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Scandals and Follies of the 'Holy Shroud'
Skeptical Inquirer, Sept, 2001 by Joe Nickell
The Shroud of Turin continues to be the subject of media presentations treating it as so mysterious as to imply a supernatural origin. One recent study (Binga 2001) found only ten credible skeptical books on the topic versus over 400 promoting the cloth as the authentic, or potentially authentic, burial cloth of Jesus--including most recently a revisionist tome, The Resurrection of the Shroud (Antonacci 2000). Yet since the cloth appeared in the middle of the fourteenth century it has been at the center of scandal, exposes, and controversy--a dubious legacy for what is purported to be the most holy relic in Christendom.
Faked Shrouds
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There have been numerous 'true" shrouds of Jesus--along with vials of his mother's breast milk, hay from the manger in which he was born, and countless relics of his crucifixion--but the Turin cloth uniquely bears the apparent imprints of a crucified man. Unfortunately the cloth is incompatible with New Testament accounts of Jesus' burial. John's gospel (19:38-42, 20:5-7) specifically stares that the body was "wound" with "linen clothes" and a large quantity of burial spices (myrrh and aloes). Still another cloth (called "the napkin") covered his face and head. In contrast, the Shroud of Turin represents a single, draped cloth (laid under and then over the "body") without any trace of the burial spices.
Of the many earlier purported shrouds of Christ, which were typically about half the length of the Turin cloth, one was the subject of a reported seventh-century dispute on the island of Iona between Christians and Jews, both of whom claimed it. As adjudicator, an Arab ruler placed the alleged relic in a fire from which it levitated, unscathed, and fell at the feet of the Christians--or so says a pious tale. In medieval Europe alone, there were "at least forty-three 'True Shrouds"' (Humber 1978, 78).
Scandal at Lirey
The cloth now known as the Shroud of Turin first appeared about 1355 at a little church in Lirey, in north central France. Its owner, a soldier of fortune named Geoffroy de Charney, claimed it as the authentic shroud of Christ, although he was never to explain how he acquired such a fabulous possession. According to a later bishop's report, written by Pierre D'Arcis to the Avignon pope, Clement VII, in 1389, the shroud was being used as part of a faith-healing scam:
The case, Holy Father, stands thus. Some time since in this diocese of Troyes the dean of a certain collegiate church, to wit, that of Lirey, falsely and deceitfully, being consumed with the passion of avarice, and nor from any motive of devotion but only of gain, procured for his church a certain cloth cunningly painted, upon which by a clever sleight of hand was depicted the twofold image of one man, that is to say, the back and the front, he falsely declaring and pretending that this was the actual shroud in which our Savior Jesus Christ was enfolded in the tomb, and upon which the whole likeness of the Savior had remained thus impressed together with the wounds which He bore.... And further to attract the multitude so that money might cunningly be wrung from them, pretended miracles were worked, certain men being hired to represent themselves as healed at the moment of the exhibition of the shroud.
D'Arcis continued, speaking of a predecessor who conducted the investigation and uncovered the forger: "Eventually, after diligent inquiry and examination, he discovered the fraud and how the said cloth had been cunningly painted, the truth being attested by the artist who had painted it, to wit, that it was a work of human skill and not miraculously wrought or bestowed" (emphasis added).
Action had been taken and the cloth hidden away, but now, years later, it had resurfaced. D'Arcis (1389) spoke of "the grievous nature of the scandal, the contempt brought upon the Church and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and the danger to souls."
As a consequence Clement ordered that, while the cloth could continue being exhibited (it had been displayed on a high platform flanked by torches), during the exhibition it must be loudly announced that "it is not the True Shroud of Our Lord, but a painting or picture made in the semblance or representation of the Shroud" (Humber 1978, 100). Thus the scandal at Lirey ended--for a time.
Further Misrepresentation
During the Hundred Years' War, Margaret de Charney, granddaughter of the Shroud's original owner, gained custody of the cloth, allegedly for safekeeping. But despite many subsequent entreaties she refused to return it, instead even taking it on tour in the areas of present-day France, Belgium, and Switzerland. When there were additional challenges to the Shroud's authenticity, Margaret could only produce documents officially labeling it a "representation."
In 1453, at Geneva, Margaret sold the cloth to Duke Louis I of Savoy. Some Shroud proponents like to say Margaret "gave" the cloth to Duke Louis, but it is only fair to point out that in return he "gave" Margaret the sum of two castles. In 1457, after years of broken promises to return the cloth to the canons of Lirey and later to compensate them for its loss, Margaret was excommunicated. She died in 1460.
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