above). See "5. Fourth doubling" in my "Tetradiplon and the Shroud of Turin."]

of its arches is a fresco painting of a wide piece of cloth imprinted with a sepia-coloured, front-facing face of Jesus with a striking semblance to the equivalent area of the Shroud we know today[52]. Wilson sums up the evidence for this 10th-11th century Sakli fresco being a copy of the face one-eighth of Shroud (see above), "A full two centuries earlier than the earliest date [1260] attributed to the Shroud by radiocarbon dating"[53]:

"One particularly interesting Edessa cloth copy ... is painted above an arch in the Sakli or `Hidden' church in the Goreme region of central Turkey ... It dates to the tenth or early eleventh century and, despite some damage to the face, its general resemblance to the facial portion on the Shroud is really quite remarkable. There is the same sepia-coloured, disembodied, rigidly frontal face on the same landscape cloth ... And when we know, as we do from the Official History, that this same Edessa cloth's imprint had the appearance of `a moist secretion without colouring or painter's art', then can we really believe that this could not have been our Shroud?"[54]
See 23Aug12, 18May14, 20Jan17, 13May17 & 18Mar18.

1959 18 December. Formation of the Centro Internazionale di Sindonologia International Center for the Turin Shroud) in Turin[55]. Its first Director was Prof. Giovanni Judica-Cordiglia[56]. In the same year the Centro began publication of its journal Sindon, with articles predominantly in Italian and French[57].

1960 December. Willard Libby wins the Nobel prize in Chemistry for his discovery and development of radiocarbon dating (see above)[58].

1963 Book "The Shroud" by John Evangelist Walsh (1927-2015) is published with the following words in its preface which "remain as relevant today as they were then"[59]:

"Only this much is certain: The Shroud of Turin is either the most awesome and instructive relic of Jesus Christ in existence - showing us in its dark simplicity how He appeared to men - or it is one of the most ingenious, most unbelievably clever, products of the human mind and hand on record. It is one or the other; there is no middle ground" (my emphasis)[60].

1965 Italian priest, artist and Shroud scholar, Giulio Ricci (1913-95), visits Oviedo, Spain searching for the "sudarium" mentioned in John 20:6-7[61]. Ricci photographs the Sudarium of Oviedo (see above) and back in Italy compares his photographs of the Sudarium with those of the Shroud[63]. Ricci "found a perfect correspondence" between bloodstains on the Sudarium and the Shroud (see below)[64]. Ricci

[Above (enlarge)[65]: Mapping by Ricci of bloodstains and imprints on the Sudarium of Oviedo (left) to the face of the Shroud (right). As can be seen, there are a least 11 "remarkable agreement[s]" between the Sudarium and the Shroud[66].]

concluded that the Sudarium of Oviedo was "the napkin [Greek soudarion, which had been on his [Jesus'] head" (Jn 20:7)[67]. But then the Shroud cannot have been the work of a 13-14th century forger, as claimed by the 1260-1390 radiocarbon dating, because the "Sudarium ... came from the East about four centuries [sic seven centuries 1355 - 616 = 739 (see "614" and "c1355")] before the Holy Shroud appeared in the West"[68]!

1966a Shroud historian Ian Wilson experimentally proves that the Image of Edessa/Mandylion was the Shroud "four doubled" (tetradiplon)[69] (see below), with the Shroud face uppermost in landscape aspect in one of the one-eighths folds (see 13Jul21), by taking a full-length photograph of the Shroud and doubling it four

[Above (enlarge): Tetradiplon and the Shroud of Turin illustrated: The full-length Shroud of Turin (1); is doubled three times (2) through (4) keeping the man's face uppermost); resulting in the man's face within a rectangle, in landscape aspect (4); and the Shroud having been "four-doubled" in side view (5). Exactly as depicted in early copies of the Image of Edessa, such as the 11th century Sakli church, Turkey (6). From 15Sep12]

times, so that the face one-eighth was uppermost in landscape aspect. Here in Wilson's own words is his account of his `Secondo Pia' discovery':

