2014 Website News


These are the items that were included on the "Late Breaking Website News" page in 2014. Items are listed with the most recent one first, and each article carries the posting date indicating when it was first uploaded. You should find this an interesting look at the important Shroud and Website events in 2014.

December 1, 2014 - Final Update of the Year

New St. Louis Conference Page Now Online

The biggest news in today's update is the debut of our new St. Louis Conference page, which already includes thirty-six of the papers and presentations that were made during the recent event. Of course, the remaining few papers will be added as quickly as they become available. The new page also includes links to every abstract, many of the PowerPoint presentations and to photographs of most of the presenters. Thanks to our good friend Russ Breault, we have also added links to videos of many of the presentations. This one new page should be enough to keep you busy reading for days to come, but it is only one element of this final update of the year. This update also marks the start of STERA, Inc.'s once-a-year fundraising campaign, includes several new Spanish language translations of important Shroud articles, reviews recent information on the Manoppello, updates you on the Tours to Turin that STERA, Inc. will be participating in, includes links to recent papers and articles and much more. Let's get started.

Here is the Update Table of Contents:

Here is a link to our recent Special update:

Posted December 1, 2014

It's That Time of Year Again!

STERA, Inc. Secure Contribution Form

This update marks the beginning of STERA, Inc.'s once-a-year fundraising effort. As you know, we are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and contributions are fully tax deductible here in the U.S. and in some countries overseas. Any contributions received by December 31, 2014 can be deducted as a charitable contribution on your 2014 tax returns. All contributors will receive a formal written receipt and those who make contributions of US$100.00 or more will also receive a special gift for their generosity. You can safely make an online contribution with a credit or debit card or with PayPal by using our Secure Contribution Form. Contributions can also be made by mail or telephone (see the form for details). Your ongoing support is truly appreciated and will help us keep Shroud.com free of any advertising and dedicated solely to providing you with the best information possible about the Shroud of Turin.

At this time of year, with the Christmas holidays rapidly approaching, we understand that not all people can afford to make contributions. However, you can still support STERA, Inc. and the website by purchasing any of the items we make available on our Website Store page. And some of them would make perfect Christmas gifts, like our set of two Shroud Lithographic Prints or the Schwortz 35 Years DVD. To insure delivery by Christmas, please place your U.S. order by December 18th. Overseas orders should be placed by December 10th. Thank you for your continued support!

Posted December 1, 2014

More Spanish Language Translations Added

More Spanish Language Translations Added

Once again, our good friend Pedro Vázquez García of A Coruña, Spain, has selected and sent us another Spanish translation of an important Shroud paper. As I said earlier this year, the number of Spanish language translations on the website has grown considerably, thanks primarily to dedicated viewers like Pedro, who volunteer their services to help the site grow and improve. His choice this time was a good one:

And speaking of dedicated website viewers, following in Pedro's footsteps is Roger Heny, who saw our recent comments about a truly important historical article on our Facebook page and decided to translate it into Spanish for us:

We truly appreciate the efforts of both these viewers and are grateful for their generous contributions that help make Shroud.com more accessible around the world. Once again, all I can say is muchas gracias mis amigos!

Posted December 1, 2014

Important 2015 Tour News From STERA, Inc.

Tours to Turin: The 2015 Exposition

In our June 7, 2014 update we introduced our new Tours To Turin: The 2015 Exposition page and announced that STERA, Inc. would again be working with Canterbury Pilgrimages (as we have three times in the past), by way of my direct participation in a number of their pilgrimage tours. This will also serve as STERA, Inc.'s primary fundraising effort of 2015. If you visit the Tours to Turin page today, you will find that a number of additional tour companies have been added to the page, broadening the range of options available to our viewers. You will also find that Canterbury has now created a number of new itineraries, some of which include my spending time with their groups while they are in Turin to see the Shroud. I typically have meals and spend some quality time in conversation with each group, give each a private two hour presentation and then go to see the Shroud with them the following day. It gives everyone the opportunity to get to know me a little better and me the opportunity to finally meet some of our website viewers. Not only that, but those who participate in one of these special pilgrimages will receive a receipt for a tax deductible contribution for a portion of their tour costs directly from STERA, Inc.

The three currently available itineraries are all for tours scheduled to arrive in Turin later in May, but if the interest is there, Canterbury will add tours and create additional itineraries to arrive in Turin earlier in the month. The eventual number of tours I participate in will depend solely on the demand. If you prefer not to take one of the existing tours and would rather create your own dates and personal itinerary, Canterbury will be happy to accommodate you. Finally, if you are interested in putting together a group of your own friends and family, or members of your church or other organization, Canterbury will be happy to work with you in designing a memorable pilgrimage that meets your specific needs. And the personal pilgrimage expenses are waived for those individuals who organize their own local groups. As an added bonus, if you mention STERA, Inc. or the Shroud of Turin Website when you schedule any tour, Canterbury will make a contribution to STERA, Inc. after the exhibition. I truly look forward to meeting many of you in Turin next year!

Barrie Schwortz
President, STERA, Inc.
Posted December 1, 2014

SEAM Has a New Home

 The new home of Pete Schumacher's Shroud Exhibit and Museum
Photo courtesy of SEAM

We are very happy to announce that our good friend Pete Schumacher has a new home in Alamogordo, New Mexico, for his excellent Shroud Exhibit and Museum (SEAM). The exhibit boasts the only operational VP-8 Image Analyzer available to the public and a lifesize, backlit color transparency of the Shroud so visitors can view the spatial properties embedded in the image firsthand. We announced the closing of SEAM's original location at the White Sands Mall in Alamogordo in our August 12, 2014 update and just two weeks later announced the great news that SEAM had indeed found a new home. Recently, Pete sent us a link to an article on his iSEAM website titled, A Preview of Our New Location. We look forward to announcing his grand re-opening in the very near future!

Posted December 1, 2014

More on the Manoppello

Photograph ©2013 Matthias Henrich

In several recent e-mails, German viewer Matthias Henrich wrote us about the Manoppello and described some of the research he had been doing. He also asked if I could include some updated information about the Manoppello on Shroud.com. Here is a synopsis of his correspondence:

"I have sent the image of the face from the Shroud and the image of Manoppello to Mr. Kinn, a criminal inspector and expert at LKA Mainz/Germany (German State Police). I had asked him about the possibility of using biometry to compare the Shroud face and the Manoppello face. In the case of the Manoppello he said that the computer would throw this out as a painting. In the case of the Turin face the computer would recognize it as a real face, if the pattern of the cloth were removed by algorithmical mathematics. Then the face recognition software would be able to make a biometrical scan. With the face of Manopello it is not possible, because the software would identify this not as a photo of a face but as an artwork. And there are too many anatomical mistakes on the face of Manoppello, whereas the Shroud of Turin face is anatomically correct. With your research into the Shroud of Turin, could you also bring light to the Manoppello image? This would be a great help."

Matthias also was kind enough to take some of the anatomical mistakes he and Mr. Kinn observed and document them in a brief article he sent us, which we are including here for your information: Anatomical Errors - Comparing the Manoppello to the Shroud. I also promised him I would include a review and compiliation of the readily available information on the Manoppello in our next update. That review follows:

In 2005 we published an article by Rome Shroud scholar and professional photographer Roberto Falcinelli titled, The Veil of Manoppello: Work of Art or Authentic Relic? (At that time, we were unaware of his 2002 paper, Shroud’s evidence in the work of Albrecht Dürer). In essence, he concluded that, "the Veil of Manoppello is probably a pictorial artwork of 1500," possibly produced by Albrecht Dürer. Frankly, Roberto's work was so convincing that we paid little attention to the Manoppello after 2005. However, in 2008 a VP-8 type analysis of the Manoppello was done by Jan Jaworski and Giulio Fanti, which we published in an article titled, 3-D Processing to Evidence Characteristics Represented in Manoppello Veil, that took a more positive view of the image. Of course, throughout this entire period, Vatican relic expert Fr. Heinrich Pfeiffer, S.J., a long time supporter of its authenticity, continued to promote the Manoppello around the world as the "true" Veronica's Veil.

In 2010, this topic received worldwide media attention thanks to German journalist and author Paul Badde and his controversial book titled, The Face of God: The Rediscovery of the True Face of Jesus, in which he claimed, "the image in Manoppello is clearly visible and, moreover, when laid over the image of the face of the Shroud of Turin forms a perfect match." In fact, it was Badde's book that raised Matthias' interest in further studying the Manoppello, since he disagreed with Badde's conclusions. That same year, at the ENEA Frascati Conference in Italy, Roberto Falcinelli presented a new paper titled, The Face of Manoppello and the Veil of Veronica: New Studies, which expanded on his previous work.

More recently, the subject has been a topic of discussion on Dan Porter's Shroud of Turin Blog, due in part to a new supporter of the Manoppello's authenticity, a Polish researcher who prefers to go by the handle "O.K." Dan has published several articles by O.K. on this subject including an article titled, Shroud of Turin & Manoppello Image Comparison & 3D analysis: Or the magic of ImageJ, a visual presentation on the topic titled, Manoppello, Shroud and Durer. Short presentation and an addendum to his original article titled, Addendum to: Shroud of Turin & Manoppello Image Comparison & 3D analysis: The magic of ImageJ continues.

Finally, we were recently contacted by the Immaculate Heart of Mary Apostolate, a Catholic organization that disregards the Manoppello completely. In fact, they provided us with a link to their web article titled, The Holy Face of Manoppello Hoax. As you can see, there are some dramatically differing opinons on the Manoppello, so you will have to evaluate the data for yourself and make up your own minds. Also try searching on "Manoppello" using our Website Search Engine to find other references to it on the site.

Posted December 1, 2014

Recent Papers and Articles

Academia.edu

In the past year or so, there has been a growing trend by some Shroud researchers to post their papers and articles on Academia.edu, a website that provides a forum for researchers to publish their own work online. In some cases, you will find papers that were first published in peer reviewed journals or presented at Shroud conferences and simply reprinted on Academia.edu. However, in many cases, the articles are posted directly to the site by the authors without any form of review. There were 24 Shroud related papers available on the site when I last checked, on a diverse range of topics (and more are being added regularly), so you might want to log in and read them all. Just remember that many of these have not withstood the scrutiny of peer review so any claims they make or conclusions they draw have probably not been verified scientifically. Here are just a few of the more recent additions:

Posted December 1, 2014

Shroud Booklist Updated

Shroud of Turin Booklist

We have added another ten books to the Shroud of Turin Booklist page, thanks to our dear friend Emanuela Marinelli. This is the 67th update Emanuela has contributed to this list in the past 19 years, and includes new books by Nicola Ciola, Giuseppe Ghiberti, Giulio Fanti, Andrea Nicolotti, Alessandro Piana, Rudolf Berwanger and several more. Each new listing includes the date it was added to the page (Added 1 DEC 2014) so you can easily find all the latest additions by searching for the date using the page search feature of your browser. Our sincerest thanks to Emanuela for her dedication and her ongoing contributions to Shroud.com in helping to make this the largest single bibliography of Shroud related books on the Internet.

Posted December 1, 2014

About That Counter...

Over the last few years, a number of viewers have written to me asking why we still have a counter on our front page. "That's old fashioned," they would say. "Websites don't use counters anymore!" Well, for the most part, they are right. But after nineteen years of having it there, frankly, I have gotten used to it. It is also the quickest way for me to check and see what kind of traffic the site is experiencing at any given point in time from wherever I am in the world. Although our web hosting service provides us with precise daily statistics via Webalizer, the counter still serves as a quick indicator of current web traffic, so I intend to keep it on the page, at least for the time being.

Please note that the counter only records the visitors that enter the site via our front page, so it does not reflect the accurate number of actual visitors the website receives. In fact, it only represents about 35% of our actual visitor count. Most people enter the site via external links to specific pages, papers or articles within our archives, so they are not registered on the counter. We publish the actual statistics annually in our January 21st Anniversary Update and will continue to do so in the future. To make this a bit more evident, we have added a "rollover" comment to the counter with a brief explanation.

Posted December 1, 2014

Our Next Update

 January 21, 2015

Our next website update goes online January 21, 2015 and marks the 19th Anniversary of Shroud.com! As always, it will be a large update that will include more issues of Shroud Spectrum International, along with some important (and never-before-available) indices to the authors and articles in Spectrum that recently came to light. It will also include the latest issue of the BSTS Newsletter, links to more papers and articles, an update on the 2015 Shroud Exposition and much more. Of course, we will also continue to update the new St. Louis Conference page with any additional materials that become available. Let me also take this opportunity to personally wish all of our viewers a very Merry Christmas and a joyous and healthy New Year! See you in January!

Barrie Schwortz
President, STERA, Inc.
Posted December 1, 2014

November 6, 2014 - Reservation System Now Online!

 Link to Onlne Reservation System

The Online Reservation System to book a visit to see the Shroud on public display between April 19 and June 24, 2015, went online today and is now available via the Official Archdiocese of Turin Website. Click on the above link or photo to go directly to the Reservation page. This link is to the English language version of the page, but you can select from many other languages as well. The Vatican also announced yesterday that Pope Francis would be coming to Turin to venerate the Shroud and commemorate Don Bosco on June 21, 2015. (See the article on their website for details). We have also updated our Tours To Turin: The 2015 Exposition page to reflect this latest information.

November 8, 2014 UPDATE: If you tried to make your reservation yesterday you probably received an "Unforeseen Error" message on the Official Website. Apparently, they were having some problems with their pages and every link we tried returned the same error. However, as of today we have a working link, thanks to our friend Dan Porter of the Shroud of Turin Blog. We have since updated all the appropriate links on the site and on our Facebook page.

Watch for our last major website update of the year around December 1, 2014, in which we will debut our new St. Louis Conference page and include many of the papers and presentations that were made at the event. You can also subscribe to our Mailing List and receive an e-mail from STERA, Inc. whenever the website is updated or important news breaks. See you soon!

Posted November 6, 2014
Updated November 8, 2014

October 5, 2014 Website Update

First Shroud Spectrum International Issues Published After the Radiocarbon Dating Announcement - September 1988 to March 1990

This update started off somewhat smaller than usual, since we were running out of time and wanted to get it online before the upcoming St. Louis Shroud Conference, which starts on Thursday evening, October 9, 2014 and ends at noon on Sunday, October 12, 2014. (Of course, we will include a full report on the conference in our next regular update). But new materials and information kept coming in and the update kept growing. Although still smaller than usual, this update includes some very important information, most notably, the first five issues of Shroud Spectrum International that were published AFTER the radiocarbon dating results were formally released in 1988. We think you will find the articles in these issues particularly interesting. Also included in this update are two important textile papers that further support the observation of repairs or reweaving in the 1988 radiocarbon samples, an update on the 2015 Shroud Exposition, links to a number of recently published books, papers and articles, a report on the Bari Conference and more.

Here is the Update Table of Contents:

Here are links to our recent In Memoriam and Special updates:

Posted October 5, 2014

Five More Issues of Shroud Spectrum International Added to Archives

Shroud Spectrum International No. 28/29

We are pleased to add five more issues of Shroud Spectrum International (the first and only peer reviewed journal dedicated solely to the study of the Shroud) in this update, bringing us up to Issue #34 of the 42 published. As always, our deepest appreciation to the late Dorothy Crispino, the founder and editor of the journal, who gave us permission to reprint it here on this website, along with the extraordinary efforts of Stephen E. Jones, BSTS Member living in Western Australia, who graciously continues to do all the scanning and optical character recognition and Ian Wilson, who provided Stephen with the original issues and valuable input. Today's update includes five issues (# 28/29 through # 34), originally published between September 1988 through March 1990. These are the first issues published AFTER the official announcement of the radiocarbon dating results and include some very interesting articles.

Posted October 5, 2014

Did Repairs or Reweaving Influence the Radiocarbon Dating of the Shroud?

