The Shroud of Turin, the linen cloth believed to be the burial shroud of Christ, has now gone mobile. A new app available for the Apple iPad, Shroud 2.0, allows users to view the Shroud in High Definition as well as obtain information on the different aspects of the relic.
The Shroud, one of the most well-known and debated symbols of Christianity, bears the image of a man who has suffered scourging and crucifixion, and is believed to be the burial linen used to wrap the body of Christ. Although there is no definitive or conclusive evidence, the Shroud is venerated as a reminder of the suffering Christ endured for all mankind.
In his 1988 visit to the Cathedral of Turin, where the Shroud is currently kept, Blessed Pope John Paul II reflected on the symbol God’s love portrayed in the linen, describing it as “the mirror of the Gospel.”
“The Shroud is […]an image of God’s love as well as of human sin. It invites us to rediscover the ultimate reason for Jesus’ redeeming death,» the late Holy Father said. «In the incomparable suffering that it documents, the love of the One who «so loved the world that he gave his only Son» is made almost tangible and reveals its astonishing dimensions. In its presence believers can only exclaim in all truth: ‘Lord, you could not love me more!’, and immediately realize that sin is responsible for that suffering: the sins of every human being.”
The application, which was designed and produced by the Haltadefinizione company, was created in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Turin, the Diocesan Commision for the Holy Shroud and the Museum of the Holy Shroud. The new app is seen as a tool of evangelization to coincide with the Year of Faith.
Shroud 2.0 allows user to explore details of the Shroud with access to high definition photographs that can zoom into areas that are almost invisible to the naked eye. According to a communique on the application, the high definition photos of the Shroud were taken by Haltadefinizione in 2008. The same technology was used to photograph Leonardo Da Vinci’s masterpiece, ‘The Last Supper’. The digitization process recomposed 1649 snapshots into one single image of the shroud into one single 12 billion pixel image.
The app, which will be available soon on the Android operating system, will give people the opportunity to view a “Digital Exposition of the Shroud on their iPads. The application offers, for the first time in the Shroud’s history, the most detailed image ever achieved and made available to the general public.
Shroud 2.0 will be available for download on the Apple App Store on Good Friday, March 29th.
