Is The Shroud Of Turin Real?

If Christianity is true, then the greatest event in human history would be the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Not wanting to commit to the faith, skeptics will often demand hard evidence of the resurrection and, without any verifiable proof, continue in their refusal to plunge into the faith. If only we had a picture of the resurrection. We no longer have to wish for it because, within the mysterious image in the Shroud of Turin, we are presented with a divine image of the resurrection. The Shroud of Turin is the key that unveils the attestation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as a real event.

To be sure, the debate around the Shroud of Turin still rages - and will most likely continue despite the mountain of evidence favoring its claim as the burial cloth of Jesus. Renowned Catholic theologian Scott Hahn said, “No artifact in all of history has held people in thrall the way the Shroud of Turin has. It stakes a mighty claim, yet overwhelming preponderance of evidence favors its claim.”

Pope John Paul II called the shroud the greatest relic in Christendom. There have been twenty-six peer-reviewed articles on the shroud. It has undergone 7,000 hours of investigation, making the shroud the most studied scientific object in the world. Those agnostics and atheists who study the shroud have allowed the evidence to transform their viewpoint. Of the two thousand scientists that have been investigating the shroud for the last thirty years, 90% have become Christian. 

Hidden deep within the shroud are holy clues that God has left us to tell us that the resurrection is true. Modern scientific technology has allowed us to get a vivid look into this mysterious image to see the intricate details of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection. In this sense, the science in the shroud allows us to immerse ourselves in Jesus's suffering and reveals His love for us. 

All four gospels mention that Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy man, donated a fine linen for Jesus to be buried in. In Scripture, the actual word is “ascendo” which translates into an expensive linen. Typically, lesser quality linen was used as a burial linen - but not this type. Ascendo is an expensive dining cloth. To give you some idea of the superior quality of this linen, Cleopatra’s burial linen was not nearly as nice as this one.

There is a lot of speculation among researchers that the shroud is the actual linen cloth used at the Last Supper by our Lord. Studies have shown drip patterns on one side of the shroud as if bread was dipped and passed to the other side. These drip patterns are consistent with the Jewish practice of eating and passing food only on one side of the table while being served on the other side.

Forensic analysis concluded the man on the shroud was roughly 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighed 175 pounds. A recreation of this man’s bone and muscle structure shows that this man was in excellent physical condition. The man was between 30-35 years old. We know he’s Jewish for two reasons. First, he had long hair and frequently wore it in a pigtail - which was a common trait of devoted Jewish men committed to prayer. Through magnification, researchers have also been able to see a phylactery between the man's eyes on the shroud. A phylactery is a tiny leather box that contains parchments of the Torah, most likely reciting Deuteronomy 6:5. Devout Jews would wear this on their forehead, recalling that Scripture verse to keep God before their mind and heart. 

The linen cloth is mentioned at the end of John’s Gospel when Peter and John ran to the tomb. John gets their first but doesn’t see Jesus - just the linen cloth. In fact, when Peter gets to the tomb, Scripture reads, “he saw and believed” (John 20:8). Here, both Peter and John saw the shroud and by seeing it, they believed. This verse of Scripture amplifies what we witness today as the Shroud of Turin has converted millions over the years to “see and believe.”   

A common objection to the shroud's authenticity is the carbon 14 dating in 1988. Most skeptics use this study as their excuse to remain defiant to all other evidence. The results of the carbon 14 dating placed the shroud's origin between 1290 and 1360. After this announcement, all the newspapers declared that the shroud was a fake and was likely made by an artist in the 13th century. However, in the last ten years, many scientists have come to show other studies that reveal the inaccuracy of the carbon 14 dating. We’ll go through a quick overview that discredits the results of the carbon 14 dating. Three postage (8 inches) size stamps were used as samples in this dating. The samples were supposed to come from three different areas on the shroud for a conclusive sampling. However, the researchers only took one section of the shroud for analysis. A single sample area violates basic scientific protocol. Not only that, the samples taken were from the most contaminated area of the shroud. A study in France using super magnification showed that the area of the sample had a different weave pattern than all other areas of the shroud. Therefore, researchers conclude that the sample area was most likely re-woven during the Middle Ages. This was done perhaps to fix the corner patch of the shroud that had begun to fray.