 The Shroud of Turin and Its Radiodating
by Maria-Grazia Siliato - 1993

The possibility that repairs or reweaving were responsible for the medieval results of the 1988 radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin is arguably the most hotly debated theory in all of Sindonology (outside of image formation). Yet to date, it is also the only argument that is supported by the observations of multiple, independent researchers (Benford & Marino, Rogers, Brown, Villarreal et al, Heimberger and others) who physically examined and corroborated the data. Significantly, it was the first theory to openly challenge the results of the 1988 dating in the peer reviewed scientific literature. That is all a matter of public record and much of it is available elsewhere on this website.

In recent months, several relevant papers became available that provided additional information on this topic, so we are including them here. Both provide additional observations and data that further support this theory. The first is in the form of an older paper titled The Shroud of Turin and Its Radiodating by archaeologist Maria-Grazia Siliato. It was originally presented at the 1993 Rome Shroud Symposium, long before Benford and Marino conducted their research. In it, Siliato discusses evidence of repairs and extraneous woven materials detected in Shroud samples and states, among other things, "It was manipulated many times for mending and restoration works." Our thanks to Dr. Augusto Monacelli for the excellent translation. This article is definitely worth considering, no matter which side of the issue you are on. It is also permanently archived on the Scientific Papers & Articles and Website Library pages of the site.


 Consideration to the Uniformity and Effects of the Fabric in the Shroud of Turin
by Donna Campbell, MA - 2014

The second article details new textile research that was recently published by Pam Moon on her Shroud of Turin Exhibition website in England. Pam approached Thomas Ferguson Irish Linen, a world renowned textile firm (also once employed by Benford and Marino*), and asked them to evaluate the textile using photographs of the Oxford radiocarbon samples. These photographs recently became available to the public (again, thanks in part to Pam Moon) via the Oxford University Website and were used with the approval of Dr. Christopher Ramsey, current director of the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit. The article is titled, Consideration to the Uniformity and Effects of the Fabric in the Shroud of Turin by Donna Campbell, MA, Technical Design, Thomas Ferguson Irish Linen. In her comments regarding mending Campbell concludes, "...there are signs in the Shroud sample that direct the notion of mending or reweaving of the actual woven fabric."

Campbell included the following acknowledgments in her article: "Pam Moon for requesting this interim report from Thomas Ferguson Irish Linen, Professor Ramsey for his permission to use the Shroud of Turin fabric sample images from the Oxford University website and Dr. David Neilly, Managing Director of Thomas Ferguson Irish Linen for assigning me to work on the interim report on behalf of the company." Pam's website also features several other articles on this topic, including a very recent one titled, Three Threads?. (Note: The article includes many images so is somewhat large and takes a few moments to open).

Posted October 5, 2014

Update on the 2015 Shroud Exposition

Link to an online English translation of the Italian language version of the Official Shroud Website

Like many of you, I have been watching the Official Shroud Website in Turin for any updates or news about the event. I started by selecting the English link on their home page, but quickly discovered that the English page is not updated as frequently as the Italian language version. So I started using Google's online translation service to translate the entire Italian language page into English (it does a pretty good job), and can now read all the latest news. Both of the above links are to the online English translation of the Italian language page.

If you check the page yourself you will find the announcement of a new video aimed at younger people titled, "Come to the Holy Shroud," produced by the Youth Ministry of the Diocese in collaboration with the Salesian Youth Movement. Of course, the biggest question is still, "When is the reservation system going to become available?" The answer is actually in the orange box at the bottom of the page where it tells you:

"Reservations: At the moment you can not book any pilgrimage to the Exposition 2015. Reservations will be carried out, however, from this site, www.sindone.org. All information will be soon available in the network."

So you know you are on the correct page to make reservations, but you still don't know when the reservation system will become operational. Although initial reports thought it would go online sometime in October, more recent news is that it might not go online until December. By using the English translation links I have included above, you can check the page yourself from time to time. Of course, we will also update our Tours to Turin: The 2015 Exposition page as soon as any new information becomes available.

Posted October 5, 2014

Update on the St. Louis Shroud Conference

St. Louis Conference Now on Shroud.com

Joe Marino, primary organizer of the upcoming St. Louis Shroud Conference (Oct. 9 - 12, 2014), informed us on October 1st that the webmaster of the conference website has included a new Discussion Forum page where attendees and the public can ask questions and interact with some of the speakers at the event. (Sorry. Site no longer available). Here is a quote from their Discussion Forum page:

This discussion forum has been initiated to provide an opportunity for speakers to interact online with the attendees and the general public. The discussions consist of questions and comments from the attendees to the conference speakers and the speakers' responses. Naturally, we cannot guarantee that all speakers will agree to provide answers, but we hope that many will participate. If a speaker chooses not to respond, there would still be the opportunity to at least make comments about the presentation. Anyone can read the various replies that are made on a topic, but one has to register to make comments.

Visit their website at the above link for detailed instructions on participating. Also, as this is our last update before the conference, I would like to encourage anyone who can to attend. We hope to see a lot of you there! Of course, we will include a complete report on the conference in our next regular update before the end of the year.

Posted October 5, 2014

Recently Published

Once again, a large number of new books, articles and papers have been published since our last update. We are including links to many of them and have broken the new items down by category (books, papers, etc.). Due to our very tight deadline we could not include every article, but will definitely include more of them in our next update before the end of the year.

Books

 The Coming of the Quantum Christ
by John C. Klotz

For the last three years, a number of us in the Shroud world have been working with and advising John Klotz as he researched, developed and ultimately wrote The Coming of the Quantum Christ. At times it was probably an arduous journey for him as he dug down deep into the subject of the Shroud and found himself on some unexpected paths. But it was his patience and dedication to getting it right that made the time working with him worthwhile. In the end, I think it was a great journey of discovery for John and I am sure the reader will find that reflected in this excellent book.

Profusely illustrated with color and black & white illustrations, the book is now available online in Kindle format at Amazon.com or in Nook version at Barnes & Noble. (No longer available). John also plans to make it available in pdf and print versions in the very near future. Also, here is a link to the "Virtual Flyleaf" John has provided for the book and a link to John's blog page.

 The Mysteries of the Shroud
by Caspar von Uffhofen

This book, The Mysteries of the Shroud by Caspar von Uffhofen, was recently brought to my attention by one of our website viewers, so I am including a link to it here. The book is free and available online in html, pdf and e-book formats. Here is a brief description by the author:

Following a summary of all available information on the Internet about the Shroud, the author discusses the place of God in the contemporary world.

Papers & Articles

 The Scorch Hypothesis: New Experiments by Thibault Heimburger
Photo ©1978 Mark Evans Collection, STERA, Inc.

The Scorch Hypothesis: New Experiments by Thibault Heimburger was published this April on Dan Porter's Shroud blog and is a follow up to his earlier paper, The Turin Shroud Body Image: The Scorch Hypothesis Revisited, which Dan originally published in October 2012. In both articles, Thibault tries to answer the question: Is the Shroud of Turin image a scorch? As always, Thibault's experiments are detailed and meticulous and his report is profusely illustrated with many photographs and illustrations. We have also added a permanent link to the article on the Scientific Papers & Articles and Website Library pages of the site. Here is the Introduction:

The present document is the fruit of new observations and reflections about the scorch hypothesis. It completes my previous paper on this subject: This time, I have used a relief template. The 3 main questions that I wanted to answer are the following: 1) can a scorch be truly as superficial as desired? 2) What is colored at thread and fiber level in a lightly scorched fabric? 3) Is the scorch hypothesis compatible with the particular color distribution of the body-only image on the Turin shroud?

Shroudnm.com Website

These two new articles by Canadian researcher Yannick Clément were recently published on Pete Schumacher's iSEAM Shroudnm.com website and on Giorgio Bracaglia's Holy Shroud Guild, Past Present and Future website. We are including links to the articles on both sites.

The first article is titled, "An image that speaks of the Incarnation well before it speaks about the Resurrection." Abstract: "Yannick, who is a Christian who believes the Shroud is authentic, has written this paper in order to reflect upon what is, for him, the most profound meaning of the Shroud." Available from either the Holy Shroud Guild or the Shroudnm.com websites.

The second article is titled, "My thoughts on a recently published paper by Raymond N. Rogers." Abstract: "In this paper, Yannick has extracted and commented on the most important things expressed by Ray Rogers in what can be seen as his first attempt to explain the body image formation with a coherent hypothesis. By doing so, Yannick has found that this particular is very important because it shows how Rogers started to build a natural image formation hypothesis that would later become the Maillard reaction hypothesis that was published by him and Anna Arnoldi in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Melanoidins." Available from either the Holy Shroud Guild or the Shroudnm.com websites

The Mysterious Coexistence of Bloodstains and Body Image on the Shroud of Turin Explained by a Stochastic Process
by G. Fazio, Y. Clement and G. Mandaglio

The Mysterious Coexistence of Bloodstains and Body Image on the Shroud of Turin Explained by a Stochastic Process by G. Fazio, Y. Clement and G. Mandaglio. This article was published in the Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry journal Vol.14, No. 2 in June 2014. We have also added a permanent link to the article on the Scientific Papers & Articles and Website Library pages of the site. Here is the abstract:

The presence of bloodstains certifies that a wounded human body has been enveloped in the Shroud of Turin and that most parts of this corpse came in direct contact with the cloth during the burial procedure. On the contrary, the ventral body image, by correlation between image intensity and cloth-body distance, shows codified information regarding the distance from which the cloth was versus the body at the time of the image formation. At first sight, this last statement seems to be impossible for a human corpse. Therefore, the coexistence of the bloodstains and the body imprints on both sides of the Shroud could be seen as unnatural, especially when we consider that a deterministic process as the UV radiation or the action of an electrostatic field (corona discharge), as well as manmade chemical and thermal treatment. These processes do not explain all the known characteristics of the body images (ventral and dorsal) because they do not distinguish the fibrils that must be yellowed from the ones that must retain the background colour. In this paper we prove that a natural stochastic process can offer a rational and scientific explanation that can account for all the known properties of these bloodstains and body images. However, another possible explanation that must be taken into account is a natural process involving the production of oxygen that yields a latent image.

 Comparison among the Shroud body image formation mechanisms
by the linen fibrils distributions
by G. Fazio, V. De Leo, F. Curciarello and G. Mandaglio

Comparison among the Shroud body image formation mechanisms by the linen fibrils distributions by G. Fazio, V. De Leo, F. Curciarello and G. Mandaglio. This article was published in The Journal of The Textile Institute, June 2014. We have also added a permanent link to the article on the Scientific Papers & Articles and Website Library pages of the site. Here is the abstract:

Some recent studies on the mechanisms of the body image formation of the Shroud of Turin showed several tentative explanations: (i) attempts to demonstrate that it is a forgery, (ii) experiments devoted to explain the image formation by corona discharge or using UV radiation, and (iii) the hypothesis that the image was naturally produced by stochastic process triggered by an unknown energy source. In this paper, taking into account the microscopic linen structure, we compare the above mechanisms with the physical and chemical characteristics of the body image. The processing supports the stochastic hypothesis as the mechanism able to explain the yellowed fibrils distribution and the Shroud image formation as a natural phenomenon.

Posted October 5, 2014

Report on the Shroud Workshop in Bari, Italy

 Shroud Workshop in Bari, Italy
Photo ©2014 Maria da Glória Moreira

As we previously reported, a conference titled, Workshop on Advances in the Turin Shroud Investigation was held in Bari, Italy, on September 4-5, 2014. The event was sponsored by the Technical University of Bari, Italy and the University of Bari "Aldo Moro," Italy with the technical co-sponsorship of the CIS (International Center for Turin Shroud Studies), Turin. The event was organized by the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering of the Technical University of Bari, Italy. Visit the Official Workshop Website for links to the Final Program and an extensive Photo Gallery. We expect that the Proceedings and all the papers will also be available online in the near future

Unfortunately, we were unable to attend, but our dear friends Maria da Glória and Antero de Frias Moreira of the Centro Português de Sindonologia in Fatima, Portugal, did attend and were kind enough to send us a brief report on the event, along with some excellent photographs, which we have compiled into an article titled Report on the Bari Workshop. We are grateful to Maria and Antero for sending us this information and truly appreciate their participation.

Editor's Note: Since I wrote the above, several papers from the Bari Conference have been posted online by the authors so we are including links to them here:

Posted October 5, 2014

Shroud Congress in Würzburg, Germany October 16-18, 2014

 Das Christusbild – Herkunft und Ursprung in Ost und West
(The image of Christ - the source and origin in East and West)

Recently, our friend Karlheinz Dietz, Shroud historian and member of the International Center of Sindonology in Turin, contacted us about an upcoming Congress that will be held in Würzburg, Germany on October 16-18, 2014. Titled, Das Christusbild – Herkunft und Ursprung in Ost und West (The image of Christ - the source and origin in East and West), the event is being organized by Karlheinz and his colleagues at the Eastern Orthodox Institute at the University of Würzburg (Ostkirchliches Institut an der Universität Würzburg) and it appears that most of the papers will be presented in the German language. According to Karlheinz, "The conference will deal exclusively with historical issues. Participants are corresponding specialists in their disciplines." Karlheinz also sent us pdf copies of the Congress Flyer and the Congress Registration Form (also mostly in German) which we are including for your information. Unfortunately, we did not receive this information until August 28th and this is the first opportunity we have had to include it on the website. We apologize for the delay and wish Karlheinz and the other organizers a successful event!

Posted October 5, 2014

Our Next Update

Our next update will most likely be the last major update of the year and should go online sometime in December. Because today's update had to be abbreviated due to a tight deadline, a number of items we intended to include had to be put off until next time. So watch for the next update to include a report on the St. Louis Conference, an in-depth discussion of the Manoppello image, a Spanish language translation of a very important article by Luigi Fossati, more books, papers and articles and whatever else comes up between now and then! See you in St. Louis or on the web!

Posted October 5, 2014

In Memoriam

 Dorothy Crispino
January 17, 1916 - August 16, 2014

It is with deep regret and great sadness that I must report the passing of our dear friend Dorothy Crispino, on August 16, 2014 at her home in Cavour, Italy, at the age of 98. To those of us fortunate to have known her personally, the news is very sad indeed, as her work with the Shroud greatly influenced us all. Dorothy was the Grand Dame of the Shroud world and her contributions were vast and critically important to Sindonology. To those that did not know her, Dorothy was the founder and editor of the world renowned journal, Shroud Spectrum International, the first and only peer reviewed journal dedicated solely to the study of the Shroud of Turin. The above photo was taken at Dorothy's home in Cavour, Italy, when Mary Hines and I visted her and her husband Luigi on May 19, 2010.

According to her son, Anthony Bercel, Dorothy was laid to rest on August 21, 2014 at a private ceremony in Cavour, Italy after a Mass in the church of the Residence where she had been living for the past few years. In attendance were her family members, as well as the manager of the Residence and representatives of the family of the Shroud: Prof. Bruno Barberis, the president of the International Center of Sindonology, the secretary and members of the SS. Shroud with the banner of the Brotherhood, the honorary chairman of the Diocesan Commission and rector of the Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud, Don Giuseppe Ghiberti, who also celebrated the Mass at her funeral. We will update this article should more information become available.

Since Dorothy touched so many of us in Sindonology, I am reprinting below the comments we have received from researchers and scholars around the world. If you would like to add your own comments (and photographs), please send them to us via e-mail at your earliest convenience and we will include them on this page promptly. I also thought that everyone should know Dorothy's personal perspective on her work in her own words, so I am including below the short article she wrote for us in 1997 when we first put the Index to Shroud Spectrum International on our website. Her words are just as relevant today as they were when she wrote them so many years ago, although I might want to add one word to the end of her last statement: "Amen!" Rest in peace Dorothy.

