Scientific connection between the Shrouds of Turin and Oviedo?

Shrouds Turin OviedoHere is something of great interest, especially as Passiontide begins.

Via Pewsitter I read that it has been determined that the Shroud of Turin and the Shroud of Oviedo were likely wrapped around the same person.   BTW… did you know that there is such a thing as the Shroud of Oviedo?

(MURCIA, Spain) – A new scientific study conducted by researchers at the Catholic University of Murcia in Spain has confirmed [sort of… maybe] that the Shroud of Turin and the Shroud of Oviedo [the sudarium or cloth around the head] were wrapped around the same person, following up on previously unpublished medical and forensic research. Furthermore, the study has identified [on, I think, the Turin Shroud] a spear wound made in the corpse, which according to the study’s authors “agrees with what is reflected in the Gospel of Saint John.”

The study, led by forensic medical researcher Dr. Alfonso Sánchez Hermosilla, took up the lead of previous research from the same university which had identified a pollen grain on the Oviedo Shroud. This grain, upon examination, was confirmed to belong to the plant Helichrysum Sp., material from which had previously been discovered on the Shroud of Turin. While developing this line of investigation, the research team made an exciting new discovery: the existence of a previously unknown spear incision. [On the Shroud of Turin.]

“The bloodstains … have always been there, but no one had studied them,” said Sánchez Hermosilla. “Previously they had been attributed to marks caused by flogging wounds.” The wound was determined to have been made after death, while the corpse was in a standing position, passing between two ribs near the spine in an upwards direction. The forensic team were further able to declare that the wound had been made by “someone with experience,” because the blade had not scored the rib bones in its passing. A Roman soldier tasked to execution detail would plausibly have had this skill.

Very interesting stuff, this.

Pewsitter links to their original source.   ACI Prensa is HERE

FWIW – I earnestly implore Pewsitter to STOP linking to a google translated page.  Grrrr.  Annoying.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in Just Too Cool and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

14 Comments

  1. Vincent says:

    Now how about someone tries to match the wound against the profile of Longinus’ lance, which is reputedly in one of the pillars in St Peter’s Basilica?

    I have seen an article showing the similarities between the Sudarium and Shroud and am already pretty convinced. It seems to me that the sheer body of evidence supporting the Shroud as the Real Deal® (apart from the idiotic radiocarbon dating, of course). The Shroud is the evidence of Our Lord’s divinity which is perfectly suited to the 21st Century, because we have the scientific technology to amass a body of convincing evidence about it.

    There’s a full size copy of the Shroud, backlit very well, in the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Rome. That’s quite something when you’ve just stared at the titulus, nails, etc. Mind you, that’s possibly the most special experience you can get in Rome, apart from maybe going through the Necropolis under St Peter’s and then up into the Basilica…

  2. Lepidus says:

    Very interesting. Actually, I did know about the Sudarium. A few years ago, I read a book by Janice Bennett “Sacred Blood, Sacred Image – The Sudarium of Oviedo”. It takes a look at some of the scientific evidence leading to the credibility of the relic.

    A strange comment in the most recent article makes it sound like the wound in our Lord’s side in the Shroud was never seen before. I am currently reading “Doctor at Calvary” by Dr. Barbet in around 1953, and where talking about what side the wound was on, he says “The shroud bears clear marks of this wound on the left side, and since the images are reversed, this means that it was on the right.” He must have been seeing something.

  3. G. Thomas Fitzpatrick says:

    I have know about it (as the Sudarium) for a long time. I thought I had read that the blood types on the Shroud, the Sudarium, and on the Eucharistic host of Lanciano, match each other, and are the most rare human blood type.

  4. pelerin says:

    G. Thomas Fitzpatrick mentions having read about the matching blood group on both the Shroud of Turin and the Sudarium. I too read about that similarity a few months ago but cannot remember where. Perhaps we read the same report.

  5. adriennep says:

    But what about the Shroud of Turin, and Orviedo, versus the veil of Manopello? Pope Benedict made that holy site his first personal pilgrimage in 2006. The books and videos by Paul Badde are very convincing, and that the veil of Manopello is found depicted in sacred church art. You see very sheer veil with the face of Jesus with eyes just opened (not closed as in the Shroud of Turin)–Death versus moment of Resurrection. There is a big mystery as to the authenticity of the “Veronica’s veil” which has been housed in the Vatican since the building of St. Peter’s, even according to John Paul II. The veil at Manopello just may be the real face veil. It is an image on mussel silk, which is so fragile and rare it cannot take any form of dye or imprint. What is astounding is that you can walk right up to the the class case housing it in the church in Manopello. The eyes follow you. And the image is the same orientation seen from both back and front. It virtually disappears when brought out in sunlight in a procession.

