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| Part 2. History of the Shroud |
The Turin Shroud officially entered history with its first public showing in 1357, but the cloth had been in the possession of its owner for some time, and had been owned by several others before that, though no-one was saying where it had come from. Consequently, we can only build up a theory based on what evidence there is, and our powers of reason. |
1204
AD
As mentioned before, the Mandylion,
which was the most famous 'true likeness' in Christendom, disappeared
from Constantinople during the sacking of the city by the Crusaders.
Many religious treasures were dispersed to Rome and throughout France. |
1204-1291 AD The Knights Templar who sacked Constantinople gained the reputation of having a secret ritual, in which they worshipped an 'idol' which was a mysterious face, or head, which was described as red and bearded. (Note: the image on the Shroud is reddish-brown in colour) |
1306 AD The treasures of the Knights Templar were brought to France by the Order's Grand Master, Jaques de Molay, and installed in the Temple at Paris. |
1307 AD King Phillip of France ordered the arrest of all Templars. This was because they had secrets, wealth and power which the Church and State could not control. In particular, they worshipped an 'idol' (see above). This object, the so-called idol, was never found by any of the soldiers arresting them, or church authorities interrogating them. |
1314
AD Jaques de Molay was burnt at the stake
in Paris for heresy, along with the Grand Master of Templars of
Normandy, Geoffrey de Charnay. |
1353
AD A
French knight, also called Geoffrey de Charnay, (who was very possibly
related to the de Charnay who was burnt at the stake in 1314 - see
above), began construction of a special chapel, the Collegiate Church
of Lirey. He gave no official reason for wanting to build this chapel,
but he obviously had a reason for this special building; moreover,
all Knights Templar churches had been 'collegiate' chapels, i.e.
churches built to act as centres of learning as well as worship. |
1356
AD In May this year, the chapel at Lirey was
officially dedicated (opened). In September this year, Geoffrey
de Charnay was killed in battle. |
1357
AD First public exhibition of the object now
called the 'Holy Shroud'. The widow of Geoffrey de Charnay exhibited
the Shroud in the chapel at Lirey. It was the first of many public
exhibitions arranged by her. Special medals of these expositions
were struck as souvenirs for pilgrims; one of them can be seen in
the Cluny Museum, France. |
1357-1453
AD During this century the Shroud was exhibited
many times by its owners, the descendants of Geoffry de Charnay.
There were constant battles between the family and the Church over
ownership of the Shroud. |
1453
AD Margaret de Charnay, the Shroud's then
owner, signed over possession of the Shroud to Louis, current Duke
of the House of Savoy - a french noble family. In 1464 he paid the
Church authorities at Lirey 50 gold francs as compensation for their
loss. |
1502
AD
The Shroud was brought to the chapel of Chambery castle, France,
which became its permanent home. |
1506
AD Pope Julius II assigns a special day, 4th May,
as the Feast of the Holy Shroud. It may have been exhibited on this
day every year for some time. |
1532
AD There was a very serious fire in the chapel at
Chambery, and the Shroud was badly damaged. It retains scorch marks
from the fire, and water stains made during the attempt to douse
the flames. It was actually holed in several places, and patches
were sewn on by Poor Clare nuns. |
| Between
1502 and 1578 the Shroud remained at Chambery, and The image left is an artist's impression of that showing. Click on the image to see an enlarged view |
1578
AD The Shroud was taken to Turin, Italy, for exhibition,
and did not return to Chambery again. |
1694
AD The Shroud was placed in the royal chapel of
Turin Cathedral, in a special shrine designed for it. It was exhibited
several times in the 1700s. |
1800 AD During the 1800s, the Shroud was exhibited at Turin in 1804, 1815, 1842, 1868 and 1898. |
1898
AD 25th May. First day of an 8-day exhibition of
the Shroud at Turin, during which an Italian photographer, Secondo
Pia, took the very first photographs of it. |
1902
AD Yves Delage, Professor of Anatomy at the Sorbonne
in Paris, completes his investigations based on the Pia Secondo
images, and declares the Shroud to be genuine. |
1931
AD A memorable exposition was called from 3 to 24 May 1931,
to celebrate the wedding of Umberto di Savoia with the Belgian princess
Maria José on 8 January 1930. 1933 AD Pio IX called an exposition of the Shroud from 24 September to 15 October 1933, to celebrate in a solemn way the extraordinary Holy Year. |
1969
AD
From 16 to 18 of June 1969 a private exposition was prepared in
the Chapel of Cristo Crocifisso in the Royal palace, to allow a
reconnaissance of the linen by a group
of experts nominated by Cardinal M. Pellegrino. |
1973
AD
On 23 November 1973
the Shroud was exhibited in the Salone degli Svizzeri, a large hall
of the Royal Palace of Turin. A large number
of Press and media people were given special access. For
the first time the Exposition was broadcast on television. |
Some fragments of linen were sampled for hematologic and microscopic
analysis, particularly by Dr.Max Frei, criminologist from Zurich.
Threads were examined from those areas of the shroud which appeared
to be most saturated with blood. |
| 1978 AD Between 26 August and 8 October 1978 more than three million people went to venerate the Holy Shroud of Turin. |
At the end of the exposition that took place between 3 and 8 October 1978, 44 scientists were allowed to run tests directly on the Shroud, which was placed on a special revolving table. |
1980
AD A special private exposition was arranged for
Pope John Paul the second, who went to Turin on a pastoral visit
on 13 April 1980. |
1988 AD The Vatican gives permission for carbon-dating tests to be run on the Shroud. Small pieces of linen, and fibres from various parts of the cloth are sent to three separate laboratories in England, USA and Switzerland. The 'experts' declare the Shroud to be a medieval forgery. Read about the Carbon-dating Fiasco |
1997
AD: Fire. The following report was translated from
an Italian newspaper article of the day: |
A
serious fire at Turin Cathedral threatens to destroy the Shroud Mario Trematore ... is the man who saved the Sindon from the flames and from the collapses. When the situation was given up for lost, he dashed amidst the flames and while around him all was collapsing, bursting and burning, with a big iron hammer he began to batter the bullet-proof glass reliquary which protects the relic. He says: "I found the courage in that symbol, the symbol of the Sindon. Only a miracle can explain how I succeeded in breaking the reliquary. When finally all the glass layers gave up and while the beams were falling down, I succeeded in grasping the reliquary with the sudarium in it with both hands and running out with it. Some priests came towards me and everybody burst into tears."' |
1997
AD A
private exposition was organized few days after the fire of the
Cathedral of Turin on 11 April 1997, to see if the linen had been
damaged. Cardinal Saldarini, 'keeper of the Holy Sudarium', assured
that the exposition planned for 1998 would not be compromised. |
1998
AD
Between 18 April and 14 June 1998 more than three million
people went to venerate the Holy Shroud in Turin. |
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