#1 Vatican Reveals Origins of Shroud of Turin
Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 6:31 pm
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(April 5) - The shroud of Turin, the 14-foot-long linen cloth that many people think was placed on Jesus Christ at the time of his burial, was hidden and secretly venerated by medieval knights for more than 100 years, the Vatican announced Sunday, according to a story published by Britain's Times Online.
The Knights Templar, the religious order that existed for two centuries during the Crusades in the Middle Ages, took care of the cloth and kept it from falling into the hands of heretical groups, Vatican researchers said. The knights themselves were eventually disbanded by Pope Clement V in 1307 for alleged heresy.
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The Shroud of Turin
Barrie M. Schwortz, AP
The Shroud of Turin was kept hidden and secretly revered by medieval knights for more than 100 years after the Crusades, the Vatican said Sunday in a report published by Britain's Times Online. The shroud, seen above in a 1979 black and white photo, is a 14-foot-long linen that many believe is the burial cloth of Jesus Christ.
According to Dr. Barbara Frale, a researcher in the Vatican Secret Archives, the shroud had disappeared in the sack of Constantinople in 1204 during the fourth crusade, and did not resurface again until the middle of the 14th century. And it's this time period that the Vatican now accounts for.
The shroud is now kept in the royal chapel of the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, Italy. It was last publicly exhibited in 2000, and is due to go on display again next year.