Examining and Preserving the Shroud of Turin

My problem with a petition that demands new scientific examinations of the Shroud is that it has the process backwards. The horse (the scientific team and procedures) is behind the cart (permission to proceed). Much has to be done before any permission from Turin  or the Vatican can be obtained.

For effect of a petition, I would note  that appended to  the comments on the "restoration" pages of the shroud.com was a petition to Pope John Paul II. I wonder how far that got? https://www.shroud.com/restored.htm Not very apparently.

The pattern or template for any testing might be wise to follow the original STURP example.

While there were preliminary approaches to Turin, an great deal happened before permission was actually granted.

Briefly, they are these and I welcome any addition or correction:

1955: King Umberto tells Fr. Rinaldi that he would support scientific examination of the Shroud "as long as the Church authorities approve it and he is kept informed."

1974. A near fatal balloon accident gets John Jackson's attention. His interest in the Shroud which began when he was 14 years old, is again piqued. Intrigued by a proposal from Ian Wilson, David Rolfe begins the process which led to Silent Witness

The  March 1977  conference  of interested Shroud students in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Two items:  the conference was partially paid for by an unexpected interview fee from David Rolfe to Jumper and Jackson. Second, the conference was an international affair with attendees from both GB and Italy.

September 1977: Jackson, Jumper, Otterbein and Rinaldi attended the London symposium at which the BSTS was founded. It was an intermediate stop for them because they were in transit to meet with the leadership of the International Center of Sindology in Turin. They presented their ideas in the form of a written proposal and two published volumes of the proceedings of the Albuquerque Conference.

March 1978: The release of Silent Witness in London. Broadcast in Italy within 10 days, dubbed into Italian.

April 26, Fr. Rinaldi informed Jackson and Jumper it was a go and they should be prepare for tests that would be conducted after the scheduled September - October 1978 exposition.

June 1977: Final planning meeting for tests.

There exists an extensive proposal from STURP (STURP II) which might be a guide after updating for new advanced procedures. It ought to be note that even as planning was commenced, production of Silent Witness progressed. IMVHO (in my [not] very humble opinion), some STURP participants downplay, or do not understand, the impact of Silent Witness on the process in general and the Vatican and Turin in particular.

I might add a  comment about the non-invasive– minimally invasive problem of further scientific examination of the Shroud. I have an analogy: Central Park in New York City

From time to time many well meaning proposals have been advanced for projects believed to have immense public value for Central Park in NYC. It has been estimated, as I recall, that if everyone of them had been approved, Central Park would have been cemented over 5 times. The biggest of such projects that was built is  the Metropolitan Museum of Art which is one of the great treasures of the United States . However, it does display incipient ant hill tendencies to push the boundaries of its site.

I would suspect, that if every well-intentioned person who desired just a tiny piece or more of the Shroud had received their desire, the Shroud would have disappeared long ago, probably before Secondo Pia was even born.

Preservation of the Shroud is not just the Church’s annoying demand  - It is a demand of all humanity (whether some realize yet or not). Whether the controversial 2002 restoration was appropriate or not, the desire of the Church and Turin to first and foremost preserve  the Shroud is absolutely correct. Therefore, what I would call the non-invasive as opposed to minimally invasive standard must be recognized. Perhaps a tiny exception for a truly minimally invasive procedure might be made, and perhaps a definition of invasive m must be formulated.

Some skeptical advocates of testing envision procedures that are truly “off-the-wall.” Whatever the challenge, the  possession of the Shroud is in the Church. The concept that it should pass to a secular guardian such as the British Museum or the even the Smithsonian is simply unacceptable.

Whatever the follies of the Vatican throughout the past two millenia and the elitist social policies of the House of Savoy, the fact is that without the commitment of the Vatican and the determination of the House of Savoy, the Shroud will have vanished into an Islamist, Reformation, Bolshevik or French Revolution bonfire long ago. Bonfire might have been the least repugnant means of destruction. Before the siege of Vienna the Turkish sultan boasted he would turn Saint Peters into a stable for his horses. One shutters to think of the fate of the Shroud in  his hands(or Calvin's or Robespierre's or Stalin's.).

 Its survival in the final analysis may be an example of providence, not provenance. It has been spared so that the advance of science can bring to us its Revelation. Now it has.

The Shroud is here and now, and so is He.

OFFICIAL 1977 ALBUQUERQUE CONFERENCE PHOTOGRAPH

Left to Right: Harry John, Msgr. Giulio Ricci, Dr. Mary Elizabeth Patrizi, Alan Mark (forehead only),

Erica John, Charles Webb, Mary Gambescia, Roger Morris, Rev. Peter Rinaldi, Capt. Joseph

Accetta, Elizabeth Watkins, Rt. Rev. Dr. John Robinson, Rev. H. David Sox, Bill Mottern, Thomas

Humber, Patricia Lynn, Rev. Adam Otterbein, Donald Lynn, Dr. Robert Bucklin, Marge Jumper, Dr.

Eric Jumper, Donald Devan, David Rolfe, Thomas Patterson, Cadet Thomas McCown, Christina Maria,

Kay Jackson, Dr. John Jackson, Dr. Joseph Gambescia, Tom Dolle, Maria Gallagher, Dr. Donald

Gallagher, Ian Wilson, Dr. Idella Gallagher

Not Shown: Maj. Rudolph Dichtl, Rev. Robert Dinegar, Rev.Francis Filas, 
Donald Janney, Dr. Walter McCrone, Dr. Ray Rogers

Photograph courtesy of David Rolfe

Copyright, 2013, John C. Klotz, New York, NY