Researchers have also found numerous components that negatively affect a carbon 14 dating test - many of which apply to the shroud. One of those factors is fire. The Shroud of Turin has been in three recorded fires in its history. In 1532, the shroud was in a silver urn when it caught on fire. The fire was so hot it actually burned molten silver into the shroud. We know that silver melts at 960 degrees centigrade (1,763 degrees Fahrenheit). Studies have demonstrated that carbon 14 dating significantly loses its accuracy in those linens that have been in a fire. This is because when a linen goes through a hot fire, a carboxylation of the glucose structure occurs, negatively affecting the carbon 14 reading and making the linen appear much younger than it actually is. For this reason, the carbon 14 dating has been rejected by many scholars.

Another reason to reject the carbon 14 dating is the fact of how the image was made on the shroud. Scientists conclude that the image came from intense heat and light analogous to a microburst of radiation, which, in turn, produced a scorched image. This burst of radiation that generated the scorched image caused an oxidation to the shroud. This oxidation process would also adversely disrupt an accurate carbon 14 reading given off from the linen. 

Perhaps the biggest reason to reject the 13th-century reading of this shroud is that even with our modern technology and insight, scientists readily admit, they can’t replicate this image with all its intricate details.

The shroud's authenticity speaks to us as we explore how this image was implanted on the shroud. Scientists have determined there are no pigments, paints, brush marks, or directionality on the shroud. The image came from a surge of light and heat, producing a scorched picture of a man. Physicists have come to the flabbergasting conclusion that 34 trillion watts of light emitted in a split second to create this image. If you stare into the shroud with the naked eye, you are looking into a photographic negative. Given the burst of radiation that came out of Our Lord’s body at the moment of resurrection, the shroud instantly produced a photographic negative. Scientists have studied photographs of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped and have seen similarities with the shroud. If someone was walking along the side of a building when the nuclear bomb went off, they were killed instantly, but their shadow was flashed on the back of the wall as a photographic negative from the burst of radiation and light. Scientists believe the same process happened to the image on the shroud. 

The image is made by oxidation (i.e., scorching) of the top linen fibers. The picture on the shroud is incredibly thin, as only the top six microns have this scorched image on it. A measurement of six micrometers is less than the thickness of a human hair. It has also been determined that the shroud is not simply a contact image. While there are places where the shroud touched the body (tip of the nose, back) there are also places on the body where the shroud is not touching. Some of the areas on the body were half an inch or an inch away from the shroud - yet, remarkably, these body images appear on the shroud. What is also interesting about the image is that fire and water do not affect it. In the fire of 1532, if the image was that of paint, the fire would have melted the paint, making the image smeared and unrecognizable. In tests of the shroud, scientists have concluded that the very fine layer of the image is not affected by water or heat. This insight confirms that the image came from an intense burst of heat and light.

The pollen analysis also speaks to the credibility of the shroud. Max Fry, the Swiss criminologist, identified that forty-five pollen species are from Jerusalem and the surrounding area while eighteen of the pollen species are found only in the holy land. We have an accurate history of the shroud being in Europe from the 12th century on. If the shroud originated in Europe in the 13th century, how did it get all this pollen from the holy land? Dr. Dannine, a leading expert on pollen in Israel, has said that there is no doubt in his mind that the shroud originated in Jerusalem. What is also fascinating is that most of the pollen on the shroud blooms in the spring. Because of the feast of the Passover, we know that our Lord was crucified at the end of March or the beginning of April when these specific species of pollen would have been in bloom.

What’s also fascinating is that the shroud is the only two-dimensional image in the world image of a man buried in a cloth. When a regular photograph is placed under a 3D image analyzer, the image would come out distorted. But not the shroud. This tells scientists that the image is not a mere photograph or painting, but there is a physical structure to the man in the image. In fact, given the shroud's three-dimensional element, scientists can reconstruct the man in the shroud to give us a better real-life assessment of what this man looked like. 

