1. The Linen .—The shroud is a piece of linen 43 inches broad, 14¼ ft. in length. Vignon put forward the hypothesis that formerly it was considerably longer, and that the shroud was shortened by cuttings made from the end by the Byzantine emperors for the purpose of gifts. It would seem, however, as has been stated in writing by Antoine Legrand and Father d’Armailhac (Dossiers du Saint Suaire, November, 1939), that there is nothing missing at the end of the shroud. A closer examination of the front of the picture of the legs shows that it is complete and reaches to the end of the feet (cf. Chapter VI, end). On the other hand there has been a lateral cutting at this point, which has been filled in by a piece of stuff similar to that used by the Poor Clares to mend the burns.
It has been possible to make a leisurely study of the structure of this linen, thanks to Enrie’s enlarged photographs, which show the surface enlarged seven times. One is able to examine it in all its details, better than with a magnifying glass, and this has been done by competent judges, both in France and in Italy. Expert investigation has found that it consists of a linen fabric with herring-bone stripes; to weave it a loom with four pedals would have been required. The woof of this, according to Timossi, an expert in Turin, contains 40 threads to two-fifths of an inch. It is a tissue of pure linen, close and opaque, made of coarse thread of which the fibre is unbleached. This is very interesting, for the photographic examination of the tissue has demonstrated that all the images on the shroud are the result of a simple impregnation of the threads; an impregnation which would have been facilitated by the fact that linen is an excellent absorbent. This examination definitely rules out the hypothesis which has been constantly repeated that it is a painting and therefore a fake. We shall return later to our opponents who would make out that it is a painting.
Such a material most certainly belongs to the age of Jesus. Similar fabrics have been found at Palmyra and at Doura Europos. It even seems that Syria and Mesopotamia were centres for this type of weaving, especially Syria. One would thus expect to find it among the wares on sale in Jerusalem round about the year 30. Pieces of linen have been discovered at Autinoé, of the same breadth but considerably longer (cf. the detailed study in Vignon, Saint Suaire, 1938).
2. The Marks of Burning .—Those who start studying the imprints are usually at first struck and disconcerted by the marks of burning which are ranged down both sides of the central picture. Their colour, which is more intense and blacker, eclipses to a certain extent the other markings, which are far less pronounced. The most important are in rows in two series of six, similar in form and dimension, except the four end ones which are merely partial. From this one can easily perceive where it was folded, by studying it in both directions, its length and its breadth; there must have been a series of 48 thicknesses. As the burning took place on one corner of the fabric which was folded rectangular-wise in the reliquary, it has entered into all the folds, thus producing the two series of holes. The corner was fortunately near the two outer edges, so that almost the whole central rectangle has thus been left intact, and only the shoulders and the arm in the frontal picture have been injured.
The burns are surrounded by reddish colouring such as would be left by an iron that was too hot, and in their centres portions of the fabric have been destroyed. These have been replaced by fresh pieces, the work of the Poor Clares of Chambéry. The water which was used to quench the fire has spread out across the fabric, leaving a dark ring like charcoal, and producing a number of other encircled areas, also in a symmetrical series, but running through the middle.
On the same lines as the large ones there are other less noticeable burns, in a series of small round reddish stains. They must have been caused by an earlier fire. These are indeed to be found on a copy which was made in 1516, and is now at Lierre in Belgium, so would have been made by an earlier fire than that at Chambéry (perhaps the one at Besançon).
3. The Folds .—Apart from the burns, one can be led astray at first sight by a certain number of transverse marks, which are black on the positive print, and white on the reproductions of the plate, and which stretch like bars across the picture. They are the folds in the material, which could not be straightened out by stretching in its light frame. The dark marks are their shadows.
4. The Bodily Impressions.— Down the central part of the shroud, one can see two impressions made by the body, with the two marks made by the head near to each other but not touching. One is the front picture of the body, the other the back one. When one remembers that the pictures were made by a corpse, the explanation is simple. The body would have been laid on its back on half the length of the shroud, which would then have been folded over the head to cover the front, reaching right down to the feet. A miniature by G. B. della Rovere (XVIIth century) gives a perfect presentation of how this would have been done. One can also see that, as the body imprinted its image on the shroud, the two impressions would each be inverted.
One must get this clear in one’s mind: if a man is standing facing you, his right side will be to your left and vice versa. If he has his back to you, his right side will be to your right side and vice versa. This will be found on the facsimile of the photographic plate, which, as it inverts the picture of the shroud, gives the picture of the corpse itself. But in the impression on the shroud, and the positive print, the picture of the front appears as if one were looking into a glass; the right side, and the wound, will be to your right, and reciprocally. The same applies to the picture of the back.
The brownish colour of these impressions is due, as we have said, to the staining of each thread, which has been more or less impregnated.
The whole picture reveals a perfectly proportioned anatomy; it is well-made and robust and is that of a man about six foot high. The face, in spite of the strange effect of all these impressions, which when photographed give the effect of a negative, is beautiful and imposing. It is surrounded by two masses of hair, which seem to be rather pushed forward. It is probable that the bandage round the chin, which would be intended to keep the mouth shut, would pass behind these masses of hair; on the top of the head it must have pressed against the shroud, which would account for the space between the back and front pictures of the head.
The lower members show up very well in the picture of the back, and there is a perfect impression of the right foot. In the picture of the front, the lower part of the legs is not clear, as if the shroud had been held back from the insteps. But we shall see all these details when we study the wounds one by one.
