New study: the Shroud and the Shroud of Oviedo "wrapped the same person"

The Shroud of Turin and the Sudarium of Oviedo (Spain) "have wrapped, with almost total security, the corpse of the same person". This is the conclusion reached by an investigation which compared the two relics through a study based on forensic anthropology and geometry.

The work was carried out by the Doctor of Fine Arts and Professor of Sculpture of the University of Seville Juan Manuel Miñarro within a project of the Spanish Center of Sindonology (CES), an entity based in Valencia.

The study thus fits in the direction of what tradition has affirmed for centuries: that the two sheets belong to the same historical personage, in this case - according to that tradition - Jesus of Nazareth.

The Shroud would be the cloth that wrapped the body of Jesus when it was laid in the sepulcher, while the Shroud of Oviedo would be the one that covered his face on the cross after death.

The sheets would be those found in the sepulcher by San Pietro and San Giovanni, as the Gospel narrates.

The investigation "does not in itself prove that that person was really Jesus Christ, but has clearly put us on the path of being able to fully demonstrate that the Holy Shroud and the Holy Shroud wrapped the head of the same corpse," he explained to Paraula Juan Manuel Miñarro.

Traces of blood

In fact, the investigation found a number of coincidences between the two relics that "far exceeds the minimum of significant points or evidence required by most of the world's judicial systems for identifying people, which is between eight and twelve , while those found by our study are more than twenty ".

In concrete terms, the work highlighted "very important coincidences" in the main morphological characteristics (type, size and distance of the traces), in the number and distribution of blood spots and in the footprints of various lesions reflected on the two sheets or on the deformed surfaces.

There are "points that highlight the compatibility between the two sheets" in the area of ​​the forehead, on which there are remains of blood, as well as on the back of the nose, on the right cheekbone or on the chin, which "present different bruises".

About the bloodstains, Miñarro says that the traces on the two sheets show morphological differences, but that "what seems indisputable is that the points from which the blood gushed correspond totally".

These formal variations could be explained by differences in terms of duration, location and intensity of head contact with each of the sheets, as well as with "the elasticity of linen sheets".

Ultimately, the coincidences found in the two sheets "are such that it is now very difficult to think that they are different people," said Jorge Manuel Rodríguez, president of CES.

In light of the results of this investigation, "we have reached a point where it seems absurd to ask whether 'by chance' can coincide in both all the wounds, the bruises, the swellings ... Logic requires us to think that we are talking about the same person "He concluded.