"Yes it was a very real and indeed a very moving moment, though the exact date was one that I never recorded, not least because at the time I had absolutely no idea of all that might subsequently flow from it. To the best of my recollection it would have been around the summer of 1966, probably early evening, and at my parents' home in south London. I was staying there after having recently left a job that had been based in Oxford (with Oxfam), and whilst doing a three month stint of `Shroud history' researches at the then Reading Room of the British Museum. I know that I had earlier (when still living in Oxford), purchased volume VIII of Roberts and Donaldson's Ante-Nicene Fathers, which has translations of the New Testament Apocrypha. And it was whilst reading the `Acts of the Holy Apostle Thaddaeus' in this that a footnote at the bottom of page 558 `Lit., doubled in four' struck my attention. It was so early in my researches that I did not even have to hand any readily usable full length photo suitable for performing the folding experiment. But I had a very strong feeling that it was going to work, so at the time hastily improvised by cutting out a photo from a newspaper article. Then the moment that I saw the result there was what I can only describe a quite extraordinary feeling of `thrill' – an all-encompassing tingling of the spine and incredibly humbling realisation that this was something that had to be significant"[70].

1966b British historian Geoffrey Ashe (1923-2022) wrote (having showed by an experiment in 1961 that placing a linen cloth over a heated brass horse ornament (below), "a scorch can produce an image

[Above (enlarge)[71]: Geoffrey Ashe's brass horse ornament which when heated and a white handerchief placed over it for a few seconds a "scorch-picture" formed[72] (see positive image below).]

[Above (enlarge)[73]: Positive image formed by a scorch on a white handerchief placed over the heated brass horse ornament sbove.]

[Above (enlarge)[74]: Negative of positive phototograph sbove.]

that not only reproduces details as small as an eighth of an inch, but that also, when photographed, yields a positive image on the photographic negative"[75]):

"But the Christian Creed has always affirmed that Our Lord underwent an unparalleled transformation in the tomb: his case is exceptional, and here perhaps is the key. It is at least intelligible (and has indeed been suggested several times) that the physical change of the body at the Resurrection may have released a brief and violent burst of some other radiation than heat — perhaps scientifically identifiable, perhaps not — which scorched the cloth. In this case the Shroud is a quasi-photograph of Christ returning to life, produced by a kind of radiance or `incandescence' partially analogous to heat in its effects"[76].
A claimed major problem with Ashe's scorch theory is that scorches caused by heat fluoresce but the Shroud image doesn't fluoresce[77]. Another is that a scorch on a cloth draped over a hot statue or bas relief causes hot spots in the image, but there are no hot spots on the Shroud image[78]. But these criticism are straw men which miss the point of Ashe's actual theory. Which is that, "some other radiation than heat ... scorched the cloth ... a kind of radiance or `incandescence' partially analogous to heat in its effects" (see above). And in 2011 Shroudie scientists, under the auspices of ENEA (the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development), using a vacuum ultraviolet excimer laser, succeeded in producing on linen the closest characteristics of the Shroud image yet (see 22Dec11 & 06Jan12). And, what makes Ashe's theory so important (although of two leading Shroudies I asked for a photo of Ashe's brass horse ornament neither had one, as I didn't), the ENEA laser's ultraviolet light scorch on linen did not fluoresce:
"Instead, the results of ENEA `show that a short and intense burst of VUV directional radiation can color a linen cloth so as to reproduce many of the peculiar characteristics of the body image on the Shroud of Turin, including shades of color, the surface color of the fibrils of the outer linen fabric, and the absence of fluorescence'" (my emphasis)[79].
I will post an entry, "Ashe, G.," next in my Turin Shroud Encyclopedia.

1967 Leo Vala (c.1921-), a London photographer[80] and an agnostic[81], made the first three-dimensional reproduction of the Shroud face by using twin epidiascopes[82] to beam negatives of the Shroud face onto a lump of clay and then sculpting it[83] (below).