Barrie Schwortz

A Message from Dorothy Crispino (1997)

The first issue of Shroud Spectrum International appeared in December, 1981; the last, #42, was published in December, 1993. Spectrum was the only peer-reviewed journal in the world exclusively devoted to scientific/scholarly studies of the Shroud. Articles were by European and American authors of international repute, experts in various fields of sindonic research. As a rule, the lead article in each Spectrum was contributed by one of these researchers.

Spectrum aimed to give readers historical, medical, archeological and other scientific/scholarly information for establishing a background of issues in sindonology, without which current controversies are bound to cause confusion. Archival and documentary texts from past centuries are therefore a fundamental resource for a balanced perspective.

Each Spectrum included book reviews, news and activities from around the world, and other items.

Spectrum was created not so much by inspiration as by command. A year or so after the l978 Solemn Exposition of the Holy Shroud, I, Dorothy Crispino, returned to Turin to visit Don Piero Coero Borga, secretary of the Centro Internazionale di Sindonologia. The good don, the "Walking Dictionary of Sindonology", was lamenting the fact that so much European research, published primarily in Italian, French and German, was not reaching America. Concern fixing his face in a frown, Don Coero said. "There ought to be a journal published in the English language with translations of some of the major European research." I nodded answering, "Yes, there really should be." Don Coero glared at me. "And you," he said peremptorily, "are the one to do it."

That is how the journal started. I tried to follow Don Coero's directives, to bring solid sindonic information to all those, of many countries and languages, who could read English. Although Spectrum did not survive the carbon dating episode, these pages will endure, serving the cause for which they were written.

Dorothy Crispino

Comments from Around the World

Whenever we visited Dorothy Crispino in recent years, we tried to cheer her up by saying : "we will have to celebrate your centenary." As it happens, the Lord came to take her two years before that. But how fully she lived her ninety-eight years! Born in the United States into a family of German origin (Zimmer), Dorothy received an artistic education, especially in music, and particularly in voice. Her professional interests led her to Europe, where she worked and raised her children, Nino and Diana. Having returned to the States with her husband Luigi Crispino, Dorothy happened to meet Father Peter Rinaldi; the encounter was to determine the entire second half of her life, because through him she discovered the Shroud of Turin. She became completely captivated. Her interest was very broad, ranging from the science of the Shroud to its history. Soon her entire life revolved around the Shroud, held together by her faith.

Dorothy became part of a group of prominent Shroud researchers and she founded the authoritative quarterly review Shroud Spectrum International, in which she published the contributions of a number of world renowned scientists, among which was Alan Adler, the famous chemist. She travelled to Turin on a number of occasions and was of invaluable help during the 1978 and 1998 expositions, maintaining close contact with the English-speaking pilgrims.

She joined the Confraternita del SS. Sudario and the International Centre for Sindonology, and was active in their initiatives for as long as she was able. During that time Dorothy made the very courageous decision to move from the U.S. in order to be near the Shroud. She and Luigi eventually settled in Babano, just outside of Cavour, an historic town fifty kilometers from Turin. She continued to visit Turin and to welcome scholars and devotees of the Shroud, especially the English speakers, all the while keeping abreast of Shroud events near and far.

Unfortunately her health gradually declined, exacerbated by a bad fall and by the progressive loss of her sight. Her last few years were spent at the Residenza San Lorenzo, in Cavour, assisted lovingly by her family and the excellent staff. Her funeral, which was held on Thursday, August 21, included a Holy Mass attended by her family, the Director of the Residenza, and various representatives of the Shroud family: the President of the Centro Internazionale di Sindonologia, Prof Bruno Barberis, the Secretary and several members of the Confraternita del SS. Sudario who brought the banner of the confraternity, as well as the honorary chairman of the Diocesan Commission and rector of the Confraternity, Msg. don Giuseppe Ghiberti, who celebrated the Mass.

Dorothy was laid to rest in the Cavour cemetery; we fervently believe that the Lord has already granted her the full vision of that face which she contemplated so often in the image of the Shroud.

Mons. Giuseppe Ghiberti
Presidente onorario della Commissione
diocesana della Sindone di Torino
Turin, Italy

[Editor's Note: Our thanks to Anthone Bercel for the English translation. We are also including a link to Mons. Ghiberti's original Italian language version].

We are saddened to learn of the passing of Dorothy Crispino. Remembered, not only as a Shroud scholar, researcher, publisher, promoter, enthusiast; one could go on and on and not define the depth of her accomplishments in the Shroud world. She was respected internationally for her ability to bring Shroudies together, united to work together promoting the mysteries and meanings of the image on the cloth.

When she received word from Don Coero-Borga that an English language journal would be a wonderful addition to uniting the Americans and the Italians in communicating new research findings, she called to say that a suggestion from Don Coero is a directive more than a timely idea. Her mind readily went into over-drive as to how to get it done. Thus, came the highly regarded Shroud Spectrum International; an independent peer reviewed journal of Shroud research and news. People from around the world wanted to have their research published in Spectrum. Unknown people finally had a specialized journal that could not be published elsewhere. The unknown soon became a collaboration with others that joined forces to promote research and publication. STERA, Inc. will continue the process of making available all issues of Spectrum on Shroud.com. Dorothy will also be fondly remembered for hosting an annual meeting of Shroud enthusiasts at her home in Nashville, Brown County, Indiana. From Boston to Los Angeles, from Chicago to Texas, Shroud enthusiasts came to have informal meetings, no agenda, no programs, just casual conversations that brought about life-time friendships and a working together to accomplish great things.

When Dorothy and Luigi moved to Cavour, their home was once again the Mecca of Shroudies who came to Turin for the more frequent expositions of the Shroud. She was able to bring the International people into contact with the Turin people. The Centro welcomed everyone with open arms. Friendships and dialogue continue to this day. Dorothy is the only woman among the icons of International Shroud researchers. She joins the famed Rinaldi, Otterbein, Filas, Coero-Borga, Ricci, Dreisbach, Adler, Zugibe, Gambescia, Willis, Judica-Cordiglia, and many others who have passed away. One can only imagine the open arms of the heavenly Shroudies. She is among her peers. And we are bereaved by her passing.

Richard Orareo
Member STERA, Inc. Board of Directors
Museum of the Holy Shroud
Wabash, Indiana

I first corresponded with Dorothy Crispino in the late 1970s after I read an article on her in the Catholic newspaper, "Our Sunday Visitor." In the early 1980s, I invited her to St. Louis to give a Shroud presentation to a church community. I remember finding it a bit strange to see a smallish 60-something woman arrive in a spiffy blue sports car. An attendee, who didn't know she was the speaker, said to her, "I hear this woman is a real expert on the Shroud." Dorothy replied to him, "I guess we'll find out."

Dorothy indeed was a real expert on the Shroud. In 1981 she started the acclaimed Shroud Spectrum International, a peer-reviewed journal. She invited me to come out and visit her in her quaint, Civil-War era home in Nashville, IN, near the U. of Indiana campus in Bloomington, where she lived with her husband Luigi. I mentioned to Mark Antonacci that I was going and he expressed interest. When I mentioned it to Dorothy, she told me to bring Mark along. After a year or two, other shroudies heard about the visit and before long, we were getting fairly large groups, which included people like Dan Scavone, Isabel Piczek, Rex Morgan (all the way from Australia!), Kevin Moran and Richard Orareo. We had no agenda, just informal discussions about the topic that had brought us all together. Besides those visits, I also saw Dorothy at Shroud conferences in Esopus, NY, Rome and Turin. Dorothy contributed much to sindonology and she will be missed.

Joseph Marino
Member STERA, Inc. Board of Directors
Shroud Researcher and Author
Dublin, Ohio

I came to know Dorothy, the Grande Dame of Shroud research, in 1998, too few and fleeting years ago, when I invited her to our Shroud Conference in Richmond. She declined with regrets, as she was just then in the midst of moving her entire household to Turin, where she looked forward to working closely with the CENTRO (an asset the Turinese unfortunately overlooked). She offered helpful suggestions for the conference and sent all back issues of Shroud Spectrum International, the journal she had created and edited. I instantly became very fond of this great lady. Her generous mentoring developed into a friendship which continued over the years. I was able to visit her in her home near Turin only twice, in 2000 and 2010. Superlatives fall short. Words can convey neither the breadth and depth of Dorothy’s extraordinary stewardship, nor my admiration and gratitude. She is missed so much, so very much.

Diana Fulbright
Member STERA, Inc. Board of Directors
Shroud Researcher, Historian and Biblical Exegete
Manakin Sabot, Virginia

Very sad news but she did live to a ripe old age, did good and important things, and is now at peace with the Lord.

She was a fine lady and a great proponent of the Shroud. Her great work of course was Shroud Spectrum International, which had a good run at an important time in the Shroud's history. Her legacy will live on as Spectrum is now online and available to a wider audience than she ever would have dreamed of when starting out.

William Meacham
Member STERA, Inc. Board of Directors
Shroud Researcher, Archaeologist and Author
Research Fellow 1980-2012
Centre of Asian Studies
University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong, China

Dorothy Crispino was a giant in the world of Shroud research and devotion. Her contribution is forever captured on the pages of Shroud Spectrum, which she published for many years during the 1980's. I am pleased that her contribution will live on in the digital world as STERA, Inc. publishes past issues of Spectrum on Shroud.com. She made another important contribution with the publication of Dr. Alan Adler's papers in a vital book called The Orphaned Manuscript. She will be missed but her legacy will continue. Thanks Dorothy for all your work! Enjoy your reward. Be at peace.

Russ Breault
Member STERA, Inc. Board of Directors
Shroud Encounter and Shroud University
Fayetteville, Georgia

We were saddened by the passing of a true Shroud scholar and pioneer, Dorothy Crispino. She was extremely diligent and had a true spirit of heartfelt collaboration. Over the course of her publication of Shroud Spectrum International, Dorothy Crispino was the essence of professionalism. Shroud Spectrum International was an articulate, informative, and attractively arranged journal on the Shroud and, among many of Dorothy Crispino's stellar contributions to the Shroud, remains her strongest legacy. You did well, Dorothy!

John and Rebecca Jackson
Physicist, STURP Founder and Jewish History Scholar
Turin Shroud Center of Colorado
Colorado Springs, Colorado

Dorothy Crispino was one of the most erudite, courteous, compassionate shroudies of the twentieth century.

Her massive intellect, gargantuan knowledge of history and enormous grasp of the implications of the Shroud are legendary.

Her journal Shroud Spectrum International was the most sophisticated and beautifully produced of the regular English language Shroud publications and was regarded as a reference work to be kept at hand by any serious Shroud writer.

Apart from numerous exchanges with her by letter I have memories of meeting Dorothy on a number of occasions. One of the most memorable was a weekend at her home in America in 1988 during which Fr Peter Rinaldi telephoned to report the first news of the result of the long since discredited C14 test. He spoke to a number of us and seemed like a broken man at that time.

But as Dorothy joins so many of the greats in the beyond she can now discuss with Rinaldi and others the C14 test as well as becoming a member of the Shroud Group who know the secret of its image.

She will long be remembered and her massive contribution to Sindonology celebrated by succeeding generations of Shroud scholars.

Rex Morgan
Shroud Researcher and Author
Editor and Founder of Shroud News
Bathhurst, NSW, Australia

I was first in communication with Dorothy when she conceived her wonderful Shroud Spectrum, so that goes back to my first days as a Shroudie. We were Indiana friends.

Dorothy was a powerful force in spreading the important news of our Shroud. She was always alert to documents tending to support the Shroud's authenticity. I hope she did not suffer at the end.

We may be sure that at last she knows the truth about the Shroud straight from the mouth of the Lord Himself. Goodbye to a good old friend and Shroud colleague.

Dan Scavone, Ph.D.
Shroud Historian
Prof. of History Emeritus
University of Southern Indiana
Evansville, Indiana

That Dorothy's had Italian as her second language, that she was proficient in other European languages, and that she established strong and cordial relations with well-respected Italian Shroud scholars such as the Salesian Don Luigi Fossati - all these were huge assets that she brought to Shroud studies. In addition she had a good working knowledge of medieval and early modern European history and was indefatigable in exploring sites relevant to the Shroud's history dotted around France and Italy, also writing well-researched articles on these.

Shroud-wise, however, Dorothy's finest achievement was surely her creation of the journal Shroud Spectrum, deservedly the best-produced Shroud publication in the English language during the 1980s and 1990s. Very likely working on the most shoestring of budgets Dorothy managed to persuade a significant array of international specialists to write articles for her. She assiduously researched the genealogies of the Charnys and the Savoys and the families related to them, along with visiting the associated historical sites, and she wrote some very perceptive and worthwhile articles on these. Indeed, some of the information that she gathered over three decades ago I am still finding very useful for some ongoing Charny historical researches that I am engaged in at the present time.

Additionally Dorothy applied her linguistic skills to translating into English some particularly worthwhile articles by Don Fossati and others, also several key historical texts such as the 1534 report of the Poor Clares on their repairs of the Shroud following the fire at Chambery, the sixteenth century prelate Alfonso Paleotto's observations on the Shroud's wound markings, and much more. From her remarks in Shroud Spectrum also from a miscellany of jottings that she collected in a set of as yet unpublished writings that she called Spicelegium, Dorothy clearly had more knowledge that she wanted to impart, more translations to be carried out and more research that she would ideally have wished to pursue had not the constraints of advancing years and publishing economics impeded her.

In the field of Shroud studies Dorothy was surely a last - if not the very last - survivor of a remarkable generation. She will be greatly missed.

Ian Wilson
Shroud Researcher and Author
Editor BSTS Newsletter 1982-2001
Queensland, Australia

Dorothy Crispino and Mary Hines in Cavour, Italy, May 19, 2010

In 1978, Fr. Peter Rinaldi extended me a personal invitation to come to Turin and view the Shroud as his guest. We kept up a monthly correspondence until his death. I knew no other Shroudies at the time and I felt adrift. Marcia, Fr. Peter's New York secretary, suggested I go to the Conference in Esopus in 1996 and to look for Dorothy Crispino. Dorothy presented a great paper on Fr. Peter in Esopus and we became fast friends. Over the years she was my Shroud mentor as well as my friend. Dorothy insisted I attend the 1998 Turin Conference and she made all the conference and hotel arrangements for me. I had the opportunity to visit Dorothy on three different occasions at her villa in Torino and over the years we kept in close touch via telephone. Dorothy was a Grand Dame of Sindonology and also a polyglot but most importantly, she possessed the humility, kindness and wisdom to reach out to others, to pass the torch of her love and passion for the Lord regarding His Shroud on to others. My heart is full of gratitude to the Lord for my friendship with you Dorothy~ ~ ~ ~and now you have experienced "The Truth." Shalom, my dear friend and teacher.

Mary Hines
Shroud Researcher
Marstons Mills, Massachusetts

A Visit to Dorothy Crispino's Home - Attending a Shroud mini conference at Dorothy Crispino's in Nashville, Indiana was a great event. Fr. Kim Dreisbach would come from Atlanta, Georgia to my house in the Charlotte, North Carolina area and we would then drive to Dorothy's in Indiana. That was where I first met Dan Scavone, Rich Orareo, Mark Antonnaci, Joe Marino and many other "Shroudies". There were always 15 or more gathered for this 2 day affair.

Dorothy's home was eclectic as she was, Persian rugs, Grand piano, her editing desk in the pantry off of the kitchen and, to see the outside, you could look through great cracks in the wall between the log structure of the 200 year old house. When gathered on the front porch we would be sitting with buzzing insects that joined us through large holes in the screens. Fr. Kim was bitten by a wasp and others kept fly swatters in hand.

The lovely family property of several acres had a lake and a site where Dorothy's husband Luigi was building a very fine modern home of his own design. He taught art and architecture at the nearby state university, but Dorothy said she would never move from the old house. She was too practical.

