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<img height='225' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/1583.jpg' > 
Shroud of Turin Scott 1583 (2015)</center>
 
On February 19, 2015, Vatican City issued the stamp shown above in preparation for the public display of the Shroud of Turin from April 19 to June 24 of that year. The exposition of the shroud was one of the longest public displays of the shroud since its transition to Turin in the 16th century. During the exposition, on June 21, Pope Francis made a pilgrimage to view the shroud, which he called an "icon of a man scourged and crucified".
 
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<img height='325' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Shroudofturin_rotated.jpg'> 
Full length image of the Shroud of Turin 
From Wikimedia Commons, in the Public Domain</center>
 
The Shroud of Turin, also known as the Holy Shroud or Santa Sindone, is a length of linen cloth bearing the negative image of a man. Some describe the image as depicting Jesus in the belief that the fabric is the burial shroud in which He was wrapped following His crucifixion. The shroud’s authenticity as the burial cloth of Jesus has been contested and debated for years, and the position of the Catholic Church is that it neither formally endorses nor rejects the authenticity of the shroud. However, the Church does endorse devotion to it.
 
There are historical records concerning the existence of the shroud prior to the 14th century, but the first record of the shroud occurred around 1355, when a shroud bearing the image of a crucified man appeared in the town of Lirey, in north-central France. From the 15th century on, the history of the shroud has been extensively documented. It became the property of the House of Savoy in 1453, and since 1578 it has been kept in the royal chapel of the Cathedral of Turin, in northern Italy. In 1683, it has been located in the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, which was designed Guarino Guarini and is connected to both the royal palace and the Turin Cathedral. In 1983, the Shroud was officially given to the Holy See by the House of Savoy.
 
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<img height='325' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Secundo_Pia_Turinske_platno_1898.jpg'> 
Secondo Pia's 1898 negative of the image of the Shroud of Turin 
From Wikimedia Commons, in the Public Domain</center>
 
The shroud was first photographed in 1898, during a public exhibition. The most famous photograph, taken by Italian photographer Secondo Pia, shown above, provides perhaps the clearest image of a man’s face on the shroud, when viewing the negative image from the photograph. Over the years, in efforts to date the shroud and provide scientific proof of its authenticity, it has been subjected many forms of analysis. Despite numerous proposed hypotheses regarding the shroud, it has not been conclusively identified and continues to be intensely studied.
 
Despite all the controversies surrounding the Shroud of Turin, the Shroud serves as a powerful reminder of Christ’s passion, death and eventual resurrection on Easter. Scientific experts and biblical scholars will continue to debate the authenticity of the Shroud, but its importance to true believers as a representation of the acts of Christ taken for us through his passion and crucifixion does not require scientific substantiation.
 
In addition to the stamp at the top of the article, Vatican City also released a two-stamp set in 1998 in anticipation of the Shroud's exposition that year. One of the stamps is based on the Secondo Pia image of the face on the Shroud, and the second depicts the home of the Shroud, the Turin Cathedral.
 
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<img height='225' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/1073.jpg' >
<img height='225' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/1074.jpg' > 
1998 Exposition of the 
Shroud of Turin 
Scott 1073 and 1074 (1998)</center>
 
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REFERENCES: 
<li>Wikipedia, <a href= 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shroud_of_Turin'>Shroud of Turin</a> 
<li>UFN, February 19, 2015, <a href= 'https://vaticanstamps.org/UFN/images/2015-2-03-1.jpg'>Exposition of the Holy Shroud</a> 
<li>UFN, May 19, 1998, <a href='https://vaticanstamps.org/UFN/images/1998-2-02-1.jpg'>Exposition of the Shroud</a> 
<li>Vatican Philatelic Society Website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search

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