2000 Website News

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our viewers around the world a very joyous holiday season and good health and happiness in the new year. I also wish to thank all of you for your patience over the last few months while I have worked on a large video project for one of my clients and somewhat neglected this website. The good news is that the next update is scheduled for January 21, 2001, which also marks the Fifth Anniversary of Shroud.com. See you next year!

Posted December 23, 2000

Don Lynn with the Shroud in October 1978

I am deeply saddened to report that Donald James Lynn, an original member of the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) and a direct participant in the examination of the Shroud in 1978, died unexpectedly on Saturday, October 14, 2000 of a cerebral hemmorhage. Unfortunately, the world of the Shroud has lost another of its most respected experts, but even more importantly, we have all lost one of our dearest friends.

Don brought his expertise to the STURP team and performed the image processing and computer analysis done of the Shroud images during the course of STURP's research. In recent years Don had retired from active research but continued to play an important role in sindonology as a respected advisor to many of the research groups around the world. He was often a consultant to me on matters pertaining to this website.

Don is survived by Patty, his wife of 44 years, their five children, his brother Frank and nine granchildren. A memorial service was held in his memory in Granada Hills, California, on Tuesday, October 17, 2000, at the Church of St. John Baptist de La Salle and was attended by his family and many friends and colleagues. I am reprinting here some of the many messages I have received over the past week remembering Don and his significant contributions to Shroud research.

With deep regret and profound sadness the American Shroud of Turin Association For Research (AMSTAR) announces the death of our founding board member and colleague, Donald J. Lynn, on October 14, 2000. He was a researcher with Jet Propulsion Laboratory of Pasadena, California for many years and was a member of the former Shroud of Turin Research Project, Inc. (STURP). He participated in STURP'S 1978 hands-on testing of the Shroud of Turin and was active in sindonological research for over twenty years, to which he made significant contributions.

I had met Don Lynn and his best girlfriend, Patty his wife, in October 1978 in Turin, Italy, when Rev. Peter M. Rinaldi arranged that I stay with the STURP team members. I noticed that whenever Don had a word with you, he always left you with a word of encouragement. We met again in Turin in 1998 at the Shroud Conference.

Following all too swiftly upon the sudden death of Dr. Alan Adler has come the news of that of another STURP stalwart, Don Lynn, who suffered a massive stroke the night of Thursday 14 October and died two days later. His memorial service was held on Tuesday 17 October at the Church of St. John Baptist de La Salle - a building which features stained glass windows created by Isabel Piczek. Besides Don's widow Patti and their family, this was attended by Isabel Piczek, Dr. August Accetta and Barrie Schwortz on behalf of the 'Shroud Crowd'.

Back in 1976 Don Lynn and his colleague Jean Lorre were employed at the Image Processing Laboratory of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena. At that time they were working on analysing and enhancing the images that the Viking Lander mission had been sending back from the surface of Mars. Because the techniques they were using seemed applicable to the Shroud, they were approached by the then still embryonic STURP project, leading to Don taking up a strong interest in the Shroud that would never wane. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory allowed Don and his colleague to use the Laboratory's equipment for Shroud research, just so long as the work was done in their own time. Despite intense pressure of work on the Mars images, within months Don became a participant at the Shroud conference held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, March 1977. His special contribution to Shroud studies was to show, via the then very new method of digitizing photographic images, that the Shroud's image has none of the directionality, such as left and right-hand brush-strokes, readily evident whenever paintings are studied by the same methods. Comments by him during a discussion filmed at the time of that same conference formed part of a key scene in the closing moments of David Rolfe's 1977 Shroud documentary, "The Silent Witness." He and his wife Patti attended the recent Orvieto Congress in Italy and went on to Turin to view the Shroud together.

Don was one of the truly "nice guys" of Shroudom - gentle, a man of faith and a faithful and gifted researcher. His last act of kindness to me was to get up early in the morning and drive some of us to the train station with all our luggage to catch a train to Turin. He was always thinking of others and I, along with all who knew him, truly mourn his passing. We will all survive if we can just concentrate on his "gain" instead of our "loss", though maybe with God as the Moderator he may finally have a chance to get a word in edgewise now that he has joined Al Adler and the One who left His Image on the Shroud.

Rebecca and I were very surprised and sad to hear about the sudden passing of Don Lynn. I have always considered Don as my friend and colleague in Shroud research. I had the privilege of working with Don in the making of the Silent Witness documentary in 1977. I recall very well the closing scene in that documentary where Don made what was probably the most important statement of the entire movie. He stated that the image on the Shroud could have been the result of a “burst of radiation”. As a scientist, such a statement took courage because such a possibility might logically be connected to the Resurrection, if the Shroud is the authentic burial cloth of Jesus. Indeed, the narrator of the Silent Witness drew such a connection. I admire Don’s courage for saying this and I feel honored to have been a member of that closing scene with him. Don was always willing to share data and cooperate to the best of his ability in furthering knowledge of the Shroud. He had an inquiring mind and was always objective in his evaluation of Shroud data. He was a pursuer of truth. It is Rebecca’s and my prayer for Don, as fellow Christians, that he is now able to contemplate the Resurrection and the Divine Mysteries to which this event, and perhaps the Shroud, are intimately connected -

I have just read your section and notes from others on Don Lynn. Although we have not kept in very good touch these last few years, Marge and I have often thought about Don and Patty and their beautiful family. The 1978 expedition was certainly a bonding experience and we feel as if we have lost a family member. I still have not gotten over losing Al and now we have lost Don. Thanks for doing such a beautiful job on your web site.

Today I received from Isabel Piczek the very sad news that Dr. Donald Lynn died of stroke today. We lose a friend, a scientist, a sindonologist. I send you the last e-mail I received from him only three days ago to share with you what he kindly wrote me. Surely we cannot forget him, for ever.

----- Original Message -----
From: Don Lynn
To: Emanuela Marinelli
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2000 9:10 PM

Dear Emanuela:

Thank you so much for having the Shroud conference and treating my wife and I so well. I am very sorry that I have not responded to your email sooner, but we took several weeks after the conference to attend the Shroud Exposition and do some sightseeing in northern Italy. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, but then had a month's work to catch up on when we returned home. Regarding my participation in future Shroud research, I regret that I no longer have the resources (or the time or energy) to do what I used to do.

I am still very interested in the Shroud, but more as an interested observer than an active researcher. However, I would be happy to participate in any way that would help you. Thank you again for an interesting conference and your kind attention.

Don Lynn

I first met Don Lynn several years ago at the Shroud Center of Southern California. Don exuded a warmth and friendliness that immediately drew me to him. Recently, Don agreed to read and critique some materials related to some research that me and my partner, Sue Benford, are involved in. I was happy to learn that he would be attending the Worldwide Congress in Orvieto, Italy in August.

Sue and I made arrangements to ride with him from the airport in Rome to the Congress in Orvieto so that we could get to know him better. His wife, Patty, was as warm and friendly as Don. They immediately took us under their wings. Don and Patty helped us find our hotel when we got to Orvieto, offered to let us cool off in their air-conditioned hotel room and even provided Sue with Band-Aids for her blistered feet!