Another astonishing fact is what studies of ultraviolet light reveal in the shroud. With ultraviolet light, researchers can actually see blood serum halos around the scourge marks. You can also see the blood serum that came out of the side of Jesus (which the Gospel of John records as blood and water). These blood serum marks are consistent with medical analysis of the structure of the blood that would appear from a body that had undergone severe trauma from many lacerations. It is crucial to realize that these blood serum halos are only visible with ultraviolet light. Therefore, if this is a fabrication, how would a 13th-century forger produce things that can only be seen with ultraviolet light at a time when ultraviolet light technology was unknown. Furthermore, how would an artist put these halos around the scourge marks if you can’t see them with the naked eye? As Dr. Adler commented on the blood images in the shroud, “One cannot simply say that the blood images were painted on afterward. One would need a constant supply of fresh clot exudates from a traumatically wounded human . . . and then finally paint a serum concentration ring about every wound. Logic suggests that this is not something a forger or artisan before the present century would not only know to do but even know that it was required.”

Even more astonishing is that the image not only gives us soft-tissue information but also gives us bone structure data. Through magnification, we can witness that the high amount of radiation produced x-ray images of the man’s teeth and other bone structures. With this, scientists can map out this man’s vertebrae, ribs, and the bones in his hands and feet. In fact, the reason why the fingers look so long is because we are seeing the metacarpal bones in the hand.  

The shroud also reveals pictures of things off the body that speak volumes to the authenticity of Christ's time. When the three-dimensional imaging was done researchers detected images such as coins on the eyes of the man on the shroud. Scientists used polarized photo overlays to identify that the coin on the right eye had a lepton image, thus dated around 29 A.D. We mentioned that another off-body image was called the phylactery. Devout Jews would wear this so they would always keep the Scriptures on their mind. A closeup of the image reveals a tiny “v” on the man's forehead. Other off-body images include pollen and flower images. Again, Professor Dineen of Hebrew University asserted that there are hundreds of flower images around our Lord’s body, noting that these specific flowers bloom in spring in the holy land. Most likely, when Jesus was taken down from the cross, Our Lady and the others would have gathered and placed flowers around Jesus’s body.  

Another reason for the shroud's authenticity is because there is no sign of decomposition on the body. When somebody dies, their body enters into rigor mortis. Scientists have shown that the body on the shroud is in rigor mortis (a stiffening of the limbs). Rigor mortis explains why the shroud shows that the left knee is higher than the right knee and why the feet are pointing down. Rigor mortis lasts two to three days. After the fourth day, the body begins to decompose and deteriorate. If decomposition occurred, you would actually see deterioration on the linen, as this is the case in linens of ancient mummies. Interestingly, there is no sign of decomposition on the shroud. So, we know that when this image appeared, it happened while the body was in rigor mortis but before decomposition set in. This would correspond perfectly to the resurrection, which occurred on Sunday morning about forty hours after Our Lord was laid in the tomb on Good Friday. Recall that they took Jesus’s body down from the cross shortly after 3pm. They had to get it down and wrap his body quickly as the sabbath began on Friday evening when the sun went down (about 6:00 pm). Given this, they only had a couple hours to wrap the body in the shroud. They did not have time to wash the body thoroughly because Jewish law in the blood of atonement described that the lifeblood was still active. Remember, on Sunday morning, the women were coming to the tomb precisely so they could wash the body, put spices on, do the anointing, and finish the burial process now that the Sabbath was over. 

Another reason to support the shroud’s authenticity is that in 1978, it was proven that there was human blood on the shroud. The blood type is AB, which is similar to Eucharistic miracles. It has also been shown that the linen must have come in contact with the blood within an hour and a half after the blood was shed. This is because blood will only transfer to linen within an hour and a half. After this time, the blood becomes hard and will not transfer to the linen. This corresponds perfectly with the Gospel. When they took Jesus’s body off the cross, they would have quickly had to wrap Jesus’s body and place it in the tomb before the sun went down.