[Above: Leo Vala holds a negative photograph of the Shroud face (left) and the three dimensional clay sculpture he created from it (centre)[84]. See also 11Jun16 & 05Feb17]

Vala published his experiment in the March 8, 1967 issue of Amateur Photographer, stating in the article:

"I've been involved in the invention of many complicated visual processes, and I can tell you that no one could have faked that image. No one could do it today with all the technology we have. It's a perfect negative. It has a photographic quality that is extremely precise." (my emphasis)[85].
Vala became a critic of anyone who thought the image could have been produced by human hands[86].

1968 An ossuary (stone bone box) is found inside a Jewish tomb

[Above (enlarge)[87]: The ossuary bearing the inscription in Hebrew, "Yehohanan (or Jehohanan), son of Hagakol"[88].]

accidentally uncovered by building contractors working in Giv'at ha-Mivtar, a Jewish neighborhood in northern Jerusalem[89]. Jehohanan's grave was among a group of burials dating from the first century[90]. It was a Greek Orthodox monk-archaeologist Vassilios Tzaferis (1936 -2015) who discovered the ossuary and inside it the remains of a crucified man[91]. Inside the ossuary, Tzaferis found a heel bone with a ~7 inch (~17-18 cm) iron nail driven through it and a piece of olive wood attached[92] (below),

[Above (enlarge): "The calcaneus of Yehohanon ben Hagkol, with transfixed nail. Left: A reconstruction of what the foot may have looked like around the time of death. (Image used with kind permission of Joe Zias.)"[93].]

indicating that the occupant of the ossuary had been nailed to a cross[94]. Despite the hundreds of thousands of Roman crucifixion victims, it still is the only discovered physical remains of one[95]. The ossuary bore the inscription in Hebrew, "Jehohanan the son of Hagkol"[96]. The Jewish burial practice of that time was secondary burial: to lay out a corpse inside a burial cave and after the flesh had decomposed, leaving only the skeleton, the bones were gathered into an ossuary, a simple stone box[97]. In Christian iconography, Jesus is depicted with both feet nailed to the front of the vertical beam of the cross[98], but this man's feet had been affixed to the sides of the beam with nails hammered separately through each heel[99]. The archaeologist who first described Jehohanan's remains, Nicu Haas (c. 1927-87), believed that scratches on his radius bone at the wrist end of the forearm were due to "friction, grating and grinding between the radial bone and the nail towards the end of the crucifixion"[100] and that that Jehohanan had been suspended on his cross from nails driven through the forearm just above the wrist[101]. However, Jewish archaeologists Joe Zias and Eliezer Sekeles, reexamined the crucifixion remains and claimed the presence of the scratch in one of the forearms "was not convincing" evidence of a nail wound and that Jehohanan had been tied, rather than nailed, to the horizontal bar[102]. But as former Jerusalem archaelogist, Eugenia Nitowski (1949-2007) pointed out:

"If we argue merely from photographic evidence, in ... Haas's Israel Exploration journal article a dent can be seen exactly where a nail would be driven, and at no other place can dents or scratches be found on the radius. Coincidence?"[103].
Both of Jehohanan's lower legs had been broken, evidence of the Roman practice of crurifragium: breaking a crucifixion victim's legs to hasten death (Jn 19:31-33) by preventing him from raising up to breathe[104].

Continued in the next part #27 of this series.