We enjoyed their company immensely at a special dinner hosted by the Congress and learned about their family and some of Don's experiences of studying the Shroud in 1978 as part of the STURP team. After the Congress was over, Don drove us to the train station when we left Orvieto, even though they were not taking the train themselves. We were looking forward to seeing them again at another Shroud conference. We were deeply saddened and shocked when we learned that Don had died. We feel privileged to have gotten to know him to the degree that we did. He will be missed by all -- especially us.

I salute and pay tribute to Don Lynn's life and achievements. Don Lynn was one of those rare individuals about whom one can speak only in superlatives. He was an excellent scientist who worked for many years at the prestigious and world renowned Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Don was also a member of the Shroud of Turin Research Project, Inc. and participated in STURP's important and milestone 1978 hands-on testing of the Shroud. He was involved in sindonological research for over twenty years, to which he made many significant contributions. Don was also a founding board member of AMSTAR.

On a personal level, Don was a genuinely good, nice and caring individual who was loved and respected by all who were privileged to know him. Don's personal charm, friendliness and innate modesty belied his keen intellect and fine mind. He was without peer in his field of expertise. His death leaves a great void both in our hearts and in sindonological research. We miss him terribly.

...(Sorry) I'm a little slow responding. This has been a sad month, a month of deaths of longtime and close friends including Don.

I was not lucky to have frequent encounters with Don but each time I enjoyed the occasion and looked forward to the next. I remember Don as a gentleman, never condescending or arrogant but helpful as well as knowledgeable about his specialty.

Don was a close personal friend. Very recently, Don, Patty and I shared a lovely dinner in Rome, had long and very meaningful visits in Orvieto during the Shroud symposium there and drove together to Turin to visit the Shroud as well as old friends in the area.

Don shared with me a very interesting story. In 1978, he and his beautiful wife, Patty, were driving around Umbria. For some very mysterious reason, their car stopped on the road right beneath the little mountain of the city of Orvieto. The car problems simply forced them to spend the night in that city. All these years Don wondered why the car broke down there. What was the mysterious reason they had to spend time in that hauntingly romantic city?

Recently I called Don and told him about the International Symposium on the Shroud that was to be held in Orvieto. He immediately decided to attend and told me he hoped to find out, so many years later, the mysterious reason why their car broke down and they had to unexpectedly spend a night in that city.

This year, Don and Patty traveled again the same road they traveled in 1978. They revisited all the magnificent, romantic places they had seen together as younger people. They re-lived a very significant time in their lives. What a way to end a noble and important life, as Don's was!

I think God gave a very clear answer why the car stopped with Patty and Don so many years ago. Don was a deeply religious man. I think he proved that God plans our lives with providence.

To say that Don Lynn was a good imaging scientist would be like saying Einstein was good at arithmetic. His knowledge, talent, and skills will be greatly missed by all who knew him. His professional approach to problems, his dedication to accuracy, and his thoroughness, lead to some of the greatest research, experiments, and discoveries, concerning the Shroud of Turin. Don's works live on and are often referenced in the research of other investigators. His wise counsel helped raise the standards in the works of others with whom he associated. His involvement in Shroud Research began in 1976. His presence in our community will be missed, but his work will always be in evidence. He is now with God, where he can see more clearly than any of us the full revelation of the mysterious Shroud he had studied so diligently while he was with us.

Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. Thank you for sharing him with those of us involved in Shroud research.

Don Lynn was the man responsible for me staying on the STURP team when we were first forming up in 1976. Since I am Jewish, my first reaction was to hesitate about getting involved in something I perceived as a "Christian" project. When I mentioned this to Don, he smiled and said, "Apparently, you've forgotten that the Man in question was a Jew. So you don't think God wants one of the Chosen People on this team, eh?" he asked, his voice dripping with irony.

Then Don gave me some really great advice. He told me that God doesn't always let us know the plan in advance, so I should go to Turin, do the best job possible and worry about why later. He said that someday God would let me know the reason.

When this website went online in January 1996, I called Don and said, "Don, you were right!"

"Years ago, when you told me that someday I would know why I was on the Shroud team, well, you were right. I've finally figured it out and it only took eighteen years!"

So Don is really the man responsible for this website. Not only did he encourage me to build it and stick with it when things got tough, but without his sound, wonderful advice so many years earlier, I would have left the STURP team at the beginning and you certainly wouldn't be reading this now. Don's passing was very difficult for me and will be even more difficult in the future when I need some good sound advice and won't have him to turn to. But I'm very grateful that I was able to tell him how much his words meant to me. I will never forget him and I'll never forget what he told me so many years ago: "Do the best job possible..."

Posted October 25, 2000

Shroud Exhibition Closes In Turin

The longest public exhibition in the Shroud's history closed on October 22, 2000. The following article is courtesy of the ZENIT News Organization:

TURIN, Italy, OCT. 23, 2000 (ZENIT.org).- The longest exposition of the Shroud of Turin in history closed Sunday with a special celebration of bishops in the city's cathedral.

For 72 days, from Aug. 12 until last Friday, 950,792 pilgrims viewed the relic, believed to be the cloth used to wrap Jesus' body after the crucifixion.

At a press conference Saturday, Archbishop Severino Poletto of Turin, pontifical custodian of the shroud, announced that there will be two "extra" mornings to view the shroud, on Oct. 27 and 28. This is to accommodate pilgrims whose plans were disrupted by recent floods in northern Italy.

This year 207,994 reservations to see the shroud were made through Internet. This represents 20% of all visitors, compared with 9% who registered via Internet for the 1998 exposition.

The latest exposition of the shroud attracted 112,874 foreigners from 170 different countries, or 11.8% of the total number of visitors. The largest groups were from France (22.5%) and Poland (13.3%).

About 30,000 youngsters visited the shroud on their way to, or return from, World Youth Day, held in Rome in August.

More than 200 priests took turns manning the dozen confessionals installed in the Royal Square for the occasion of the exposition.

Archbishop Poletto said the next extended exposition is planned for 2025, the date of the next Holy Year.
ZE00102305

Posted October 25, 2000

Future Updates

It has been some time since the last update as I have been tied up on other projects and I thank all of you for your patience. Much has happened in the world of the Shroud this year and I have a large backlog of material destined for the website. I am hopeful of starting these updates in the next few weeks and plan to have the site completely caught up by January 1, 2001.

Included in these future updates will be complete reports on the three Shroud conferences held in the year 2000 (March in Turin, May in San Felice Circeo and August in Orvieto), a number of scientific papers from the various conferences, an update of important new Shroud Internet links and a feature on many new Shroud books, so please keep watching.

Posted October 25, 2000

Photographs of Shroud Exhibition Added

The press conference held on the morning of
August 12, 2000 - © 2000 Maurizio Marinelli

I am very pleased to announce that we have added a number of excellent new photographs to the Shroud Exhibitions page of this site. These were taken by Maurizio Marinelli on August 12 and 13, 2000, during the opening ceremonies of the current Shroud Exhibition, and include several excellent views of the Shroud in its new display case. I extend my sincere thanks to Maurizio, a member of the Collegamento pro Sindone in Rome, for providing the photos. A special note of thanks is also due to his lovely wife, Simona Marinelli, for providing the English language captions.

Posted August 23, 2000

Add Your Own Name To The E-Mail List

Over the last five years, many of you have written to me and asked to be added to my e-mail list so you could receive the occasional Shroud updates I send out. However, my busy schedule often made it difficult for me to manage the list and my e-mail server made it difficult for me to do mass mailings. Until now that is. I am pleased to announce that I have updated the "Send Us E-Mail" page of the site to include a link to ListBot, a mailing and list management system that allows you to add your name to the list yourself. It also allows you to go online and remove your name from the list should you ever want to. One of the great features of the system is that it also allows you to view the previous e-mail updates that have been sent in the past. It adds some great features to the site and takes me out of the loop completely, making the list management self-sufficient at last. Check the page for all the details.