Another remarkable feature that a forger could not reproduce is how the shroud displays the perfect anatomy of a man. Medical experts who have studied the shroud for decades say it is anatomically flawless down to the last detail. Isabel Piczek, an expert in human anatomy, said, “The shroud is the most anatomically correct image of a human being ever made.” In fact, we see anatomy of some things that weren’t discovered until centuries later. For example, on the head, we see bleed mark flow patterns from veins and arteries. How bleed marks flow from veins and arteries were not discovered until the 18th century when they became more aware of blood flow circulation. How would a 13th-century artist know about the intricacies of blood flow circulation? Also, we do not see the thumbs on the shroud (except through x-ray) as they lay underneath the palm. This corresponds to scientific discoveries that if the nail went through the wrist, it would half sever the median nerve, causing the thumb to be pulled in. With Jesus's body being in rigor mortis, this is why we don’t see the image of the thumb. The wound on the side shows that there is clear blood serum on the shroud. This also corresponds with accurate scientific knowledge of what would come out of a deceased man after his lung had been pierced by a sword. 

Science corroborates the manner in which the man was nailed to the cross by dissecting the man’s wounds in the wrists. Here, we see perfect blood flow out of the wrist in three different positions. The exit wound on the back of the wrist is accurate with scientific tests. With the exit wound analysis, you can see how the nail went through the front of the wrist and came out the back. They’ve also done scientific tests showing that if anyone was nailed through the palm of the hand, it would not support the weight of the body. But, in the back of the hand, there is a small hole that can allow a nail to go through while half severing the median nerve. This area can hold the weight of the body without breaking any bones. In scientific analysis, there are no broken bones on the man on the shroud. This fact is important theologically as the lamb of God was to have no broken bones in it (cf. Exodus 12:46, Psalm 34:20).

Another reason for authenticity is that there are no blood smears on the shroud. If the shroud was made by orchestrating a picture over a crucified man, once the shroud was taken off the man, it would smear the blood - especially the blood around the side, as in this area would contain large clots of blood formed in a pool. When the man was laid on the shroud, the blood flowed back to the small of the back. Therefore, if anybody lifted the shroud, it would have opened up the wounds, and it would have smeared the blood in many places - the forehead, back, chest, and the legs. Remarkably, scientists have shown that the man whom this shroud covered must have disappeared from the shroud. One of the theories of what happened to the man is called the collapse theory. The collapse theory illuminates that the shroud just fell through Our Lord’s glorified body at the moment of the resurrection. This theory explains how there would be no smearing of the blood. Recall how Jesus passed through locked doors and walls when the apostles were in the upper room. A glorified body can pass through material elements. In this sense, the shroud became an empty shell at the moment of the resurrection.

The validity of the shroud is further demonstrated because the image was made by a weightless body. Scientists reveal that if the body had a set weight, a different image would have come on the shroud. There were also no marks of pressure on certain parts of the shroud when the image was made. For example, if the image was created by a burst of light and heat, the burst must have only lasted a millisecond because otherwise, it would have burned through the entire shroud. Even areas that were touching the shroud were not more badly burned than the areas that were not touching the shroud. In a sense, the burst of light just photographed the image on the shroud. What is also fascinating is that recent evidence indicates that the image was made by an upright man. Evidence shows the man was upright because the man’s shoulder-length hair was falling straight down to the shoulders. If you are lying on your back with hair that long, it will fall back. But, with gravity being upright, the hair comes straight down. While it is hard to imagine getting this precise image, science indicates that the body must have been suspended off the ground with a burst of light coming from above. Only with an upright, weightless body with light from above do you get the same kind of light and dark features on the shroud.  

