The Shroud has been called "the Fifth Gospel' and appropriately so because it is from the Shroud that we can fill in many of the gaps which the narratives of the Gospels have. The Evangelists remembered with horror what their Master was subjected to by His own people and by the Roman soldiers.

In the beginning of their preaching the narration of the Passion and Death of Jesus was totally absorbed by the narration of the glory of His resurrection. It was the risen Christ that they were preaching. But then, the sacrificial aspect of the redemption began to surface and St. Paul began to "glory in the Cross of Christ." The Evangelists on their part skimpily treated the night and the day when their Master was handed over to be crucified. For Christ those hours of suffering were the culmination of His mission: "For this I came, for this I die" He said to Pontius Pilate. Could we say that Jesus in order to overcome the embarrassment of His Apostles in His Passion and Death, left us "The Fifth Gospel" so that we could know to the ultimate what and how He really suffered and died for us?