When it came time to eat the wives and other ladies would bring in food and someone would have to clean at least three burners on the stove because Dorothy only kept one burner working for the little time she bothered to eat at home. She never pretended to be a cook or entertainer. Drinking water had to be brought in because the water supply was pumped from a cistern that was filled from rain water.

The discussions always were very lively because Dorothy could zing you with corrections if you were just a little off. You didn't have to agree with her point-of-view, but you did need to be careful to agree to disagree. This careful "editing" was what made her Shroud Spectrum so special. And even when we visited her 300 year old home in Italy, in 2000, the same eclectic nature prevailed. Dorothy was a real world-class lady. She certainly made a mark on Shroud history.

Kevin Moran
Shroud Researcher and Optical Engineer
Belmont, North Carolina

She certainly chose a good day to go - 16 August in the Orthodox Church is the day when the Image of Edessa is commemorated. A true Shroudie to the very end!!

Mark Guscin
Shroud Researcher, Linguist and Author
Editor BSTS Newsletter 2002-2013
La Coruña, Spain

Letter from Dorothy Crispino to Emanuela Marinelli
February 8, 1983

Another pillar of the Shroud world has left us: our dear Dorothy. A long life spent in the shadow of the Shroud.

Among the many talents of Dorothy, I want to remind you of the three that struck me most: the humility of her spirit of service; the vastness of her culture; the sweetness of her smile.

I want to share, with you all, the first letter that she wrote me more than thirty years ago. I do not add anything to not give in to emotion.

I owe her a lot, especially for guiding me in my first Shroud steps and for encouraging me in the fifteen years of making, with Ilona Farkas, the magazine “Collegamento pro Sindone”.

In the pain of loss, I am comforted only by the certainty that she will continue to guide me from heaven, while contemplating that Face that she loved so much.

Emanuela Marinelli
Shroud Researcher and Author
Collegamento pro Sindone
Rome, Italy

Dorothy Zimmer Bercel Crispino was born in Anderson, Indiana on January 17, 1916 and passed away on August 16, 2014. One of the great Shroud scholars of our time has gone from our midst! Fluent in English, French, Italian, and ancient Latin, she was a Shroud researcher/historian par excellence! She founded the well-known journal, SHROUD SPECTRUM INTERNATIONAL—stretching from 1981 until 1993, producing 4 issues a year, it was the only peer reviewed journal dedicated to Shroud studies. The title of her journal said it all: Shroud “spectrum international”—she drew geographically from Belgium, England, France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, as well as from the United States. Her eye for the range of topics pertaining to the Shroud published in her journal was remarkable. Covering art, chemistry, hematology, medicine, palynology, physics, history, relics, religious studies, textile studies, and other disparate discussions, made her publication up-to-date and consistently relevant. If an important article needed to be translated for the English reading audience she would often be involved in the translation herself.

Her own special historical interests lay particularly in the Savoy Royal Family and with the Geoffrey de Charny house and we were often gifted with articles from her pen on these topics. But unsigned articles also came from her pen showing a poetic penchant for alliteration.

It was through her publication of Edward Insinger’s article “A True Copy of the Shroud in Summit, New Jersey” (SSI, no. 20, 1986, pp. 25-27) that I learned of the only True Copy in the United States. This enabled me to contact Mother Mary Albert, then Prioress of the Dominican Nuns, at the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary, and arranged for ASSIST to study this True Copy over a period of four different meetings—the first of which brought an extended ASSIST team of specialists, including ASSIST’s president, the late Frederick T. Zugibe, to examine the entire relic.

Dorothy lived in Indiana for many years until she and her husband, Luigi, moved to Cavour, Italy where she spent her waning years. She may no longer be in our midst but her legacy, her genius, will be not be forgotten because it will be available for future generations of Shroud researchers to use—Barrie Schwortz kindly informed me that only one or two installments remain before the entire set of SSI is online!

We mourn that she has gone, but celebrate what she has given!

Paul C. Maloney
Shroud Researcher and Archaeologist
ASSIST, General Projects Director
Quakertown, Pennsylvania

I met Dorothy Crispino a long time ago now at a small shroud conference in Esopus, New York, and when I heard about her passing I took down all the Shroud Spectrum Internationals that I have on my shroud shelves and leafed through them. I found interspersed a few letters I'd exchanged with her over the years as she'd encouraged me and sent me queries about shroud things that she thought I should know about.She was a grand lady and my life has been enriched for knowing her even if it was not a close relationship. There are many things in my shroud library and collection that simply would not be there except for Dorothy. No doubt she did this for many others as well. What a wonderful influence. When the shroud was being scanned on the back she made sure that I knew and got a copy of the prints that were published. When an index was published for the Shroud Spectrum International she made sure that I found out.

She was a person who empowered others in a thoughtful and motivational way. I was taken aback to hear she had died and overwhelmed with the memories, brief and few though they were, of the times we had communicated.

I am sure she is standing now in divine light and knows far more about the shroud than we ever shall. May her soul be illuminated by the love of God and the everlasting Beatific Vision.

Ray Schneider, Ph.D.
Shroud Researcher and Physicist
Associate Professor Emeritus
Bridgewater College
Woodstock, Virginia

... What a character the French association CIELT has lost!... Since its creation on 1989, a year after the disastrous announcement by Professors Hall and Tite, of the calamitous results concerning the C14 dating operation, Dorothy agreed to be our delegate for the United States. Her knowledge of Sindonology in the U.S. and Italy made her the essential collaborator for late President Van Cauwenbergue. Speaking perfect French - a rarity in the English-speaking countries - but also fluent in Italian, she was at the center of all Congresses in France, helping the Scientific Board for the call to Authors and the choice of papers. She published several papers on the history of the Holy Shroud in CIELT's review.

Furthermore her intelligence and intellectual rigor led her to make shrewd critiques on all Research aspects, praising the most relevant and castigating those that were not. During my early research on "ghost writings" she said mischievously, "Dear Marcel, don't forget that they are ghosts." When she bought the wonderful reproduction of the Holy Face published by the German editions Kunstkreis (by a thermal printer on a beautiful mimetic cloth), she asked me to buy one for advising... and study. This allowed me to discover that this very superficial picture was all on the warp threads (the weft threads, being deepest, remained uncolored). Her best Piece of Work remains of course the Shroud Spectrum International Collection, and her last Opus: The Orphaned Manuscript, a book devoted to Alan Adler's publications - Alan being, with Barrie, our "Jewish Reference"...

This Lady has earned the admiration of the French and remains their reference. She worked very well, may she rest in peace ... the peace of Christ, the Lord she recognized, as Mary of Magdala first did, in the Shroud of Turin.

Marcel Alonso
Shroud Researcher and Engineer (ENSPM, Paris)
Geosciences International Expert
Paris, France

Throughout my Shroud journey over the past 30+ years, I've been privileged to meet many fine people. At the top of the list was Dorothy Crispino. I was a subscriber to her acclaimed Shroud Spectrum publication and depended upon it to learn the most up-to-date scientifically-researched information in the world.

Having both attended many of the same Shroud conferences over the years, I came to know her and was blessed to develop a friendship with her. We had a chance meeting in Turin during the exposition in 1998 which was more divinely orchestrated than chance. I recall meeting up with her at the Dogana Vecchia hotel with my family during the Shroud exposition of 2000. She was very kind to us and was especially sweet to my then 5yr. old daughter Jesse. A subsequent trip to Turin culminated in a bus ride to Cavour where I met up with her and her husband Luigi for an outdoor lunch and an afternoon visit at their home.

She was a giant in the Shroud world and was respected around the globe. It is comforting to know that she now stands face-to-face with the One whose image she gazed upon for so long. I have no doubt that she heard Jesus say to her: "Well done thou good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your rest!" Congratulations Dorothy.....you've made it home!

David M.Onysko
Shroud Speaker
Cleveland, Ohio

I am saddened to hear about the passing of Dorothy; but at the same time, I rejoice in knowing that she is now in the eternal care of our Lord Jesus. She was certainly a devoted pioneer in Shroud studies. I first met her in Turin in 1998 at the III International Conference on the Shroud. In 2000, our tour group visited her and Luigi at their Cavour home. It must have been a sight for her neighbors to see a large tour bus pull up in her small village and about thirty people exiting the bus to walk the short distance to their home where they graciously welcomed us for a visit. I saw her once again in Paris in 2002. Unfortunately, that was the last time. It was a privilege to have known her, if even for a short time. I send my sincere condolences to Luigi and their family. Requiescat in Pace.

Respectfully,
Phil Dayvault
DATUM ENTERPRISE, LLC
Raleigh, North Carolina

I have never met Dorothy Crispino, but I have an interesting anecdote about her: One day I received an unexpected package that contained three back issues of Shroud Spectrum International. I had not ordered any and was quite surprised to realize that each issue contained an article on the estimation of the height of the man of the Shroud. I just wondered who sent me these, but a very kind note in the package quickly answered my question: Dorothy noticed that I had discussed this specific subject on the Shroud Science mailing list and thought I would found these back issues useful. Indeed they were useful and I thought it was very touching of her to have taken the time to find out my postal address and send them. I feel that she was a very kind person and very dedicated to make Shroud research more accessible to everyone. I offer my sincere condolences to the family.

Mario Latendresse
Computer Scientist and Bioinformatician
SRI International
Menlo Park, California
Publisher of sindonology.org

We regret to learn of the passing of Dorothy Crispino. She shall be specially included in our daily prayers, as well as ALL deceased sindonologists around the world! In fact, I had a very active correspondence with her for more than six years! Don Piero Coero-Borga and Fr. Adam J. Otterbein put me in contact with her. And Dorothy put me in contact with many Shroud scholars! Thanks to Dorothy Crispino I knew about the future foundation of the Mexican Center for the Turin Shroud (Centro Mexicano de Sindonologia) in 1983!

Surely all the Shroud enigmas are revealed to her now! Eternal rest, grant unto her O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon her. May her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Muchos saludos mi amigo!

Dr. Julio Lopez Morales
Founding Member
Centro Mexicano de Sindonologia
Mexico City, Mexico

I have just learned of Dorothy’s passing. Truly, sindonology has lost its inspirational shining light. Dorothy cared deeply about others, maintained unswerving faith in the Shroud’s authenticity, and always dedicated herself to intellectual honesty and scholarly endeavor. As Geoffrey de Charny was her knight in shining armor, so was she mine. Heaven is now an even better place.

Jack Markwardt
Shroud Historian
Alpharetta, Georgia

I just learned of Dorothy Crispino's passing and, having read the wonderful tributes of my colleagues, I share all their sentiments. I met her only once but followed her work in Shroud Spectrum International over the years and am grateful for her insights and many years of study which she passed on to us in all her work. May she rest in a well-earned peace as she learns first hand the true nature and significance of the Holy Shroud.

John C. Iannone
Shroud Author and Lecturer
Orlando, Florida

I met Dorothy sometime in 1998, when she had finally settled in Cavour, near her beloved Shroud of Turin. I was immediately captivated by her elegance and kindness, but it was her willingness to talk anytime about anything to do with the Shroud that made her exceptional. She was open to any honest argument questioning the Shroud, severe in her judgments but generous and most encouraging to anyone who made a serious case, for which I am personally grateful. During our numerous meetings, I grew to appreciate and esteem her for her absolute intellectual integrity.

A person of varied and refined tastes, we often exchanged views about photography, both in terms of the Shroud and more generally as a form of artistic expression.

She has now found eternal peace, and has discovered the Truth about that which she studied for so many years, and is looking down at us with a smile.

Goodbye Dorothy.

Aldo Guerreschi
Shroud Researcher and Photographer
Turin, Italy

Letter from Dorothy Crispino to Farés Melki
July 9, 1999

My first letter to Dorothy Crispino was sent on November 2, 1986. Her address was given to me by Fr. André Marie Dubarle who was my first contact in the world of Sindonology.

From this time onward, our correspondance didn't stop despite the war in Lebanon, since I managed to send her my letters with friends travelling outside the country. She always succeeded in reaching me with a response, via friends all over the world. Along with her response, she sent my subscription to Shroud Spectrum, allowing me to obtain all the issues in my collection. She even wrote about my new Arabic book (No. 40 Dec. 1991, p. 37). She signed her letters with "In Jesus and Mary", and when the news reported that the situation in Lebanon was bad she added "All my prayers for you and your country."

Her last letter was sent from Torino on 9 July, 1999. It was handwritten, while the others were typed (copy attached). After that, knowing her new situation, I did not wish to disturb her and let her live in peace.

Dorothy is now in the hands of her Saviour, Jesus Christ. She dedicated her life to making him known among people, via the Shroud, a unique sign of his death because of our sins and his ressurection to give us the eternal life.

Her last picture, published on Barrie's site, is now set as my personal wallpaper.

Farés Melki
Ingénieur E.S.I.B.
Sindonologue
Beirut, Lebanon

For many years I corresponded with Dorothy. I visited her and her husband in 2002 and 2005. She encouraged me to write a Danish Shroud book, edited in 2007 for the Scandinavian public. Such a book did not exist at the time.

I’m deeply indebted to her intelligent answers to my many questions. She was one of the first to study the Shroud after the “restoration”. She wrote to me:

"On Friday September 20, 2002 there was the meeting of only those persons (and a few others) who attended the March 2000 scientific seminar at the Villa Gualino. The program began with a demonstration of what had been done to “restore” the Shroud and short explanations by Savarino, Mechthild Flury-Lemberg and others, then the Cardinal took us to view the Shroud; standing around the case for a very close – even intimate – observation. The evening ended very late with a dinner with the Cardinal.

"Everyone – even our opposition – found the New Shroud to be very beautiful. It does seem “relaxed”, and we realize now how the patches “pulled” and puckered the linen."

God bless our Dorothy,
Niels Svensson, MD
Shroud Researcher and author
Denmark

Dorothy´s death has saddened me beyond words. I met her at the Paris Shroud Conference in the late eighties. She wrote me some kind letters dealing with the Shroud and the journal.

Her contribution to the Shroud knowledge, as editor of the Shroud Spectrum journal, was extraordinary. Her legacy will continue. She will be greatly missed.

Jose L. Fernandez
Associate professor
Madrid Technical University
Madrid, Spain

Our Lord has in Glory our sister Dorothy, devoted to the Holy Shroud and His Message. R.I.P.

Alessandro Piana
Shroud Researcher and Author
Italy

I share your grief in this time of bereavement with deepest sympathy and condolences.

Piero Iacazio
Shroud Researcher and Technician Dyer
Turin, Italy

My sincerest condolences!

Traudl Wally
Shroud Researcher
Austria
Posted August 26, 2014
Updated August 31, 2014

On a Happier Note...


We recently reported the rather sad news that Pete Schumacher's Shroud Exhibit and Museum (SEAM) in Alamogordo, New Mexico, had lost its location after five and a half years and had closed. Well, it didn't take very long for the news to get better. On August 20th Pete sent us the following e-mail:

We have been given a large space in the downtown entertainment and merchants area. We will be moving in soon. In the meantime, we may have a few weeks of portable exhibit or no exhibit, but only temporarily until we can prepare the space and move in. More information will come as it is able to be published.

Thank you for the prayers.
Blessings,
Deacon Pete

We are thrilled to hear the good news and will keep you posted as Pete makes progress in reopening his museum. You can check SEAM's website at Shroudnm.com for further news as it unfolds.