What perhaps speaks to us directly in this image is the serenity of the man's face on the shroud. Obviously, forensic analysis tells us that this man has been gravely tortured. He was scourged with sharp objects, thorns penetrating his head, while badly beaten on the face, and had nails through the bottom of his hands and feet. While this man endured agonizing punishment, his face displays peacefulness, serenity, and resignation. This calm disposition is radically different from other images in history where someone died a violent death. For example, in Pompeii, when lava burst down and toppled villages, the people had the look of tortured faces in their scorched bodies. Yet, there is peace with the man on the shroud that would be indicative of a divine essence as the Son of Man.

As the evidence mounts to display the authenticity of the shroud, we can now turn to what the shroud tells us about Jesus’s passion. An article that came out in 1986 from the Journal of American Medical Association about the medical component of Jesus’s passion. In the agony of the garden, Scripture indicates that Jesus sweat blood. This is a rare medical phenomenon called hematidrosis. Due to high emotional stress or a state of incredible mental agony, a person actually sweats blood. Here, the capillaries under the skin burst, and instead of producing sweat, the pours emit blood. The effect of this state makes the person’s skin much like an entire bruise all over the body. Here, the skin becomes incredibly sensitive to pain than it would be otherwise - almost like the feeling of your skin after a bad sunburn. Keep in mind that during the scourging and crowning of thorns, Jesus's whole body felt like this.

If you look at the image of the shroud, you’ll see that there are scourge marks up and down Jesus’s entire body. Here, we get a glimpse into the scourging at the pillar. The scourage marks are on the back, neck, legs, all the way down to the heels. From what the scientists can determine, the scourge marks were made by a device that had a wooden handle, and on the end would be pieces of sharp lead. With this device, a person would receive two or three scourge marks from one lash. Scientists have shown that there are 120 lashes on Jesus. Now, Jewish law says you can only be scolded 39 times. Jesus received 120 lashes because he was scourged under Roman law and not under Jewish law. From the direction of the marks, forensics can see how and in what position the soldiers were in while scourging. There must have been two Roman soldiers who scourged Jesus - with one slightly taller than the other. One soldier was on the right while one was on the left where they took turns scourging Jesus. We can actually see the dimensions of the scourge marks from the back of the shoulders at a slant, while around the waist, they are flat marks, and at the legs, they are slanted. Forensics also reveal that one of the soldiers was much more fierce than the other. One was perhaps easier on Our Lord, only scourging him in the shoulder and back area, whereas the other one seemed to scourge him on the back of the legs and in other more painful areas. There are also marks on the front of Jesus’s chest, abdomen, the front of his legs, and even some of his arms. Also, remember Jesus had gone through the bloody sweat so this scourging would have meant that he felt the pain with more force than we would feel that pain. The scourging analysis also indicates why Jesus died in three hours on the cross. Sometimes, a person could last two to three days on the cross, but Jesus lasted only three hours on the cross. Even Pontius Pilate was surprised that Jesus died so quickly (cf. Mark 15:44-45). The quick death on the cross was likely because Jesus lost so much blood during the scourging at the pillar, which was three times more severe than would have been allowed under Jewish law. The brutal manner of the scourging also explains why Simon of Cyrene had to help Jesus carry the cross. 

When we look at the image of the face as it relates to the crowning of thorns, we notice that on the top, the side, and the back of the head, there are fifteen puncture wounds. This fact tells us that the crowning of thorns was not just a crown but a cap that covered the entire head. On the head, there is pollen from the gardelian thorn plant. The thorns on the gardelian thorn plant are 3-4 inches long. The thorns were placed on Jesus's head, while the soldiers would have taken a wooden stick and beat it into Jesus’s head.

The shroud also indicates that this man had a very swollen cheek. Under the right eye, it is especially swollen. Perhaps this was done when the Jewish council struck Jesus in the face (cf. Matthew 14: 65). Given that this image was made after Jesus’s body was cold in the grave for about forty hours, the swelling would have gone down. Yet, it still looked significantly swollen. With a swollen eye and puncture wounds in the head bleeding down into his face, Jesus would have almost been unrecognizable up on the cross.

