One of the scientists who did the carbon 14 testing back in 1988 said before he died in 2005 that he thought they may have made a mistake. Their sample from the shroud was contaminated with cotton fibers that had been used to repair the shroud. The Daily Telegraph reports here.
This combines with a new finding in the Vatican library that suggests that the Knights Templar had the shroud and venerated it in secret for a long time before it’s appearance in the 14th century. We watched The Passion of the Christ last night, and it was cool to see that James Caviezel’s make up was designed to make him look like the man on the shroud.
We also watched The Passion of the Christ last night. Watching it, I was again struck by the brutality of the whole thing.I also noted the similarities to the Shroud of Turin, the most obvious being the swollen right eye which was given by the Temple guards.Since I know a little Latin, I was gratified to be able to translate most of the Roman guard’s non-subtitled parts on the fly, e.g., when Jesus stands up after being flogged the first round:… I don’t believe it! It’s not possible!There were a lot of stellar performances in the movie, but I could really appreciate the nuanced performance given by Hristo Shopov as Pilate, his indecision and ultimate weakness.
Once again, I love the shroud! I wonder what your leanings are Fr. D!My only issue with almost EVERY depiction of Christ is that they still make him too pretty. Scripture tells us that He wasn’t much to look at. Jim did a great job, yet, he was still too appealing :They ought to hire a truly Jewish looking man to play the part… a Jew if at all possible. One thing that didn’t look right, was his bear, which ought to have been forked… and Nazarene hair as shown on the shroud (and VERY common) had a longer tuft that ran down between the shoulder blades… I don’t recall if he had that or not.Ohhh… cool tid bit about the Latin Nod!Blessings to you both on this most beautiful season. May the Lord truly bless you for His name sake this Easter.-g-
Nod, until I read your comments here I’d never regretted flunking Latin. Now I do.