Calendar of Events

Events:

• The crucifixion of Christ.
• The disciple Addai or Thaddeus, one of the seventy (cf. Luke 10:1), travels to Edessa, bringing with him the mysterious ‘portrait’; Abgar V, toparch of Edessa, is healed and converts to Christianity.

Comment:

In order to hide the true nature of the ‘unclean’ tomb linen, the Shroud is folded in such a way that only the face is visible, while the linen is placed in an ornate frame; in this form it is believed to be a portrait of Jesus. It was transported to Edessa (today Sanlıurfa in eastern Turkey).

Events:

• Ma’nu VI, second son of Abgar V, ascends the throne of Edessa. Pagan reaction, persecution of Edessa Christians (‘portrait’ disappears).

Comment:

The Shroud is hidden in a niche above the west gate of Edessa.

Events:

• Return of tolerance towards Christians in Edessa under Abgar VIII (177–212). For a time on coins an effigy of Abgar appears with him wearing a tiara with a Christian cross.
• The ‘portrait,’ however, remains hidden and gradually falls into oblivion; legend centres around an apocryphal exchange of letters between Christ and Abgar.
• The end of Byzantine rule. The city experiences a series of floods (approximately one per century).

Comment:

For centuries no one knows of the existence of the Shroud, which rests in a hermetically sealed niche above the west gate.

Events:

• A dangerous flood in Edessa in which 30,000 people die and almost all major public buildings are destroyed.
• During the work to reconstruct the walls, a cloth is found, hidden in a niche above the west gate. It bears the likeness of Christ, named acheiropoieton, or not made by hands. Without any inquiry, the cloth is identified with the original portrait brought to Abgar by Thaddeus.
• Emperor Justinian allocates money to build a system to protect Edessa from floods and to build a magnificent temple for the storage of the cloth: the Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Edessa.
• Since then, a completely new frontal type of portrait of Jesus has appeared in art, showing a striking resemblance to the face from the Shroud.

Comment:

Finding the Shroud in the form of a ‘portrait’; no one realises the true nature of the cloth.

The cloth is considered so sacred that access to it is difficult. However, a portrait of Christ has been drawn up from the image, becoming a reliable canon.

Events:

• The cloth, now called the Mandylion, is mentioned by Evagrius Ponticus as a palladium miraculously defending Edessa from attack by the Persian army.

Events:

• Muslims take control of Edessa after the Byzantines are driven out.
• Edessa’s Christians enjoy tolerance and the Hagia Sophia Cathedral, where the Mandylion is kept, is held in universal reverence.

Comment:

A mysterious replacement of the original with a copy.

Events:

• Forced to pay high taxes, the orthodox Christians of Edessa pledge the Mandylion to a wealthy monophysite, Athanasius bar Khamoro. According to rumour, Athanasius made a faithful copy of the Mandylion. If this was indeed the case, it is the one that has remained in the Jacobite Church of Our Lady in Edessa ever since.

Events:

• The period of iconoclasm in the Byzantine Empire and in Islamic countries.
• The Mandylion remains intact.

Events:

• Byzantine army under John Kourkouas besieges Edessa. According to instructions received from Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos, for the surrender of the Mandylion Kourkouas promises the Emir of Edessa the release of 200 captives, the sparing of the city and a guarantee of its inviolability for the future, and 12,000 pieces of silver.

Events:

• The Caliph of Baghdad discusses with his council the conditions put forward by John Kourkouas. Reluctant to surrender the Mandylion, he finally succumbs to the arguments of former Vizier Ali ibn Iza, who argues that the chance of freeing Muslim captives from the hands of the Giaours must outweigh any resistance.

Events:

• Abraham, bishop of Samosata, travels to Edessa to seize the Mandylion on behalf of the emperor. An attempt to deceive the bishop by giving him a copy of the Mandylion fails. The Christians and Muslims of Edessa object to the handing over of the Mandylion. Bishop Abraham and the Bishop of Edessa, pursued by an angry mob, cross the Euphrates with the Mandylion. On the way to Constantinople, the retinue stops briefly at Samosata, then is greeted by Parakoemomen Theophanes at the mouth of the river Sagaris. Just before arriving in Constantinople, it stops at the monastery of St Eusebius.

Comment:

Cloth leaves Edessa.

Events:

• The procession with the Mandylion enters Constantinople.
• A closed show is held in the sacristy of the Church of Our Lady in Blachernae, attended by the future Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus and the sons of the reigning Emperor Romanus, Stephanus and Constantine. They describe the face of Christ on the Mandylion as ‘very blurred.’ That same night, the Mandylion is taken by galley to the Boukoleon Palace and placed in the Imperial Chapel of the Pharos.