Notes:
1. This post is copyright. I grant permission to extract or quote from any part of it (but not the whole post), provided the extract or quote includes a reference citing my name, its title, its date, and a hyperlink back to this page. [return]
2. Ricci, G., 1981, "The Holy Shroud," Center for the Study of the Passion of Christ and the Holy Shroud: Milwaukee WI, p.140. [return]
3. Wilson, I., 2010, "The Shroud: The 2000-Year-Old Mystery Solved," Bantam Press: London, p.275; "Military history of Italy during World War II: Italy enters the war: June 1940," Wikipedia, 7 February 2022. [return]
4. Volckringer, J.. 1942. "Le Saint-Suaire de Turin: le probleme des empreintes devant la science ("The Shroud of Turin: Science Confronts the Imprints")," Procure du Carme de 1'Action de Graces, Paris. [return]
5. Extract from cover of Volckringer, J., 1991, "The Holy Shroud: Science Confronts the Imprints," [1942], Harper, V., transl., Morgan, R., ed., Runciman Press: Manly NSW, Australia. [return]
6. Wilson, I. & Miller, V., 1986, "The Evidence of the Shroud," Guild Publishing: London, pp.98-99; Morgan, R., ed., in Volckringer, 1991, p.9; Wilson, I., 1991a, "Recent publications," BSTS Newsletter, No. 28, April/May, p.22-23, 22; Danin, A., Whanger, A.D., Baruch, U. & Whanger, M., 1999, "Flora of the Shroud of Turin," Missouri Botanical Garden Press: St. Louis MO, p.8. [return]
7. Wilson, I., 1991b, "Obituary: Dr. Jean Volckringer," BSTS Newsletter, No. 29, September. [return]
8. Morgan, R., ed., in Volckringer, 1991, p.9. [return]
9. "Benito Mussolini: Path to defeat," Wikipedia, 12 February 2022. [return]
10. "Benito Mussolini: Dismissed and arrested," Wikipedia, 12 February 2022. [return]
11. "Victor Emmanuel III of Italy: Coup d'état against Mussolini," Wikipedia, 10 February 2022. [return]
12. "Italian campaign (World War II): Invasion of mainland Italy," Wikipedia, 13 February 2022. [return]
13. "Victor Emmanuel III of Italy: Armistice with the Allies," Wikipedia, 10 February 2022. [return]
14. "Benito Mussolini: Italian Social Republic ("Salò Republic")," Wikipedia, 12 February 2022. [return]
15. Morgan, R., 1991, "Did the Templars Take the Shroud to England?: New Evidence from Templecombe," in Berard, A., ed., 1991, "History, Science, Theology and the Shroud," Symposium Proceedings, St. Louis Missouri, June 22-23, 1991, The Man in the Shroud Committee of Amarillo, Texas: Amarillo TX, pp.205-232, 209-210. [return]
16. Wilson, I. & Schwortz, B., 2000, "The Turin Shroud: The Illustrated Evidence," Michael O'Mara Books: London, p.116. [return]
17. Morgan, R., 1980, "Perpetual Miracle: Secrets of the Holy Shroud of Turin by an Eye Witness," Runciman Press: Manly NSW, Australia, p.40; Maher, R.W., 1986, "Science, History, and the Shroud of Turin," Vantage Press: New York NY, p.95; Currer-Briggs, N., 1995, "Shroud Mafia: The Creation of a Relic?," Book Guild: Sussex UK, p.200; Iannone, J.C., 1998, "The Mystery of the Shroud of Turin: New Scientific Evidence," St Pauls: Staten Island NY, p.137; Guerrera, V., 2001, "The Shroud of Turin: A Case for Authenticity," TAN: Rockford IL, p.9. [return]
