The Shroud has been the subject of veneration and curiosity throughout all its existence of over nineteen hundred years. Many documents are available making it possible to trace its presence all the way back to the day of the Resurrection. The records are not continuous. We have gaps of many years without any record. Ian Wilson in "The Mysterious Shroud (Doubleday & Company, 1986, Garden City, N.Y.) has done a splendid job in presenting the best historical arguments and evidences for the presence of the Holy Shroud during the early centuries. There is a tradition that the apostle St. Jude took the Holy Shroud and brought it to the city of Edessa, near Antioch, Turkey. Indeed the statue of St. Jude is usually represented wearing a medal, or scapular, with the Face of Jesus. Some historians say that St. Jude took the Shroud away from Jerusalem to prevent such a precious relic from being destroyed by the enemies of Christ.

The Face of Jesus from the veil of Veronica has been examined by scientists; their opinion is that it is a painting of the sixth century. However, the scientists are certain that it has been copied from the Face of Jesus on the Holy Shroud. There is an evident resemblance between the two Faces. That is why the painting is named Veronica, which means "true image." (Vera-Icon) True image, because it is copied from the Shroud. There are also many mosaics and frescoes of Jesus as Savior, in Greece, Russia and Italy dating from the early centuries of Christianity. Artists say that in most of them there is a striking resemblance between the Face on the mosaics and on the frescoes with the one of the Holy Shroud. Given such similarities it can be concluded that the Shroud existed, was held in veneration, and was well known by the people and artists in the early stages of Christian art.

There are some good reliable records on the presence of the Shroud in the eighth, ninth and tenth centuries dealing with the "Mandylion," a cloth preserved in the city of Edessa, the same cloth that the tradition attributes to St. Jude. The Shroud was exposed in the Church of St. Helena, in the city of Constantinople (today, Istanbul) for public veneration, as is narrated by a crusader from France, Robert de Clari. In 1203 he undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. While he traveled this good man would write his diary. We read in his records that in the Church of St. Helena, Constantinople, the Holy Shroud of Christ was preserved, and every Friday it was exposed for public veneration.

The city of Constantinople was destroyed by a war the next year. The Shroud disappeared. In the words of Robert De Clari, "... neither Greek nor Frenchman knew what became of it. " After a century, a family in France by the name of Geoffrey de Charny, announced that they were in possession of the Shroud. In 1357 the first public exposition of the Shroud in Europe takes place at Lirey, France. It was on the occasion of this exposition that Bishop Henry of Poitiers made a statement that the Shroud is fraudulent, because he felt it would have been impossible for such an obscure family as that of the Charny to have come into possession of such an invaluable relic. The statement of this Bishop has been used by those who refuse to believe in the authenticity of the Shroud and to prove that the Shroud is only the work of a very clever artist. So the argument continues; the question is still raised: "is this the true Shroud?" Many, disregarding all the scientific evidences in its favor, continue to say that it is the work of a clever artist.

The Shroud is preserved today in the Cathedral of Turin, Italy. The late ex-king of Italy Umberto of Savoy, who was the official owner of the Shroud, left it in his last will (1983) to the Vatican. Today the Archbishop of Turin is the official custodian of the relic.

In conclusion therefore, it is very difficult to advance a chronology of the Shroud from its point of origin in Jerusalem to the Cathedral of Turin to prove its authenticity.