Comment:

The contemporary source De imagine edessena describes the image as being formed by a ‘moist secretion, without the use of paint or the art of painting’ and as ‘bearing no trace of earthly pigments.’

Events:

• The reliquary with the Mandylion is carried in a solemn procession along the walls of Constantinople, then brought to the basilica of Hagia Sophia, where it is placed on the ‘throne of grace,’ then to the Chrysotriklinos in the Boukoleon Palace, where it is placed on the imperial throne, and finally to the Pharos Chapel, designated as its permanent storage place.

Comment:

Contemporary alternative attempts to explain the genesis of the image: 1) Jesus wiped his face with the cloth after washing it with water; 2) Jesus wiped the “bloody sweat” with the cloth during the agony in Gethsemane—this proves that those who saw the cloth in 944 did not realise that it was a shroud with the image of Christ’s entire body. On the basis of iconographic and literary testimonies, it is thought that this was due to the way the cloth was stored at the time: it must have been folded so that only the face was visible (tetradiplon), and stretched over a special frame and covered with an ornate lattice.

Events:

• Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus ascends the throne of Byzantium.
• Constantine orders a gold solid to be minted to commemorate the translation of the Mandylion to Constantinople (with an image of Christ in Majesty). He declares 16 August as the official feast of the Mandylion and orders a special homily to be written for the feast, known as De imagine edessena.

Events:

• A copy of the Mandylion is brought to Rome from Byzantium, to which Pope Sergius consecrates a special altar. This copy is called the ‘Veronica’ (from the Latin vera icon—true likeness). Over time, a legend of St Veronica develops around this copy, linking it to the Gospel-derived story of Hemorrhissa, a woman suffering from a haemorrhage and healed by touching Jesus’ robe.

Events:

• The art begins to feature scenes of the Mourning (Threnos) in which, for the first time, Christ’s dead body is shown lying in the position known from the Shroud. These scenes also feature a long and wide strip of linen, corresponding to the full length of the Shroud, whereas hitherto the scenes of Christ being laid in the tomb have depicted his body as rolled up in narrow linen bandages, in the style of an Egyptian mummy.

Comment:

Presumably for conservation purposes, the cloth is removed by someone from its ornate frame, untied from the supporting board and unrolled, so that for the first time since apostolic times a double image of the whole figure appears.

Events:

• Sources mention a procession with the Mandylion in Constantinople.

Comment:

These references do not suggest that on these occasions the cloth was displayed to the public. Byzantine hymnody from this period suggests that the relic was still considered too sacred to be displayed in public.

Events:

• Abu Nasr Yaha, a Christian Arab writer, notes that he saw the Mandylion in the temple of Hagia Sophia.

Events:

• The English chronicler, the monk Orderic Vitalis, notes in his Ecclesiastical History: Abgar reigned as toparch of Edessa. It was to him that the Lord Jesus sent […] most precious linen, with which he wiped the sweat from his face, and on which the Saviour’s features shone, miraculously reproduced. This linen allowed all who could see it to admire the likeness and proportions of Our Lord’s body. A Latin codex from the same period quotes a sentence from Christ’s letter to Abgar: […] I send you a cloth; know that on it not only my face but my whole body has been miraculously imprinted.

Comment:

Copies and paintings of the Mandylion appearing widely for the first time in this century suggest that, after conservation treatments, the cloth was reassembled so that only the face was visible.

Events:

• The Turks occupy Edessa. Christian temples, including the Hagia Sophia, are destroyed. During this time, the Mandylion is kept safely in Constantinople, in the Pharos Chapel (The Church of the Virgin of the Pharos).

Events:

• Nicholas Mesarites, custodian of the collection of relics in the Pharos Chapel (The Church of the Virgin of the Pharos), states that the collection includes a sindon with grave cloths. The sindon is of linen, a material that is cheap and easy to acquire, and which did not deteriorate because wrapped in it was the mysterious, yet naked, dead body of Christ.

Events:

• Robert de Clari, a Frankish crusader, describes seeing in the Church of Our Lady of Blachernae in Constantinople a sydoine in which Our Lord was wrapped and which is raised vertically every Friday so that the figure of Our Lord is clearly visible on it.

Comment:

This unique reference leads us to believe that this was the first time that public displays of the entire Shroud took place, probably due to fear of the Crusaders.

