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Turin Shroud kept hidden for 100 years
Ellen Widdup06.04.09
THE Turin Shroud was hidden by medieval knights after the Crusades, the Vatican claims, apparently solving the riddle of what happened to the relic for more than 100 years.
The linen cloth, which bears the image of a bearded man with long hair and the wounds of a crucifixion, was protected by the Knights Templar, an order suppressed and disbanded for alleged heresy.
Barbara Frale, a researcher at the Vatican Secret Archives, said the material - believed to be Christ's burial shroud - had gone missing in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade and did not surface again until the middle of the next century.
She said historians now believed the cloth had been hidden and secretly worshipped by surviving members of the Knights Templar during this period.
A document about Frenchman Arnaut Sabbatier, who entered the order in 1287, has surfaced which claims he was taken to a "secret place to which only the brothers of the Temple had access" as part of his initiation. There he was shown a "long linen cloth on which was impressed the figure of a man".
Reader views (11)
I disagree with Sandy, Ealing, UK. The evidence that the Shroud is not a fake is not ALMOST overwhelming. It IS overwhelming! In 2005, as a Protestant Christian, I dismissed the Shroud out of hand as just another Roman Catholic medieval fake. Then I read a book, "Verdict on the Shroud," co-authored by Gary Habermas, an evangelical theologian whose views I respected. I was ASTONISHED at the evidence they presented that the Shroud is authentic, i.e. the very burial sheet of Jesus Christ, upon which is imprinted the image of His crucifixion and RESURRECTION!
- Stephen E. Jones, Perth, Australia
The SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE that the Shroud is not fake is almost overwhelming. By all means argue that it is a fake if you know enough about it, or you have the means to increase the sum of knowledge. So far all the posts I have read on here are just anti-religious prejudice! I suggest a search on Google for "Shroud of Turin" might at least open your eyes to the fact that a great deal of serious research has been done, and there is also strong evidence that the carbon dating was misleading.
- Sandy, Ealing, UK
Keith, this goes much easier if read what I actually wrote. I didn't ask you a question in my first post. I made a statement. One you're still trying to ignore.
- Sean, London
Keith, you know exactly what my point is or you wouldn't have replied. "
mo i replied Sean because you asked me a question. kev and I have no idea whay your point is, so hjow can anyone else?
- Keith Price, Luton, England
Hidden by medieval knights? I thought Santa borrowed it?
Hey, what was that? Oh it was just a pig flying past my window!
- Frank, Home Counties, England.
Keith, you know exactly what my point is or you wouldn't have replied. If it's a fake then how did they do it and why can't we do it? It's an easy enough question. And Kev, we do know how the great masters did their paintings; they used paint and had incredible talent. And the pyramids are easy to build it you don't care how many slaves you kill doing it-it's only rocks on top of rocks after all. Not exactly rocket science.
- Sean, London
Yes this piece of material is a total fake - so your point is Sean ?
- Keith Price, Luton, England
O its not a fake it complety authentic,this happens all the time,i have one of my great grandad,my friend has one of his dead goldfish,it happens when your soul leaves your body about 3 days after death.Ps Sean,london,we cant duplicate the paintings of the great masters,or the pyramids etc with 21st century technology
- Kev, London-UK
Yeah, right . . . like we are going to believe a word uttered from the Vatican.
- Eoin Mcgreeghan, Derry, NI
Apparently it's a "complete fake" we can't duplicate with 21st century technology.
- Sean, London
As the shroud is a complete fake and simply a self-glorifying religious symbol, I feel it would be apt to hide it away for another hundred years, or just destroy it, tastefully of course
- Keith Price, Luton, England