Posted August 23, 2000

Last Update Before Sindone 2000 Shroud Conference

Once again I find myself out of time and unable to complete this update before boarding the plane to fly to Europe for the upcoming Sindone 2000 Shroud Conference, which is being held August 27, 28 and 29, 2000, in Orvieto, near Rome. Unfortunately, I was just not able to get everything online that I had hoped to. And as always, I will do so just as soon as possible after I return. I am not scheduled to return until September 15, 2000, and will probably need at least a week or two to get caught up, so expect the next update sometime in October. At that time I should be able to not only include the backlogged material, but also provide an overview of this latest conference. Stay tuned.

Although I will have my laptop computer with me, I am not sure if I will be able to access my e-mail while I am away. If you want to write me, please understand that I may not be able to answer promptly. Sadly, as I now receive hundreds of e-mails every week, I am no longer able to answer every one, although I do read them all. Thanks for your understanding. I'll talk to you in October.

Posted August 23, 2000

Shroud Exhibition Opens In Turin!

The longest public exhibition of the Shroud of Turin in the cloth's history was officially opened today, August 12, 2000, by Archbishop Severino Poletto of Turin. The exposition will last for ten full weeks. I have updated the Shroud Exhibitions page of this site and have also included several recent articles from the Zenit News Service in Rome. One features an interview that aired August 9, 2000 on Vatican Radio, in which Archbishop Poletto provided an excellent overview of the new Shroud exposition, including a description of the "enriched" route pilgrims will take as they wait in line to see the cloth. If you are planning to attend the exposition this year, you should find these new articles both interesting and useful. Of course, any new information will be provided as soon as it becomes available.

Posted August 12, 2000

Speakers Directory Updated

I am pleased to announce that we have just updated the Shroud Speakers Directory page of this website. It was originally created in response to the many e-mail requests I regularly receive from groups and organizations looking for qualified individuals to speak on the Shroud of Turin. By consulting this directory, you will find listings for Shroud lecturers that include a short biography of each, a description of the topics they present, their geographic location, how to contact them directly and other pertinent information that will help you find the right speaker for your group. We are pleased to welcome noted sindonologist Mark Antonacci to the page.

Posted August 12, 2000

British Society Newsletters Updated

I am pleased to announce that we have just added Issue 50 (November 1999) and Issue 51 (June 2000) of the British Society for the Turin Shroud (BSTS) Newsletter to the "British Society for the Turin Shroud" page of this website. As always, a special note of thanks is due to Judith Wilson for preparing all the materials so we could put them online easily.

Issue 51 includes a report on the "The Turin Shroud, Past, Present and Future," a Shroud conference held in Turin on March 2-5, 2000, that Ian Wilson, who attended, calls "probably the best-ever Shroud Symposium." Issue 50 includes several articles that discuss "Correct Seeing" and the Shroud. Over the years we have come to expect nothing but the highest quality from the BSTS Newsletter. These two issues are perfect examples.

Posted August 7, 2000

More Comments From Our Viewers

Recently I reprinted a paper titled "Image Formation and the Shroud of Turin" by Emily Craig and Randall Bresee. The paper presents the authors' theory of how the image on the Shroud might have been created by a first century or medieval artist. It promptly stimulated a large number of e-mails and a detailed response from Prof. Daniel Scavone, a noted historian and Shroud researcher, which was also recently included on this site. In today's update to the "Comments From Our Viewers" page, I have included Emily Craig's responses to Prof. Scavone's comments, as well as an additional response to her article from Rev. Albert "Kim" Dreisbach.

Also included is an interesting article that offers a completely different point-of-view on the debate by Danusha Goska, a Ph.D. candidate at Indiana University who views the Shroud from the perpective of the social sciences. These are all included immediately following Professor Scavone's comments. I wish to thank all of the participants for taking the time to contribute to this debate and making their materials available on this website.

Posted August 7, 2000

The Next Update

I am planning at least one more update to this site by the opening of the upcoming Shroud Exhibition on August 12, 2000. I am hoping to include several new scientific papers as well as a feature on many of the new Shroud books that have recently been or are soon to be released. This will include the new book I co-authored with Ian Wilson titled, "The Turin Shroud: The Illustrated Evidence," which I have mentioned previously and is due for release in the U.S. in September. At the end of this month I will be attending the Sindone 2000 Worldwide Conference in Orvieto, Italy, and will probably be unable to update the site again until sometime in October. So check back often in the next few weeks as there is a lot of new information on the way.

Posted August 7, 2000

Links To More Information Updated!

I am truly pleased to announce that the "Links To More Information" page of this site has finally been updated and now includes 25 New Shroud Links. Among these are several spiritually oriented sites and a new website that allows viewers to participate directly in Shroud discussions by posting their comments on a message board. In fact, there is now so much Shroud of Turin information on the Internet, one of the new sites lists 350 Shroud Links on one page! Several sites include rare interviews with the late Dr. Alan Adler, and these even let you download streaming RealAudio files of the interviews. (These are extremely valuable as Dr. Adler rarely gave interviews to the media). Of course, it is absolutely impossible for me to include everything on my site, but I have chosen a sampling of those links that I feel have merit and added them to my list. All the new ones are marked to make it easier to find them. I suggest you bookmark the ones you find interesting.

Posted August 1, 2000

Tours To Turin Page Updated

The Tours To Turin page of this site provides a listing of professional travel organizations that are currently offering tours that include a viewing of the Shroud during the upcoming exhibition (August 12, 2000 to October 22, 2000). I am pleased to announce that the page has been updated and another professional travel organization has been added.

If you are interested in seeing the Shroud during the upcoming exhibition and prefer to work with a professional travel organization, look over the tours offered by the companies listed. Some offer individualized services for those who prefer not to travel with a group.

Posted August 1, 2000

Our List Of Visitors Grows Again

The website continues to draw visitors from around the world, now averaging visits from 75 different countries per week! I recently added three new entries to the "List of Countries That Have Visited This Website" page, which now includes 151 countries. Our most recent additions are first visits from Ghana, Jamaica and Tonga. I would like to welcome our new viewers to the website and thank all of you for your continued participation and encouragement.

Posted August 1, 2000

Search Engine Added To Website!

I am extremely pleased to announce that a new Website Search Engine has now been added to this site. In case you didn't notice, a search box is now provided at the top of the Main Menu page that allows you to enter any key word or words and search the entire contents of this website. The search includes all HTML pages, Adobe Acrobat PDF files and even photo captions on the site, so it should help you immensely in finding the specific information you are looking for. In addition to the Main Menu page, a search box is also provided on the Website Library page, so you can save time if you are there doing research. (Even if you aren't doing research, I have to admit that it was just plain "fun" to use the search engine to sample the content of the website).

We have really needed this for a long time, but all the "free" search engines that have been available up until now have included banner advertising on their "Results" pages. Since it has been my policy since the beginning to allow no banner ads on this site, these were never viable options. The "premium" search engines that were available until recently were cost prohibitive, so I am truly thankful to Paul Melograno for not only finding this one and letting me know about it, but for generously helping me to adjust it to our specific needs. It is truly an improvement. Enjoy!