Events:

• Crusaders storm into Constantinople, destroying buildings and plundering church treasuries. In the confusion, the Mandylion/Sydoine disappears: and none of the Greeks or French knew what happened to it (Robert de Clari).
• A historical gap during which many relics looted in Constantinople appear in Western churches and monasteries. Alleged ‘Mandylions’ appear in Rome, Genoa and Paris; however, in no case do we have a clear claim to recognise these copies as originals.
• Hypothesis: the cloth, still folded and framed so that only the face is visible, gets into the hands of the rich and powerful Order of the Knights Templar. According to a rumour from the late 13^th century, the Templars worshipped a mysterious ‘idol’ in the form of the head of a man with a reddish beard during secret chapter meetings. If this hypothesis is correct, the cloth is most likely first stored in the Templar treasury in Acre (Holy Land).

Comment:

The cloth is brought from Constantinople.

From literary descriptions and from a Templar-related copy found in England, it appears that the cloth is still stored in the frame, with only the face visible.

Events:

• Fall of Acre.
• The Templar treasury is transported to Sidon, then to Cyprus.

Events:

• The Templar treasury is transported to France by the Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay by sea to Marseille, then by land to the Templum in Paris—the Templar headquarters.

Events:

• Sudden arrest of all Templars throughout France by order of King Philip IV the Beautiful. The search for the ‘idol’ yields no results. The Templars put up the most resistance in the Paris Templum.

Comment:

The shroud is removed from its frame and secretly taken to an unknown safe place.

Events:

• Grand Master Jacques de Molay and Norman preceptor Geoffrey de Charny burnt at the stake in Paris for heresy. Before their deaths, they both announced publicly that the Order was not guilty of any heresy.

Events:

• French knight Geoffrey de Charny (kinship to Geoffrey de Charny not proven) receives a donation from King John the Good to build a collegiate church in Lirey.

Events:

• Geoffrey de Charny is given the dignity of porte oriflamme—royal ensign, bearing the battle banner of the King of France.

Comment:

Although all indications are that Geoffrey de Charny is preparing to reveal the Shroud to the public, he never explains how the relic came into his hands.

Events:

• Consecration of the newly built collegiate church at Lirey. The founder, Geoffrey de Charny, is praised publicly by Henry of Poitiers, Bishop of Troyes.

Events:

• Geoffrey de Charny dies at the hands of the English at the Battle of Poitiers, heroically defending his king.

Events:

• Joan de Vergy, the widow of Geoffrey, appeals to the Regent of France to update the donations previously made to her husband in favour of her infant son, Geoffrey II de Charny.

Events:

• A positive response to Joan’s appeal, although due to France’s disastrous economic situation the real value of the donations is uncertain.

Events:

• The canons of Lirey organise the first public display of the entire Shroud. The relic attracts large crowds of pilgrims; among the devotional items sold to pilgrims are special commemorative medallions with the Shroud and the de Charny and de Vergy coats of arms (a copy is in the Cluny Museum in Paris).
• Bishop Henri of Poitiers denies the authenticity of the Shroud: such a holy relic could not be in the hands of an insignificant family. On the bishop’s orders, the displays are stopped and the Shroud hidden. Joan de Vergy remarries the rich nobleman Aymon of Geneva.

Comment:

In order to maintain the expensive collegiate church, Joan de Vergy decides to fulfill Geoffrey’s intentions by organising the first public displays of the Shroud to generate income.

Events:

• Geoffrey II de Charny plans to resume public displays of the Shroud. The Avignon Pope of the time, Clement VII (Robert of Geneva), is a relative of his, so he easily obtains the appropriate permission from the papal legate.

Comment:

In the permission, a condition is made, to avoid controversy, that the cloth should only be referred to as a ‘representation’ of the Shroud; however, Bishop d’Arcis states explicitly that it is being quietly rumoured that this is the real Shroud.

Events:

• Public displays of the Shroud begin, prompting objections from Peter d’Arcis, another bishop of Troyes, who was overlooked in seeking permission. D’Arcis complains to Clement VII.
• Clement VII upholds his permission for the display of the Shroud and orders Bishop d’Arcis to keep quiet on the matter forever. D’Arcis appeals a second time, quoting the opinion of Henry of Poitiers that the Shroud is a forgery.

Events:

• Clement VII again silences the Bishop d’Arcis, threatening him with excommunication, at the same time as he sends a letter to Geoffrey II de Charny reiterating the conditions under which the displays can continue.

Events:

• Death of Geoffrey II de Charny.

Events:

• Geoffrey II’s daughter, Margaret de Charny, marries John de Bauffremont, who is killed at the Battle of Azincourt in 1415.