Posted August 26, 2014

Special Update - August 12, 2014

 L'Amore Più Grande (The Greatest Love)
Link to Onlne Reservation System
(No longer available)

Welcome to our Special August Update! The above image is the official logo of the upcoming 2015 Shroud exposition and reflects the theme of the event, "The Greatest Love." Over the past two months we have received scores of letters and calls asking us how to make reservations to see the Shroud when it goes on public display next year (between April 19 and June 24, 2015). As we reported previously, there is no admission charged, but reservations are necessary. Consequently, we have all been patiently awaiting the availability of the Archdiocese of Turin's Online Reservation System. I recently spoke with our contacts in Turin and they informed me that the system is not scheduled to go online until sometime in October 2014, which prompted me to create this Special Update to let you all know. If you are planning to visit Turin on your own, without being part of a tour group, you will need to make your own reservations online at this link: 2015 Online Reservation System once the system goes online. (Link no longer available). You can check the site yourself from time to time, in case the system goes online earlier. The page is currently available in Italian, English and French. We have also updated our Tours to Turin: The 2015 Exposition page to include this information. Of course, we will update the website again as soon as the system goes online.

In addition to the above news, we are taking this opportunity to include a few other items in this update, like the latest (June 2014) issue of the BSTS Newsletter, some rather sad news from the Shroud Exhibit and Museum (SEAM) in New Mexico, the "Return" of Paul Maloney and the availability of a new STERA, Inc. DVD. We are still planning our larger Fall Update (which will include a number of new papers and articles, several more issues of Shroud Spectrum International and much more), to go online in late September or early October, before the upcoming St. Louis Conference.

Here is the Special Update Table of Contents:

Posted August 12, 2014

BSTS June 2014 Newsletter Issue No. 79 Now Online

BSTS Newsletter No. 79

We are happy to report that the British Society for the Turin Shroud page has been updated and the latest June 2014 Issue No. 79 of the BSTS Newsletter is now online. This issue includes five research articles by Shroud scholars Hugh Duncan, Pam Moon, Peter Lietch, Philippa Foster and Hugh Farey. It also includes articles on a Shroud exhibition currently touring the U.K., recent and future Shroud events and much more. Our congratulations again to Hugh Farey on this, his second issue as Editor!

Posted August 12, 2014

Shroud Exhibit and Museum in Alamogordo, New Mexico Has Closed

 Shroud Exhibit and Museum (SEAM) in Alamogordo, New Mexico
Photo ©2014 Andy Weiss

It is with true sadness that we must report the close of an important chapter in Shroud (and New Mexico) history and hopefully, the beginning of a new one. Our dear friend Pete Schumacher, known worldwide as the top expert on the historic VP-8 image analyzer and founder of the Shroud Exhibit and Museum (SEAM) in Alamogordo, New Mexico, reported to us recently that the museum, now over five years old, must either move or close its doors by September 1, 2014. As soon as I got the e-mail, I called Pete to get the details and commiserate with him over this dramatic news. However, his response was positive and upbeat. Rather than try to paraphrase his gracious comments, I am reprinting here the poignant message he wrote and posted on his Shroudnm.com website, which says it all:

Shroud Exhibit and Museum (SEAM) is forced to move or close operations by September 1, 2014. For 5 and-a-half years, White Sands Mall has generously donated 1900 square feet of prime facilities including all utilities to the Shroud Exhibit and Museum. Recent success has brought them many new paying tenants and they have been able to lease the space in which we have been operating since our opening.

We are very thankful to the owners of White Sands Mall, and to the staff that manages and maintains the mall, for without this generous gift SEAM would not have come into existence. We congratulate them on their success and wish them every success in the future.

So, now it is time to either start a new chapter for the exhibit and museum or end its operations. What happens is up to this community. Your help is needed if we are to continue.

We have a very limited budget. We do not charge fees to enter the exhibit. Nobody is paid to work for SEAM. We are an all-volunteer organization in staff and management. Therefore we need a space that is rent-free and utility-free to the extent possible. The location should be in a commercial area where shopping or tourism is dominant and must be a place where children and staff are in a safe environment.

SEAM is now world famous. Visitors come from Mexico and from neighboring states and communities for the sole purpose of visiting the museum. Some have come from other countries, including France and Panama, Central America, just to experience the Shroud of Turin through this unique exhibit. The exhibit clearly defines the role of New Mexico science and scientists in the history of the Shroud. It has been good for tourism and good for pride in our community of Alamogordo. On the Internet, over 60,000 visitors and 95 countries have spent time learning about all of this. Many hearts have been converted and souls have been set back onto the right path.

If there is any way you can help us, please contact us immediately. Thank you. Yours in Christ, Deacon Pete Schumacher; Phone: (575) 415-5206; ShroudNM.com

AUGUST 10, 2014 UPDATE FROM SEAM: "The museum is now officially closed so we can deconstruct and store everything until we can locate another space." If any of you are able to help, please contact Pete directly. It would be very sad if such an excellent Shroud resource is lost.

Posted August 12, 2014

The "Return" of Paul Maloney

Paul Maloney at the 2001 Dallas Conference

For those of you who may not be familiar with Paul Maloney, he is a highly respected, dedicated archaeologist and Shroud scholar that has made significant contributions to Shroud studies for the past 35 years. He is well known amongst Shroud scholars for his clarity and meticulously crafted articles and papers. Try typing "Maloney" into our Website Search Engine and you'll get ten pages of results! His work has been referenced by countless authors and researchers over the years.

To be honest, the above headline is a little misleading, since Paul Maloney never really went away. But family and personal matters made it impossible for him to actively participate in Shroud studies for the past five years. So I am very happy to announce that Paul is back! We were thrilled in June 2014, when Paul took it upon himself to compile a 33 page Index to The Untold Story of the Holy Shroud by Carlos Evaristo, which you will now also find permanently linked with the book on our Shroud Booklist page. (A few copies of this book are still available exclusively to members of our mailing list via the Private Subscribers Page).

Then, in July 2014, Paul presented us with a 43 page Index to Wrapped Up in the Shroud by Joe Marino, which is also permanently archived on the Booklist page. But he wasn't finished yet. Next, Paul sent us a short paper titled, Walter C. McCrone and the Max Frei Sticky Tapes of 1978: A Background Study, that encapsulates and updates the much more extensive paper he originally presented at the 1999 Richmond Shroud Conference titled, History of Botanical Research on the Shroud of Turin. [Editor's Note: That paper is currently not available online but was published in the Proceedings of the 1999 Shroud of Turin International Research Conference - Richmond, Virginia - WALSH, Bryan J. (Ed.) - Magisterium Press, Glen Allen, Virginia (USA) 2000]. Paul is also presenting a new paper at the upcoming St. Louis Shroud Conference in October. Welcome back Paul!

Posted August 12, 2014

A New DVD from STERA, Inc.

 Barrie Schwortz - 35 Years of Shroud Science: A Personal Perspective
Roll mouse over image to view back cover

For years, people have asked me if there were DVDs available of any of my public presentations. Although my lectures have been videotaped many times and a number are available on YouTube, the results were never really professional quality and certainly did not have the production values necessary to make mass production and distribution of a DVD worthwhile. That is, until now. In July 2013 I was invited to speak at the Pikes Peak Prophecy Conference in Colorado Springs, sponsored by the Prophecy in the News (PITN) organization. They employed a professional video production company to record all of the main presentations and produced a beautiful set of DVDs of the entire event, which they graciously presented to each of the speakers. They also kindly granted us permission to distribute our individual DVDs via our own websites and lectures, so our sincerest thanks to PITN. Because of their generosity, STERA, Inc. can now make them available to everyone on our Website Store page, which includes all the details. In addition to my complete 92 minute presentation, the DVD also includes the Shroud of Turin Q&A I hosted with John and Rebecca Jackson and Russ Breault and a Board Room Interview with Derek Gilbert. [NOTE: Quantity pricing is available. Contact STERA, Inc. for details].

Posted August 12, 2014

A Little Vacation...

STERA, Inc.'s offices will be closed starting Thursday, August 14, 2014 and will reopen for business on Wednesday, August 20, 2014. I am taking the time off to attend my 50th high school reunion in Pittsburgh, PA and visit with my family. Any orders placed by telephone or via the Secure Order Form on our Website Store page will be processed promptly after I return. And watch for our fall update in late September or early October (before the St. Louis Shroud Conference). See you soon!

Posted August 12, 2014

Summer 2014 Website Update

 Turin's Cathedral of St. John the Baptist during the 1978 exhibition
Roll mouse over image to highlight area of closeup view
Click image for closeup view and Update on 2015 Exhibition

I had hoped to have the website updated by the end of May, but the amount of material that came in over the past four months was enormous and it just took longer than I expected to get it finished. Of course, that also means that this is another huge update. So set aside some time, make yourself a sandwich and dig in!

I am leading off this update with a report on the burial of Dr. Frederick Zugibe at the Ourem Castle in Fatima, Portugal earlier this year. Dr. Zugibe's forensic contributions to the study of the Shroud were truly significant. Of course, the big story is still the upcoming 2015 exposition of the Shroud, and we have provided the latest information on that as well. In addition, you will find seven more issues of Shroud Spectrum International, the introduction of our new Tours To Turin: The 2015 Exposition page, an update on the upcoming Shroud conferences, links to many recently published articles, books and letters and much more. We hope you find the information useful.

Here is the Update Table of Contents:

Here are links to our recent Breaking News and Special updates:

Posted June 7, 2014

Dr. Frederick T. Zugibe Buried at the Ourém Castle Near Fatima, Portugal

Dr. Frederick T. Zugibe Buried at the Ourém Castle

The Funeral Mass and burial of the remains of Dr. Frederick T. Zugibe, Ph.D., M.D., F.A.C.C., P.C., took place on the Feast of the Presentation (Candlemass), February 2nd, 2014, at 11:30 A.M. in the Mortuary Chapel of Ourém Castle in Fatima, Portugal. Amongst the many in attendance at the Funeral was H.R.H. the Duke of Bragança, Head of the Royal House of Portugal, Paulo Homem Fonseca, the Mayor of Ourém Fatima, Carlos Evaristo, President of the Oureana Foundation and Fernando Lagrifa Fernandes, the President and Founder of the Portuguese Shroud Research Centre who said a few words on behalf of the Director, Dr. Antero Moreira.

We are grateful to Catharine Zugibe, Fred's loving wife, for making this information available to us and to Carlos Evaristo for providing us with additional written materials and photographs of the event that we have incorporated into an article titled, Dr. Frederick T. Zugibe Buried at the Ourém Castle Near Fatima, Portugal. Carlos also kindly sent us a brief (2:42 - 40MB) video of the event which you can view at this link: Zugibe Funeral Video. Certainly a fitting tribute for a truly great man. Rest in peace Fred.

Posted June 7, 2014

Update on the 2015 Shroud Exhibition

Waiting to see the Shroud during the 1978 public exhibition

The above photograph of crowds waiting to view the Shroud in 1978 is a close up of a small section of the photograph of the Turin Cathedral at the top of this update. You can see the same white building in both images. You can also see more than 100,000 people waiting in the long line, sometimes for more than ten hours, to get a two or three minute look at the Shroud of Turin! In 1978, everyone just showed up at the same time (usually very early in the morning) and waited in the queue. What a difference thirty-six years (and the Internet) makes!

Why am I bringing this up? Because the last few public exhibitions of the Shroud have NOT encountered this problem, thanks to an online reservation system put in place by the Archdiocese of Turin. The system allows anyone to go online and make a reservation to see the Shroud on the date and time of their choice. You are then instructed to arrive at the Cathedral at the appointed time (not earlier) and voilà, long lines are a thing of the past! That's the good news.

The bad news is that, as of this writing, the online reservation system is not yet online. In 2010, the reservation system went online about nine months before the start of the public exhibition, so we can probably expect a similar start this time. Based on the number of e-mails we have received, there are a lot of people very anxious to see the Shroud in 2015. Many of you have inquired about making reservations, booking tours and whether STERA, Inc. would be planning anything special (as we did for the 2010 public exhibition). Of course, until the official reservation system goes online, there is not much that anyone can do, since everyone including professional travel organizations will need to use it.

To make planning your trip to Turin easier, we have created a new page (see article below) that provides information from a number of different professional travel organizations that will be offering Tours to Turin in 2015, giving our viewers a wide array of options to choose from. As we did in 1998, 2000 and 2010, STERA, Inc. will again be working with Canterbury Tours, who are already in the process of creating the itineraries for a number of different tour packages in 2015. Again, nothing can be finalized until the reservation system goes online and of course, we will update the website and notify our subscribers as soon as that occurs.

Posted June 7, 2014

Introducing a New Page on Shroud.com

Tours To Turin: The 2015 Exposition

Long time viewers might remember that for the 2010 public exhibition we created a special Tours to Turin page that listed a number of different professional travel organizations that were offering tours to view the Shroud. The page proved very successful and travel professionals and travelers alike reported that the tours were a complete success. With that in mind, today's update introduces a new page, Tours to Turin: The 2015 Exposition, which will serve in a similar manner. Once again we are offering professional travel organizations a free listing on the page (see page for details). Please note however, that since we are unveiling this page well before the official reservation system is in place, the companies are still developing their tour itineraries and will be including them on their websites in the very near future. Not only will you find their listings as before, but you will now also find a Gallery section with photographs and information about other sights worth visiting while in Turin. Since the page is new, consider it a "work in progress," as we expect the list of tour companies to grow over the next few months. We have also included a link to a website listing all the hotels in Turin.

As we did in 2010, STERA, Inc. is again working with Canterbury Tours to arrange a series of tours in which I will personally participate. I will meet each group in Turin, give them a private Shroud presentation and see the Shroud with them at the Cathedral. For more details, see the News From STERA, Inc. article below.

Posted June 7, 2014

Seven More Issues of Shroud Spectrum International Added to Archives + New High Resolution Cover Photos

 Shroud Spectrum International No. 24 Cover
Roll mouse over image to view Foldout

We are happy to add seven more issues of Shroud Spectrum International (the first and only peer reviewed journal dedicated solely to the study of the Shroud) in this update, bringing us up to Issue #27 of the 42 published. As always, our sincerest thanks to Dorothy Crispino, the founder and editor of the journal, who gave us permission to reprint it here on this website, along with the extraordinary efforts of Stephen E. Jones, BSTS Member living in Western Australia, who graciously continues to do all the scanning and optical character recognition and Ian Wilson, who provided Stephen with the original issues and valuable input. Today's update includes seven issues (# 21 through # 27), originally published in December 1986 through June 1988 (just before the radiocarbon dating).

We have also added a new feature to the page: links to high resolution lifesize versions of each cover. Simply click on the cover photograph of any issue to view a larger version in pdf format.

Posted June 7, 2014

Spanish Language Translations Added

Spanish Language Translations Added

Last year we published Spanish translations of a number of articles on this website thanks to our good friend Pedro Vázquez García, who lives in the town of A Coruña, in the Northwest of Spain. He pledged to continue selecting articles and sending us Spanish translations and he has been true to his word. We are including two more in this update.

Pedro's contribution is most certainly useful, as our Spanish speaking viewership has been growing rapidly over the past few years. The number of Spanish language translations on the website has also grown considerably, thanks primarily to dedicated viewers like Pedro, who volunteer their services to help the site grow and improve. All I can say is muchas gracias mi amigo! The two papers he translated for this update are from 1998 and 1999 and include:

Posted June 7, 2014

Shroud Conference Updates

Shroud Conference in St. Louis, Missouri - Now on Shroud.com

Joe Marino, Chairman of the organizing committee for the St. Louis International Shroud Conference, taking place on October 9 - 12, 2014, in St. Louis, Missouri, recently sent us news that the Official Conference Website has been updated to include the Conference Program Schedule and other important information. (Site and links no longer available). If you haven't done so already, now is the time to go to their site and sign up to attend the event. You can register online and make your hotel reservations at the same time. The List of Presenters includes many noted Shroud scholars from around the world, so this is a great opportunity for you to come and hear some of the experts first hand and meet them in person. Here is the latest from Joe:

The first event of the conference begins on Thursday evening, October 9th at 7 p.m. and continues through to Sunday, October 12th at noon. Monday, October 13th is Columbus Day and should afford some in the United States extra travel time. Prof. Bruno Barberis, Director of the International Center of Sindonology in Turin, is expected to present two papers at the conference, "Shroud, science and faith: dialogue or conflict?" and "The future of research on the Shroud." Also, St. Louis native, The Most Rev. Michael Sheridan, bishop of Colorado Springs, will be giving an address on the theme of the conference: the Shroud being the controversial intersection of science and faith. There will be other speakers from Italy, France, Spain, England, Australia and Panama, as well as some presentations by members from the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP). (See the conference website and the earlier article below for further details).

