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On the afternoon of Thursday 30 December 2021 some young people, signed up in
the first stage of the European Meeting of Taizè, participated in a moment of
prayer in the Cathedral presided by Archbishop Mons. Cesare Nosiglia,
broadcast on TV2000 and social networks, and then passed in front of the
Shroud.
(La Voce e il Tempo, December 30, 2021)
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The European meeting of Taizé in two phases
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With the new restrictions linked to the evolution of the pandemic, it will
unfortunately not be possible to experience the European Meeting in Turin as
it was planned. This year, exceptionally, the European Meeting will take place
in two successive stages. An online meeting will take place between 28
December 2021 and 1 January 2022. Those who want to participate will be able
to do so in streaming. Then, from 7 to 10 July 2022, the Churches of Turin
invite young Europeans to come in large numbers to this new stage of the
“pilgrimage of trust on earth”. Participants will be accommodated in families
and parishes in the area, and will meet for prayers, exchange times and
workshops, including the opportunity to pray in front of the Holy Shroud.
Young people who wish can stop for a few days in Taizé on the way to Turin or
after the meeting on the way back.
(https://www.taizetorino.it/taize-2020.html)
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 On
November 26, 2021, Father Heinrich Pfeiffer, a German Jesuit, a well-known
scholar of the Shroud and the Veil of Manoppello, died in Berlin at the age of
82. Theologian and art critic, he was full professor of Christian Art History
at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and a member of the Pontifical
Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church.
(Il Centro, November 27, 2021)
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 On
November 17, 2021 Petrus Soons passed away.
Graduated in Medicine at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam in 1970, he was
the founder and director of a clinic in Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles.
He created the holographic images of the Shroud that are on display in
exhibits around the world.
(https://shroud3d.com/)
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Shroud, Mgr Nosiglia: "It instills strong hope in those who contemplate it"
The words of the Archbishop of Turin during the mass for the annual feast
of the Sacred Linen, in which he announced the appointment of a priest of the
Guarini Chapel
 "The
Shroud instills in those who contemplate it with faith a great hope, but not
human, which is often illusory, but a strong hope that truly says that evil
can be overcome, that there is something beyond". These are the words of
the archbishop of Turin, monsignor Cesare Nosiglia, in the homily during the
celebration in the Guarini Chapel for the annual feast of the Sacred Linen.
"Of
course - monsignor Nosiglia underlines - the way is that of pain, but
it opens up to a higher dimension, the awareness that where there is the
apparently more difficult road there is a positive outcome deriving from the
certain hope of final victory". The archbishop then notes that "we are
also here to learn from the Lord the grace to free ourselves from the many
difficulties that haunt today our life and that of our neighbor. The trials we
face are of various kinds, the difficulties that overwhelm us and prevent us
from believing in Christ and the Gospel. Then we sometimes have the
presumption of managing our life in the best possible way, ignoring that only
with the help of God and his love we can calmly face also our family and
social trials and difficulties".
"And
still - Nosiglia adds - we are called to overcome the discouragement
that takes our heart and life when we see it escape due to the coronavirus
that brings so much worry and anguish to everyone. And it is a trial, above
all, the lack of hope and the sense of living and suffering like Christ, who
lived and assumes our pains to help us fight with strength for life always and
in any case, at any cost".
Mgr Nosiglia also decided to appoint a priest of the Guarini Chapel "so
that in particular dates or times that recall the Shroud he can celebrate mass
or other liturgical functions here". He announced it during the
celebration, which this year is held right in the Chapel, which has returned
to shine after the restorations following the fire that seriously damaged it
in 1997. (TorinOggi, May 4, 2021)
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Holy Saturday in contemplation in front of the Shroud on live TV and on social
media
"Let's
go back again this year in front of the Shroud,
 to
pray for our community and for the whole world still besieged by the pandemic
". Thus the Archbishop of Turin, Cesare Nosiglia, began the meditation in
front of the Shroud which was held on April 3 to lead a moment of prayer, even
if, "It is not a real exhibition but rather a contemplation of the sacred
Linen placed in its Reliquary" he specified. The appointment with the
Shroud was at 5 pm. The sheet which, according to tradition, wrapped Jesus in
the sepulcher, has not been moved from the Reliquary in which it is kept.