Posted July 28, 2000

Updates On The Way

Over the last few months, my attention was turned away from the website because of other obligations, including projects for my imaging clients and the completion of the new Shroud book I co-authored with Ian Wilson titled, "The Turin Shroud: The Illustrated Evidence." However, with the quickly approaching opening of the Shroud Exhibition in Turin and the Sindone 2000 Shroud Conference being held in Orvieto, Italy, I plan to do a series of updates to the website that will be completed by August 12, 2000 (the first day of the public exhibition).

In the last few months I have accumulated a very large amount of material that needs to go online. This includes Issue 50 and Issue 51 of the British Society for the Turin Shroud (BSTS) Newsletter, a response from Dr. Emily Craig to comments about her paper that was recently included on this site, additional viewer comments on her work, a number of new scientific papers, an update to the Shroud Booklist, a report on several recent, important Shroud Conferences, another update to the Tours To Turin page and an in-depth look at the new Shroud books that are about to be (or have recently been) released. So check back often over the next two weeks. The site is growing again!

Posted July 28, 2000

Alan Adler in Richmond, June 1999

I am deeply saddened to report that Dr. Alan Adler, world renowned chemist and one of the most important scientists in international sindonology, died in his sleep on Saturday, June 10, 2000. I am reprinting here just part of the outpouring of messages I have received that convey far better than I ever could the true magnitude of his passing.

The American Shroud of Turin Association for Research (AMSTAR), announces with deep regret the death of Dr. Alan D. Adler on June 11, 2000.

Dr. Adler was a founder and board member of AMSTAR, a scientific organization dedicated to conducting research in connection with the Shroud of Turin. Dr. Adler was an internationally renown chemist and an acclaimed expert on porphryns, a component of human blood. Dr. Adler's research proved that the blood stained areas on the Shroud are human blood. Dr. Adler was involved with sindonological research for many years, particularly in the area of conservation of the Shroud. However, Dr. Adler's encyclopedic knowledge extended to virtually every scientific discipline. His death leaves an inestimable void in sindonological research.

Dr. Adler served on the Conservation Commission of both Cardinal Saldarini and Archbishop Poletto. He was a member of ACS, APS, AAAS, NYAS, HSS, American Association of Clinical Chemistry, American Society of Photobiology and Sigma Xi.

REDDING, Conn. (AP) -- Alan D. Adler, a renowned expert in blood chemistry who investigated the Shroud of Turin for the Vatican, died Saturday. He was 68.

The shroud, which many believe was Christ's burial cloth, bears a faded image of a bearded man and what appear to be bloodstains that coincide with Christ's crucifixion wounds. The 13-foot-long linen cloth has been kept in the city of Turin, Italy since 1578.

Adler established in 1988 the shroud image was that of a person, and the blood came from violently inflicted wounds. He said blood flowing from wounds has a different chemistry than blood flowing in veins. But he said he couldn't prove whether the image on the shroud was Christ's.

"We know for sure it's human blood and it came from a man who died a traumatic death,'' Adler said in a 1998 interview. "There's no laboratory test for 'Christ-ness.'''

The retired biochemist also worked in the 1990s for the Cardinal's Conservation Commission for the Shroud of Turin and wanted to ensure the ancient cloth didn't continue to deteriorate. He suggested encasing the shroud in argon gas to stop the decaying process.

Adler was an assistant professor of molecular biology at the University of Pennsylvania until 1967, when he took the job of senior staff scientist with the New England Institute in Ridgefield. In 1974, he joined the faculty of Western Connecticut State University in Danbury and later founded the biochemistry department there. He taught at Western for 20 years.

"...I feel that I was very privileged to share time with him when we visited Alan Whanger together in Durham, N.C. I treasure the words he gave me, increasing several fold my knowledge about natural processes, which took place in the "chemical history" of the shroud of Turin. I loved the moments we talked together and we had a lot of such moments in North Carolina, in Turin in the summer of 1998 and in Turin in March 2000. Whenever he opened his mouth in the scientific discussions at the last meeting, everybody became silent - everybody knew that the best scientific ideas were going to be heard.

"I can hardly believe that I shall have to talk of the so-vivid Alan Adler in the past tense... he is present with me all the time."

"...He will be greatly missed and, in the truest sense of the word is "irreplaceable." His number of years in sindonology, his encyclopedic grasp of all subfields in this area from textiles to analytic chemistry and - most of all - his dedication and devotion to the cause long after many of the original members of STURP had lost interest and/or been frightened away by the C-14 dating.

"...Maybe his death is a wakeup call that we had best be doing a better job of recruiting the next and younger generation of researchers to carry on the torch which Al so proudly bore for so many years of faithful service.

"...In talking to (his wife) Jean last night, she said that Al wanted a party for his friends and co-workers, not a mournful service... I suggest that any and all who wish to remember him and his many contributions to students, Boy Scouts, the "Shroud Crowd" and all others whose lives he touched and inspired, lift a toast to his life among us and wish him God's speed in his new "classroom" where I am sure he is probably already talking and continuing to share his encyclopedic mind with others."

"...I will really miss Al. He treated me with such dignity and respect that one would reserve for great people. He would always think to include me in conversations and sometimes late at night would call me to try a talk out on me as an average person would listen to it... He was held in such high esteem and I felt so honored that he would even remember my name. I sure am going to miss him. His passing will be felt enormously by the Shroud community...

"...Al was a unique person. He gave a lot to Shroud research but more importantly, he knew how to give of himself to others... I hope of all the things I learned from Al that I will remember him most for his generous heart and readiness to reach out and help others."

Al Adler was a friend and colleague in Shroud research, as he was for many other people. We have lost the best chemist ever in Shroud research and his loss is equivalent to losing a Vignon or a Barbet. To me, his greatest and lasting contribution will be the chemical demonstration that the body image on the Shroud is a form of degraded cellulose and definitely not a painting. I have always appreciated, in the over twenty years of knowing him, his attention to the scientific method and objectivity in his work. He never abandoned Shroud research after the radiocarbon date and worked hard to try to understand the image formation mechanism. Perhaps the greatest tribute anyone can make to his memory is to read or re-read his paper that he coauthored with the late John Heller - "A Chemical Investigation of the Shroud of Turin.", Can. Soc. Forensic Sci J. 14, No 3, 81 (1981). I think this paper, more than any other, will give a perspective on the depth of his contribution to Shroud research. I am going to miss him.

"I last spoke to Al Adler on the Friday evening before he passed away. I was looking for an ISBN number for a chemical publication and, thank God, I thought of Al. This time around we didn't talk about bagels and the perfect culinary accessories that should go along with them, but about the Shroud and the projects that he was working on. He was an inspiration to me and he changed the world's pre-conceived notions of what a Sindonologist should look like."

"...I personally am shocked and saddened. I first met Dr. Adler in the early 80's when he gave a talk in St. Louis. I was able to spend time with him at Shroud symposia in Elizabethtown (Pennsylvania), Rome, Esopus (New York), and Richmond (Virginia). He was an intense and knowledgeable researcher... and he will be greatly missed."