18. "June 1, 1944 (Thursday)," Wikipedia, 10 February 2022. [return]
19. "Victor Emmanuel III of Italy: Armistice with the Allies," Wikipedia, 10 February 2022. [return]
20. "Benito Mussolini: Death," Wikipedia, 12 February 2022. [return]
21. "Victory in Europe Day," Wikipedia, 13 February 2022. [return]
22. "Victory over Japan Day," Wikipedia, 16 January 2022. [return]
23. "File:Umberto II, 1944.jpg," Wikimedia Commons, 24 December 2021. [return]
24. "Umberto II of Italy," Wikipedia, 10 February 2022. [return]
25. Guerrera, 2001, p.20. [return]
26. "Victor Emmanuel III of Italy: 1946 referendum," Wikipedia, 10 February 2022. [return]
27. Bowman, S., 1990, "Radiocarbon Dating," Interpreting the Past, British Museum Publications: London, p.9; "Willard Libby: Radiocarbon dating," Wikipedia, 28 January 2022. [return]
28. Wilson, I., 1998, "The Blood and the Shroud: New Evidence that the World's Most Sacred Relic is Real," Simon & Schuster: New York NY, p.301; Wilson, 2010, p.307; "1946 Italian institutional referendum: Aftermath," Wikipedia, 25 January 2022. [return]
29. "Victor Emmanuel III of Italy: 1946 referendum," Wikipedia, 10 February 2022. [return]
30. Stevenson, K.E. & Habermas, G.R., 1981, "Verdict on the Shroud: Evidence for the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ," Servant Books: Ann Arbor MI, p.30; Stevenson, K.E. & Habermas, G.R., 1990, "The Shroud and the Controversy," Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville TN, p.47; Tribbe, F.C., 2006, "Portrait of Jesus: The Illustrated Story of the Shroud of Turin," Paragon House Publishers: St. Paul MN, Second edition, pp.44-45; Oxley, M., 2010, "The Challenge of the Shroud: History, Science and the Shroud of Turin," AuthorHouse: Milton Keynes UK, p.208; Wilson, 2010, pp.54-55; 307. [return]
31. Tribbe, 2006, p.5; Wilson, 2010, p.307; "Umberto II of Italy: In exile," Wikipedia, 10 February 2022. [return]
32. Morgan, 1980, p.47; Wilson, 1998, p.301; Moretto, G., 1999, "The Shroud: A Guide," Neame, A., transl., Paulist Press: Mahwah NJ, p.32. [return]
33. Morgan, 1980, p.47; Wilson, 1998, p.301; Moretto, 1999, p.32; Wilson, 2010, pp.275, 307. [return]
34. "Frei-Sulzer, Max," Encyclopedia.com, 2019. [return]
35. Wilson, 1998, p.101. [return]
36. Scavone, D.C., 1989, "The Shroud of Turin: Opposing Viewpoints," Greenhaven Press: San Diego CA, p.25; Ruffin, C.B., 1999, "The Shroud of Turin: The Most Up-To-Date Analysis of All the Facts Regarding the Church's Controversial Relic," Our Sunday Visitor: Huntington IN, p.17; Tribbe, 2006, p.54. [return]
37. Wilson, 1998, p.301; de Wesselow, T., 2012, "The Sign: The Shroud of Turin and the Secret of the Resurrection," Viking: London, p.21. [return]
38. Barbet, P., 1987, "Proof of the Authenticity of the Shroud in the Bloodstains: Part I.," Shroud Spectrum International, No. 22, March, pp.2-10; Petrosillo, O. & Marinelli, E., 1996, "The Enigma of the Shroud: A Challenge to Science," Scerri, L.J., transl., Publishers Enterprises Group: Malta, p.207; Baima-Bollone, P. & Zaca, S., 1998, "The Shroud Under the Microscope: Forensic Examination," Neame, A., transl., St Pauls: London, p.18. [return]
