Is the Sudarium of Oviedo the key to unraveling the mystery of the Shroud of Turin?

Louis C. de Figueiredo

The Sudarium of Oviedo is a little-known relic preserved in the Camara Santa of the Cathedral of San Salvador, Oviedo, in the
Asturias region of northern Spain. It is displayed three times a year, on Good Friday, the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross (14 th
September) and its octave (21st September).
The relic measures approximately 84cm x 53cm, is creased, dirty, and highly contaminated, and has bloodstains imprinted on it.
When the Italian Shroud scholar Monsignor Guilin Ricci saw it in 1965 he did not fail to notice the similarities between these
bloodstains and those seen on the Shroud of Turin, thus making a link between the two cloths. Dearth of sources and the vagaries of
history are always a problem in research and the Sudarium is no exception when it comes to this. It can be traced to the year 614, in
Palestine, shortly before Jerusalem was invaded by Khusro II, the last great king of the Sassanian Empire, and details about the
historical accounts are found in papers and books. The radiocarbon dating the relic underwent, however, concluded that the material
dated to the seventh century. Dr. Pierluigi Baima Bollone, professor of legal medicine at the University of Turin, who had made the
arrangement for the test, had an explanation. The result is not easy to interpret due to the well-known difficulties of dating textiles
and to the conditions under which the sample was kept from when it was taken (1979) until it came to us some years after Freis
death in 1983, he wrote. Dr. Max Frei-Sulzer had worked as a scientist in the Zurich Police department and had found some pollen
grains that helped to trace the route of the Turin Shroud.
It is a fact that the stains on the Sudarium are compatible with those seen on the relic kept in Turin when blood group and geometric
distribution are taken into account. It is even known that, like the man seen on the Shroud, the face covered by the Sudarium had a
beard, moustache and long hair tied up at the nape of the neck. Further, the length of the nose is 8 cm in both cases, and what is
most remarkable is the identical form of both chin and beard.
When Dr. Jos Delfn Villalain Blanco, a forensic physician at the University of Valencia, made an examination he arrived at the
conclusion that the dead body must have been laid flat on the ground during the period when it was taken down from the cross and
transported to the tomb. It was then speculated that that the one-hour time-lapse would roughly be the time taken to wait for the
Roman soldiers to return with the permission granted by Pontius Pilate to bury the body.
It is important to note that the stains are composed mostly of what has been described as fluid from the lungs, along with blood --one part blood and six parts fluid from a pleural oedema --- therefore the certainty that the cloth had been used to collect blood
flowing from the nose and mouth. After all, a body being removed from the cross would involve some jolting action. It appears that
the Sudarium was placed on the face when the body was still nailed to the cross, that is, in a vertical position, with the head tilted
forward and to the right. The stains are superimposed on top of one another, indicating that at least some stains were partly dried
when the body was moved, when removed from the cross, and also when more blood began to flow when it was lifted to be
transported to the tomb. There are signs that the cloth was first pinned to the back of the head, then brought to the front, as the
intention seems to have been to wrap the cloth around the head. But it met an obstacle, in the front, because the head was tilted
tightly against the right arm, possibly due to rigor mortis having set in partly. There appeared to have been no choice, therefore, but
to fold the Sudarium back into itself, four times. It thus became soaked in blood, forming parallel stains. The cloth seems to have
been in contact with the mans face for a short period of time. The stains show only fresh, not coagulated or clotted blood, which
goes to explain the absence of the 3-shaped bloodstain seen on the Shroud.

The Sudarium of Oviedo. Reproduced by kind permission of the Centro Espaol de

Sindonologia.

This takes us to the crucial question: is the Sudarium of Oviedo the cloth that was about his head mentioned in the Gospel
according to John 20: 6-7? It must be remembered that this is possible precisely because, being soaked in blood, it had to be kept in
the tomb, in accordance with Jewish burial customs.
The striking points of similarity between the Sudarium of Oviedo and the Shroud of Turin make it possible to deduce that they had
been used on the same corpse. If, therefore, more concrete evidence can demonstrate that both cloths were really in contact with the
same dead body the 1988 radiocarbon dating would have to be laid to rest. There can be no doubt that the cloth preserved in Spain
has importance to Shroud history. However, the issue is very complex, because although there are points relating to authenticity, an
association would also have to be established with Jesus. A lot more work needs to be done and the views of experts in the field of
medicine demand attention; the issues that are pending are not few.
Dr. Alfonso Snchez Hermosilla, who believes that the Sudarium is authentic, is a member of the Equipo de Investigacin del
Centro del Centro Espaol de Sindonologia (EDICES) a special group formed by the Centro Espaol de Sindonologia (Spanish
Centre for Sindonology, www.linteum.com ) -- and a pathologist and coroner, also a section chief in the department of forensic
histopathology at the Institute for Legal Medicine, Cartagena, Spain. He confirms the existence of bloodstains and blood fluids on
the Sudarium and is of the opinion that the two cloths were not indeed used simultaneously. He also questions claims made by
sceptics about the origin of the Turin Shroud, reminding them that few cloths can be compared to the relics preserved in Turin and
Oviedo.

