The Georgia Bulletin

Fri, Dec 5, 2008


What I Have Seen and Heard - Archbishop Gregory's Weekly Column

Artist says shroud's image left on cloth at moment of Resurrection

Published: 2005-09-20

LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- World-renowned Los Angeles liturgical artist Isabel Piczek earned accolades for her breakthrough theory "opening new doors of research" at the International Shroud of Turin Conference in Dallas Sept. 8-11. The conference drew 160 scientists, artists and physicians from around the world to share the latest research on the shroud, believed by many to portray a full-length image of the crucified Christ. A Catholic and also a theoretical physicist, Piczek believes the image was left on the shroud at the moment of Christ's resurrection. Using a statue she created as a visual aid that measures one-third the actual size of the man depicted on the shroud, Piczek presented her explanation of the image's "concealed bas-relief effect." She theorizes the image of the shroud was transported onto a straight and taut linen above and below the man's hovering body. "One of the puzzling mysteries of the shroud is that the image transported to an absolutely straight, taut surface is not flat. It is semi-three-dimensional, very much the same as a bas-relief is in art," explained Piczek.