On June 1st, 1694 the Shroud came solemnly into the Guarini Chapel and here has remained almost uninterruptedly for three centuries. The sumptuous building, completed by Duke Vittorio Amedeo II, was planned by a famous and whimsical Modenese architect, the theatine father Guarino Guarini. The work, situated between the Cathedral and the Royal Palace, was completed when Guarini was already dead eleven years.
 |
Photograph © Maurizio Paolicchi
The Shroud, put in a reliquary, was placed on the magnificent altar, an Antonio Bertola work of art. Vittorio Amedeo II also took care of the realization of the Chapel's rich decorations.
On 26th June of the same year, blessed Sebastiano Valfrè sewed new supporting veils on the Shroud, in the presence of Duke Vittorio Amedeo and Duchess Anna. The blessed was so touched that some tears fell and wet the Holy Linen.
The place where the Shroud Chapel and the Cathedral are, boasts a very ancient Christian tradition: the baptismal Church, where the first known Turin bishop, St. Massimo (end of IV cent. - V cent.) made his eloquent homilies to the catechumens and administered the baptism sacrament, was situated there.
In reality the ancient cathedral was made up of three contiguous and communicating basilicas, occupying a more extensive space than the present Cathedral. The first one was dedicated to the Holy Saviour; the second one, baptismal, to St. John the Baptist; the third one to St. Mary de dompno, that is " major church".
The most extensive basilica, the Saviour one, occupied the space between the today's bell tower and the whole left aisle of the present Cathedral, extending in length as far as under the Royal Palace vestibule. The Holy Saviour title remained until the demolition of the basilica itself in 1490, to allow for the construction of the present Cathedral.
On the right of the Saviour basilica was the ancient baptismal rotunda, and St. Mary basilica. Longobard people, who venerated St. John the Baptist as patron of their reign, built a central church which included the ancient baptistery; this may have happened in times of King Agilulfo and pious Queen Teodolinda, builder of the Monza cathedral dedicated to St. John. It is however certain that St. John's cathedral was already there in the VII century, a time in which the Saviour basilica lost its primacy, because St. John became cathedral and the main church of the city.
The destruction of the ancient basilicas to make room for the new cathedral was due to Cardinal Domenico della Rovere, elected in 1482, who built it at his expense. In 1491, a year after the demolition of the three ancient churches, the new building foundation stone was laid. It was completed in 1497. The bell tower, dated back to 1470, was raised in 1700 by architect Filippo Juvara.
The Shroud arrived in Turin in 1578; it was received by Duke Emanuele Filiberto in the Lucento Castle, entered in town with a sumptuous procession and placed in St. Lorenzo Ducal Chapel.
Around 1583 Duke Carlo Emanuele I, very devout of the Shroud, ordered the construction of a rotunda in the ancient palace, with the dome supported by eight columns, to be built for keeping the Shroud.
In 1587 he ordered into the cathedral a sumptuous aedicule, resting on black marble columns, in place of the present high altar and he transferred there the precious Cloth. The following year he began to think of a monumental church for keeping the precious relic; the drawing was realized by Count Carlo of Castellamonte, but although the material necessary for the construction was ready and available, the work was not started even by his son, Vittorio Amedeo I, who had put aside a conspicuous sum for such purpose. Finally, Carlo Emanuele II, Vittorio Amedeo I's son, began the huge undertaking. The architect was Amedeo of Castellamonte, Carlo's son; but in 1666 Guarino Guarini, a man with a portentous talent, arrived in Turin. He was a theologian, a philosopher, a man of letters, a playwright, a mathematician, an astronomer and an architect. In 1668 the Duke nominated him as his architect and entrusted him with the important construction.
The relic was transferred by Carlo Emanuele II to St. Stefano and Caterina's chapel, at the end of the left aisle, and there it remained until 1694.
For the Shroud chapel construction the cathedral apse was sacrificed; the two semicircular chapels at the end of the aisles were also demolished, to build the access staircases.
The chapel is a black marble rotunda, that represent a grandiose sepulchre. In the middle there is the imposing altar, it too in black marble with bronze friezes, erected on some steps and surrounded by a gilt wood balustrade. Surrounding it are four angels holding Passion emblems and four silver lamps. On high, four iron gilt grilles protect the place where the reliquary, coated by enamelled and bejewelled silver, is usually kept. In it the Shroud is placed.
The dome is without precedent in Western architecture: upper arcs build themselves on the keystones of the underlying arcs, getting smaller and smaller. At the peak the dome finishes with a sharp pyramid; on the thin spire there is a globe surmounted by a cross encircled by Passion emblems.
However the three hundred year stay of the Shroud in the Guarini chapel have not been uninterrupted.
In 1706, because of the French siege, the Shroud was transferred to Genoa.
During 1915-1918 war it was kept, with the reliquary wrapped in an amiantus cloth, in a shelter in the Royal Palace cellars. It returned to its usual seat on October 28th, 1919.
During the Second World War (1939-1945) it was transported first to Rome, where it was temporarily placed in Guido Reni chapel in Quirinale, and subsequently to the Sanctuary of Montevergine (Avellino), where it remained until 1946. Cardinal Maurilio Fossati, archbishop of Turin, went there in person to bring it back and he replaced it in the Guarini chapel on October 31st of that year.
On May 4th, 1990, the Shroud's liturgical feast, the chapel was closed because of the falling of some materials from the dome. To start the necessary restorations, on February 24th, 1993, Ash Wednesday, the reliquary containing the precious Linen was moved into the Cathedral, behind the high altar, where a special crystal container had been prepared; with the hope of replacing it soon in its ancient, glorious seat, not without any opportune conservative device.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PUGNO, Giuseppe M. - La Santa Sindone che si venera a Torino - SEI, Torino, 1961.
SOLERO, Silvio - Il Duomo di Torino e la R. Cappella della Sindone - Ed. Alzani, Pinerolo, 1956.