Posted on 04/07/2010 6:04:32 AM PDT by NYer
Hitler dispatched aides to swipe the sacred relic - believed to have been used to wrap the dead body of Christ - after visiting Italy in 1938.
Vatican officials had it moved south from Turin to the Montevergine monastery in the country's Campania region, but the Fuhrer's henchmen eventually stumbled across the shroud's hiding place.
However they were unable to find it because of a group of brave monks who surrounded the altar in which the artifact was stashed and pretended to pray, Italian news agency ANSA reported today.
Their quick-thinking meant Hitler - who historians say was obsessed with religious symbols and the occult - was never able to get his hands on the linen relic, which has captivated the minds of worshipers and skeptics alike for more than 500 years.
In an interview published in Italian magazine Diva e Donna, Father Andrea Davide Cardin, the director of the Montevergine library, said: "The Holy Shroud was moved in secret to the sanctuary in the Campania region on the precise orders of the (Royal) House of Savoy (which owned it at the time) and the Vatican.
"Officially this was to protect it from possible bombing (in Turin). In reality, it was moved to hide it from Hitler who was apparently obsessed by it.
"When he visited Italy in 1938, his top-ranking Nazi aides asked unusual and insistent questions about the shroud," the monk said.
"Then in 1943 when German troops searched the Montevergine church, the monks there pretended to be in deep prayer before the altar inside which the relic was hidden.
"This was the only reason it wasn't discovered."
The shroud remained hidden at the monastery until 1946 when it was returned to the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin.
It bears a faint image of the front and back of a tall, long-haired, bearded man and appears to be stained by blood from wounds in his feet, wrists and side.
Experts have repeatedly questioned its authenticity but an estimated two million people from across the globe are expected to view the shroud when it goes on view to the public later this month for the first time since 2000.

Learn the Facts - Shroud Story
Ping!
Fortunately Indiana Jones was able to thwart his evil plot.
You would think he would have learned after not getting the Ark of the Covenant, or the Grail.
ok you beat me...
Why would they pretend to be in deep prayer? Isn’t that what monks do?
Color would have clashed with his black boots.
I would count the fact that that demon was interested in it as evidence of it’s legitimacy.
it’s = its
If he was obsessed with religious relics, what else did he collect or try to obtain? I’ve heard this claim before, but is there actual evidence of him amassing such a collection?
There is a very interesting book on Hitler’s obsession with the occult entitled “The Spear of Destiny”, the Spear being the one used to stab Jesus in his side while being crucified. The book documents in great detail Hitler’s rise to power and how much of it was driven by his occult beliefs and his admiration for Nietzche, Schopenhaur, and Wagner.
Interesting point.
Especially with THAT guy breathing down their necks?
So, I’d think he wanted to do nasty things with Christian relics. Prolly would have burned the Shroud.
A thing that never hit me until the Easter Gospel this week was that there were two cloths used to wrap Jesus’ body, one of which was for the head which He rolled up nicely after rising (have to love a tidy Savior). But the Shroud has body AND face images - shouldn’t it only have the body if another cloth wrapped His head?
Well, I don't know about all of that, but Sgt Maj Jonas Blaine protected the tip of the spear that pierced the sides of Christ. (The Unit reference)
I'm not sure about religious relics per se but the Nazis were infamous art thieves....this book is a great account of the Nazi looting and allied efforts to return artwork during and right after WWII...

No, not at all, he thought the relics had supernatural power and he wanted access to that power.
“Nazis-I hate those guys.”
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