With Al Adler's passing we have lost a great teacher and Shroud researcher. I first met him in 1985 at our STURP meeting in Charlotte. His blustery humour was refreshing because he always had a practical suggestion to go with it. I had a chance to work with him at the ASSIST testing of the 1624 True Copy of the Shroud in Summit, NJ, the following year. He communicated with all interested parties, and his advice was respected. He was one of the few STURP people who kept going when most were falling away.

I sent Al my upcoming Orvieto paper for his comments. I called Friday, June 9th to get an idea of what he thought. His wife Jeanne answered the phone and said he was sick with the flu. We spoke about family for a while and I asked her to have him call me when he felt better. That was not to be.

The news of Al Adler's death was the most devastating news I have received during the roughly eleven years I have spent in Shroud research. It is something I find very hard to believe and even harder to accept.

Al leaves a vacuum behind that is impossible to fill. He was the super-scientist of Shroud research. His knowledge was phenomenal and always correct. He represented the ultimate scientific control, a cleansing force that eliminated the outlandish and unfounded ideas of Shroud research by confronting them with undeniable facts.

He enjoyed the trust of everyone, including the authorities (in Italy). It was a very comforting thought to know that the care of the Shroud was in large part in Al's hands. No one could have shown more sense of responsibility regarding the principles of the preservation of the Shroud.

One of the most beautiful qualities of Al was that he never wanted fame, recognition or applause. He refused TV appearances, media exposure or even personal praise. He wanted to remain in the background and just serve the Shroud in silence through his excellent science.

Al was a warm and faithful friend. I will miss him the rest of my life. We all will miss him.

A good friend of mine went to see You today, Lord. He was a happy, brilliant, stubborn, tenacious person who loved what You presented to him as a challenge.

Thank You, Lord, for his brilliant mind and his wonderful wit. Thank You for his presence in our lives. He was clever in speech, thought, and action. He was a light to us with lesser skills and education. He was a patient listener and a wonderful teacher. Above all, he was a great friend with a big heart, full of joy and laughter, but serious enough to get his point across when the situation demanded.

A great person is gone. There are many who mourn the loss of Alan Adler, but he has left us many memories and inspirations. Mine began in 1981 when I first met Al and John Heller over lunch. What a colorful pair!

Over the ensuing years, Al and I developed a very close working and personal relationship. At about weekly intervals we would have long telephone conversations covering a wide variety of topics. It was a highlight of our annual trip to Connecticut to go to the Adler’s home for a delightful visit of several hours with Al and his lovely wife, Jean, drinking tea and eating some of Jean’s great cooking. We would discuss our new findings with Al, and he would comment and make suggestions, serving as a sort of one-man peer review committee for us.

Also, we went to several meetings with him in France and Italy. His lectures were always highly informative and attention grabbers, with an occasional point being made by him opening his shirt to show one of his incredible tee shirts with the pertinent chemical formula or other relevant inscription printed on it.

At heart, Al was a very kind, thoughtful, and generous person. He was a diligent researcher after the truth, willing to listen but saying his characteristic "do an experiment."

His death leaves a very large gap in Shroud research and in many lives on a personal level. I know he would want us to carry on the work, to conserve the Shroud and the other related Relics in which he was also greatly interested, and to share the truth. One of his important motivational quotes was, "Nothing lasts forever." But memories, inspiration, truth, and the spirit do go on, and we can be consoled by this.

Every so often the Shroud world loses a giant amongst its number. Dr. Alan Adler was certainly this. A man so full of life and zest and argument that those of us who knew him well can perhaps be forgiven for our failing to give his mortality a second thought. Until suddenly, the night of Saturday 10 June, he passed away peacefully in his sleep, and was gone, both from us and from Jean, his beloved wife of a 46 year marriage.

As described by Dr. John Heller, Alan Adler was a Renaissance man, 'a physical chemist, thermodynamicist and porphyrin nut… with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the physical and biological sciences, military history, ecology and many other fields.' In partnership with Heller he embarked upon the most exhaustive study of the Shroud samples.

Throughout the last two decades Al has been a regular contributor to both US and international Shroud conferences, his good humour, ebullience, loquacity and above all, consummate scientific knowledge serving always to ensure that he stood out from the rest. Such was his international reputation that a few years back Cardinal Saldarini, surprised to hear that Alan had never had the opportunity to examine the Shroud proper at first hand, specially invited him to Turin to do so. From this visit he became a key consultant on issues pertaining to the Shroud's conservation, a responsibility that he took very seriously, darkly warning that within a very few years the Shroud's image might disappear. He directly advised on the design of the Italgas casket made to house the cloth for the 1998 expositions and its subsequent long-term storage. He was the leading English-speaking contributor to the Shroud Symposium held in Turin this March, and was also due to speak at the forthcoming Orvieto Congress.

No other single figure on the Shroud scene had Alan's huge grasp of the scientific complexities of the subject. The full ramifications of his loss have yet to be realised.

Al Adler's contributions to Shroud Studies is unsurpassed. He had a brilliant mind and a great understanding of the spectrum of Shroud Research and yet stayed within his area of expertise. He was very kind and understanding and would give you the shirt off his back. If he disagreed with you, it was done with great respect and understanding.

As you know, Al was one of my closest friends and I will miss him dearly. In a way, we were family and he called me regularly to inform me of everything going on in Shroud research and two weeks ago send me a photocopy from a treatise on Jewish burial customs in support of my work that the man on the Shroud was washed.There wasn't a single Conference or Symposium that Al wouldn't go out of his way to tell the world that we went to the same high school and at the Turin Symposium in March 2000, he called me up to the podium where he had me recite the Haverstraw High School football cheer with him.. "Strawberry shortcake, huckleberry pie, V-I-C-T-O-R-Y......

He invited me to his 50th high school reunion a couple of years ago where we had a ball telling everyone about our work. He constantly recommended me for various documentaries but wouldn't go on himself. He also was one of the major supporters of my work. When I received word of his death, it was like a member of my own family had died. My prayers are with him. Strawberry shortcake, huckleberry pie, V-I-C-T-O-R-Y........................................!

Posted June 14, 2000

Important Notice

I will be away until May 15, 2000 and will not have access to my e-mail, nor will I be able to process any orders placed via the Secure Order Form of the "Website Store." Also, if you have written me recently and have not received an answer, it is because the volume of e-mail has increased to almost 400 per week! As you know, I do most of this work by myself, so I have fallen very far behind in my correspondence. I ask that you be patient for a reply and I'll do my best to answer as many as possible. However, I must admit that it has become truly impossible for me to answer every letter I receive. It would take eight hours a day just to keep up with it all, and I cannot commit that much time to correspondence alone. Your understanding is appreciated.

There are still many items sitting here that should be on the website already and probably many new ones will be here when I return. I am planning to include them on the site after I get back from my trip and hope to have the next update online by mid-June. Until then, let me thank you all again for your continued patience, participation and support.

Posted May 1, 2000

Friends of Shroud.com Page Updated

I am happy to announce that the Friends of Shroud.com page has been updated to include the contributions made by viewers in January through April of this year. My apologies for the delay in getting these onto the website before now. Also included on the page is a new message from Kate Kelly about the current efforts of Friends of Shroud.com and information on obtaining Emanuela and Maurizio Marinelli's "Living Shroud" CD-ROM. The Marinelli's and their publisher were kind enough to allow us to offer the disc for sale at a reduced rate and have donated a portion of the proceeds to Friends of Shroud.com. If you are interested in supporting this website, this page tells you how.