    I just found this web site showing both Sudarium of Orviedo and veil of Manopello superimposed on each other:
    http://manoppello.eu/eng/index.php?go=sudarium

  6. jaykay says:

    Yes, I was familiar with the Sudarium for some years and like Lepidus, I too had read that book “Sacred blood, sacred image”. I was also familiar with Dr. Barbet’s work, and also with more contemporary views of a doctor named Fred Zugibe, who apparently is a medical examiner with lots of experience of homicide trauma, autopsies etc. Very interesting.

  7. Knight from 13904 says:

    The best read on the scientific aspects of the Shroud of Turin I have found is the May 2010 issue of Whistleblower magazine from Wnd.com (WorldNet Daily). Available for purchase for $3.75 and sometimes you can get it for as little as 99 cents.
    http://superstore.wnd.com/Whistleblower-Single-Issue-May-2010
    This goes into the issue of carbon dating of the shroud by the study done in the 70’s. Most people I talk to don’t know that the original scientist that was involved in the carbon dating exercises discovered that the sample that was used for the carbon dating was from a patch to the original fabric. It was not from the original Shroud fabric. The caretakers of the shroud did not want them to cut the fabric for sampling. They would only agree to cutting near the edge.
    One of the topic this magazine goes into great detail on is the 3D nature of the shroud image which could only be explained by the fact that the body was not laying flat and compressed against a surface at the exact moment the image was transferred to the fabric.

    BTW – the scientist that discovered the error in the sampling of the carbon dating testing specialized in textile and fabric analysis . She determined that both the Shroud and the Sudarium fabric, which I recall is a certain type of linen, matched the specific microscopic structural profile for linen grown in that area of Palestine.

  8. mburn16 says:

    “Now how about someone tries to match the wound against the profile of Longinus’ lance, which is reputedly in one of the pillars in St Peter’s Basilica?”

    Unfortunately, the Holy Lance is one of the relics that has multiple claimants. One in Rome, one in Vienna, one in Antioch, and at least a couple more floating around.

    As far as matching the shrouds….either History channel or Discovery channel ran a special quite a few years ago that lined up the blood patterns on the two and confirmed they matched.

  9. Benedict Joseph says:

    GT Fitzgerald and pelerine — Yes I too have read of the corresponding blood type between these relics and Eucharistic miracles. I have the greatest veneration for the Holy Shroud of Turin. I am without doubt regarding its authenticity. The Sudarium of Oviedo and the Veil at Manoppello present different degrees of difficulty to me, but I am far less familiar with the scholarship on them. I’ve seen documentaries on both and they are very compelling. Pope Benedict appears to have great confidence regarding the Veil at Manoppello.
    I’m glad I’m not the only one less than impressed by the google translations one is linked to by Pewsitter. Often tantalizing but I never leave them with confidence that I got an accurate sense of the article.

  10. JamesA says:

    And thank you, Father, for the comment about the Pewsitter links. Grrr, indeed.

  11. pannw says:

    If you google “Comparative Study of the Sudarium of Oviedo and the Shroud of Turin”, you will find a PDF file of the results of a study done in 1998. It would make for appropriate reading during this Passiontide, since it reveals much of the agony Our Lord suffered for us. I came across it several years ago, and then also the matching blood type of the Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano, Universal Recipient type AB. The genius of Our Lord, to have that blood type, by which He would receive into Himself all of the guilt that would have required our own blood. “He who knew no sin, He hath made sin for us.” I have often posted links to this information when atheists insist we are foolish for believing in something with absolutely no evidence. Pshaw…there is a lot of evidence. And that the Eucharist is actually human heart tissue…gives even more meaning to the devotion to The Sacred Heart of Jesus. Our Lord is so awesome! Deo gratias.

  12. Kevin says:

    Witnesses to Mystery by Gorny and Roskin. Reveals study that shows the seamless garment held in a church in France has the same scourge marks as the Shroud, the same pollen and blood as both the Shroud and the Sudarium. Researchers Interviewed on EWTN Live. See link below.
    https://youtu.be/Yn1zyz9Nw_g

  13. JonathanTX says:

    It would be helpful if the actual study were posted online. Couldn’t find it on the Catholic University of Murcia website.

  14. Laura says:

    I agree with adriennep. The Veil of Manoppello is the real deal and the account and investigation as written by journalist Paul Badde, The Face of God: the Rediscovery of the True Face of Jesus (available at Amazon) is amazing. Evidently, the measurements of the veil (which was laid over his face under the sudarium), the sudarium and the shroud all align when superimposed over one another. I have made a pilgrimage to Manoppello and seen the Volto Santo with my own eyes. Scientifically it has been shown to have no dyes or any image placed on the mussel silk whatsoever. It has been in this Capuchin Church for about 500 years and has not deteriorated. The story is that it was stolen away from St Peters for safekeeping during the rebuild and the one housed in the Basilica is a fake. Check this out: http://voltosanto.it/

Comments are closed.