S&V - October 2005 - Page 7

Let us recall in addition that the relics of Christ are particularly numerous. The historian Paul-Eric Blanrue drew up a no exhaustive list in his book "Miracle ou imposture" (Golias editions): holy blood, holy cradle and even holy hay in it, jugs used for the wedding at Cana, swaddling clothes, Lord's Table, tablecloth of the aforementioned table, holy tunic, nails of the cross, flagellum, column of flogging, without forgetting various sudarium and shrouds.

VSD - Pages 28-29

The assumption according to which the shroud of Turin would be the authentic shroud of Christ could be consolidated by a study led in 1997 and 1998 at Orsay: the data-processing comparison between the visible wounds on the shroud of Turin and the bloodstains found on another relic, the tunic of Argenteuil (see below).

It is of a wool clothing, very damaged, which would be, according to the tradition, the tunic which Christ had directly on his skin at the time of the ascent of the Calvary...

One finds many stains on the clothing, in particular in the back and on the shoulders. Recent studies, which will be soon published, show that it is human blood of group AB, the same one found on the shroud of Turin : the coincidence becomes disconcerting...

A precise cartography of the bloodstains has been established by computer, then a model of the deformations of clothing has made it possible to simulate its form on the back of the man of the shroud. The results are surprising : they show that, contrary to the ideas commonly allowed by the historians, the man of the shroud had to carry the whole cross (and not only the cross beam of the patibulum), which is in conformity with the tradition.

Moreover, remarkable coincidence between the bloodstains of clothing and the visible wounds of flogging on the image of the shroud shows that there are strong chances that it is the same man who, after being whipped, was wearing this tunic then, after being crucified, was wrapped in the shroud preserved in Turin. Difficult to admit for some people, this result is an essential argument in favor of the mutual authentication of the two relics.