Posted April 26, 2000

A Response To Dr. Emily Craig's Paper

Recently I reprinted a paper titled "Image Formation and the Shroud of Turin" by Emily Craig and Randall Bresee. The paper presents the authors' theory of how the image on the Shroud might have been created by a first century or medieval artist. It promptly stimulated a large number of e-mails and a detailed response from Prof. Daniel Scavone, a noted historian and Shroud researcher. You can now find Prof. Scavone's rebuttal on the "Comments From Our Viewers" page of this website. My thanks to him for his participation and for allowing me to reprint his materials.

Posted April 26, 2000

Research Registry Updated

I have always considered the Research Registry one of the most important pages of this website. It is provided as a "bulletin board" to list resources that researchers and organizations are willing to make available or need to acquire for further Shroud study. Listings are free to any organizations, groups or individuals actively involved, directly or indirectly in Shroud research.

Recently I received an e-mail from Rev. Albert "Kim" Dreisbach looking for certain historical illustrations necessary for his research and have included the details of his request on this page. If you can be of assistance, feel free to contact him directly. If you are looking for materials or have something you can offer, check the page for detailed instructions on submitting your own listing.

Posted April 26, 2000

Tours To Turin Page Updated

I am pleased to announce that I have updated the "Tours To Turin" page of this site to include Canterbury Tours, Inc., the organization that I am personally participating with during the upcoming Shroud Exhibition. In addition to Canterbury are Select International Tours and Unitours, Inc. All are professional travel organizations offering a multitude of tours that include a visit to the Shroud of Turin during the exhibition. Each organization has provided a detailed itinerary for their tours, along with important contact information for making reservations, etc. If you are planning on visiting the Shroud during the upcoming exhibition and have not yet made your travel and hotel arrangements, you might find this information very helpful.

Posted April 26, 2000

Our List Of Visitors Grows Again

The website continues to draw visitors from around the world, now averaging visits from 75 different countries per week! I recently added several new entries to the "List of Countries That Have Visited This Website" page, which now includes 148 countries. Our most recent additions are first visits from Antigua & Barbuda and Belize. I would like to welcome our new viewers to the website and thank all of you for your continued participation and encouragement.

Posted April 26, 2000

New Papers Added To Website

I am pleased to announce that we have received permission from the Journal of Imaging Science and Technology to reprint the 1994 paper by Dr. Emily A. Craig and Dr. Randall R. Bresee called Image Formation and the Shroud of Turin (.pdf format) [315k] on the "Scientific Papers & Articles" page of this website. It also includes a new Preface written by Dr. Craig exclusively for this site. The paper presents the authors' theory of how the image on the Shroud might have been created by a first century or medieval artist. The authors reproduced only the face but claim the same technique could also be used to produce the entire ventral and dorsal body image. Their technique allows them to incorporate spatial information similar to that found on the Shroud in their final result, but does not account for a number of the other significant Shroud image properties. I thank Drs. Craig and Bresee for graciously obtaining permission from the journal and allowing me to reprint the paper here.

I am also pleased to announce the addition of another paper to the "1998 Turin Symposium" page of this site. The paper is from Giovanni Imbalzano and is titled Duplicità del volto Sindonico and was originally presented in June 1998 at the international symposium. The link is to the Italian text of this and other works by the author.

Posted April 4, 2000

News From "Giulio Ricci" Shroud Center In Rome

S.A.R. Maria Gabriella di Savoia, Padre Simone Maria Fioraso,
Sir Antonio Cassanelli and Mr. Roberto Falcinelli at opening of exhibit
© R. Falcinelli/Archivio Centro Diocesano di Sindonologia "Giulio Ricci"

I was pleased to recently receive a letter from Roberto Falcinelli, a fellow professional photographer and member of the Centro Diocesano di Sindonologia "Giulio Ricci" in Rome. (You can find out more about the Center including how to contact them directly by visiting the "Shroud Centers & Organizations" page of this site). Roberto wrote to inform me of a new exhibit titled, "The Shroud Through the Centuries from the Collection of Umberto II" (La Sindone Nei Secoli Nella Collezione di Umberto II) being co-sponsored by the Centro along with the Opera Barolo, Regione Piemonte and Fondazione Umberto II. The exhibit officially opened March 22, 2000 at the church of S. Croce in Gerusalemme, near Rome and will remain on display until May 4, 2000. This is the same exhibit of rare and beautiful Shroud historical artifacts (collected by the Shroud's former owner, the King of Italy), that was shown in Turin in 1998, during the Shroud's public exhibition. It includes prints, etchings, engravings and posters and several are extremely rare. The opening of the new exhibit was attended by Princess Maria Gabriella di Savoia (daughter of the late King Umberto II), Mons. S. Poletto (Archbishop of Turin) and other researchers and dignitaries. I would urge anyone that is going to be in Rome during this period to take the time and visit this beautiful collection.

Part of the exhibit from the Collection of Umberto II
© R. Falcinelli/Archivio Centro Diocesano di Sindonologia "Giulio Ricci"

The Centro was also the sponsor of the May 1999 Rome Conference with the theme "From the Passion to the Resurrection, 2000 Years of Silent Testimony." Since the conference was mostly in Italian, I only had the Italian language titles of the papers presented on the page. Now, thanks to Roberto, the page has been updated to include the English language title of each paper as well as a better description of the participants. My sincere thanks to Roberto and the Centro for providing this information.

Posted April 4, 2000

Full Text of Pope's Shroud Address Now Available

I want to thank Kate Kelly for providing the link to the full text of the address on the Shroud of Turin made by Pope John Paul II on May 24, 1998 when he visited the Shroud during the 1998 exhibition. This link to the Vatican website can now be found on both the "Religion & Philosophy" and the "Shroud Exhibitions" pages of this website.

Posted April 4, 2000

Library Page Updated

I recently received a kind letter and excellent suggestion from website viewer Andrew W. Smith who wrote,

Posted April 4, 2000

Updates On The Way

As I'm sure you regular viewers have noticed, it has been some time since the last website update. For the last few months I have been focusing my attention on the new book I am co-authoring with noted Shroud historian and author, Ian Wilson. The book, titled "Turin Shroud: The Illustrated Evidence" is due to be published in August. It will include hundreds of photographs and illustrations, many of them never-before published, as well as up-to-the-minute details of the latest research and conferences. However, work on the book is almost completed so I am now able to redirect my attention back to updating this website.

I am amazed at the large amount of important Shroud information that has come in to my office over the last few months and will spend the next few weeks trying to get it all online. I want to thank all of you for your continued patience and support. This update is the first in a series that will include much of the backlog of material, so keep watching. More updates are on the way.

Posted March 28, 2000

Shroud Exhibition Opening Dates Changed

The Archdiocese of Turin has announced that the opening dates of the upcoming eight week public exhibition of the Shroud have been moved up two weeks to allow pilgrims attending World Youth Day in Rome to see the cloth. The new dates, August 12, 2000 through October 22, 2000, extend the length of the exhibtion to ten weeks, the longest in more than a century. It is likely to be the last public exhibition of the Shroud for many years, as it is usually only shown several times each century. This exhibition is its fifth since 1898, with the most recent held in 1998. Pope John Paul II decided to display it again just two years later as part of the Jubilee year celebrations.