Three-dimensional image created by Dr. Juan Manuel Miarro

Lpez, professor of sculpture at the University of Seville, Spain in
his comprehensive treatment of the Sudarium of Oviedo. The
bloodstains placed on the face on the Shroud of Turin in relief
demonstrate an exact fit. Image on the cover of Linteum, No. 56,
January- June, 2014, published by the Centro Espaol de
Sindonologia the Spanish Centre for Sindonology, Valencia,
Spain and reproduced with permission.
The Spanish expert also believes that research requirements cannot be met in the current state of scientific knowledge. It would be
pointless, therefore, to use very small samples in methods that will not produce the desirable results because that would be wasting
material. He also expresses the view that although both relics have been studied by researchers, access to both is limited to a few
people, which is what renders makes obtaining definitive results by comparing them very difficult.
An American researcher, Kelly Kearse Ph.D, whose expertise lies in the fields of immunology and blood, was a postdoctoral fellow
in Experimental Immunology Research at the National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health, USA, and has made significant
contributions in the realm of Shroud studies. He has proposed a closer examination of the blood and other fluid found on the Oviedo
Sudarium. He argues that in the case of the relics preserved in Turin and Oviedo, with the same blood type, AB, the results are
consistent with the idea that the cloths may have at one time covered the same individual, but they are by no means conclusive.

Dr. Kearse, an adult convert to Catholicism, dons the hat of faith, a faith that does not need the support of relics. He has emphasised
that it would be interesting to evaluate mitochondrial DNA, as it is less fragmented than nuclear DNA. In his words, in terms of
DNA studies the major issue is if a consensus profile for nuclear, mitochondrial markers can be obtained and it is unknown if
degradation and/or contamination might preclude this. Looking at multiple areas on the cloth is a must. This is the idea behind the
Shroud CODIS paper, although the bloodstains are much closer together in this case, much of what is described there could be
applied to the Sudarium. If consensus marker profiles could be established, in theory a comparison could be made between the two.
But you would have to have agreement among the bloodstains for each singular artifact and the more markers that are included, the
better the comparison. As mtDNA is maternally inherited and present in higher copy number, this might be an advantage over just
nuclear DNA analysis.
Whatever research may tell us, from this authors point of view it is possible to say that if supernatural agency was involved in the
creation of the Shroud image there could be a significant difference in colour, for example -- in the blood on the two relics, one
used to wrap Jesus body and the other rolled up in a separate place in the sepulchre. There is a reality beyond the scope of the
scientist, as Jaspers rightly reminded us.
It is not possible to say when exactly the Church will allow another in-depth examination of the two relics. Fortunately, research has
not come to a standstill in Spain and the latest findings have come from the able hands of Dr. Juan Manuel Miarro Lpez, professor
of Sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Seville. His masterly monograph, entitled Sobre la Compatibilidad de la Sndone y el
Sudarium (On the Compatibility of the Shroud and the Sudarium), richly illustrated with images, diagrams and photographs, was
published in the no. 56, January- June issue of Linteum, the high quality journal published in the Spanish language by the Centro
Espaol de Sindonologia in Valencia, Spain. The Sudarium has been confined to an undeserved silence beyond Spain. It is time,
therefore, for Spanish and more American scientists to get together and produce new in-depth studies. The CES, made up of highly
qualified members, many of whom teach at universities or work in other institutions, is aware of the need to set aside language
barriers and is in the process of producing a scientific magazine in English. If their research continues at this rate it may well be that
the Sudarium of Oviedo is the key to interpreting the Shroud of Turin, as maintained by Professor Jorge-Manuel Rodrguez
Almenar, president of the organisation.