Shroud Workshop in Bari, Italy - Official Website

A conference titled, Workshop on Advances in the Turin Shroud Investigation will be held in Bari, Italy, on September 4-5, 2014. The event is being sponsored by the IEEE Italy Section, the Technical University of Bari, Italy and the University of Bari "Aldo Moro," Italy with the technical co-sponsorship of the CIS (International Center for Turin Shroud Studies), Turin. The event is being organized by the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering of the Technical University of Bari, Italy. Visit the Official Workshop Website for the Call for Papers, deadlines, a complete list of committee members and sponsors, information about the venue and accommodations and much more. You can still receive the discounted early registration rate if you register before July 31, 2014. (See the conference website and the earlier article below for further details).

Posted June 7, 2014

Earthquake Paper Generates Immediate Reactions

Dead Sea Sediments Core Sample - Courtesy Jeff Williams - www.deadseaquake.info

On February 13, 2014 we published a Special Update regarding a new paper making news around the world that claimed that neutron radiation generated by a major earthquake could have been responsible for the Shroud's image and could have also modified the cloth in a manner that might have skewed the results of the radiocarbon dating. We made some preliminary comments and promised to provide more information in our next update. The reactions were almost immediate and came from a number of different experts in several disciplines. We are including two of the most extensive responses in this update. Please note that both are reprinted verbatim and neither was reviewed by STERA, Inc.'s Editorial Review Committee.

The first came from Jeff Williams, a geologist who has done extensive research in the Dead Sea (including taking and analyzing countless core samples of the sea bottom sediments). I have incorporated his comments into an article titled, Earthquake Theory Comments by Jeff Williams. The article also includes links to his earthquake paper titled, An early first-century earthquake in the Dead Sea published in 2011 in International Geology Review and his website that explains the research to non Geologists. In a more recent e-mail to me, written after corresponding with the authors of the earthquake paper, Jeff summarized his conclusions this way:

As far as the specifics of the paper and its relation to the Shroud, the basic observation still holds that the biggest earthquake in Judea between 26 and 36 AD was at most M 6.5 and appears to have had an epicenter in the Southern end of the Dead Sea.

Another extensive response from a completely different perspective came from John C. Iannone, noted Shroud scholar and author whose name is well known to regular website viewers. John presents his arguments more from biblical and historical points of view. We are including his comments in an article he sent us titled, The Image on the Shroud of Turin is not the result of Earthquake Activity. Our thanks not only to Jeff and John, but to everyone who wrote to us in response to this article.

Posted June 7, 2014

AMCOR - Amici Chiese d'Oriente (Friends of the Eastern Churches) - New Website

AMCOR - Amici Chiese d'Oriente (Friends of the Eastern Churches)

In March of this year I received an e-mail from Mons. Giuseppe Ghiberti, Honorary President of the Diocesan Commission of the Holy Shroud of Turin, a man very well known to every Shroud scholar around the world. In his letter, Msgr. Ghiberti informed me of a new Shroud related website, AMCOR - Amici Chiese d'Oriente (Friends of the Eastern Churches) and asked if we could include news of it here on Shroud.com. Here is the text of his letter:

Dear Barrie,

We met many years ago at the last big congress in Turin in 1998, and subsequently at other events such as the Dallas Conference of 2005. In those days I was appointed by the Turin Bishop to follow matters concerning the Turin Shroud, which I did from 1992 until 2013. As you may imagine, I follow the work of your important website with great interest.

I am writing to you ask if you could insert in your influential website the link to another little website of ours called AMCOR (Amici delle Chiese d’Oriente – Friends of the Eastern Churches) which has a program with the Eastern Christian Churches. This association was founded 12 years ago, and we maintain relations on matters concerning the Turin Shroud with many countries where we take copies of the Shroud and hold conferences about it.

We now have a new website: www.amcor-onlus.org and we have naturally indicated the link to your website www.shroud.com. We would be very grateful if you would look at our website and indicate a link to our website in yours if you consider it useful.

I know you are sometimes in Rome. If you should also come to Turin, I would be glad to meet you.

My best regards,
Giuseppe Ghiberti
Presidente onorario della Commissione
diocesana della Sindone di Torino
Via Cardinal Maurizio, 7 – 10131 Torino I

In addition to his kind letter, Mons. Ghiberti also recently provided us with an excellent English translation of many parts of their new Italian language website. I appreciate his thoughtfulness in making this available to us and have included the translation in the form of an article titled, AMCOR. We have also included a link to AMCOR on our Links To More Information and Shroud Centers & Organizations pages. Our thanks to Mons. Ghiberti and our best wishes for great success to AMCOR!

Posted June 7, 2014

Recently Published

Once again, a large number of new books, articles and papers have been published since our last major update in January. We have done our best to include everything of note and hope we haven't missed anything. To make things a bit easier, we have broken the new items down by category (books, papers, etc.).

Books

Journey of the Shroud by Joanna Emery

Journey of the Shroud by Joanna Emery - Technically, this is not a new book, as it was originally published in 2007. What IS new is that the book is now free to read online or download in pdf format via Joanna's new website at the above link. The book was specifically written to introduce children to the Shroud of Turin. As it states on her web page: "Stories for young people, based on the fascinating history behind the world's most famous ancient cloth - the Shroud of Turin."


 The Templar Mandylion by Franck Gordon
Available in English and Spanish

The Templar Mandylion (English) - El Mandylion Templario (Spanish) by Franck Gordon - Available in the Kindle e-book format for download from Amazon.com in either language. Here is the author's description of the book:

The historical and religious mystery of the "Templar Mandylion" still remains unsolved to date. Is it the "Baphomet" secretly kept and worshipped by the Templars and which led them to the stake? I tried to explain this mystery in my e-Book.


 Sindone. Le tracce della passione. Flagellazione, crocefissione, deposizione e sepoltura (Shroud. The traces of passion. Scourging, crucifixion, burial and deposition)

Sindone. Le tracce della passione. Flagellazione, crocefissione, deposizione e sepoltura (Shroud. The traces of passion. Scourging, crucifixion, burial and deposition) by Ernesto Maria Puzzo is a beautifully illustrated Italian language book. There is also a YouTube video (in Italian) for the book, which provided the following description (edited software translation):

"A detailed study of the visual impressions of the Shroud and a detailed graphic relief of the torture of a man who has suffered the sentence of capital punishment. An analytical visual study accompanies the text and the reading of the images imprinted on the fascinating and enigmatic sheet."

Papers & Articles

Shroud of Turin Exhibition in the U.K. Website

These two new papers by British Shroud scholar Pam Moon were recently published on Pam's Shroud of Turin Exhibition website:

The Lier Shroud and Lucas Cranach the Elder by Pam Moon - "This paper argues that the artist who created the Shroud of Turin copy known as the Lier (or Lierre) Shroud may be Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553)... It examines the signature on the Shroud and compares it with the different ways Cranach signed his name."

The Missing Corners and the Radiocarbon date of the Shroud of Turin by Pam Moon - "This paper looks at the mystery of the missing corners on the Shroud of Turin. Two corners were removed at some time and two are intact... This paper argues that the corners were removed because of water damage from douse water used to put out the fire that partially burned the Shroud in 1532. The contaminated douse water led to the formation of mould and bacteria on the cloth."


The Shroud of Turin - A Critical Assessment
by Atle Ottesen Søvik

The Shroud of Turin - A Critical Assessment by Atle Ottesen Søvik - (This article is a translation of the article “Likkledet i Torino – en kritisk vurdering," published in Teologisk Tidsskrift (Journal of Theology), no 3, 2013: 266-294). The author holds a Ph.D. in philosophy of religion and teaches at MF Norwegian School of Theology. You can follow Atle and read some of his other papers (many in English) on Academia.edu. We have also added a permanent link to the article on the Scientific Papers & Articles and Website Library pages of the site. Here is the abstract:

This article discusses the question of whether the Shroud of Turin is the real burial cloth of Jesus, and it consists of four parts. First I present facts about the Shroud. Then I discuss whether the image comes from a corpse or is artificially produced another way, and conclude that it comes from a corpse. This means that if it is a forgery, a corpse was used to create the image. After that, I briefly discuss whether it may be the burial cloth of an unknown crucified man, and argue that it must be the burial cloth of Jesus or a forgery meant to resemble Jesus. Finally, I discuss the crucial question of when the image was formed: is it a forgery from the fourteenth century or is it the real burial cloth of Jesus from AD 30?


Could the Shroud of Turin be an effect of post-mortem changes?

Could the Shroud of Turin be an effect of post-mortem changes? by Lucia Tattoli, Michael Tsokos, Claas Buschmann - This paper was published in the February 2014 issue of Forensic Science, Medicine, and Pathology and bases its theories on an actual forensic case in which a dead body left an imprint on the floor. The authors propose this might be a parallel to the image on the Shroud of Turin. The first two pages of the article can be previewed at the above link but the complete text is behind a pay wall.


New study shows Man of the Shroud had “dislocated” arms

An article by Andrea Tornielli titled, New study shows Man of the Shroud had “dislocated” arms appeared on May 7, 2014 in the Vatican Insider, La Stampa. (Link no longer available). It makes reference to a paper by Matteo Bevilacqua, Giulio Fanti, Michele D’Arienzo and Raffaele De Caro titled, Do we really need new medical information about the Turin Shroud? that appeared in the journal Injury, Volume 45, Issue 2, Pages 460-464, published February 2014 by Elsevier. We published the abstract and created a link to the article in December 2013 when it was still in press (being reviewed). I am not really sure why this became "news" again in May, but we are happy to mention it again.


 Lumen et Virtus
The Shroud of Turin: Between Art History and Carbon 14 Dating by Antônio Jackson de Souza Brandão

O Sudário de Turim: Entre a história da arte e a Datação do Carbono 14 (The Shroud of Turin: Between Art History and Carbon 14 Dating) by Antônio Jackson de Souza Brandão - The above text link is to the complete paper (in pdf format) of a Portuguese language article published in the online Brazilian journal Lumen et Virtus, nº 10, vol. v, March 2014. You can also download the entire paper directly from the journal website. Below is an online translation of the paper's synopsis from their site. [Editor's Note: The online English translation was not great so I still had to do some minor corrective editing].

When published in 1989, the test results of carbon 14 of the Turin Shroud, led many scientists, agnostics and theists of various religious associations to celebrate their results on the "unmasking" of the strange relic. They forgot, however, that the history of art, documented for centuries, demonstrates exactly the opposite, its imagery making inconceivable [dates] between 1260 to 1390, a period appointed as its probable creation.

Posted June 7, 2014

An Interesting Historic Document

Ray Rogers 1988 Letter to Giovanni Fazio

Recently, Canadian Shroud researcher Yannick Clement was corresponding with noted Shroud scholar Prof. Giovanni Fazio in Italy. Regular website viewers will recognize Prof. Fazio's name from a number of his excellent imaging papers we have referenced on this website. (See the Scientific Papers & Articles List). During their conversation, the professor shared with Yannick a letter he had received from Ray Rogers dated 16 February 1988 (before the radiocarbon dating of the Shroud). At the time, Rogers was still working at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the professor was at the Institute of Physics at the University in Messina, Italy.

Yannick read the letter and quickly appreciated its historic value. It mainly consisted of Rogers commenting on experiments using modern linen and making an observation that lignin "gradually changes its chemical composition with time." It was then that Yannick sent me the following e-mail:

"The minute I got this letter, I thought about you! This document is important, historically speaking, because it shows that, already in 1988, Rogers had begun to come up with the heart of what would later become more developed hypotheses and conclusions... at the same time, we have an impression that, back then, he had not yet come up with the great idea of a thin layer of impurities as the lone image chromophore. I'm pretty sure that he was still thinking... that the STURP conclusions (i.e. an oxidation-dehydration of the cellulose of the fibers) was still valid...

"For all those reasons, this document is truly interesting, just like the 2001 paper you published last year! Those things prove how much Rogers was ready to change his mind whenever new proof and/or solid pièces of evidence were coming his way... A proof to me that he was following the scientific method the best he could."

Yannick promptly asked Prof. Fazio's permission for STERA, Inc. to reprint the letter here on this website and the professor graciously said yes. Our thanks to Yannick for thinking of it and to Prof. Fazio for sharing it with us all. Here's the link: Ray Rogers 1988 Letter to Giovanni Fazio. We have also included permanent links to the letter on our Scientific Papers & Articles and Website Library pages.

Posted June 7, 2014

News From STERA, Inc.

Shroud of Turin Education and Research Association, Inc.

Naturally, the biggest news for STERA, Inc. is the upcoming Shroud exposition in 2015. As we did in 2010, STERA, Inc. will again be working directly with Canterbury Tours, who are already in the process of creating the itineraries for a number of different specially designed tour packages in which I will personally participate. I will be in Turin for about two weeks, during which time I will meet (and hang out with) each group. Since we will all be staying in the same hotel, we will have some time to socialize and I will give each group a private presentation and visit the Cathedral with them to see the Shroud. The tours not only allow me to meet and spend time with some of our website viewers, but to see the actual Shroud of Turin with them! It will also serve as a fund raising event for STERA, Inc., and each participant will receive a tax deductible receipt for a portion of their tour costs. The funds raised in 2010 provided STERA, Inc., with the necessary resources to begin formal operations that year. Also, if you choose to work with Canterbury Tours and can organize a group of 20 people or more, you can get your own trip gratis and still help STERA, Inc. Just let them know that you learned about Canterbury from the Shroud of Turin Website when you contact them directly and they will donate a portion to STERA, Inc.

In other news, the STERA, Inc. Board of Directors will be having their first meeting of 2014 sometime in July. At this moment, the agenda is still being planned so the date has not been set. We will include a full report in our next regular update.

Barrie Schwortz
President
Posted June 7, 2014

Website Store Page In Transition + New Items Added

New Lithographic Print Set Available

You will notice that our Website Store page currently shows a number of items listed as either "Temporarily Not Available" or "Temporarily Out of Stock." That is because, after nearly 36 years, the changing technologies in the imaging world have finally caught up with us. Sadly, it is difficult to find many laboratories still offering photographic prints or transparencies using the older, analog technology. As you know, everthing is moving to digital imaging and older technologies (like those based on light sensitive photographic emulsions) are fading quickly into history. Both Kodak and Fuji have discontinued making most films and the majority of professional laboratories have shifted over to digital printing techniques, which are more economical, efficient, environmentally safer and offer printing onto a much broader range of surfaces. Consequently, we are now performing a complete set of tests on all the larger images we offer and the materials we print them on to insure that the image quality using the new technologies remains just as good as the older photographic techniques. We hope to have that accomplished by the end of the summer and will include updated information (and hopefully, even lower prices) in our next regular update. This does not affect our Lifesize or Miniature Shroud Replicas, which are already printed digitally.

In the meantime, we have added a new item to the store page. Over the past few years we had many requests to make some smaller Shroud prints available, which we did, but only on a very limited basis in very limited quantities. We finally have obtained a good supply and you can now order a set of two high quality 8½" x 11" Shroud Lithographic Prints (as illlustrated above) from our Website Store page. Suitable for framing, they are printed onto heavy cover stock and laminated with a glossy UV coating so they should last for years. See the page for details.