For more information on the Exhibition, visit the "Shroud Exhibitions" page of this website. There you will find a link to the Archdiocese of Turin's Online Reservation System where you can make your own reservations over the Internet if you intend to visit the exhibition. Many of you have written to me that you already made your reservations using this system and have yet to receive your confirmation in the mail. If you are in that category, please contact the Archdiocese directly via e-mail or telephone to determine your reservation status. I am unable to answer your questions regarding reservations so writing me will only delay you in getting the information.

If you are interested in attending the exhibition and prefer to travel via tour group, visit the "Tours to Turin" page of this site where you will find detailed listings of packaged tours from a number of professional travel organizations. All include a viewing of the Shroud in Turin during the exhibition.

Posted March 28, 2000

New Shroud Television Programs To Air

The Shroud of Turin will be featured on a number of television documentaries this year. The first of these is on the History Channel, as part of their "History's Mysteries" series and will premiere on April 4, 2000 and repeat on April 21, 2000 (Good Friday). Check your local listings for the exact airtime in your area. The producers enlisted the aid of many noted Shroud researchers who appeared in the program and consulted on its content. Among them were Dr. August Accetta, Dr. Emily Craig, Prof. Avinoam Danin, Rev. Albert "Kim" Dreisbach, Dr. Harry Gove, Dr. John Jackson, Antonio Lombatti, Don Lynn, Prof. Daniel Scavone, Dr. Fred Zugibe and yours truly. I must state that I was quite impressed with the History Channel's attention to accuracy and detail. It is never easy to try and tell the story of the Shroud in less than an hour and this program does so in an excellent manner. It presents the latest information on current Shroud research and includes some material that has never been shown publicly before. (Click here to read The Shroud on Television, an article posted on this page on December 31, 1999 that includes more information and photos).

Archbishop Philip M. Hannan, co-anchor Mary Lou McCall
and Barrie Schwortz on the set of "Focus" in New Orleans

Recently, a number of us were honored by Archbishop Philip M. Hannan who invited us to participate in a series of Shroud interview programs he is producing for the Focus Worldwide Catholic Network, an organization he founded after retiring as the Archbishop of New Orleans for twenty-four years. The amazing Archbishop is nearing his 87th birthday and still follows a rigorous schedule of daily exercise and work. Among the participants in this series to be aired in the future are Prof. Avinoam Danin, Rev. Albert "Kim" Dreisbach, Dr. John and Rebecca Jackson, Don Lynn, Kevin Moran, Vernon Miller, Dr. Alan and Mary Whanger and Dr. Fred Zugibe. Some of us also participated in "Focus," a live program presented over WLAE, the New Orleans Public Broadcasting Station (also founded by Archbishop Hannan), that provided viewers an opportunity to call in and ask questions about the Shroud. Archbishop Hannan plans to make video tapes of the programs available to the public in the near future.

Recently I was also honored to receive a visit from Russell Breault and Paul Vershon. Russell is a noted Shroud lecturer, founder of the Shroud of Turin Education Project (STEP) and creator of the excellent Shroud2000 Website that provides an excellent Internet resource for students. Paul is well known in Shroud circles as the producer of "Behold A Mystery," an excellent Shroud documentary produced in 1990 as his film school final project. It went on to be distributed by EWTN and the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Both were in Los Angeles for a major broadcast and cable television conference when they stopped in to visit.

In June of 1999, Russell brought his television production team to the Richmond Shroud Conference and taped a series of interviews called "The Shroud Report: Exploring the Mystery" with twelve of the researchers attending the event. He is just finishing the editing of the first interview with Dr. John Jackson and hopes to complete the series later this year. Once completed, the tapes will air on cable and be available to schools as well as the general public. The video and television resources on the Shroud of Turin continue to grow.

Posted March 28, 2000

Website Receives Recognition from Encyclopedia Britannica

As part of their program, they allow chosen websites to create a search link directly to Encyclopedia Britannica. I have included this searchbox in the "Links to Internet Search Engines" section of the "Shroud Library" page of this site. You can now enter information on any subject into the box and search Encyclopedia Britannica for it without ever leaving this website, as the search results are displayed on a new browser page. It is hoped that this will provide an additional tool to viewers who use the "Website Library" for their research.

Posted March 28, 2000

Our List Of Visitors Grows Again

The website continues to draw visitors from around the world, now averaging visits from 75 different countries per week! I recently added several new entries to the "List of Countries That Have Visited This Website" page, which now includes 146 countries. Our most recent additions are first visits from Guadeloupe and Moldova. I would like to welcome our new viewers to the website and thank all of you for your continued participation and encouragement.

Posted March 28, 2000

Website Celebrates 4th Anniversary!

Today, January 21, 2000, marks the fourth anniversary of the Shroud of Turin Website. It is still hard for me to believe that four years have passed since I clicked the send button and put the site online. My original vision was to simply create a website where I could share the photographs I made of the Shroud during the 1978 scientific examination and provide an accurate resource of Shroud information. Little did I expect that the website would grow into the definitive Shroud website on the Internet, with nearly a half million visitors from 144 countries around the world. Remember, back in 1996 "cyberspace" was mostly a place reserved for "computer guys" and everyone spoke in terms of the "coming" Internet revolution. I don't believe that many people realized just how fast that revolution would arrive and how amazing the web's growth would be. I certainly didn't.

The last few months have been filled with activity here and keeping up with the massive amount of Shroud related information I receive from around the world has proven a far greater task then I ever imagined. Just a few feet from where I sit and write this are several three-inch-thick piles of information that is supposed to already be on the site! This backlog continues to grow as new materials come in and I find myself getting further and further behind. I am frequently amused by the letters I receive congratulating me and "my staff" on the quality of the website. When I read those I look down at my left hand and my right hand with a smile and quietly ask, "Do you hear that, staff?"

As I said, there has been a lot of activity here lately, not the least of which is a new Shroud book I am working on with Ian Wilson, scheduled for release later this year. Also, as I mentioned in the last update, there are a number of television networks with new Shroud documentaries in production and I am consulting with a number of them to provide the necessary photographs and Shroud information. I also receive between 30 and 50 e-mails every day and still try to answer as many as I possibly can. And all of that is in my "spare" time as I still need to service the clients of my own imaging business, which continues to be the primary source of revenue that underwrites the production costs of this website.

So that brings me to this, our fourth anniversary update. It is an important one as we have entered into a new millennium and a significant year in Shroud history, but once again, it will not include nearly as much new material as I had hoped. However, rather than delay the "anniversary issue," I will continue to add items over the next two days. If you click on a link that is not yet functioning, bear with me during this "construction." Just check back a little later, because the new additions are really on the way and will be online before the weekend is over.

Most importantly, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you, the website viewers, for making this site such a success. I am also indebted to all of the Shroud researchers and organizations whose continued cooperation and participation allows this site to grow and provide the latest and most accurate information to everyone who is interested. For that, I am deeply grateful. As I've said before, without all of you, there would be no reason for this website. It is your continued interest and encouragement that makes the time spent working on this website truly worthwhile.

