The Shroud of Turin #1

Down the Rabbit Hole

2-21-23

Today is the Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus, also know as "Shrove Tuesday" the day before Ash Wednesday. This feast commemorates the visions of our Lord to Sister Marie of Saint Peter in Tours France in the 1840's. During these visions, Jesus requested that a devotion to His Holy Face be established to make reparation for the blasphemies and outrages of “revolutionary men,” (communism), atheists, freethinkers, and for the blasphemy and profanation of Sundays by Christians, all of which He called “poisoned arrows.”

Ugly “Poisoned Arrows”

Jesus gave Sister Marie the following Golden Arrow prayer as a remedy to the “poisoned arrows” of blasphemy:

† May the most Holy, most Sacred, most Adorable,

Most Incomprehensible and Ineffable Name of God

Be always Praised, Blessed, Loved, Adored and Glorified,

In Heaven, on Earth and in Hell,

By all the Creatures of God,

And by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ,

In the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

Amen. †

Two miraculous images of Jesus are associated with the Holy Face Devotion: 1) Veronica’s Veil, said to be the cloth used by Saint Veronica to wipe the face of Jesus during his passion; and 2) the Holy Shroud of Turin, believed by many to be the burial cloth of Christ, which despite being the most scientifically studied object ever, still baffles scientists to this day.

Veronica’s Veil Painting

Shroud of Turin Photographic Negative

---

In commemoration of the Holy Face of Jesus Feast, this post is the first installment looking into the Shroud of Turin. Future posts will address the following questions:

1. What is the Shroud?

2. Is it the true burial cloth of Christ or is it a medieval forgery?

3. If it is the actual picture of Jesus or a fake, how did the image end up on the

   cloth?

4. What is the history of the Shroud?

5. Why has the Shroud survived so many fires?

6. Why do most people dismiss the Shroud as fake?

7. How many repairs and restorations have there been on the Shroud?

8. What is the Shroud’s relationship with the Sudarium head cloth of Oviedo?

9. Why has the Vatican refused to officially recognize the Shroud as authentic?

So many questions that can lead one down a very long rabbit hole.

The Resurrection, Easter, rabbits, what does it all mean?

But let's start simple:

What is the Shroud of Turin?

The Shroud of Turin is a linen cloth approximately 14 feet 5 inches long (4.4 meters) by 3 feet 7 inches wide (1.1 meters). The cloth is woven in a three-to-one herringbone twill pattern.

On this cloth is a very faint outline image of the front and back of a full human male body, scourged and with wrist, ankle and side wounds.

Where is the Shroud of Turin Located?

The Shroud of Turin is currently located in Turin, Italy, where it is kept in the Royal Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist Church . It was last revealed to the public in 2015.

Is the Shroud the Burial Cloth of Christ?

For many Catholics, the image on the Shroud of Turin is believed to be a miracle image left by Jesus on his burial cloth during His resurrection. Do I believe the Shroud of Turin is real?

Yes I do, and future posts will go down the rabbit hole of evidence and history. But I also take it on faith that the Shroud of Turin is actually Jesus' burial cloth because of its overriding supernatural element introduced by science back in 1898. Secondo Pia, an Italian photographer took the FIRST photograph of the Shroud in 1898 when photography was in its infancy. After developing the negative, Secondo discovered that the negative is a positive and that the cloth itself is a negative.

First photographic negative of the face on the Shroud - 1898

This is certainly supernatural in my book, and just looking at the face of Jesus on the Shroud takes me out of my daily drudgery of life and gives me hope for the eternal afterlife. Jesus existed, what He said and taught was true, and He was resurrected from the dead as proved by the Shroud of Turin.

God is saying † "Hey guys, the first selfie!" † And what better selfie than one of Jesus Christ that is still visible to everyone almost two thousand years later.

So, enjoy the Holy Face of Jesus day (for the kiddos aka Jesus "Selfie" Day), recite the Golden Arrow prayer and feel happy! Whatever happens in our lives, Jesus has us covered, and He left proof of that on a linen cloth.

The next post in this series will look into the historical timeline of the Shroud of Turin.

It’s Supernatural!