By Fr. Andrew Dalton, LC, STD

Fr. Dalton distinguishes the devotional and ontological senses of the word relic and traces the Shroud’s Catholic identity by custody, by veneration, by five centuries of liturgical observance, by the explicit language of a 1506 papal bull, and finally by its 1983 transfer to the Holy See. The case is unambiguous; the harder question of authenticity is taken up in his companion article.

Fr. Andrew Dalton, LC, is a biblical scholar and Professor of Shroud Studies at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome, and a board member of the Othonia Research Group.