A replica of the Shroud of Turin, believed by some to be the death shroud of Christ, is currently in St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral, Edinburgh, until Monday 27 February.
The first certain mention of the shroud occurred in 1354, with the Catholic Church never having taken a stance on whether the man depicted is Christ.
The origin of the shroud is not known for certain, though some historians have posited it belonged to the Byzantine Emperors before the Sack of Constantinople in 1204.
Injuries can be seen at the front and back of the head that would appear to have been caused by the crown of thorns and there is evidence of hundreds of flogging wounds. It also appears the man was pierced in the side by a sharp object along with wounds to the hands and feet.
Analysis of the blood on the shroud identifies it as the same blood-type, AB, as other Eucharistic Miracles and the Sudarium cloth dating from the first century AD.
In 1976, physicists Dr John Jackson and Dr Eric Jumper determined the shroud to be a three-dimensional image, meaning it was draped over a body.
Two years later, Shroud of Turin Project scientists spent five days analysing the shroud attempting to determine how it was created.
The official photographer, Barrie Schwortz, said they knew of ‘no mechanism to this day which can make an image with the same chemical and physical properties’ as the shroud.
In 2011, members of Italy’s National Agency for Technology and Energy theorised the shroud could have been created by ‘a flash of light’, stating that it ‘has many physical and chemical characteristics’ which are ‘impossible to obtain in a laboratory.’
Organised by St Mary’s Friends of the Cathedral, the replica’s visit will conclude with a presentation on the shroud in Coffee Saints, on the evening of Monday 27 February.
To get more information or to register your attendance at the presentation then email ppccathedral@stmaryscathedral.co.uk