The most striking thing in this ensemble of bodily impressions is the remarkable effect of relief which they give. Not one line, not one contour or shadow has been drawn, and yet the forms stand out strangely from the background. This receives further confirmation from a fact: never have I seen a copy, whether picture or drawing, which resembles the face on the shroud. On the other hand, the medal made of it in bas-relief by my friend Dr. Villandre evokes it in the most impressive fashion.
5. The Marks of Blood.— One finds these on all sides and we will study them in detail: there are the wounds of the scourging, of the crowning with thorns, of all the ill-usage that took place, the carrying of the cross, the crucifixion, even of the blow of the lance received after death, which drained the veins of their blood.
All the marks of blood have a special colour which stands out against the brownish tone of the body. They are carmine, a little bit mauve, as Vignon used to say. They vary in depth and intensity according to the wounds, and even in the length and breadth of each one, giving an effect of varying thickness which is at times astonishing, as if one saw the congealed blood in relief.
Another important peculiarity: while in the imprint left by the body everything is in light and shade, merging imperceptibly and without defined boundaries, the marks of blood have a far more precise outline. They even stand out very clearly in the reduced photographs. However, on the life-size photographs, while they preserve this clearness and give the impression of being thicker at the edges, here and there they seem to be surrounded by an aureole of a much paler colour, like a sort of halo. We shall see that this is produced by the serum which transudes from blood which has recently congealed on the skin.
I shall constantly revert to the principal fact regarding these images of blood, and I must insist on it from the beginning, because those who have not studied medicine and had to live in an atmosphere of blood, will find it hard to grasp. The thing which immediately strikes a surgeon and which can be confirmed later by a more exhaustive study, is the definite appearance of blood congealed on the skin, borne by all the blood-marks. You see! It is so definite to me, that unconsciously I am already speaking of blood-marks. It is thus, as we shall see, that these images of blood were formed.
When, in May, 1933, I was writing my first article on the wounds in the hands, my only documents, excellent as they were, were photographs. All the images were thus more or less black. Authors, especially Noguier de Malijay, insisted on the monochrome quality of the shroud, in spite of ancient and reliable witnesses, such as the Poor Clares of Chambéry. Therefore, having seen the shroud by the light of day in 1933, I wrote the following testimony in the first edition of les Cinq Plaies du Christ: {5}
“At the last exposition, which took place in 1933, by special dispensation, on account of the jubilee year of the Passion, I went to Turin and on October 14th I was able to spend a long time studying the shroud, which was exposed in a monumental frame above the high altar, and was illuminated by strong electric projectors. The picture was just as it had been described, and brownish in colour; the wounds were simply darker than the rest, and stood out more or less from the whole human silhouette.
“But, on Sunday, October 15th , which was the closing day, the relic was taken out of the heavy frame in which it was exposed under glass, and twenty-five prelates bore it with all due solemnity in its light frame, out to the terrace of the cathedral so that it should be venerated by the vast crowd who were filling the square, behind a double line of foot soldiers. I was in front of them, on the steps of the terrace, and Cardinal Fossati, the Archbishop of Turin, was so kind as to have the frame placed for a few minutes on the edge of the terrace, so that we might have the chance of looking at it. The sun had just gone down behind the houses on the other side of the square, and the bright but diffused light was ideal for studying it. I have thus seen the shroud by the light of day, without any glass screening it, from a distance of less than a yard, and I suddenly experienced one of the most powerful emotions of my life. For, without expecting it, I saw that all the images of the wounds were of a colour quite different from that of the rest of the body; and this colour was that of dried blood which had sunk into the stuff. There was thus more than the brown stains on the shroud reproducing the outline of a corpse.
“The blood itself had coloured the stuff by direct contact, and that is why the images of the wounds are positive while all the rest is negative.
“It is difficult for one unversed in painting to define the exact colour, but the foundation was red (mauve carmine, said M. Vignon, who had a fine sense of colour), diluted more or less according to the wounds; it was strongest at the side, at the head, the hands and the feet; it was paler, but nevertheless fully visible, in the innumerable marks of the scourging…but a surgeon could understand, with no possibility of doubt, that it was blood which had sunk into the linen, and this blood was the Blood of Christ!
“I have a long experience of Italians, and I find their lively reactions very attractive; but I must own that on that day I was surprised: the crowd broke out in applause.
“As for me, my soul, both as a Catholic and a surgeon, was overcome by this sudden revelation. I was quelled by this Real Presence, the evidence for which was so impressive. I went down on my knees and I adored in silence.”
I have been reproached in an ironical fashion which makes one grieve for the authors, on account of the phrase: “A surgeon could understand, with no possibility of doubt, that it was blood which had sunk into the linen.” I may have erred on the side of conciseness, but I am not so naive as I may seem. One might say that there are those who cannot read and those who do not wish to read. I have therefore added this little paragraph in the second edition.
“It is fully understood that a rigorously scientific proof that these stains are due to blood would require (if they were allowed) physical or chemical examinations; for example, the search by means of the spectroscope for rays of hӕmoglobin or its derivatives. But, as it has been proved that the other images are not the work of the hand of man, that this shroud has contained a corpse, can the marks of these wounds, which are so rich in details as genuine as they are unexpected, owe their colour to anything but blood? ”
As I have more space in this book than I would have in a brochure, I propose to develop my thought, and this will lead me to insist on a highly important point if we would understand these images of blood. It is that of their formation. We shall study this shortly, in section E of this chapter.