(Author’s note. This is a Lenten article. The source for this article is the documentary film — Secrets of the Shroud, 2004, Pioneer Productions, PBS-funded, WNET New York, script and direction by Alex Hearle.)

The Shroud of Turin is regarded as “the relic of all relics,” the most powerful symbol of Christ’s suffering. The face on the Shroud is today the most intimate memento of the Messiah. It was a shock when it was falsely shown to be a “hoax” in 1988 by Oxford University scientists.

On 21 April 1988, carbon dating was done on the Shroud by Professor Robert Hedges of Oxford University. The results stunned the world. Oxford, in a press conference at the British Museum, proclaimed the Shroud a fake, dated from the years 1260 to 1390 AD, not during the time of Christ. The news spread like wildfire, dousing the fervor of millions of Christians worldwide.

But then the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP), composed of 24 US scientists, the largest Shroud team ever, was formed to do the most thorough and scientific analysis on the Shroud. The goal was to answer the question: What formed the image on the ancient linen cloth?

First, the STURP team subjected the cloth to ultraviolet, infrared and X-ray imaging to disprove the claim of skeptics that the image was a painting. There was no lead or pigments present. It was not the work of an artist.

STURP discovered that the Oxford carbon dating was THE hoax, not the Shroud. It learned that the Oxford team, after a long debate, chose a corner of the Shroud, its most handled part, for the carbon dating sample.

The Shroud had been strung up for display in 1578 at the public square in the Alpine town of Stenberry for many weeks. Bacteria-laden hands degraded the corners of the cloth while it was propped up for display in the blazing sun. The “owner” of the Shroud, Emmanuel Filberto, allowed the display to huge crowds for weeks, exposing it to sunlight. Carbon dating is a sensitive process. The cloth, subjected to solar heat, nullified the carbon dating.

In the 6th century, precious relics in a silver ark under lock and key were moved from Jerusalem to a cathedral in Oviedo in Northern Spain due to a Persian invasion. One item in the ark was a Suderium full of blood and bodily fluids. A Suderium is a poor-quality burial linen cloth wrapped around the face to catch blood and prevent dripping, according to Jewish tradition.

Chemical analysis of the blood on the Suderium in the ark matched the blood on the Shroud, implying that the Suderium was indeed the Shroud of Turin.

STURP forensic pathologist Fred Zugibe said the stains came from real human blood. The image further revealed that blood had flowed from the forehead and scalp down the sides of the face, hinting that a crown of thorns had been forced into the head.

The Shroud revealed marks from multiple lacerations, believed caused by scourging with a whip of leather strips with metal balls or bones at the end. STURP’s professor Steven Mattingly said that blood stains indeed created the image on the cloth. He simulated an elaborate experiment to show that blood on the bacteria-laden face formed images on the cloth, especially of the protruding eyebrows. He said this was a “natural event,” not a miracle.

The complex controversy surrounding the Shroud between believers and skeptics was based on centuries of Church history, i.e., the rise of the Knights Templar during the days of the Crusades and the invasion by the Saracens of the Holy Land.

The Shroud found its final resting place in Turin, Italy, four centuries ago. The triumph of the Shroud as an authentic relic of all relics over those who were looking for a hoax exemplifies how Christ prevails over the machinations of men.

Theologians say the hoax was the work of the devil to discredit the greatest relic of all showing the intimate physical form of the Messiah. The Shroud is not just a relic. It is a powerful message to Mankind from Christ that indeed He died for us and for our sins. It was the physical evidence of Salvation.