The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud by Julia Navarro

Author:Julia Navarro
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
ISBN: 9780553903355
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2006-12-25T16:00:00+00:00

“Wow! You look terrific! Been to a party?” Ana Jiménez was just entering the hotel as Sofia got out of the car.

“Been to a nightmare. What about you? How are things going?”

“All right, I guess. This is harder than I thought, but I’m not giving up.”

“Good for you.”

“Had dinner yet?”

“No, but I’m going to call Marco’s room; if he hasn’t eaten yet I’ll see if he wants to come down to the dining room.”

“Mind if I join you?”

“I don’t. Don’t know about Marco—hold on a minute and I’ll let you know.”

Sofia came back from the front desk holding a message.

“He’s gone out to dinner with Giuseppe. They’re at the Turin carabinieri comandante’s house.”

“So let’s you and I eat. It’s on me.”

“No, I’ll treat.”

They ordered dinner and a bottle of Barolo and measured each other.

“Sofia, there’s one episode in the history of the shroud that seems very confused.”

“Just one? I’d say they all are. Its appearance in Edessa, its disappearance in Constantinople….”

“I read that in Edessa there was a very well established and influential Christian community, and it was so fierce that the emir of Edessa battled the Byzantine army rather than be forced to turn over the shroud.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Sofia confirmed. “In 944 the Byzantines stole the shroud in a battle with the Muslims, who at that time ruled Edessa. The emperor of Byzantium, Romanus Lecapenus, wanted the Mandylion, which is what the Greeks called it, because he thought if he had it he’d have God’s protection and be invincible. He sent an army under his best general and offered a deal to the emir of Edessa: If the emir turned over the shroud, the army would withdraw without doing the city any harm, he would pay generously for the Mandylion, and he would free two hundred Muslim captives.

“But the Christian community in Edessa refused to turn over the Mandylion to the emir, and since the emir, even though he was a Muslim, feared that the shroud had magical powers, he decided to fight. The Byzantines won, and the Mandylion was taken to Byzantium in August of the year 944. The Byzantine liturgy celebrates the day. The Vatican archives contain the text of Pope Gregory’s homily on August 16 when he received the cloth.

“The emperor sent it for safekeeping to the Church of St. Mary of Blachernae in Constantinople, where every Friday it was worshipped by the faithful,” she continued. “From there it disappeared and it wasn’t seen again until it appeared in France in the fourteenth century.”

“And that’s what I’ve been trying to figure out. Did the Templars take it?” Ana asked. “Some authors say that it was the Knights Templar that stole the shroud from the Byzantines.”

“It’s hard to say. The Templars are blamed for everything—they’re pictured as these supermen who could do anything. They may have taken the Mandylion, or they may not have. The Crusaders sowed death and destruction—and confusion—wherever they went. Or it may be that Balduino de Courtenay, who became emperor of Constantinople, pawned it, and after that it was lost.

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