Events:

• Margaret de Charny marries Humbert of Villersexel, Count de la Roche, heir to St Hippolyte-sur-Doubs.

Events:

• Fearing bands of war marauders roaming the country, the canons of Lirey hand over the Shroud to Humbert to place it in a safe place. The Shroud first stays at the castle of Montfort near Montbard and then at St Hippolyte-sur-Doubs, the seat of the Counts de la Roche, in a chapel bearing the name Des Buessarts.
• According to 17^th century sources, public displays of the Shroud are arranged at this time in a meadow on the banks of the Doubs, in a place called the Pré du Seigneur.
• (It is probably at this time that a copy of the Shroud, later known as the Shroud of Besançon, is made).

Events:

• Death of Humbert de Villersexel.

Events:

• The Canons of Lirey sue Margaret de Charny in court, demanding the return of the Shroud.

Events:

• The Dôle Council extends Margaret’s retention of the Shroud.

Events:

• The Besançon court passes judgment on the case of Margaret de Charny, sued by the canons of Lirey.

Events:

• Margaret de Charny shows the Shroud in Liège, Belgium, which is recorded by the chronicler Zantiflet.

Comment:

Margaret is looking for a suitable wealthy family to secure the future of the Shroud.

Events:

• Margaret de Charny makes a public display of the Shroud in Germolles (near Mâcon) in a castle.

Events:

• Margaret de Charny receives the Château de Varambon in Geneva from Duke Louis of Savoy and the proceeds of the Miribel estate near Lyon in exchange for ‘valuable favours’.

Comment:

Margaret decides to give the Shroud to the ducal Savoy dynasty.

Events:

• The canons of Lirey threaten Margaret de Charny with excommunication if she continues to hold the Shroud.

Events:

• Sending a letter with the formula of excommunication.
• Charles de Noyers, Margaret’s half-brother, negotiates with the monks of Lirey, as a result of which they relinquish their rights to the Shroud in exchange for material compensation.
• The excommunication is revoked.

Events:

• Death of Margaret de Charny.

Events:

• Duke Louis of Savoy assigns 50 gold francs as compensation to the canons of Lirey for relinquishing their rights to the Shroud.

Events:

• Princess Bianca of Savoy displays the Shroud in Vercelli in the presence of Rupis, secretary to the Duke of Mantua.

Events:

• The Shroud is deposited in the château chapel at Chambéry.

Events:

• The display of the Shroud in Bourg-en-Bresse for Archduke Philip of Flanders on an altar in one of the great halls of the ducal palace.

Events:

• Pope Julius II declares 4 May as the annual Feast of the Holy Shroud. Presumably, the Holy Shroud displays are held every year on this day.

Comment:

Chambéry becomes the permanent storage place for the Shroud.

Events:

• Laurent de Gorrevod, Governor of Bourg-en-Bresse, brings to Chambéry a new reliquary for the Shroud, a gift of Margaret of Austria.

Events:

• King Francis I of France arrives in Chambéry to venerate the Shroud after the victory at Marignano.

Events:

• Display of the Shroud on the walls of Chambéry Castle in honour of Cardinal Aragon.

Events:

• A display of the Shroud at Chambéry on the occasion of the stay of Dom Edme, Abbot of Clairvaux. The Shroud, held by three bishops, is shown from the walls of the castle and then displayed for a closed circle of the elect over the main altar in the Sainte-Chapelle.

Events:

• Fire at the Sainte-Chapelle in Chambéry. The Shroud, saved at the last minute, is damaged by drops of molten silver trickling down inside the heated reliquary.

Events:

• The Poor Clare nuns of the Chambéry convent begin work on restoring the Shroud (sewing patches in the most damaged areas and lining the whole with Dutch linen).

Events:

• Completion of work on the restoration of the Shroud.
• Return of the Shroud to the chapel in Chambéry.

Events:

• Transfer of the Shroud to Piedmont (via the Lanzo Valley).

Events:

• Exposition of the Shroud in Turin.

Events:

• The exhibition of the Shroud in Milan.

Events:

• The Shroud is transported to Vercelli because of the threat from French troops.

Events:

• The display of the Shroud on the walls of the Bellanda fortress in Nice.

Events:

• The Shroud is kept in the treasury of the Cathedral of St Eusebius in Vercelli.

Events:

• French troops occupy Vercelli.

Events:

• Exposure of the Shroud from the balcony of a house in Vercelli.

Events:

• The Shroud is returned to Chambéry and deposited in the Church of the Virgin of Egypt, inside the Franciscan convent.