Posted June 7, 2014

Shroud Exhibit Touring America

Shroud Exhibit

"A 12-chamber exhibit, exploring the Shroud of Turin through history, art, archeology, forensics and science, is open daily through Aug. 17 at St. John’s United Methodist Church in Royal Oak... The self-guided, audio-visual, one-hour tour also includes more than 50 artifacts, such as ancient coins, manuscripts, and a Roman spear. The exhibit also features a full scale reconstructed version of the tomb of Jesus based on actual archeological studies.The display originated in Spain, and Milford-area resident, Jose Juan Garrigo, CEO of Immersive Planet, brought it to the United States. It kicks off a 70-city, 20-year tour of the U.S. in Royal Oak, Michigan."

Source: May 20, 2014 article in the Gannett local Observer and Eccentric titled, Shroud exhibit takes visitors on trip through history. (Link no longer available). In addition to their website, the exhibit also has a comprehensive Facebook Page.

Posted June 7, 2014

The Shroud on Television

Russian Language Shroud Documentary Now Available Online

Russian Language Shroud Documentary

Two years ago a number of us participated in a Shroud documentary directed by Alexander (Sasha) Zamyslov for Channel 1 Russian television. Now the entire 52 minute documentary, simply titled "Turin Shroud," is available via YouTube and this is the first opportunity for anyone outside of Russia to view the program. (Link no longer available). Among those interviewed are Bruno Barberis, John and Rebecca Jackson, Alexander Belyakov (Director of the Russian Center for the Shroud of Turin), Vladimir Polosin (scientist specializing in ancient manuscripts), Aldo Guerreschi, Ray Downing, Luigi Garlaschelli, Andrey Ivanov (Russian scientist), Alexei Lidov (Director of the Center of Eastern Christian culture), Nikas Safronov (noted portrait painter) and Barrie Schwortz. I believe this is the first ever Russian language program we have linked to and hope our Russian speaking viewers enjoy it. Sasha tells me there will be an English subtitled version by the end of the summer and we will include a link to it as soon as it goes online. Congratulations and thanks to Sasha for making it available to us. You will also find a permanent link to the program on our Links To More Information page.

New Italian Shroud Documentary Aired on Easter Sunday

In Search of the Face of Jesus

A new Italian Shroud documentary titled, Alla ricerca del volto di Gesù (In Search of the Face of Jesus), aired across Italy on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2014, on FOCUS - canale 56. According to the producer's Sydonia Entertainment website, the program is available in Italian, English and Spanish, but I could not determine if it has been released yet on DVD. The producers also make available a beautifully illustrated four page pdf brochure about the program (in Italian) that you can download if you wish. I took the following excerpt from their website (using a software translation tool):

"The Face of Christ. One of the most venerated images in the history of man. Reference point for millions of believers, the subject of study for scientists and researchers who always wonder about its historicity... This documentary is the most comprehensive investigation on the Face of Jesus' A gripping story of faith, intrigue and plot twists, in which many questions remain unresolved."

Although the program mentions the Shroud of Turin, according to the website description it apparently deals mainly with the theory that the controversial "Manoppello" image is actually the so-called "Veil of Veronica." Apparently, one of the tests they performed was to superimpose the Manoppello image over the Shroud image and make some form of comparisons. According to our sources, the program does include interviews with some noted European Shroud scholars, but their names are not mentioned in the brochure or on the website.

Posted June 7, 2014

Answering A Skeptic

Dr. Walter C. McCrone (1916-2002)

In early January of this year I received an e-mail from Gary A. Kentgen regarding the reseach of the late Dr. Walter C. McCrone, one of the most prominent and well known Shroud skeptics for nearly three decades until his death in 2002. McCrone was best known for declaring that the image and blood stains on the Shroud of Turin were paint. Unfortunately, Mr. Kentgen's e-mail arrived too late to be included in our January website update. Mr. Kentgen started his e-mail by stating that "Your bibliographies should include at least some of these papers by Dr. Walter C. McCrone," and then provided a list of some of McCrone's papers and articles relative to the Shroud. A Google search quickly told me that Mr. Kentgen was an "inorganic biochemist, photographer, cosmologist, hiker, naturalist, card carrying scientist" and president of the Anasbestics Co., an asbestos testing laboratory in Illinois. He was also obviously a friend of McCrone's and ended his e-mail with the following statement:

"McCrone was right when he said that no matter how much definitive proof is offered as to the artistic provenance of the Shroud, clever people will continue to invent reasons to believe. A book should be written describing how pseudoscience can take over the media and persuade millions that frauds like the Shroud, Piltdown Man and Cold Fusion are legitimate. All the papers that I have read show that misapplied technology, misinterpreted data and mishandled materials account for 80% of the Shroud's "validation". The other 20% consists of testimony from scientists acting far outside their field of expertise and with heavy bias or ulterior motive."

Although I rarely spend much time answering skeptics, in recent years there has been a growing number of public, ad hominem personal attacks on the integrity and qualifications of the STURP team and its members. These typically go unanswered since many of the original team members have died and cannot defend themselves or their reputations. Consequently, I decided that Mr. Kentgen's letter required a public airing and a serious reply. For the complete text of his e-mail (including the references he provided) and my response to his letter, see the article titled, Answering A Skeptic.

Posted June 7, 2014

The Next Update

The date of the next update will depend in part on when the online reservation system for the 2015 Shroud exposition goes online. As soon as it does, we will do a Breaking News! update to provide you with the registration information. Otherwise, our regular Fall update should go online in September or October. Of course, it will include more issues of Shroud Spectrum International, the latest issue of the BSTS Newsletter, any important Shroud news, more books, papers and articles and much more. See you soon!

Posted June 7, 2014

Breaking News! Dates Announced for 2015 Shroud Exhibition

The Italian language ANSA News Service just announced the dates for the 2015 Shroud exhibition as April 19th through June 24th. This is a link to their Press Release and here is a rough English translation:

(ANSAmed) - TURIN, Feb. 27 - The exposition of the Holy Shroud in Turin in 2015 will be held from 19 April to 24 June, the feast of St. John the Baptist (the patron saint of Turin) and Don Bosco's feast day. This was established by the Executive Council today to coordinate the work of preparation, indicating that the period of the exposition (67 days) is longer than in the past and for the Pope's visit to Turin, both for the jubilee pilgrimage to Salesian. The dates of the Pope's visit to Turin have not yet been specified. [Editor's Note: A recent press release from the Vatican stated that Pope Francis would visit the Shroud on May 24th].

Of course, we will have much more information for you as soon as the details become available.

UPDATE: Here is a link to an ANSA English article about the exhibition and a link to a Google English translation of the Official Shroud Website (currently only available in Italian) announcing the exhibition.

Posted February 27, 2014
Updated March 2, 2014

The Shroud In The News - February 13, 2014

Is the Shroud of Turin In Relation to the Old Jerusalem Historical Earthquake?

Once again, the Shroud of Turin is in the news, this time because of a new paper titled, Is the Shroud of Turin In Relation to the Old Jerusalem Historical Earthquake? just published in the journal Meccanica. Authored by A. Carpinteri, G. Lacidogna and O. Borla, the paper asserts that neutron radiation generated by a major earthquake could have been responsible for the Shroud's image and could have also modified the cloth in a manner that might have skewed the results of the radiocarbon dating. It has long been our policy not to comment on news releases until the claims they make can be properly evaluated by qualified experts in the related disciplines. However, due to the volume of mail we have been receiving and the fact that the entire paper is readily available online, we decided to make a brief comment on the paper until a more in-depth review can be written by an expert in the field and published in our next regular update.

We should first point out that the idea of radiation creating the image on the Shroud or skewing the radiocarbon dating is not a new one. Over the past few decades it has been proposed by a number of Shroud scholars, including Dr. Jean-Baptiste Rinaudo and Mark Antonacci. After reading the article carefully (and reminding you that this is far from my area of expertise), the only apparent new information it includes is the possibility that the proposed neutron radiation was produced as a by-product of a major earthquake. The authors also provide references to credible evidence that such events can and do occur. However, the issue of radiation and the Shroud was addressed in an article titled, The Shroud of Turin: Radiation Effects, Aging & Image Formation, written by Ray Rogers just before his death and published on Shroud.com posthumously in 2005. Rogers was a chemist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the head of STURP's chemistry group and an expert in the effects of radiation on a wide variety of materials. He based his conclusions on examining and comparing a number of irradiated flax samples, including actual fibers of the Shroud. Once again, you will have to read the materials and decide how significant they are for yourself. We hope to have more information on this in our next update.

Posted February 13, 2014

Shroud.com Celebrates 18th Anniversary January 21, 2014

It is still a bit hard for me to believe that it has been 18 years since I first hit the "send" button and put this website online! The original idea was to create a website to simply share my photographs and some of the STURP data with everyone. Somewhere along the line, it took on a life of its own, and has grown into the largest, oldest and most in-depth archive of Shroud material on the internet. That still amazes me!

Honestly, every time I write this introduction to our anniversary update, it is always with the intention of saying something new and fresh, but it seems that every year I am forced to come back to the same theme: This website would not be possible without the cooperation and participation of all of the researchers, historians, scientists and scholars in the world who allow us to publish their work and all of our loyal viewers (around 800,000 of you in 2013) who visit the site regularly and read millions of our pages a year! By being there, you make our efforts truly satisfying and worthwhile. We could not do this without all of you, so thank you all for making this possible! - Barrie Schwortz, Editor

Here is the Update Table of Contents:

Posted January 21, 2014

Shroud Public Exhibition Scheduled For 2015

The Shroud on Public Display in 2010

Without question, the most important Shroud news in 2013 was the announcement that Pope Francis had authorized a public exhibition of the Shroud in 2015! You can read our original December 4, 2013 Breaking News update which includes links to the official announcment and more. The Shroud will go on public display at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin for 45 days sometime between mid-April and mid-August of 2015. However, the actual dates have not yet been announced and we will do a special update as soon as that occurs. As we get closer to the exhibition and, as we have done in the past, we will also create a special page on the site that will provide additional information, including a list of professional organizations planning pilgrimage tours during the event.

Posted January 21, 2014

Six More Issues of Shroud Spectrum International Added to Archives

Shroud Spectrum International No. 15

For one full year now we have been proudly archiving Shroud Spectrum International (the first and only peer reviewed journal dedicated solely to the study of the Shroud) on this website and are very pleased to add six new issues in this update, bringing us up to Issue #20. With only 42 issues ever published, we are nearly at the 50% mark and hope to complete the archive early in 2015. This is only possible thanks to Dorothy Crispino, the founder and editor of the journal, who gave us permission to reprint it here on this website, along with the extraordinary efforts of Stephen E. Jones, BSTS Member living in Western Australia, who graciously volunteered to do all the scanning and optical character recognition and Ian Wilson, who provided Stephen with the original issues and valuable input. Today's update includes six issues (# 15 through # 20), originally published in 1985 and 1986. Each issue always contains several important articles, often written by legendary sindonologists, and there were some truly extraordinary ones in this latest batch. Take some time and browse through the issues article by article and you will find some true gems.

Since many scholars over the years have used articles from Spectrum as references in their scientific and academic papers, we have retained all the original page numbers and page layouts so the new online versions will remain consistent with the earlier printed references. Also, we have optimized all the photographs and illustrations that accompany the articles and minimized the compression of the pdf files so that the illustrations are the best quality possible. We are sure you will find these truly important journals useful in your studies of the Shroud.

Posted January 21, 2014

BSTS December 2013 Newsletter Issue No. 78 Now Online (with Bonus Material)

BSTS Newsletter No. 78

We are happy to report that the British Society for the Turin Shroud page has been updated and the latest December 2013 Issue No. 78 of the BSTS Newsletter is now online. As we mentioned last year, this is the first issue under the guidance and direction of new editor, Hugh Farey. Hugh has slightly revised the layout and design of the pages and included many more illustrations throughout the issue. As always, this issue includes a number of research articles by well-known Shroud scholars like Ian Wilson, Hugh Duncan and Hugh Farey himself. It also includes articles on recent and future Shroud events, new books and films and much more. Our congratulations to Hugh on accomplishing this major undertaking!

This update also includes some Bonus Material in the form of a a very important (and remarkably prescient) letter written by Ian Wilson to Luigi Gonella on April 30, 1988, on the eve of the 1988 radiocarbon dating of the Shroud. This is from Ian's personal archives and he has graciously allowed us to reprint it here and include it with the other BSTS materials on this site. We hope to include more such historic materials in the future.

Posted January 21, 2014

New Paper Added To Website

 Illustration from DNA Analysis and the Shroud of Turin
by Kelly Kearse

After a careful review, the STERA, Inc. Editorial Review Committee has selected one scientific paper to publish in this update. Titled, DNA Analysis and the Shroud of Turin: Development of a Shroud CODIS, the article is by Kelly Kearse, a name becoming very familiar to regular website viewers. This is Kelly's fourth paper on our site and once again, he has taken a very technical subject and made it interesting and understandable for everyone. In this article he clearly explains how the latest refinements in DNA analyses could be applied to the Shroud. Here is the abstract:

Since its development in the mid 1980s, DNA analysis has become a standard procedure utilized by law enforcement and legal systems in the forensic examination of human remains, and to help establish or exclude a connection to a crime scene. The recent progression of gene amplification and enrichment strategies, together with next generation sequencing techniques, have made the analysis of ancient and degraded DNA samples much more feasible than previously imagined. Human DNA has been isolated from the Shroud of Turin, although the results remain rather limited and controversial. Indeed, it is unknown if such DNA truly originates from blood cells present on the cloth or is the result of contamination from exogenous sources. Here, the potential and limitations of modern molecular biology techniques in the analysis of the Shroud of Turin are reviewed, including the evaluation of both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA.

Of course, you will also find this article permanently archived on the Scientific Papers & Articles and the Website Library pages of the site. [Editor's Note: For another recent paper by Kelly Kearse, co-authored with Thibault Heimburger, see the Links To More Information article below.]
Posted January 21, 2014

Shroud Conferences in 2014

Shroud Workshop in Bari, Italy - Official Website

A conference titled, Workshop on Advances in the Turin Shroud Investigation will be held in Bari, Italy, on September 4-5, 2014. The event is being sponsored by the IEEE Italy Section, the Technical University of Bari, Italy and the University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Italy with the technical co-sponsorship of the CIS (International Center for Turin Shroud Studies), Turin. The list of committee members includes many prominent Shroud scholars and researchers like Bruno Barberis, Francesco Lattarulo, Paolo Di Lazzaro, Nello Balossino, Daniele Murra and many more. The event is being organized by the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering of the Technical University of Bari, Italy. Visit the Workshop Website for the official Call for Papers, deadlines, a complete list of committee members and sponsors, information about the venue and accommodations and much more. Here are the stated aims of the event:

WORKSHOP AIMS: This workshop is an unprecedented opportunity for all those who are interested in contributing to the scientific studies on the Turin Holy Shroud. This world-wide appealing subject is now within the framework of a leading scientific organization such as the IEEE. This workshop aims to present and discuss all the aspects of this peculiar subject, especially concerning, but not limited to the following topics:

  • image formation
  • image processing
  • dating
  • textile’s manufacturing
  • physicochemical aspects
  • forensic medicine
  • archaeology
  • history
  • philosophy
  • iconography
Papers which happen to be, fully or in part, within the IEEE fields of interest will be submitted for inclusion in the IEEE Xplore® digital library
Shroud Conference in St. Louis, Missouri - Official Website

As we announced last year, an international conference titled, Shroud of Turin: The Controversial Intersection of Faith and Science, will be held in St. Louis, Missouri, on October 9-12, 2014 at the Drury Plaza Inn in Chesterfield, Missouri. The organizing committee extended an invitation to Prof. Bruno Barberis, Director of the International Center of Sindonology in Turin, and he has graciously accepted. The event is co-sponsored by Resurrection of the Shroud Foundation and Salt River Production Group and the Official Conference Website is now available with all the details about the conference, the hotel, submissions, etc. Conference registration is also now available online. (Site no longer available).