Posted January 21, 2000

Five Papers Added To Richmond Conference Page

I am pleased to report that five additional papers have been added to the 1999 Richmond Conference page of the website, bringing the total number of papers available to eleven. Here is a list of the new titles and their authors:

Posted January 21, 2000

Three Papers Added To Dallas Meeting Page

I am pleased to report that three articles have now been added to the Dallas Meeting of American Sindonology page of the website. As these were really presentations rather than formal papers, many of the researchers spoke extemporaneously. As such, the three new articles are actually transcriptions of the audio tapes that were made during the meeting. Here is a list of the new titles and their authors:

Posted January 21, 2000

"Living Shroud" CD-ROM Available from Friends of Shroud.com

I am very pleased to announce that Emanuela and Maurizio Marinelli, along with San Paolo Editions, have graciously provided a limited number of advance copies of their "Living Shroud" CD-ROM for sale exclusively on the Friends of Shroud.com page of this website. The new disc is the English translation of their "Sindone Viva" CD-ROM, released in the Italian language in 1998. A portion of each sale will go to Friends of Shroud.com to help underwrite the production costs of the Shroud of Turin Website.

The new disc is actually not scheduled to be released until April, so I am deeply grateful to Emanuela, Maurizio and San Paolo Editions for their kindness and generosity in allowing its pre-release sale to benefit this website. See the Friends of Shroud.com page for ordering details.

Posted January 21, 2000

The Last Shroud Exhibition For Many Years

I was thinking about the upcoming Shroud Exhibition in Turin, scheduled for August 26 through October 22, 2000, and realized that it may well be the last public exposition of the Shroud of Turin in my lifetime. Historically, the Shroud has only been publicly shown two or three times each century. In many ways we have been very fortunate, since the upcoming exhibition is actually the fifth one since 1898, when Secondo Pia made the famous first photograph of the cloth. The 1998 Shroud Exhibition was held in part to commemorate that event. When the Pope declared the year 2000 a Jubilee Year to celebrate the second millennium anniversary of the birth of Jesus, he also decided to allow a second exhibition of the Shroud only two years later.

This is truly unprecedented in the last several hundred years of Shroud history and is unlikely to be repeated for many years to come, so I urge anyone with an interest in seeing the Shroud of Turin for him or her self to take this opportunity and do so. You can even make reservations over the Internet. Just go to the Shroud Exhibitions page of this site and follow the links to the Archdiocese of Turin Official Shroud Website. And if you prefer to travel to Turin as part of a tour group, please check the Tours To Turin page of this site for detailed descriptions of tours available from a number of professional travel organizations. I will be adding more tour information to this page in the near future, including a "Sindonology" tour in which I will participate that will include an option to attend the upcoming Sindone 2000 Shroud Conference in Orvieto, Italy.

Posted January 21, 2000

Many Other Pages And Articles Updated

Posted January 21, 2000

Southern California Shroud Center Schedules Presentation

I am pleased to announce that I will be giving a two-hour slide presentation and lecture at the Southern California Shroud Center in Huntington Beach on Saturday, April 8, 2000 at 2:00pm. The lecture will include an overview of the Shroud and a discussion of some of the latest Shroud research as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the 1978 STURP scientific examination and its conclusions.

Reservations are required and seating is limited, so make reservations early if you wish to attend. To make reservations, contact:

Posted January 21, 2000

Michael Minor Recovering From Recent Illness

I am pleased to report that Mike Minor, noted Shroud researcher and board member of Friends of Shroud.com, has been released from the hospital and is recovering comfortably at home after a recent illness. Mike is well known to sindonologists worldwide and has sponsored a number of important Shroud meetings over the years. Our prayers and best wishes go out to Mike for a complete and speedy recovery. If you wish to send him a get-well card you can do so at the following address:

Posted January 21, 2000

Our List Of Visitors Grows Again

The website continues to draw visitors from around the world, now averaging visits from 75 different countries per week! I have recently added another new entry to the "List of Countries That Have Visited This Website" page, which now includes 144 countries. Our most recent addition is a first visit from Iran. I would like to welcome our new viewers to the website and thank all of you for your continued participation and encouragement.

2000 Website News

Holiday Wishes

Posted December 23, 2000

In Memoriam

Don Lynn with the Shroud in October 1978

Posted October 25, 2000

Shroud Exhibition Closes In Turin

Posted October 25, 2000

Future Updates

Posted October 25, 2000

Photographs of Shroud Exhibition Added

The press conference held on the morning of August 12, 2000 - © 2000 Maurizio Marinelli

Posted August 23, 2000

Add Your Own Name To The E-Mail List

Posted August 23, 2000

Last Update Before Sindone 2000 Shroud Conference

Posted August 23, 2000

Shroud Exhibition Opens In Turin!

Posted August 12, 2000

Speakers Directory Updated

Posted August 12, 2000

British Society Newsletters Updated

Posted August 7, 2000

More Comments From Our Viewers

Posted August 7, 2000

The Next Update

Posted August 7, 2000

Links To More Information Updated!

Posted August 1, 2000

Tours To Turin Page Updated

Posted August 1, 2000

Our List Of Visitors Grows Again

Posted August 1, 2000

Search Engine Added To Website!

Posted July 28, 2000

Updates On The Way

Posted July 28, 2000

In Memoriam

Alan Adler in Richmond, June 1999

Posted June 14, 2000

Important Notice

Posted May 1, 2000

Friends of Shroud.com Page Updated

Posted April 26, 2000

A Response To Dr. Emily Craig's Paper

Posted April 26, 2000

Research Registry Updated

Posted April 26, 2000

Tours To Turin Page Updated

Posted April 26, 2000

Our List Of Visitors Grows Again

Posted April 26, 2000

New Papers Added To Website

Posted April 4, 2000

News From "Giulio Ricci" Shroud Center In Rome

S.A.R. Maria Gabriella di Savoia, Padre Simone Maria Fioraso, Sir Antonio Cassanelli and Mr. Roberto Falcinelli at opening of exhibit © R. Falcinelli/Archivio Centro Diocesano di Sindonologia "Giulio Ricci"

Part of the exhibit from the Collection of Umberto II © R. Falcinelli/Archivio Centro Diocesano di Sindonologia "Giulio Ricci"

Posted April 4, 2000

Full Text of Pope's Shroud Address Now Available

Posted April 4, 2000

Library Page Updated

Posted April 4, 2000

Updates On The Way

Posted March 28, 2000

Shroud Exhibition Opening Dates Changed

Posted March 28, 2000

New Shroud Television Programs To Air

Archbishop Philip M. Hannan, co-anchor Mary Lou McCall and Barrie Schwortz on the set of "Focus" in New Orleans

Posted March 28, 2000

Website Receives Recognition from Encyclopedia Britannica

Posted March 28, 2000

Our List Of Visitors Grows Again

Posted March 28, 2000

Website Celebrates 4th Anniversary!

Posted January 21, 2000

Five Papers Added To Richmond Conference Page

Posted January 21, 2000

Three Papers Added To Dallas Meeting Page

Posted January 21, 2000

"Living Shroud" CD-ROM Available from Friends of Shroud.com

The press conference held on the morning of
August 12, 2000 - © 2000 Maurizio Marinelli

S.A.R. Maria Gabriella di Savoia, Padre Simone Maria Fioraso,
Sir Antonio Cassanelli and Mr. Roberto Falcinelli at opening of exhibit
© R. Falcinelli/Archivio Centro Diocesano di Sindonologia "Giulio Ricci"

Part of the exhibit from the Collection of Umberto II
© R. Falcinelli/Archivio Centro Diocesano di Sindonologia "Giulio Ricci"

Archbishop Philip M. Hannan, co-anchor Mary Lou McCall
and Barrie Schwortz on the set of "Focus" in New Orleans