Week 11: The Sudarium of Oviedo

Week 11: The Sudarium of Oviedo – The Face Cloth

Main Teaching

Last week, we examined the Shroud of Turin, a remarkable and mysterious artifact that, despite its controversies, presents a stunning forensic portrait of a crucified man. This week, we turn our attention to another, lesser-known relic that provides what may be the most powerful piece of corroborating evidence for the Shroud's authenticity: the Sudarium of Oviedo. The Sudarium is a small, bloodstained linen cloth, measuring approximately 84 by 53 centimeters, that is kept in the Cathedral of San Salvador in Oviedo, northern Spain. It contains no image, only patterns of blood and other bodily fluids. Tradition holds that this is the soudarion, or "face cloth, " mentioned in John's Gospel, which Peter saw in the empty tomb: "Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself" (John 20:6-7, ESV). While the Shroud's history before the 14th century is debated, the Sudarium has a remarkably clear and well-documented historical trail that anchors it deep in antiquity, making it a crucial piece of the puzzle.

Part 1: The Documented History of the Sudarium

Unlike the Shroud, the Sudarium's journey is well-documented. The history, primarily recorded by the twelfth-century bishop of Oviedo, Pelagius, traces the cloth's path from the Holy Land to Spain. • Jerusalem (until 614 AD): The cloth was kept in Palestine until just before the Persian invasion of Jerusalem by King Khosrau II in 614 AD. • Flight Across North Africa (614-c. 616 AD): To avoid destruction, a presbyter named Philip fled with the chest containing the Sudarium, first to Alexandria in Egypt. When the Persians conquered Alexandria in 616 AD, he continued across North Africa. • Arrival in Spain (c. 616 AD onwards): The chest arrived in Cartagena, Spain, with refugees. It was moved to Seville, then Toledo in 657, and finally taken further north to escape the advancing Moors in 718. • Oviedo (c. 840 AD to Present): The relic was hidden in a cave called Montesacro until King Alfonso II built a special chapel, the Cámara Santa (Holy Chamber), in the Cathedral of Oviedo to house it around 840 AD. • Official Inventory (1075 AD): On March 14, 1075, the chest was officially opened in the presence of King Alfonso VI and Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (the famous "El Cid"). An inventory of the relics was made, and the chest was covered in silver with an inscription inviting veneration of the relic containing the "holy blood" . This documented history places the Sudarium in Spain at least 200 years before the earliest possible date for the Shroud according to the disputed 1988 C-14 test. This historical anchor is of immense importance.

Part 2: The Purpose of a Soudarion

To understand the Sudarium's significance, we must understand its function in first-century Jewish burial customs. The Latin term sudarium comes from sudor, meaning "sweat, " and referred to a small cloth used as a handkerchief or towel. However, in the context of a violent death, it served a specific and solemn purpose. Jewish law, viewing blood as the "seat of life, " mandated that all of a person's blood be buried with the body. If a person died from severe trauma, particularly to the head, a sudarium would be placed over the face. Its purpose was not to wipe the face clean, but to cover the disfigurement out of respect and to collect any blood or fluids that might escape from the nose and mouth during the transport of the body to the tomb. This is precisely what forensic analysis suggests the Sudarium of Oviedo was used for.

Part 3: Scientific and Forensic Analysis

Beginning in the 1980s, a team of Spanish scientists from the Spanish Center for Sindonology (EDICES) conducted extensive forensic analysis of the Sudarium, yielding extraordinary results. • Fluids and Blood: The stains are composed of one part human blood and six parts pulmonary edema fluid. This is a watery liquid that fills the lungs in cases of death by asphyxiation—the consensus medical opinion for the cause of death in crucifixion. • Blood Type: The blood type is AB, the same rare blood type found on the Shroud of Turin. • Sequence of Events: Forensic analysis of the superimposed stain patterns reveals a clear sequence of events. The cloth was first placed over the face of a man who had died in an upright position (consistent with being on a cross). A second set of stains was formed about an hour later when the body was laid down horizontally on its right side. A third set was formed when the body was lifted and carried. This sequence perfectly matches the events of taking a body down from a cross and carrying it to a tomb. • Pollen Analysis: Pollen analysis of the cloth has identified pollen grains from plants native to Oviedo, Toledo, North Africa, and Palestine, corroborating its documented historical journey. Crucially, it contains pollen from two plant species, Gundelia tournefortii and Zygophyllum dumosum, which are characteristic of the Jerusalem area and have also been identified on the Shroud of Turin. • Myrrh and Aloes: Residues of myrrh and aloes, the spices John's Gospel says were brought for Jesus's burial, have also been found on the cloth.

