[Gocamino] The Sudarium - Oviedo

[Sil]

The Sudarium



The most bone tingling, goose-bump moment for me on the camino was gazing,
awe-struck, at a piece of stained fabric the size of a dishcloth which has
been preserved in a modest chamber in the cathedral in Oviedo for over 1300
years. History and scientific studies claim that this 84cm X 53cm piece of
cloth was used to cover and clean the face of Jesus after his crucifixion.
Together with the Shroud of Turin, it is the most tested Christian relic in
the world.

Its history is well documented and much more straightforward than that of
the Shroud of Turin. According to the 12th Century Book of the Testaments of
Oviedo, and the Chronicon Regum Legionensium, the sudarium was in Palestine
until shortly before the year 614. When Jerusalem was attacked and conquered
by the Persians it was taken in a 'Holy Ark' together with other precious
relics, first to Alexandria, then across to North Africa, then into Spain,
going first to Seville and then to Toledo with St Isidore where it stayed
for 75 years. When the Arabs invaded Spain it was taken north to Oviedo.  On
14th March 1075 the chest was officially opened in the presence of King
Alfonso VI, his sister Doña Urraca, and Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (el Cid). A
list was made of the relics that were in the chest. These included fragments
of the Cross, crumbs from the Last Supper, relics of the Virgin Mary and the
Twelve Apostles and the sudarium, the cloth that had covered the face of
Christ.

How does it compare with the Shroud of Turin?
Over the years many sophisticated, forensic experiments have been done on
the fabric and on the blood, fluid, pollens and residues of myrrh and aloe.
Scientific results show that:
"The blood on both the sudarium and the shroud belong to the same group,
namely AB.  The length of the nose through which the pleural oedema fluid
came onto the sudarium is exactly the same length as the nose on the image
of the shroud. When the shroud is placed over the stains on the sudarium the
most obvious coincidence is the exact fit of the stains with the beard on
the face. A small stain is also visible on the right hand side of the man's
mouth. This stain is hardly visible on the shroud, but VP-8 and photo
enhancements have confirmed its presence.  The thorn wounds on the nape of
the neck coincide perfectly with the bloodstains on the shroud. Polarized
Image Overlay Techniques have been applied to the sudarium, comparing it to
the image and bloodstains on the shroud. The frontal stains on the sudarium
show seventy points of coincidence with the shroud, and the rear side shows
fifty. The only possible conclusion is that the Oviedo sudarium covered the
same face as the Turin Shroud."

Experts say that, "All the studies carried out so far point in one
direction, with nothing to suggest the contrary, the sudarium was used to
cover the head of the dead body of Jesus of Nazareth from when he was taken
down from the cross until he was buried."



*"Quien va a Santiago y no al Salvador, visita al criado y deja al* Señor"
says the old proverb. * (*Whoever goes to Saint James and not to the
Saviour, visits the servant and misses the Master*.)*

Sil