Story and photography by Roy Rasmussen | For On Mission
ASHWAUBENON, WI — From September 23 to 26, Nativity of Our Lord Parish in Ashwaubenon will host the Man of the Shroud exhibit, featuring a full-length replica of the Shroud of Turin, a life-sized crucified corpus depicting the wounds of Christ, and 92 panels about the history and science of the Shroud. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn more about the Shroud and experience a moving encounter with the physical reality of Christ’s passion.
The history of the Shroud
Scripture records that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus wrapped the body of Jesus in a linen cloth, which John and Peter found after the Resurrection. Traditions about this cloth began circulating as early as a passage in a lost Hebrew version of Matthew’s Gospel.
Relics accompanied these traditions, notably a cloth with an image (icon) of Jesus, stored at Edessa in modern-day Turkey and later relocated to Constantinople. After the Crusaders sacked the city in 1204, Baldwin II, the last Latin emperor, sent rescued relics of Christ, Mary, and John the Baptist to his relative, St. Louis, king of France.
In 1353, a wealthy Crusader named Geoffroi de Charny founded a church in the French city of Lirey, which soon displayed a linen cloth with an extraordinary full-length image of Jesus. Some church officials doubted its authenticity as the shroud of Christ, but Pope Julius II authorized it for display as a relic in 1506. In 1578, the Duke of Savoy transferred it to the Italian city of Turin, where it remains today.
The science of the Shroud
The scientific study of the Shroud began in 1898, following the first photograph taken of it by Secondo Pia. After developing the photo, Pia was shocked to see that the negative revealed the face of a man.
Scientific teams began conducting rigorous examinations of the Shroud in 1969, using fabric analysis, image analysis, pigment tests, radiocarbon dating, and pollen studies. Skeptical researchers have attempted to account for the image through various means, including medieval painting techniques, bas-relief rubbing, acid pigmentation, dust transfer, chemical reactions, and primitive photography. “They’ve been trying to prove that it’s a fake for a long, long, long time,” said exhibit organizer Rick Hobbs, “but to this day, they haven’t.”
Defenders of the Shroud’s authenticity cite various lines of evidence, including:
- Matches between the Shroud’s stains and descriptions of Christ’s crucifixion
- Wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) dating placing the Shroud in the first century
- Three-dimensional qualities of the image
- Imaging suggesting the inside of a body, such as the image of a backbone
- Arguments that radiation produced the image
“The only way they can duplicate it nowadays is to shine a very, very bright light very, very quickly, and it singes the top layer,” Hobbs said.
As Pope St. John Paul II stated, the Catholic Church does not require belief in the Shroud, leaving history and science to competent researchers, but invites believers to reflect on it as an image that points us to Jesus.
The Shroud and Catholic devotion
The Shroud and Pia’s photograph have become associated with devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus, a papally approved prayer of reparation for blasphemy introduced in 1843. The Shroud reinforces other devotions related to Christ’s Passion, including the Veil of Veronica, the Stations of the Cross, the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.
Viewing the Man of the Shroud exhibit and seeing Christ’s crucifixion represented at life size is a deeply moving experience for many viewers. “I’ve put up that exhibit probably 100 times in the last 30 years, and it breaks my heart every time I put that corpus up on that cross,” Hobbs said. “Every time the exhibit comes back from wherever it’s gone, they say, ‘What a spiritual exhibit!’ People are just amazed at all the things they see when they go through the panels.”
The panels highlight the Shroud’s route through the years, including pictures of nails used in Roman crucifixions, as well as findings from scientific studies.
How to see the Man of the Shroud exhibit
The Man of the Shroud exhibit will be on display from September 23 to 26, 2025, at Nativity of Our Lord Parish, located at 2270 S. Oneida St. in Ashwaubenon. The exhibit can be viewed on Tuesday, September 23, from 12 to 7 p.m.; Wednesday, September 24, and Thursday, September 25, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Friday, September 26, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The exhibit is a free will offering, with no registration required.
