Registered at G.P.O., Perth, for transmission by post as a newspaper
NO. 2.875.
PERTH, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1937.
SIXTY-FOURTH YEAR.
The Problem of the Holy Shroud Further Evidence of Authenticity R evelations of Physics and Photography t I3y Paul Vignon. Sc.!)., Professor of Biology at the Institute monia vapors, thus producing a Catholique. Paris; Secretary General of the Italian and French brown stain. In fact, I obtained imprints like those on the Shroud Commissions of the Holy Shroud.) by placing cloths prepared with a magnificent chapel ad- ors given off from the body re- aloes over plaster figures soaked joining the Cathedral at acting chemically on the cloth to in a solution of ammonia. Turin, Italy, is enshrined a produce stains. The action was It was also established that linen cloth which has been strongest where the body was there are particles of blood on the venerated for centuries as vet% Close to the cloth, less strong Shroud, so well preserved that the actual shroud of Christ. at the concavities and sides. That they still show the composition of Upon its 14-foot length are two is why the resulting stains are the blood. remarkably clear impressions re- negatives, the high spots of the Wounds Clearly Distinguishable. presenting the front and back of body having caused a darker The body which made the imThe belief is stain than the cavities and de- pression on the Shroud was evia human body. that these were made by Christ's pressions: that is why the im- dently that of a man who had delicate been crucified; all the wounds are such body, which was laid on half the pressions have shading. being folded cloth, the other half The distinguishable. clearly Successful Experiment. over from head to foot as a cover. wound in the hand is most inW ith the aid of a professor of teresting; contrary to the usual For years many scholars. Caat the Ecole Polytechni- pictures, which show the nail physics tholic as well as non-Catholic. maintained that the figures on sue. I was able to determine through the palm of a crucified the Holy Shroud are paintings. .• vhat kind of vapors had acted on hand, the nail wound is where dating from the 14th. century. the cloth; humid ammoniac va- the anatomy of the hand would Rut since 1931. two Commissions pors resulting from, the fermen- require in a crucifixion--through —one Italian. the other French— tation of urea, which is excep- the base of the wrist. The man have scientifically investigated tionally abundant in the sweat on the Shroud had been scourgtorture. ed and also wounded about the the authenticity of the relic. Their produced by physical findings give strong evidence Knowing that the ancients spread head, as shown by trickles of that the figures on the Shroud powdered aloes on shrouds as a blood and several distinct puncare not paintings; that they are preservative, we discovered that tures on the brow, which a crown impressions of a human body. the aloes chemically sensitised of thorns would explain. There made by a unique coincidence of linen cloth to the action of am- is a wound in the right side, such _ axixxxxxxxxgann as would be caused by a lance. natural causes: and that the body Aggixtivxmoinumig was Christ's. And the wounds of a great nail, Revelation of Photography. which pierced both feet at once. When the Shroud was photoFrom the Gospels we know all graphed for the first time it was this was done to Christ as the rediscovered that the lights and sult of exceptional circumstances. shades of these images are reand it is hardly likely that the versed as in a photographic negaidentical series of outrages was tive—the parts which normally inflicted on anyone. else. appear (lark in life or in a picHistorical Proof. ture. such as the eye sockets or There is no difficulty in exspace between the outstretched plaining the preservation of a legs. are light on the Shroud. linen cloth for 19 centuries When the values of light and There are Egyptian linens 3,000 tw reversed shade are again years old which are still as good photography, the face stands out But we have no hisas new. in startling majesty. torical record by which we can The idea of a negative image trace this cloth back to Christ. ecatne known only through the It is natural that for reasons of invention of photography in the prudence and religion_ no refer19th. century. It is doubtful if ence to it would be made in the any artist of an earlier period first few centuries A.D. Records could have conceived the idea of of such a Shroud. however. do appainting a negative image. The pear in the fifth and seventh cen figures. moreover, are very exact turies and, with similar gaps. negatives that no artist even todown to 1355. when it turned up day could paint so accurately. at Lire'. France. where it had When photographed they show FRONTAL IMAGE OF OUR LORD. been brought by a Crusader, a Lord Geoffrey I de Charny. From This is the unt, . 1ched negat; on the film a full-grown man, portrayed with minute fidelity to photograph of the Shroud. The Fig- then on it has a clear and conure. the very features of the Holy nature. Face, are plainly discernible. The tinuous history. A fter experiments in the lab- 107enge-shpped stains are due to water But even without complete oratory in the Sorbonne. the used to extinguish a fire which gravely historical proof. there is strong French Commission concluded injured the Relic in 1532. The marks evidence that this may be the on the Shroud reveal important differthat the figures are the direct im- ences from the usual notions concern- cloth in which Christ was buried. prints of a human body, made by ing the wounds, the scourging and the (Continued on Rack Cover natural chemical causes; the yap- Crown of Thorns.