New research claims that the Shroud of Turin – which some believe was the burial shroud of Jesus Christ – is stained with blood from someone who had suffered torture.
The research, which was published in the journal PlosOne late last month, found that a linen fibre from the shroud was founded to be “soaked with a blood serum typical of a human organism that suffered a strong trauma”.
Elvio Carlino, a researcher at the Institute of Crystallography in Bari in Italy and principal investigator in the study, told the Catholic News Agency that nanoparticles attached to the linen fibres of the shroud “have recorded a scenario of great suffering, whose victim was wrapped up in the funeral cloth”.
CNS also reports that the study showed the nanoparticles were not typical of the blood of a healthy person but contained high levels of substances found in patients who suffered forceful multiple traumas like torture.
The findings, if correct, would seem to contradict claims that the image of a man which appears on the shroud was painted on.
Researchers said the findings were only possible due to recent advances in the field of electron microscopy.