Nosiglia approached it at the beginning and at the end of the prayer. In the
Turin Cathedral a little crowd participated in the prayer.
The images were broadcast live on the television channel TV2000 but also on
computer screens and on social networks, via the "Holy Shroud" Facebook
page, on the official sindone.org website and on YouTube where the
event began at 4:30 pm.
"The
day of Holy Saturday is central in the journey of the Church. The Shroud, in
addition to being a mirror of the Gospel, offers us not only the tortured body
of Jesus in the signs of his passion mentioned in the Gospels, but it is also
an icon of this day which is a prelude to the Easter of Resurrection.",
Archbishop Nosiglia explained.
The first part of the celebration (from 5 pm) saw the various signs of the
Passion explained (from the crown of thorns, to the scourging, to the nails in
the hands and feet and to the spear that penetrates the side of the Lord),
commented by some people, chosen among those who do their utmost to alleviate
the suffering of others, or who have experienced the pandemic, or other forms
of disease, or injustice or violence. Shroud experts from the Turin
International Center of Sindonology also took part.
The Shroud during the
prayer
The second part of the afternoon (from 5.30 pm) was dedicated to prayer
presided by Archbishop Nosiglia. This year, unlike last year, the prayer was
set according to a millenary tradition that marked Holy Saturday as a day of
silence, meditation and prayer before the tomb of Christ.
 "I
hope - said Nosiglia - that all this will help our communities but also
every person of good will to welcome in hope and for believers in the faith,
this Easter message of death and resurrection in order not to give up and
never be discouraged in the face of any tragedy and difficulty that we have to
face in life but also to work so that many of our brothers and sisters in need
of support and help find in each of us the courage to imitate the Lord who did
not allow himself to be overcome by evil but won it with good and because of
this he also defeated death.
We
celebrate this contemplation in our Cathedral: and a few meters above us we
can see, finally restored, the Chapel invented by Guarino Guarini, which was
the first "house" of the Shroud here in Turin. In these days the restorations
of the Bertola altar, in the center of the Chapel, have also been completed:
and it is an important sign, which gives us courage on our ability to recover
from even the most serious events. But it remains a place of worship, prayer
and reflection: also for this reason I hope that there will soon be
opportunities to bring up there the presence of a liturgy that reconnects our
culture and our past to the "present" of prayer of the church.
The message that the celebration wants to offer to everyone is this: Your
love is forever".
(La Repubblica, April 4, 2021)
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Turin, the Chapel of the Shroud returns to new life: the restoration of the
altar has also been completed
With the restoration of the great altar designed by the court architect
Antonio Bertola, the recovery of the Chapel of the Shroud ends, 24 years after
the tragic fire that seriously damaged it, causing fear for its own
conservation. After the return of the property, that took place in 2018, this
is the last piece that was still missing to admire the seventeenth-century
masterpiece by Guarino Guarini returned to new life. Although its spaces will
not be open to visitors until further notice - they are in fact included in
the path of the Royal Museums, currently closed due to the pandemic - the
altar will be admired from the cathedral, framed in the window overlooking the
nave, connecting the chapel and the church. As the director Enrica Pagella
communicated during the presentation, this will remain open from March 31 to
April 8, for the Easter period.
 The
restoration of the altar in which the Shroud was kept until 1993, directed by
the architect of the Royal Museums Marina Feroggio and carried out by the
Consorzio di San Luca, cost 240 thousand euros: the funding came from MIBACT,
which donated contributions relating to the Art Bonus 2018, from the Compagnia
di San Paolo and the Specchio dei Tempi Foundation, which allocated part of
the funds recovered after the 1997 fire to it. The Council for the enhancement
of artistic and cultural heritage is instead completing the production of a
free app that will allow you to take an immersive tour inside the chapel,
focusing in particular on the altar.
After the recovery, which took place on both fronts, this one shows once again
its precious structure, with the gilded wooden frames, the 8 putti of the
balustrade and 2 of the 4 lateral angels (the other 2 were destroyed during
the fire). The wooden rails that allowed the opening of the grate in which the
Holy Linen was kept have also been restored. (La Repubblica, March 30,
2021)
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