While the shroud reveals no broken bones, we do see a separated nasal cartridge, indicating that when Jesus was hit in the face, it separated his nasal cartilage. We also get a glimpse of Jesus falling from carrying the cross as the shroud showcases that the knees, chin, lips, and the tip of the nose are badly scraped. These scrape marks are consistent with falling on the ground while carrying a heavy beam on your shoulders. Interestingly, fragments of dirt were found on the man's knees. A soil analysis revealed that the dirt fragments were consistent with soil from the Palestine area.

Through magnification, we also see that the nail went through the wrist in an area that halfway severed the median nerve. When scientists have done experiments on the median nerve, people pass out from the pain. When this nerve is damaged, the nerve sends bolts of hot, fiery pain down one’s entire body. The damage to this nerve pulls in the thumb and the pinky almost making a claw. The whole process of hanging on the cross is incredibly painful because every time you tried to exhale to breathe, you had to push up on the nail in your feet and pull up on the nails in your arm. This would send fiery, hot pain down both arms. To breathe on the cross for three hours was excruciating pain. In fact, the word “excruciating” (ex cruce) translates into the phrase “from the cross.” 

We also see that the blood flow coming out of the wrists shows the different positions a man would have to take on the cross to exhale. The shroud reveals that the left foot was put over the right foot with one nail through both feet. Imagine a nail going through both of your feet and having to stand on this nail with all your weight, coupled with having to pull up with nails in your wrists to breathe for three hours. This is why the soldiers would break the legs of the criminals when they needed to hasten death. Doing this meant the criminal only had their arm strength to pull themselves up to breathe. When they couldn't breathe, the victims would experience asphyxiation, in which they would slowly drown in their own bodily fluid. To be able to breathe on the cross was intense torture - how much more painful would it be to speak? Jesus spoke seven phrases from the cross. He would have to speak these phrases when he was pushing up with his feet and pulling up with his arms, all the while having his lungs fill up with fluids.  

On the shroud, we can see the image of the wound from a Roman sphere called a lance on the side of the body. This wound is one and a half inches wide and three-quarter inches high. This is the exact dimension of a Roman lance found in archeological discoveries. An analysis of that wound reveals there is blood clotting formation with no swelling in that wound. This means the wound occurred after death. If the man was alive and breathing with air in his lungs, there would be a significant spray pattern on the side of the image. Yet, instead of spraying blood, we see a pooling of blood and water. The piercing of the lance came between the fifth and the sixth rib, puncturing the lower part of the right lung. Here, fluid surrounds the lung and the sac surrounding the heart. They’ve shown when a person was going through this kind of torture, the fusions of either blood serum or clear liquid would gather in a sac around the heart and around the lungs. When this death blow was given, Jesus was already dead. The only one who would have felt this wound was the Blessed Mother. Therefore, this wound fulfilled Simon's prophecy when he told Mary a sword would pierce your heart. Being at the foot of the cross, Mary certainly would have felt this blow deep in her heart.

Usually, the death of crucifixion would occur by slow asphyxiation, but the actual evidence on the shroud is that Jesus died of heart failure. In this sense, Jesus died because of excessive loss of blood. He gave perhaps almost every drop of his blood. When a person is in this condition, the remainder of his blood goes to the brain and the heart as the body fights to stay alive as long as possible. 

Our look into the shroud reveals the tremendous torture that Jesus went through. After he was violently arrested, he was up all night shuffled from the high priest to Pontius Pilate to Herod - walking several miles, likely without food or drink. He was mocked, beaten on the face, spat upon, scourged, and crowned with thorns, all the while losing several quarts of blood. 

No one else in history has been recorded as being flogged as many times, as well as having the crown of thorns, crucifixion, and a pierced side other than Jesus. Historically, the shroud offers great evidence that the man in question is Our Lord. When we look at this profound image on the shroud, we see the fifth gospel.  

The shroud reveals what Jesus willingly went through to take on the penalty of sin so that by His mercy, we don’t have to. The shroud shows us all that Jesus endured for us to give us salvation. With the shroud, we witness a picture of what love is.