Since 1578, the religious artifact known as The Shroud of Turin has been preserved in the Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista’s royal chapel in Turin, Italy. The ancient, linen cloth is quite large at about 14 feet long by about 4 feet wide. It has a full-length, realistic image of a crucified man, both his front and back. The man displays wounds exactly as described in the Gospels for the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth.
“Is it a forgery or is it genuine?” is the question that many have asked over the centuries. To answer that question, the beginning of the scientific investigation of the Shroud can be traced back to May 28, 1898, when Italian lawyer and amateur photographer Secondo Pia was allowed to take the first photographs of the Shroud. When he developed the photographs, he was astounded to find that the photographic image was negative instead of positive. This means that the lightest areas of the picture are the darkest areas in reality, and vice versa. With this finding, it became more difficult to explain away the Shroud as a forgery because it was hard to imagine how a counterfeiter from the Middle Ages could have created such an effect.
Pia’s photographs caused a sensation, leading to a renewed interest in the authenticity of the Shroud. But it took 80 years, until 1978, for that fascination to reach its peak. It was then that an official investigation named The Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) convened an international team of about 40 scientists and technicians in Turin to examine the Shroud. The team leader was John P. Jackson, a U.S. Air Force Academy physicist from Colorado Springs, Colorado.
There were several key findings by the team. First, they determined that the image was embedded in the cloth. It is not a surface painting or drawing as would be expected for a forgery. Second, the wounds shown on the man in the Shroud are consistent with death by crucifixion. Third, the blood on the Shroud is real human blood of the rare AB type.
The fourth key finding was the most astonishing. The total image of the Shroud has all of the necessary information contained in it for displaying the body in three dimensions! It shows the 3D contours of the body underneath the cloth, including the nose, mouth, and cheekbones, as well as the positions of the arms and legs that are consistent with a human body in rigor mortis.
Since those tests in 1978, the three-dimensionality of the image has been confirmed by other, even more sophisticated scientific methods. This characteristic of the image is one of the most convincing arguments for its authenticity, since it is very difficult indeed to explain how a medieval forger could have ever created it.
Considering the physical effects on the cloth that produces the image, a proposal by some scientists has been that the image was generated by some form of strong radiation emanating from the body. Such a cause would be scientifically consistent with the formation of the information for a 3D image. But there is no physical proof of this speculation, so, how the image on the Shroud was created remains a mystery to this day.
For centuries, the faithful have venerated the cloth as the actual burial shroud of Jesus. While significant scientific evidence now favors that idea, the Vatican still does not recognize the Shroud as a genuine relic. There are two principal reasons. First, a carbon dating test of part of the shroud was conducted in 1988. The result placed the origin of the cloth in the Middle Ages, between 1260 and 1390, not the time of Christ. Second, there is a lack of written evidence tracing the history of the garment back to Jerusalem at the time of Christ. There is no mention of the Shroud in early Christian writings. The first official citation of it dates to the 14th century, about the time indicated by the carbon dating test.
Yet another factor in the Vatican’s decision is the anecdotal, miraculous cures attributed to the Shroud. Thus far, none of these cures have been proven to the satisfaction of the Church. The Vatican has a rigorous process for evaluating and approving reports of miraculous cures. First, the cure must be complete, instantaneous, and lasting. Second, it must be medically inexplicable. and third, it must be attributed to the involvement of the relic. None of the cures associated with the Shroud have passed this process.
The Vatican, therefore, has taken a guarded approach to the Shroud. While it has not declared it to be authentic, neither has it branded the Shroud a forgery. Instead, it calls it a “venerable icon”. Catholics, the Vatican says, should view the Shroud of Turin with “respect and reverence,” but they are not obliged to believe that it is the authentic burial cloth of Jesus Christ.
Most people, including many outside the Catholic Church, find the Shroud of Turin to be a mysterious and intriguing object, and scientific interest in its properties remains high. Some of these observers want to continue investigations of the relic. For example, scientists believe that the carbon dating test, which put its origin in the late 13th century, was flawed. The section of cloth chosen for the test, they say, was from a patch added to the Shroud during the Middle Ages. They want to take a piece from the main part of the Shroud and re-do the test.
But even if that test showed the cloth originated at the time of Christ, the Vatican may not change its position due to the other factors it considers. So how Catholics ultimately view the Shroud of Turin will remain a matter of personal faith and devotion.
Anthony J. Marolda has degrees in physics and is a “Popular Science” writer and painter who resides in Annisquam.