Thousands of pilgrims formed lengthy queues outside Turin Cathedral yesterday as the celebrated Turin Shroud, one of Christianity's most enduring and controversial mysteries, went on public display for only the fourth time this century and for the first time in 20 years.
The Turin Shroud, otherwise known as the Holy Shroud, is a now yellowing linen cloth said to depict the body of the crucified Christ and to have been used as a burial garment when he was laid in the tomb. Measuring 14ft 3in in length and 3ft 7in in width, the shroud bears the image of a man with long hair and a beard who bears the marks of crucifixion, including the stigmata, marks from thorns on the head, bruises on the shoulders and severe cuts on the back.
The Catholic Church has never declared the shroud to be genuine but has always ruled that it is an acceptable object of veneration.
From as early as the 14th century, anti-Pope Clement VII declared that the shroud was not Christ's burial cloth, adding that it could however be used as an object of veneration. In more recent times, a set of carbon-dating tests carried out in 1988 by experts in Oxford, Zurich and Tuscon, Arizona declared that the shroud was a medieval garment, dating from between 1260 and 1390 and therefore little more than a fake.
Such scientific research did not deter pilgrims yesterday for, within 90 minutes of opening to the public, the shroud had already been seen by 4,000 people.
Enclosed in a purpose-built glass case filled with inert gas, the shroud will be on view to the public until June 13th during which time upwards of 50,000 visitors a day are expected to view it. Meanwhile, on May 24th it will receive a very special visitor in the person of Pope John Paul II.
Among those viewing the shroud yesterday was Mr Mario Trematore, the fireman who saved it from being burned last April when a bad fire gutted the Guarini Chapel where it had been traditionally housed since being brought to Turin by members of the House of Savoy in 1578. To save the shroud, Mr Trematore had to use a pick axe to smash through its glass case and lift it out. Yesterday, he claimed he had been moved by a divine strength, adding: "Certain events change you . . . Christ now accompanies me in my life."
At an inaugural Mass last Saturday, Cardinal Giovanni Soldini, Archbishop of Turin and custodian of the shroud, had prayed before the cloth, saying: "We stand here before an image that demands we observe it, contemplate it and see it as a solemn memory of the passion of Christ, born for us and risen again for ever.
"We stand here in front of a mystery that is greater than us but which yet is with us . . . The shroud is a sign which in itself sums up all the humiliations, all the violence and all the sins of the world."