Saturday, November 21, 2009

New shroud discovery

I was interested to see this story in the Times. Dr Barbara Frale, a researcher in the Vatican secret archives has deciphered the letters on the shroud of Turn which make up the notice attached to the shroud to say the deceased had been condemned as a criminal. Apparently the bodies were to be put in a common grave for a year after which they could be given to their family. The notice was still fixed to the shroud of Christ even though permission was given for him to be put in the tomb provided by Joseph of Arimathea

It`s all explained in Dr Frale`s new book which looks at the lettering that was first noticed in 1978. The notice was in Hebrew, Latin and Greek.

The Times article says:

Dr Frale said that many of the letters were missing, with Jesus for example referred to as "(I)esou(s) Nnazarennos" and only the "iber" of "Tiberiou" surviving. Her reconstruction, however, suggested that the certificate read: "In the year 16 of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius Jesus the Nazarene, taken down in the early evening after having been condemned to death by a Roman judge because he was found guilty by a Hebrew authority, is hereby sent for burial with the obligation of being consigned to his family only after one full year". It ends "signed by" but the signature has not survived.

I look forward to seeing the English version of the book. In Italian it is La Sindone di Gesu Nazareno.

2 comments:

Patricius said...

I have followed accounts of the Shroud for many years and I am puzzled that no one has mentioned this lettering before.

Anonymous said...

Possibly some new technique has uncovered it? People who don't believe the Shroud is genuine will say it is faked so it doesn't really change the situation. Accurate dating of the Shroud to the date of the crucifixion would be another matter.