70. Otterbein, A.J., 1993, "Greetings from the Holy Shroud Guild to the Rome Symposium," Shroud Spectrum International, No. 42, December, pp.5-6, 5; Tribbe, 2006, p.8. [return]
40. Sorene, P., 2014, "`Saint' Leonard Cheshire VC: I `Saw The Face of Christ' In The Turin Shroud, Survived Nagasaki And Opened For Pink Floyd," Flashback, 25 August. [return]
41. Wilson, 1998, p.301. [return]
42. Wilson, I., 1992, "Obituary: Lord Cheshire, VC, OM," BSTS Newsletter, No. 32, September, pp.14-15. [return]
43. Wilson, 2010, p.vii. [return]
44. Wilson, 1998, p.301; Foley, C., 1985, "More Than I Went to Ask For," Shroud Spectrum International No. 15, June, pp.13-21; Morgan, 1980, pp.162-163. [return]
45. "Photo: Sakli (Hidden) Church, (C12th)," TripAdvisor, 2022. [return]
46. Wilson, 2010, p.172. [return]
47. Wilson, 1998, p.150. [return]
48. Wilson, 2010, p.l12. [return]
49. Wilson, 2010, pl.22b. [return]
return]
51. Extract from Latendresse, M., 2010, "Shroud Scope: Durante 2002 Vertical," Sindonology.org. [return]
52. Wilson, 2010, p.112. [return]
53. Wilson, 2010, p.112. [return]
54. Wilson, 1998, p.151. [return]
55. Wilson, 1998, p.301; de Wesselow, 2012, p.21. [return]
56. Oxley, 2010, p.199. [return]
57. Tribbe, 2006, p.136. [return]
58. Bowman, 1990, p.10; Gove, H.E., 1996, "Relic, Icon or Hoax?: Carbon Dating the Turin Shroud," Institute of Physics Publishing: Bristol UK, p.315; Petrosillo & Marinelli, 1996, p.135; Wilson, 2010, p.85; "Willard Libby: Radiocarbon dating," Wikipedia, 28 January 2022. [return]
59. Oxley, 2010, p.199. [return]
60. Walsh, J.E., 1963, "The Shroud," Random House: New York NY, pp.x-xii. [return]
61. Bennett, J., 2001, "Sacred Blood, Sacred Image: The Sudarium of Oviedo: New Evidence for the Authenticity of the Shroud of Turin," Ignatius Press: San Francisco CA, pp.17, 197. [return]
63. Ricci, 1981, p.137. [return]
64. Ricci, 1981, p.137. [return]
65. Ricci, 1981, p.139. [return]
66. Ricci, 1981, p.138. [return]
67. Ricci, 1981, p.143. [return]
68. Ricci, 1981, p.138. [return]
69. Wilson, I., 1979, "The Shroud of Turin: The Burial Cloth of Jesus Christ?," [1978], Image Books: New York NY, Revised edition, p.120; Wilson & Miller, 1986, pp.112-113; Wilson, I., 1991c, "Holy Faces, Secret Places: The Quest for Jesus' True Likeness," Doubleday: London, p.141; Wilson, 1998, p.152; Wilson, & Schwortz, 2000, p.111; Antonacci, M., 2000, "Resurrection of the Shroud: New Scientific, Medical, and Archeological Evidence," M. Evans & Co: New York NY, p.132; de Wesselow, 2012, p.288I. [return]
70. Ian Wilson, "Re: What was the date of your `Secondo Pia' discovery?," Email 12 December 2016 8:08 AM, to S.E. Jones (emphasis Wilson's) [return]
71. Ashe, G., 1966, "What Sort of Picture?" Sindon, No. 10, April, pp.15-19, 16a & Wilcox, R.K., 1977, "Shroud," Macmillan: New York NY, p.125. [return]
72. Ashe, 1966, p.16. [return]
73. Ashe, 1966, p.16b & Wilcox, 1977, p.124. [return]
74. Ashe, 1966, p.16c & Wilcox, 1977, p.124. [return]
75. Humber, T., 1978, "The Sacred Shroud," [1974], Pocket Books: New York NY, pp.197-198; Morgan, 1980, p.74; Drews, R., 1984, "In Search of the Shroud of Turin: New Light on Its History and Origins," Rowman & Littlefield: Lanham MD, p.18; Petrosillo & Marinelli, 1996, p.221; Guerrera, 2001, p.74; Oxley, 2010, p.211. [return]
