The Feast of the Holy Shroud of Jesus Celebrated on Friday after the Second Sunday of Lent – 1 March

Saint of the Day – 1 March – The Feast of the Holy Shroud of Jesus
Celebrated on Friday after the Second Sunday of Lent

The Shroud of Turin has been subjected to a variety of scientific examinations to confirm its authenticity using scientific methods, despite, the rather obvious conclusion, that the intricacy and detail on the Shroud, could not have been merely created by antiquated Medieval technology.

In fact, the Turin Centre of Colorado, has demonstrated that the fold marks found on the Shroud indicate it once resided in Constantinople in the 10th-11th centuries, in contrast to those who claim that the Shroud was a 14th Century forgery. Such a claim corroborates historians who maintain that the Lord’s Burial Cloth was in the possession of Byzantine Emperors before the Sack of Constantinople in 1204.

The Holy See remained silent on the Shroud until the middle of the 20th Century when, in 1940, Sister Maria Pierina De Micheli, obtained authorisation from the Archdiocese of Milan to produce the Holy Face Medal with the image of the Holy Shroud. And, in 1958, Pope Pius XII subsequently approved the image in connection with devotion to the Holy Face and the Feast of the Holy Face which he instituted to be said on Shrove Tuesday of each year in reparation for the offences of “Mardi Gras.”

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol 15, 1913 states:
“In 1206, one of the Winding Sheets used at the burial of Christ was brought to Besançon by Otto de La Roche and the festival of its arrival (Susceptio) was ordered to be kept on 11 July. At present, it is a double of the first class in the Cathedral and of the second class in the Diocese. The Office is very beautiful.
Another Feast originated ain around 1495 at Chambéry, in Savoy, to honour the Sudario of Christ which came there in 1432 from Lirey in Burgundy and which, since 1578, is venerated in the Royal Chapel of the Cathedral of Turin.
This Feast is celebrated on 4 May, the day after the Discovery of the Cross and was approved in 1506 by Pope Julius II.
It is now kept in Savoy, Piedmont and Sardinia, as the Patronal Feast of the Royal House of Savoy (4 May, double of the first class, with octave). A third Feast, the Fourth Sunday in Lent (translation to a new Shrine in 1092), was kept during the Middle Ages at Compiègne in France, in honour of a Winding Sheet brought there from Aachen in 877.

Today’s Feast which, since 1831, is contained in the appendix of the Breviary, on the Friday after the Second Sunday in Lent, is independent of any particular Relic but, before 1831 it was rarely found on the Diocesan Calendars.
It has not yet found its way into the Baltimore Ordo.
The Office is taken from the Proprium of Turin.”