The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1899-10-07
THE LINEN IN WHICH OUR SA,
VIoR WAS WRAPPED.
Perfect Outline Of the Savior of the
World Appears On It's Surface
Recital of It's History.

4 IdlGu LIOIll the Ate anu -N6ue welt.
The holy linen in. which Joseph OF
Arimathea wrapped the body of Our
Lord, which is one of the precious be-
/ longings of the House of Savoy, is
made of a fine linen. which from it=
texture has been judged by experts to
belong to the first century after Christ
, 1t consists of but q single piece, about
thirteen feet in length and about five
/ feet in width. Each half Of the wind
ing sheet bears the impression of the
! sacred body of Our Divine Lord and
| Savior, in such 4 manner that One-halt
! bears the diverse and the other halt
/ the reverse of the body. The impress
sions of the head on each half of the
sheet are in juXtapositiOn to one an
other, as they naturally would be in
case the sheet on which the body had
first been placed had been stretched
back over the face and down over the
body to the feet. This is in accordance
with the accounts in the gospel. Mat
thew, Mark and Luke state that Joseph
of Arimathea wrapped the body of
| Jesus in fine linen. and John says that
/ the Redeegner's body was bound in lin
en- clothes, with the spices as the
manner of the Jews is to bury"
This linen sheet is also mentioned in
the narrative of the resurrection both
by st. Luke and st, John, the latter of
whom, especially, mentions the sudari-
UNI, which was placed over the face of
the Divine Savior. If. therefore, other
linen clothes besides the one at Turin
are venerated as sacred relics of the
passion and death of the Redeemed
for instance, at Maastrich, in Holland i:
BesancCn, in France-it is entirely in
harmony with Sacred Writ, which
makes mention of other smaller pieces
OF linen besides the winding sheet.
On the original, the diverse plainly
shows the entire body of Jesus, the
head the upper half of the body, the
17gfd bent arms, with the hands folded
one ever the other, the lower limbs and
feet stretched out.
There are dark lines and marks Vis-
BILE showing the creases made by fold
ing the sheet, and at the corners and
edges traces of the burns made by the
flames, which destroyed a part of the
silver reliquary containing the sheet on
the 4th of December, 1882 The fire,
however, did not damage the image of
the Savior, the cloth, which was fold
ed, being singed at the edges only The
expression of the face which bears
traces of great suffering, is dignified
and placid. The hair. which is care
fully arranged, and the beard, which
Is of medium length, are both in ac-
cordance with the historical portraits
OF Christ. The wounds, some of which
were inflicted by the crowd of thorns
and the spear thrust, others by the
nails which pierced the hands and feet.
have left distinct traces. The picture
of the reverse bears the impression of
three chain links near the. os sacrum
How Gid these Impressions originate?
Investigation has proven that many of
them show traces of blood Joseph
and Nicodemus cleansed and washed
the body of Jesus, which was covered
with clotted blood, before they wrapped
1t in linen and spices. This was done
as hurriedly as possible on account of
the pressure of time.
Under these conditions it is quite NAT
ural that the body, covered with ter
rible WOUNDS but recently made. and
the aloe and myrrh mingling with the
still flowing blood and water should
leave many traces on the fine white
sheets of linen. However, when we
claimed that this occurred most natur-
ally, we do not assert that the special
providence of Almighty God did not
cooperate with nature, or, more cor
rectly speaking, did not most gracious
ly cause this.
This preservation of this precious
evidence of the passion and death of
Our Savior was granted by Divine
Providence. To preserve with the ut
most care and generation each article
sanctioned by the Redeemer must have
been to the Apostles and the faithful
generally a most sacred duty. An
Gent history testifies to the great fiiel-
ity with which this was done. Pre-
vious to the siege and destruction If
Jerusalem, the Christians, mindful of
the warning of Our Lord. fled from the
city. As many of the precious relics
as possible were saved at the time.
Among these treasures, the sacred
winding sheet is said to have been.
Later on, when the Christians were
once more allowed to dwell in Jerusa-
lem, the precious winding sheet was
also returned. Here it remained until
the period of the later crusades. Jeru
salem. having fallen into the hands of
Saladin in 1887, the most valuable rel
les of Christendom were transferred to
the Island of Cyprus. which was at
that time ruled over by the house Of
Lusignan, which had also governed
over Jerusalem. Here the sacred wind
ing sheet was preserved until 1880. At
that time Louis of Savoy married ADne,
eldest daughter of the King Of Cyprus.
the Turkish advances on Cy-
prus, the precious relic is said TO have
been donated to Louis and Anne Of
Savoy by the Princess Marguerite of
Charnay, who deposited it at Cham
berry, which was then the capital of
Savoy.
According to a second version, this
relic passed from the hands of the
Kings of Cyprus into those of Gottfried
IF the Loicardie in the time of the
Crusades, and about 1852 it came into
the possession of the house of Savoy
through Marguerite of Charnay, as
related above At Chambery, the !
sacred winding sheet remained until |
-57S. In that year st. Charles Borromeo |
decided to undertage a pilgrimage to |
he shrine which contained this treas !
Ire. Prince Emanuel, being advised !
If his intentions, and impelled by ven |
grafton for the great and holy Prelate. |
decided to carry this sacred treasure OF /
he Catholic Church to Turin, there to |
meet st. Charles. On the 18th of Sep
ember 1878, the procession bearing the |
sacred winding sheet arrived in that /
.ity. where it has since remained The |
late mentioned was also the occasion
# the first public exposition of TINS !
linen.
The Catholic Church is the lawful
,eiress of the early Christian centuries.
The Church alone has preserved the
rue Christ in her teachings and the
generation of nations. She likewise
axes pride in the possession OF these
acred relics of the earliest periods OF
and in the fact that out OF
generation and love for our SAVIOR
hese articles were preserved by the
aithful and handed down from genera
ion to generation.
--o-AEo-s---
AN ANCIENT CHURCH.