Part 4: The Inescapable Forensic Correspondence

The most stunning evidence, however, is the direct geometric correspondence between the bloodstains on the Sudarium and the wounds on the face of the man on the Shroud. When the stain patterns on the Sudarium are digitally overlaid on the facial image of the Shroud, they match perfectly. There are over 70 points of congruence on the front and 50 on the back. These include : • The length of the nose (8 cm on both). • The pattern of blood from the nostrils. • The stains in the beard. • The puncture wounds on the forehead and the nape of the neck (from the crown of thorns). • The swelling on the right cheekbone. The conclusion reached by forensic investigators is inescapable: the Sudarium of Oviedo and the Shroud of Turin wrapped the same head at two different but closely related moments in time. The Sudarium was used first, to cover the face after death on the cross and during transport to the tomb. It was then removed (and set aside, as John's Gospel describes), and the body was wrapped in the Shroud for final burial. This conclusion has profound implications. It means that the man whose image is on the Shroud of Turin must have died before 1075 AD, the date the Sudarium was officially inventoried in Spain. This directly contradicts and effectively invalidates the 1988 C-14 dating of the Shroud. The Sudarium acts as a historical control, anchoring the Shroud in a much earlier period. Furthermore, the idea that a medieval forger could have created the Shroud to perfectly match the bloodstains on an obscure relic hundreds of miles away in Spain—a relic he had likely never seen—defies all logic and credibility. The only plausible explanation for the convergence of dozens of independent data points is that both cloths are authentic and bear witness to the same historical event: the death and burial of Jesus of Nazareth.

Extra Notes & Resources for Deeper Study

Key Thinkers & Groups:

• Spanish Center for Sindonology (EDICES): The primary scientific body that has studied the Sudarium since the 1980s. Their work is foundational to our modern understanding of the relic. • Monsignor Giulio Ricci: An Italian priest and Shroud scholar who was the first to strongly suggest a connection between the Shroud and the Sudarium in the 1980s, inspiring the scientific investigation. • Dr. Mark Guscin: A British author and scholar who has written extensively on the Sudarium, translating much of the Spanish research into English and making it accessible to a wider audience. Recommended Reading: • For a clear and accessible introduction: o The Sudarium of Oviedo: Its History and Relationship to the Shroud of Turin by Mark Guscin. This is the best introductory book on the subject in English. • For a more in-depth academic treatment: o Many of the key scientific papers are in Spanish, but summaries and translations can be found on dedicated websites. Look for the work of Dr. José Delfin Villalaín Blanco and Dr. Alan Whanger. Online Resources: • Documentaries: Several documentaries have explored the connection between the two relics. Search for "The Oviedo Cloth" or "Sudarium of Oviedo" on YouTube and other platforms. • Shroud.com: Barrie Schwortz's comprehensive website on the Shroud of Turin has a dedicated section with articles and papers on the Sudarium of Oviedo.

Discussion Questions

1. Why is the Sudarium's well-documented history so important when we consider the Shroud of Turin? How does it challenge the 1988 C-14 date? 2. The blood type (AB) is the same on both cloths. While not definitive proof on its own, how does this single data point add to the cumulative case? 3. Imagine the two cloths as two independent witnesses in a trial. How does the testimony of the Sudarium (the face cloth) support the testimony of the Shroud (the burial cloth)? 4. Contemplating the detailed forensic evidence of the suffering depicted on these artifacts, how does it deepen our understanding of the reality of the Passion, moving beyond a familiar story to a historical event? 5. Does this evidence, for you, move the Shroud and Sudarium from the category of "interesting curiosities" to "serious corroborating evidence"? Why or why not?