Posted January 21, 2014
Updated January 27, 2014

Links To More Information


The Shroud of Turin for Children Website

As usual, over the past few months we have accumulated a large number of links to valuable Shroud related materials that appear elsewhere on the internet. Although we cannot link to every Shroud article, website or blog, we try to make available on Shroud.com a representative sampling of the best materials currently available. To keep things more organized, we have divided the links into several categories.. Of course, we have also archived them to our Scientific Papers & Articles, Religion & Philosophy or Links To More Information pages. Enjoy!

Website and Blog Links


The Shroud Blood Science of Dr. Pierluigi Baima Bollone

Papers & Articles Links

Miracles of Mary Radio Program

Audio & Video Links

Posted January 21, 2014

Shroud Booklist Updated With Polish Language Titles

Shroud Booklist Updated With Polish Language Titles

I am pleased to report that the Shroud of Turin Booklist page of the site has been updated with the addition of thirteen Shroud books written in the Polish language. You can easily find them by using the page search feature of your browser (ctrl-F) and searching on "21 January 2014" since we include the posting date as part of the listing for each new title we add. Our thanks to our friend in Poland (who prefers to be simply called "O.K."), who just last December provided us with an updated Polish translation of our Message From Your Host page. Thank you "O.K."

Posted January 21, 2014

Shroud of Turin News from Finland

Website for Shroud of Turin Exhibit in Tampere, Finland

I first got to know Dr. Juha Hiltunen in 2010, when I worked with him and his team as they developed and created the first ever Shroud exhibition in Finland. His dedication and serious approach to the study of the Shroud was obvious. Since then, we have stayed in touch and he just sent me an update with the latest news from Finland, including a link to the website built for the Shroud exhibit held in Tampere in 2013. The site is published in the Finnish language but includes an option to view in English. It is my pleasure to share it with you here:

Since the publication of Dr. Juha Hiltunen's non-fiction book Valokuva Jeesuksesta? (in Finnish) in 2009, which narrates extensively of the scientific research, history and Biblical associations of the Turin Shroud, annual exhibitions around the topic has been arranged in different cities around Finland. Dr. Hiltunen and Professor Jouko Martikainen have acted as scientific co-ordinators in these and travelled also lecturing of the Turin Shroud in Nordic countries.

The exhibitions thus far have been held in Turku (2010 and 2011), Savonlinna (2012) and Tampere (2013). Next one coming is around Easter this year 2014 in Jyväskylä. In 2015 it will most likely be held in Rauma. Beside this, an association called Facies Domini ry (yet under official registration) has been established recently. Its headquarters are in Tampere, with a permanent lesser scale exhibition situated in the Church of Hervanta. Professional seminars around the topic have also been held, the first one was in Savonlinna (2012), where international guest speakers were Dr. Mark Guscin from Spain and Prof. Bruno Barberis from Italy. It was very successful and received extensive Finnish media coverage. The next seminar will be in Jyväskylä and the international speakers invited to it are Prof. Bruno Barberis and Dr. Alessandro Piana. The website www.shroud.fi was established in 2012. All these, the seminars, an association, websites and the exhibitions particularly, are pioneer projects not only in Finland, but the first of their kind in Nordic countries.

Posted January 21, 2014

Shroud of Turin News From Panama - Special Feature

Petrus Soons gives a Shroud presentation in the Old Basilica (Basilica Antigua) of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico City

In October of 2013 my good friend Petrus Soons sent me an update about the inauguration of one of his holograms of the Face of Christ (50 x 60 cm) in the Old Basilica (Antigua Basilica) of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico City. I asked him to write a story about the event which he kindly did, and he also included a number of photographs which I have incorporated into the final article titled, Shroud of Turin News from Panama. You can learn more about Petrus' holographic work and see some excellent examples of his results on his website, Shroud of Turin in 3D.

Posted January 21, 2014

News From STERA, Inc.

Shroud of Turin Education and Research Association, Inc.

First, I want to extend a sincere "thank you" to all of our friends and supporters who made contributions to STERA, Inc. last year. It was the best year we ever had and, although the final numbers won't be in until after this update goes online, I believe we set a record for contributions in 2013. Your generosity, friendship and continued support are deeply appreciated.

STERA, Inc. held their second annual Board of Directors meeting on December 22, 2013. Due to the holidays, the meeting was a brief one and only a few items of business were discussed. We first reviewed STERA, Inc.'s activities for 2013, including the various venues I spoke at during the year and the public appearance I made on EWTN in November. The next order of business was a discussion of the recently announced 2015 Shroud Exposition in Turin and the impact it will have on STERA, Inc. I was able to report that we would again be working closely with Canterbury Tours (for the 4th time since 1998) and meeting with their tour groups in Turin. Details are yet to be worked out. I also presented the 2013 Financial Report as of the date of the meeting. There were several other issues and suggestions brought up at the meeting that are still being discussed by the board, so it would be premature to mention them here at this time. We will report on them later in the year.

Thank you again for your support!

Barrie Schwortz
President
Posted January 21, 2014

In Memoriam

Bartolome M. Saucelo, M.D.

It is with great saddness that I must report the passing of long time Shroud scholar, lecturer and author, Bartolome M. Saucelo, M.D., peacefully in his home in South Bend, Indiana on January 1, 2014. Bart, as he was known to most of his friends, founded the Shroud of Turin Society of Northern Indiana and in 2002, authored a book titled, Resurrection Documented - The Shroud of Turin, which he completely revised and updated in 2007. I had the great privilege and pleasure of working with Bart and providing some of the images for his book. We extend our sincerest and deepest sympathies to his wife Doris and the entire Saucelo family, along with his many friends and colleagues. He truly will be missed.

I am taking the liberty of reprinting Bart's obituary here, but you can also go directly to the Tributes.com website if you wish to send your condolences or leave a personal tribute. Here is the direct link: Bart Saucelo Obituary.

Bartolome M. Saucelo, M.D., 88, of South Bend, IN passed away peacefully at home Wednesday morning, January 1, 2014, surrounded by his loving family and friends. He was born on August 24, 1925 to the late Sylvester and Johanna (Matiga) Saucelo in Guiuan Samar, Philippines, and has lived in South Bend, IN since 1965, coming from New York. Along with his parents, one grandson, Elliot Warren; and seven brothers & sisters also preceded him in death. Bartolome retired in June 1997, as a self-employed Family Physician in South Bend, after 38 years. On July 26, 1986, he married Doris A. (Jaroszewski) Witters at Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Mishawaka, IN. He is survived by his loving wife, Doris A. Saucelo of South Bend, IN; daughter, Terri A. (Steve) Warren of Lisbon Falls, ME; son, Tony (Shelley) Saucelo of Atlanta, GA; and four grandchildren, Charlotte, William, Arthur, and David Warren.

Bartolome was a member of Corpus Christi Parish and Knights of Columbus Santa Maria Council #553, both in South Bend, IN. He was in charge of the Education Department at St. Joseph County Right to Life for three years during the 1990's; founded the Shroud of Turin Society of Northern Indiana; and founded the Global Filipinos Society for Progress. Bartolome was the initial leader for Couples for Christ in South Bend, IN; and was a past president of Catholic Serra Club International. In 2002, he published a book titled, Resurrection Documented. Bartolome was an avid tennis player, enjoyed playing chess, wood- working, and authoring books & articles. The family would like to acknowledge and give thanks to Grace Hospice for the exceptional care which they provided for Bartolome and his family.

Visitation will be from 4-8 p.m. Friday, January 3, 2014 at Kaniewski Funeral Home, 3545 N. Bendix Drive, South Bend, IN, where a Parish Rosary will be prayed at 5:30 p.m. Visitation will also be from 10 – 11 a.m. Saturday at Corpus Christi Catholic Church, 2822 Corpus Christi Drive, South Bend, IN. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, January 4, 2014 at Corpus Christi Catholic Church. Burial will follow in St. Joseph Valley Memorial Park, Granger, IN. Memorial contributions may be made to: Corpus Christi Catholic Church, 2822 Corpus Christi Drive, South Bend, IN 46628 or St. Joseph County Right to Life, 2004 Ironwood Circle, Suite 130, South Bend, IN 46635. To send condolences, please visit, www.kaniewski.com.

In Memoriam

Thottathil-Varughese "TV" Oommen

Sadly, I learned by telephone on January 11th that our good friend, "TV" Oommen, founder of the Bible Discoveries Museum and Teaching Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, died on October 30, 2013, after a long illness. "TV" was an avid student of the Shroud and presented several articles at Shroud conferences over the years, including the Ohio Conference in 2008. According to his wife, Anna, who called me with the news, "TV" was very excited about the upcoming St. Louis conference and was planning to submit a paper and attend the event. We extend our sincerest and deepest sympathies to his wife and the entire Oommen family, along with his many friends and colleagues. He too will truly will be missed.

Again, I am including his obituary here but you can find it directly at this link on Legacy.com: "TV" Oommen Obituary

Dr. Thottathil Varughese "T.V." Oommen, born August 29, 1934 in Tiruvalla, India, went to be with the Lord on October 30, 2013. He is survived by his wife, Annamma. They were married on May 27, 1963 and celebrated their 50th anniversary this year. He has a daughter, Minnie Buerkle, of Vienna, VA (spouse Don Buerkle) and two sons, Roy Oommen (spouse Ruby Oommen) and Regi Oommen (spouse Lorraine King). Dr. Oommen also had seven grandchildren: Rachel Anne Oommen (age 15); Alex Buerkle (age 11); Rebecca Oommen (age 2, deceased 2004); Zachery Buerkle (age 9); Joshua Oommen (age 7); Colin Oommen (age 7); and Shane Oommen (age 2). He is also survived by his three brothers: Thottathil Varughese (twin), Cherian Varughese, and Kurien Varughese; and four sisters: Kunjoojamma Abraham, Aleyamma Varghese, Sosamma Jacob, and Saramma George. An additional three of Dr. Oommen's siblings died when they were infants.

Dr. Oommen retired from A.B.B. in Raleigh, NC as an Advanced Materials Engineer/Advisory Scientist in 2000, where he conducted experiments on improving the efficiency of electrical transformers. At A.B.B., Dr. Oommen earned several patents, including the use of sunflower oil in electrical transformers. Prior to moving to Raleigh, he worked at A.B.B. in Sharon, PA and for Westinghouse in Sharon, PA. Dr. Oommen started his professional career for Westinghouse in Muncie, Indiana in 1977. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1971 from the University of Washington (Seattle, WA), and received post-doctoral degrees at the University of Washington and Southern Illinois University (Carbondale, IL). Prior to getting his Ph.D., Dr. Oommen was a school teacher in Kerala, India and Ghana, Africa.

Dr. Oommen's two great passions were travel and Biblical archaeology. Often, he would combine both passions by taking trips with his wife to Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Jordan in quests to understand the Bible. He was an avid reader and book collector. A Funeral Service will be held 10:00 a.m., Monday, November 4, 2013 at Montlawn Funeral Home Chapel. Burial will follow at Montlawn Memorial Park. The Oommen Family will receive friends 6:00-8:00 p.m., Sunday, November 3, 2013 at Montlawn Funeral Home. Arrangements are made by Montlawn Funeral Home, 2911 S. Wilmington St., Raleigh, NC. Condolences can be made at www Montlawn.com. Published in The News & Observer on Nov. 1, 2013.

In Memoriam

Fr. Jorge Loring Miró, S.J.

On January 14, 2014 we received the sad news from our friend Roger Heny in Venezuela that Fr. Jorge Loring, S.J., noted Spanish author, lecturer and Shroud scholar had passed away on December 25, 2013. We extend our sincerest and deepest sympathies to his family, friends and colleagues for their loss. Since Fr. Loring may not be as familiar to American viewers as he was to those in Europe and South America, Roger included some additional background information with the obituary, which I am including here:

I am enclosing below some information about a major shroud researcher in Spain who passed away on December 25th. Maybe you have met him at some of the International Shroud Congresses. He is Fr. Jorge Loring, S.J., who studied the Shroud for more than forty years. He was a tremendous speaker and the public really enjoyed his way of presenting the facts (you can see him via You Tube). He was known worldwide through TV, radio and through his books. I have written his Memoriam and if possible, you can include it on your webpage.

OBITUARY: Jorge Loring Miró (Barcelona, September 30, 1921 - Malaga, December 25, 2013) age 92. Fr. Loring was a Jesuit priest, essayist and expert in apologetics and recognized for his dissemination and evangelization conducted on television (including EWTN) and radio. He was a great defender of the Holy Shroud, which he studied for the last forty years. Until his death, he gave more than two thousand lectures worldwide on the Shroud. He has published three books on this subject: “The Shroud of Turin its authenticity” 1978 (in Spanish); “The Shroud of Turin Invalid Carbon Trials with the Cagliari Congress Conclusions" (in Spanish) 1990, 2000; “The Shroud of Turin, Two Thousands Years Later” (in Spanish and English) 2002, 2003. [Editor's Note: All three of Fr. Loring's Shroud books are listed on the Shroud Booklist page of this site].

Having written numerous books, the most popular, besides the ones on the Shroud of Turin, was titled, "To Save You, Salvarte," which has reached edition number sixty-three, surpassing one million copies sold in Spain, and was also released in Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, USA, Egypt, Israel, Russia, etc.

He was cited by Joseph Marino in Appendix O of his 2011 book "Wrapped Up In The Shroud," as one of the “Major Shroud Researchers since 1898."

Posted January 21, 2014

Lecture Schedule for 2014

 Barrie Schwortz Lecturing at Emmaus Lutheran Church in Bloomington, Minnesota - November 16, 2013
Photos ©2013 Dr. Timothy E. Nagle

My lecture schedule begins earlier this year than it ever has in the past, with my first lectures starting in early February. Last year my lectures started in March and extended all the way to November, which is always somewhat risky, as the weather here in Colorado is often unpredictable at that time of year and flights are commonly delayed or cancelled. Fortunately, the weather was not a major problem in 2013. Since viewers often write me asking where and when I might be giving Shroud presentations, I am again including my upcoming schedule in case I happen to be in your area. If so, please drop by and say hello. Please understand that many of the times and venues are still not finalized and are subject to change. I will do my best to update them before the events if possible. (Note: Dates below include travel days).

Posted January 21, 2014
Updated March 18, 2014

Some Interesting Statistics

Website Statistics for 2013

Just in case you are interested, in calendar year 2013 Shroud.com had 800,000 visitors (up 200,000 from last year and averaging over 2100 visitors per day) that generated 14.1 million hits, viewed 12.6 million files, viewed 2.8 million pages and generated 523 GB of bandwidth! Those numbers have nearly doubled since last year and we thank each and every one of you for your continued support and participation!

In a recent posting on the Shroud of Turin Blog titled FYI: The Big Thirteen, Dan Porter posted a link to the Top Shroud of Turin Websites According to Alexa Popularity Rankings, in which Shroud.com is #1 and Dan's Blog is #2! We are also #1 on all the major search engines, including Google, Yahoo and Bing, and have been for many years. In fact, people often comment to me that we are # 1 on Google and I have to point out that we are four years older than Google! So thank you again for making us NUMBER ONE!

Posted January 21, 2014

The Next Update

It is rather difficult to predict exactly when the next update will go online as I am still in the last throes of finishing this update! However, based on my travel schedule through the spring, it will probably be May or June before the next update is completed. Of course, we will keep you updated on the 2015 Shroud exhibition and will post the dates as soon as that information becomes available. The next regular update will include more issues of Shroud Spectrum International, any important Shroud news, more books, papers and articles, a report on all my travels and a few interesting surprises. So thank you for being there, have a great spring and we'll see you in a few months!

Posted January 21, 2014

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