Shroud of Turin's message: 'Believe'

But even without that certainty, the piece of fabric sometimes called �most analyzed artifact in the world,� is a perfect symbol of the Gospel�s passion narratives and of the mystery of Christian faith, according to one U.S. expert who has dedicated three decades of study to the shroud.

That same expert said during a visit to Florida that he is also personally confident of its authenticity based upon what he describes as �a preponderance of evidence.� 

�Nothing has been examined like the shroud, with research published in 24 separate peer-reviewed top scientific journals. It is excellent science that has been done on the shroud and so this makes it intriguing to Catholics and the rest of the world,� said Russ Breault, president and founder of the Shroud of Turin Education Project in Atlanta, Ga., and a member of the Shroud Science Group, an international consortium of scientists and scholars dedicated to research on the shroud.

Breault, who spoke in April to several hundred people at a special presentation at St. Gabriel Parish in Pompano Beach, is also contributing expert to the History Channel, Discovery Channel and CBS programming on the shroud.

�I think the message of the shroud is �believe� � the same message that Jesus had for �doubting Thomas,�� Breault said, �and we have the same opportunity that Thomas had to literally see the wounds all over his body and be �not filled with doubt but filled with faith.��

He asked the audience: �In a time when we communicate more with images than we do with words, is it possible that the shroud is preserved for this moment in time when we are so secular, so skeptical and falling away from the faith in droves?�

The shroud has been the object of several multidisciplinary scientific analyses, but its exact nature and age ultimately remain mysteries.

Carbon-14 dating performed on a tiny piece of cloth in 1998 showed that the cloth probably came from medieval times, but more recently scientists have called that evaluation into question based on the fringe portion of the shroud that was sampled. Other kinds of tests including pollen analysis point to possible origins close to the Holy Land at the time of Christ�s birth.

A long linen cloth made of flax and measuring 14 by 3.5 feet, the Shroud of Turin bears the faint �photonegative� image of a bearded, crucified man with bloodstains that match the wounds of crucifixion suffered by Christ as recorded in all four Gospels.

It has been in Turin, Italy since 1578, and prior to that was in France for another 200 years beginning in 1356. Housed at Turin's St. John the Baptist cathedral, the shroud usually is kept from public view in a specially designed, high-tech case to prevent its disintegration and other damage.

Put briefly on public display on Holy Saturday of this year, the shroud was the centerpiece of a prayer service in which the sick were the special guests, read the prayer petitions and were the first to venerate the holy image.

Pope Francis recently referred to the shroud during a televised program in Italy.

The Vatican has never said that the shroud is actually the burial cloth of Jesus, although many Christians believe it is. Apart from that one-day event this year, the most recent public exhibition of the shroud drew two million visitors during six weeks in 2010; the next public exhibition is scheduled for 2025.

Breault said he first became interested in the shroud as a kind of side-interest to his marketing work and that he believes the cloth is a �singularity,� a one-time miraculous event that �changes everything� and has been of interest to both Protestant and Catholic audiences.

Over the years, skeptics have assumed it was a forgery and work of art; yet no pigments or paint substances are present on the shroud, nor have modern day artists been able to convincingly replicate the shroud image � although over the centuries some 40 (poorly-made) copies have been produced.

The shroud also was a subject of interest for the Nazis: It was reportedly hidden in a remote monastery in southern Italy during World War II to protect it from Adolf Hitler.

For many centuries, the shroud was in the custody of the Savoy royal family of Turin, until the former king of Italy, Humberto II, passed away and willed it to the Church, but apparently with the stipulation that it not leave Turin.

�It is a phenomenal witness to Christ and yet nobody really knows (exactly how the image was created),� said Breault, who believes the best way to understand the image is as a kind of imprint formed by a miraculous light radiated through the fabric at the time of Christ�s resurrection. The image is rendered in a photo-negative format with a three-dimensionality that seems beyond the abilities of forgers or artists of antiquity or even the Middle Ages and later, he added.

Modern scientists have even used computer modeling based on the shroud analysis to create a realistic, three-dimensional facial rendering of what Christ may have looked like.

The face on the shroud "has eyes that are closed; it is the face of one who is dead, and yet mysteriously he is watching us, and in silence he speaks to us," Pope Francis said in his video message broadcast March 30 on Italian state television. The pope's message concerning the shroud was part of the special Holy Saturday exhibition for the Church�s Year of Faith.

�The one thing that convinces me most that it is authentic has nothing to do with science or history, it has to do with theology,� Breault told The Florida Catholic. �Every miracle of Jesus had eyewitnesses and yet the greatest of all miracles had no eye witnesses � but yet there was a kind of witness and that is the linen shroud itself. It becomes a witness for all generations.�

Breault was invited to come to St. Gabriel�s through a fundraising project co-sponsored by the parish women�s council and the Boca Raton-based Cross Catholic Outreach of Cross International, an overseas development agency.

Georgette Meikle, board member of the St. Gabriel�s women�s council, said the shroud presentation is precisely the type of work the women do in order to help the parish and community.

�We had a shroud presentation a few years ago and this one was far superior. I had some questions about the blood and fluids and at the end (Breault) put it all together and tied it up for me and made it authentic. I believe that the shroud is the Christ and that there isn�t any more information we could glean from the shroud.�

Bill Potter of Boca Raton said the presentation opened his eyes to the authenticity of the shroud and that the information needs to be brought in front of the general public. �This is really truly the burial cloth of our Lord; these are things that could not have been faked.�

Catholic News Service reports were used in this story.