Further Study Worksheet: "A Tale of Two Cloths"

The Shroud of Turin and the Sudarium of Oviedo are two distinct relics that, when studied together, tell a single, coherent story. This chart summarizes their individual characteristics and their shared evidence. Feature The Sudarium of Oviedo The Shroud of Turin Primary Function Face cloth (soudarion) used immediately after death. Burial garment (sindon) used for final burial. Size ~84 x 53 cm (small). ~4.4 x 1.1 m (large). Image None. Contains only stains of blood and pulmonary edema fluid. Faint, full-body negative image. Nature of Stains Stains from flowing blood and fluids from a body in different positions. Primarily contact stains from a body in rigor mortis. Documented History Clear history from Palestine to Spain, documented in Oviedo by 1075 AD. Certain history begins in France in the 1350s AD. Shared Evidence Pointing to a Single Person: • Blood Type: The blood on both cloths is human, type AB. • Pollen Evidence: Both cloths contain pollen from plants unique to the Jerusalem area, including Gundelia tournefortii. • Geometric Congruence: The bloodstain patterns on the Sudarium perfectly overlay the wounds on the face and neck of the image on the Shroud, with over 70 points of forensic correspondence on the front.

The Conclusion: The overwhelming forensic evidence indicates that these two separate cloths

wrapped the same crucified man. The Sudarium's documented history proves that this man must

have died long before the medieval date assigned to the Shroud by the disputed C-14 test. Together, they form a powerful, two-part testimony that corroborates the Gospel accounts of Jesus's death and burial.

Supplemental Study

Week 11: The Pray Manuscript

One of the most significant historical artifacts that challenges the medieval dating of the Shroud of Turin is an illustrated codex from Hungary known as the Pray Manuscript or Pray Codex. What is it? The Pray Manuscript is the oldest surviving text in the Hungarian language, housed in the National Széchényi Library in Budapest. It is dated with high confidence to between 1192 and 1195 AD. This date is crucial because it is at least 70 years before the earliest possible date for the Shroud according to the 1988 C-14 test. The Illustrations: Within the manuscript are five pen drawings. One of them depicts the preparation of Jesus's body for burial. This illustration contains a collection of highly unusual details that have a stunning correspondence to the unique features of the Shroud of Turin. • The Body: The body of Jesus is shown completely naked, which was highly unusual in medieval art, where a loincloth was almost always depicted. The man on the Shroud is also naked. • The Arms: The arms are crossed over the pelvis, with the hands covering the groin area. This is the exact, unusual posture of the man on the Shroud. Traditional art typically shows the arms folded across the chest or at the sides. • The Thumbs: The thumbs on the illustration are not visible; they appear to be folded into the palms. This matches the Shroud image, a detail now understood to be a physiological result of a nail piercing the wrist and damaging the median nerve.

• The Herringbone Weave: The artist has drawn a distinct herringbone pattern on the burial cloth in the illustration, matching the unique three-to-one herringbone twill of the Shroud of Turin. • The "Poker Holes": The illustration includes a pattern of four small circles arranged in an "L" shape on the cloth. This perfectly matches a series of four burn holes, known as the "poker holes, " found on the Shroud of Turin. These holes are believed to be from a much earlier date than the 1532 fire and are a unique identifying mark of the cloth. The Implications: The combination of these five unique and unusual features makes a coincidental connection statistically impossible. The artist who created the Pray Manuscript illustration in the 12th century must have seen the Shroud of Turin. This has a devastating effect on the 1988 C-14 date. If an artist accurately depicted the Shroud's unique features in a manuscript dated to 1192-1195, then the cloth itself must be older than that date. The Pray Manuscript provides powerful, independent historical evidence that the Shroud of Turin existed long before the medieval period assigned to it by the carbon dating.

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