Events:

• Transfer of the Shroud in solemn procession to the Sainte-Chapelle at Chambéry Castle.

Events:

• The display of the Shroud in the Sainte-Chapelle (the first in 25 years).

Events:

• Showing the Shroud to the Duchess of Savoy of Nemours, at which the father of St Francis de Sales is present. At this time the Shroud is kept in an iron casket (the silver reliquary was destroyed in a fire in 1532).

Events:

• The Shroud of Turin is transported to Turin to allow St Charles Borromeo to venerate it.

Comment:

The shroud was transported to Turin.

Events:

• Duke Emanuel Filibert takes this opportunity to keep the relic in Turin, the new seat of the House of Savoy.

Events:

• St Charles Borromeo arrives on foot from Milan to Turin to venerate the Shroud of Turin.

Events:

• The Roman Congregation of Indulgences allows a plenary indulgence not so much for veneration of the cloth as the real Shroud of Christ, but rather for the commemoration of the Death and Deposition in the Tomb.

Comment:

This is an indirect official statement that the authenticity of the Shroud is not yet considered unquestionable.

Events:

• The Shroud is placed in the Royal Chapel in Turin Cathedral, in a special room designed by Guarin Guarini.

Events:

• On this occasion, Blessed Sebastián Valfré carries out conservation measures: lining the Shroud with new black linen and replacing some patches.

Events:

• Exhibition of the Shroud of Turin on the occasion of the arrival of Pope Pius VII.

Events:

• The display of the Shroud of Turin on the occasion of Pius VII’s return to Italy from Napoleonic captivity at Fontainebleau.

Events:

• The display of the Shroud of Turin.

Events:

• The Shroud is on display in Turin for eight days to mark the 50^th anniversary of the Italian Kingdom.

Events:

• The first attempt, unsuccessful due to bad lighting, to take photographs of the Shroud by Secondo Pia.

Events:

• The second, successful, attempt to take photographs of the Shroud, hanging behind the glass pane above the main altar of Turin Cathedral. That same night Secondo Pia sees the negative of the Shroud for the first time.

Events:

• The Shroud is returned to the reliquary kept in the Royal Chapel.

Events:

• A lecture by Yves Delage, professor of comparative anatomy at the Sorbonne, on the authenticity of the Shroud in front of the French Academy.

Events:

• Exhibition of the Shroud of Turin on the occasion of the Holy Year (at the request of Pope Pius XI).

Events:

• Transportation of the Shroud to the Abbey of Monte Vergine (Avellino) due to the threat of war.

Events:

• Cardinal Fossati transports the Shroud back to Turin. Farewell display of the cloth for the monks.

Events:

• Display of the Shroud for the members of the special scientific commission appointed by Cardinal Pellegrino of Turin. Giovanni Judica-Cordiglia takes of a new series of black-and-white and colour and ultraviolet photographs.

Events:

• An attempt to set fire to the Shroud by an unknown perpetrator who entered the Royal Chapel through the roof of the palace. The Shroud was not damaged thanks to the asbestos protection inside the niche above the altar.

Events:

• The first televised showing of the Shroud in the Hall of the Swiss in the former palace of Turin. Collection of surface substance samples for examination by Dr. Max Frei, a Zurich-based criminologist.

Events:

• Collection of linen fibre samples and two small pieces of material from the Shroud.

Events:

• First American Shroud Research Conference in Albuquerque (New Mexico).

Events:

• Research resulting in a three-dimensional image of the Shroud.

Events:

• Cardinal Karol Wojtyła’s visit to the Shroud of Turin and his adoration of the Shroud.

Events:

• Max Frei re-samples the Shroud and extracts 58 flecks of pollen that can mark the stages of the Shroud’s journey.

Events:

• The visit of John Paul II in Turin and the private exhibition of the Shroud of Turin.

Events:

• Announcement of the results of the ¹⁴C dating of the Shroud—interval 1260–1390.

Comment:

Methodological errors in research.

Events:

• Transfer of the Holy Shroud from the House of Savoy to the Holy See.

Events:

• John Paul II’s second pilgrimage to Turin—no comment on the Shroud of Turin.

Events:

• Fire in Turin Cathedral and the rescue of the Holy Shroud.

Events:

• John Paul II’s visit to Turin—his adoration of the Shroud, the pope’s message and encouragement to study the cloth.

Events:

• Restoration of the Shroud and creation of photographic documentation.

Events:

• The visit of Benedict XVI to the Shroud.

Events:

• The visit of Francis to the Shroud.

Events:

• Public display of the Shroud.