MADISON The Shroud of Turin — a holy relic or a clever hoax?
For more than a century, it has remained one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the world. Scientists, historians and Christians alike have pondered the authenticity of the Shroud, which many people believe to be the burial cloth of Jesus the Messiah. Whose image does it bear exactly? And how did the image of a crucified man get imprinted on the cloth — by a great miracle of God or by the hands of a talented artist?
Several Popes, such as St. John Paul II, have believed in the miraculous nature of the Shroud but the Vatican has never staked out an official position on this great mystery, which has long divided researchers and believers. Rather, the Church has left it up to individual Catholics to believe — or not. But maybe, what one thinks about the Shroud is irrelevant, said Bill Wingard, founder of the Baltimore-based ministry, Shroud Talks. On March 9, he spoke on the hotly debated burial cloth at Morris Catholic High School, Denville, and St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization at Bayley-Ellard here.
“I believe that the Shroud is the burial cloth of Christ, but you don’t have to,” Wingard told audiences, during his hour-long multimedia presentation that laid out convincing scientific, Scriptural and historical evidence in support of his belief. It featured a 14½-foot long, 3½-foot- wide replica of the Shroud. “I think that God gave us the Shroud to draw us into the story of Jesus’ Passion — God’s total and utter humiliation — where he suffered and died for our salvation. It’s possibly the greatest relic in the Church,” he said.
But more important than the Shroud, “Jesus left us with the Eucharist — his actual Divine Presence. That’s it,” said Wingard, who spoke in the afternoon at Morris Catholic and in the evening at St. Paul’s, under the title “Shrouded in Mystery.” With help from a team of assistants, he gives presentations on the Shroud in several U.S. states, living out his “commitment to spread its message.”
During his talk, Wingard asked the audiences to consider the scientific, Scriptural and historical evidence, which he considers compelling. He showed slides of maps and photos of the many of the locations across Europe that have housed the Shroud over the centuries; photos of the scientific evidence; and paintings, photos and drawings of the cloth. The mystery began in 1898, when the first photo of the Shroud showed the image to be negative — not positive like an actual photo — leaving people — including scientists — to question how it got there, Wingard said.
Intense scientific interest in Shroud continued to 1978, when a team of the world’s top researchers in many fields traveled to Turin, Italy, to conduct a thorough examination of the cloth. They determined that the dirt on it could only be found in Jerusalem. They confirmed that it bears human bloodstains that have stayed the color red — not turning brown with age — caused when a person suffers severe trauma. Researchers also noted that the cloth displays no other bodily secretions, showing that the body did not decay, Wingard said.
“The team issued a report in 1981, which determined that the Shroud bears the image of a crucified man and that it was not made by an artist or photographer,” said Wingard, who added that researchers did not call the Shroud the burial cloth of Jesus.
Yet the 1978 examination of the Shroud was not without problems. Three Carbon 14 dating tests determined that its fibers originated from the Middle Ages, not around the time of the Crucifixion. But in 2005, a scientist realized that the researchers took the samples from only one edge of the cloth, which had been re-stitched centuries later. Also, the first-century Hungarian Pray Manuscript shows an image of a burial cloth that is believed to be the Shroud — another piece of evidence that suggests that it was not a medieval creation, Wingard said.
Not only that, but the scientific evidence on the Shroud corresponds with Gospel accounts of Jesus’ passion and death. The face on the cloth has swollen cheekbones and a broken nose — which might show that the Jewish high priest Caiaphas had the Savior beaten — and marks down the front and back of the body — which possibly shows where Pontius Pilate had him scourged. The Shroud bears bloodstains around the face and at the back of the head like wounds that the crown of thorns on Jesus’ head could have caused. The man’s shoulders bear marks similar to injuries that Christ might have suffered as he carried the cross bar of the Cross of his Crucifixion through the streets of Jerusalem, Wingard said.
“Does the Shroud show any proof of the Resurrection of Christ?” asked Wingard, who offered up the following evidence, suggesting that Jesus’ rising from the dead might have produced intense light that created the image of the crucified man. “Scientists say that the image is made up of millions of tiny dots that would have taken billions of watts of energy in a 40th billionth of a second to produce.”
After his talk in St. Paul’s auditorium, Wingard answered questions from an inquisitive audience. Allan Wright, St. Paul’s academic dean and the event’s master of ceremonies, praised the presenter and called the talk a “lively presentation about the Shroud and faith as well.” Before heading home, audience members took the opportunity to file past and take photos of the large photographic replica of the Shroud and two large photos of negative images of the cloth.
Excited after having viewed the life-like replica, Bob McDermott of Norte Dame of Mount Carmel Parish, Cedar Knolls, told The Beacon that he believes the Shroud to be the actual burial cloth of Christ.
“I buy it. There are too many things that are unexplained otherwise and too many facts that match up [to support the claim of the Shroud’s authenticity] — like the scourge marks. How did they get there?” McDermott said. “The Shroud can deepen people’s faith by being the visual aid that we might need to see. It was great to see it up close like that. It was special,” he said.
[Information on Shroud Talks: Bill Wingard at (410) 308-0195.]