76. Ashe, 1966, p.18; Tribbe, 2006, p.217. [return]
77. Wilson & Miller, 1986; Wilson, & Schwortz, 2000, p.128; Guerrera, 2001, p.74. [return]
78. Schwalbe, L.A. & Rogers, R.N., 1982, "Physics and Chemistry of the Shroud of Turin: Summary of the 1978 Investigation," Reprinted from Analytica Chimica Acta, Vol. 135, No. 1, pp.3-49, Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co: Amsterdam, 1982, pp.27-28. [return]
79. Tosatti, M., 2011, "The Shroud is not a fake," The Vatican Insider, 12 December. [return]
80. Morgan, 1980, p.128; Wilson, & Schwortz, 2000, p.36; Tribbe, 2006, pp.144, 254. [return]
81. Humber, 1978, p.199; Wilson, 1998, p.19; Wilson, 2010, p.21. [return]
82. Wilson, 1979, p.35; Zugibe, F.T., 2005, "The Crucifixion of Jesus: A Forensic Inquiry," M. Evans & Co.: New York NY, p.234; Tribbe, 2006, p.254. [return]
83. Wilson, 1979, pp.34-35; Morgan, 1980, pp.128-129; Tribbe, 2006, pp.144, 188, 254. [return]
84. Wilson, & Schwortz, 2000, p.34. [return]
85. Vala, L., 1967, "The Holy Shroud of Turin," Amateur Photographer, March 8, pp.332-335, in Wilcox, 1977, pp.130-131 & Wilson, 2010, p.21. [return]
86. Wilcox, 1977, p.131. [return]
87. Friedman, M., 2012, "In a stone box, the only trace of crucifixion," Times of Israel, 26 March. [return]
88. Guerrera, 2001, p.84; "Jehohanan," Wikipedia, 26 December 2021. [return]
89. Wilson, 1998, p.44; "Jehohanan," Wikipedia, 26 December 2021. [return]
90. Petrosillo & Marinelli, 1996, p.227; Iannone, 1998, p.60; Wilson, 1998, p.44; Ruffin, 1999, p.48; Antonacci, 2000, p.116; Oxley, 2010, p.120. [return]
91. Morgan, 1980, p.104; Roddy, N., 2019, "The Orthodox Monk-Archaeologist who Discovered a Crucified Man," Public Orthodoxy, May 23; "Vassilios Tzaferis," Wikipedia, 24 February 2021. [return]
92. Morgan, 1980, p.104; Adams, F.O., 1982, "Sindon: A Layman's Guide to the Shroud of Turin," Synergy Books: Tempe AZ, p.76; Iannone, 1998, p.60; Wilson, 1998, p.44; Antonacci, 2000, p.116; Guerrera, 2001, p.84; Tribbe, 2006, p.63. [return]
93. Killgrove, K., 2015, "This Bone is the Only Skeletal Evidence for Crucifixion in the Ancient World," Forbes, 8 December. [return]
94. Friedman, 2012. [return]
95. Morgan, 1980, p.104; Iannone, 1998, p.60; Antonacci, 2000, pp.24, 115; Oxley, 2010, p.120. [return]
96. "Jehohanan," Wikipedia, 26 December 2021. [return]
97. Antonacci, 2000, p.106; Friedman, 2012. [return]
98. Friedman, 2012. [return]
99. Friedman, 2012. [return]
100. Morgan, 1980, p.104; Meacham, W., 1983, "The Authentication of the Turin Shroud: An Issue in Archaeological Epistemology," Current Anthropology, Vol. 24, No. 3, June, pp.283-311, 290; Iannone, 1998, p.60; Antonacci, 2000, p.24; Tribbe, 2006, p.64. [return]
101. Drews, 1984, p.25. [return]
102. Wilson, 1998, p.46; Friedman, 2012. [return]
103. Wilson, 1998, p.48. [return]
104. Adams, 1982, p.76; Iannone, 1998, pp.60, 62; Antonacci, 2000, pp.24, 116., 120; Tribbe, 2006, p.64; Wilson, 1998, p.45. [return]

Posted 11 February 2022. Updated 17 February 2026.