Posted on 06/14/2017 4:09:22 AM PDT by NYer
The Cathedral of Coria, in Extremadura, Spain, took about 250 years to build. Its history is a long and complex one, and some studies indicate that some of the building elements composing the structure date from the first century.
According to the doctoral thesis of Maria del Carmen Sanabria Sierra, writing under the direction of the renowned art historian Victor Nieto Alcaide, the cathedral may have been the first Christian temple in the entire Iberian Peninsula. A Roman mosaic found in its cloister could be the smoking gun proving it so.
The cathedral occupies the former site of a Visigothic cathedral, the city’s main mosque and an old Romanesque cathedral.
Its construction, which began in 1498 (six years after the Reconquista), was completed around 1748, but the Lisbon earthquake of November 1, 1755, seriously damaged it.
Miguel Pozo Garzón | CC
Although the church itself is an exceptional masterpiece of the Spanish Baroque (it houses both Churriguera’s and Diego Copín de Holanda’s works), it is better known as the church in which what is assumed to be the tablecloth used by Jesus and the Twelve Apostles at the Last Supper is kept.
Officially, the Church preserves this relic because of tradition, but also because there is no evidence that would settle the question on the tablecloth’s authenticity. However, recent studies have linked this tablecloth with the Shroud, explaining that they may well have been woven at the same time, and also used together in the Cenacle.
Museo Coria Cathedral
John Jackson, director of the Turin Shroud Center in Colorado and a former member of NASA, conducted a study on this tablecloth in 2014. It was Jackson himself who, analyzing the Turin Shroud, explained it might have been, originally, not a shroud but a tablecloth. When his team measured the canvas of the Coria tablecloth, they discovered its dimensions were almost identical to those of the Shroud, preserved in Turin’s Duomo. Rebecca Jackson, a member of the team, commented in this interview that, in her opinion, “the Shroud and the Coria tablecloth were used together at the Last Supper.”
“For the Jews, in the great solemnities, and [Passover] being the greatest of them all, it was common to use two tablecloths in a ritual way, to remember the journey through the desert after leaving Egypt,” she explains. “A first tablecloth on which food was deposited, was followed by a second cloth one would place on top of the plates, to prevent sand from falling into the food, as well as to keep insects at bay.”
According to an article published in the Spanish journal El Mundo, Ignacio Dols — a delegate of the Spanish Society of Sindonology — said, “Jackson’s intuition makes sense because Christ was buried in a rush. He died around three o’clock on a Friday afternoon, and was to be buried before approximately six o’clock on the same day, right before Sabbath began.”
That means in just three hours Joseph of Arimathea had to reclaim Jesus’ body from Pilate, obtain permission to bury him, transfer him to a tomb, make preparations, shroud the body, and seal the tomb. “The reasonable thing,” Dols explains, “is that he used whichever elements he had at hand, and a tablecloth of those characteristics was in fact the perfect way to shroud a body.”
“that blue dye on the cloth - would that be techelet, or would that have been an insane expense for a tablecloth?”
Given the abject poverty in the region during that period of Roman occupation, the dearness of such an article should be of scholarly concern. Following the “money trail “ is a sound approach of determination. Although we could never be certain, the odds of any table cloth at all, or even a table (of sufficient size) for that matter, in my view, relegates this artifact to folkloric origin.
If you’re interested in Christ, then why wouldn’t you be interested in all details surrounding that hour when He gave us His Body and Blood?
On the contrary, I fully understand why they would care. People have a history of worshipping things that God used (e.g. the budding staff of Aaron, the pole Moses constructed with the snake, the ephod, etc.). In all these cases God wanted them destroyed because they led people away from worshipping God.
They wanted relics and we're no different. We're always wanting pictures or relics to admire (or worship if you will). This tablecloth is just another item in a long list of historical artifacts to cause people to take their eyes off God.
If someone believes the story of the Last Supper, then can't you understand why the tablecloth doesn't matter?
Fair question, but you would then need to be interested in other items such as the common bowl or the furnishings or the very room. First question that should have been asked is this, was it common practice to use a cloth? If the answer is yes, then historians have a legitimate research vessel. If not, then this is an exercise in chasing a non-existent rabbit down a hole.
It doesn’t seem odd that a special function room would have access to tablecloths. And also a table-sized piece of wood.
I do wonder at the articles apparent assertion that this cloth would have been a mate to the Shroud.
I don’t believe that the Shroud was dyed (though I stand to be corrected), and I don’t believe that Joseph of Arimathea would have had any special link to the Upper Room, enabling him to use their linen.
Also: Joseph provided Christ’s tomb. He would have provided the Shroud as well.
So with that evidence of excitability in the article, I’d like to know more about the provenance of this particular cloth.
Such relics are very highly likely to be an historical artifact of nothing more than early tourism promotion. The priesthood wanted to get their share and charged money to see it, whatever it was, possibly a finger bone supposedly from this or that saint, a piece of wood purportedly from the cross was a biggie. There’s an element of PT Barnum to it all that I find offensive, myself. However, there’s the passing chance that at least some small amount of it isn’t flimflam and might actually be a genuine historical artifact of something other than early tourism promotion, and for that reason alone I’m not entirely personally dismissive. History should be preserved and remembered, even if there are a lot of counterfeits floating around.
Yeah, right.
“I want to believe...”
NYer, thank you for posting this article. I had never heard of this item before.
Answering that question, you'll understand why a 2000 year cloth apparently used by the Person who literally cleaves history in two would be of interest to anybody.
No-one's worshipping this cloth. It doesn't have the Blood of Christ on it.
But if it's real then it has a sacred character. And it would point us towards - not away from but towards - the Author of Life.
I would agree. It's when people build large churches housing an artifact that causes people to kneel and pray that is more problematic. There is a difference between a museum and a church.
Many Biblical and historical references indicate that people “reclined” while dining. It is common middle east practice to sit on a cloth to dine. With the food in the middle within arms reach.
It may not be a “table” cloth, but it could be a cloth that a traveler would use to recline and dine on.
I find it typical of Catholics to preserve important relics from salvation history. What I did not know until the last two weeks was that some of the cathedrals were built specifically to house some of these relics. For example, Notre Dame in Paris was built to house the Crown of Thorns and one of the nails from Jesus’ cross. When they are not on display in the cathedral they are held in Sainte Chapel, a jewel box of a church just one block away. The cathedral of Chartres was built to hold a veil worn by the Blessed Virgin Mary. The cathedral at Santiago Compostella helds the remains of St. James the Apostle, one of the Sons of Thunder!
I’m not surprised that a Catholic church in Spain was dedicated to a tablecloth used at the Last Supper. It is interesting that the Shroud might have been a second layer of table cloth used in conjunction with this relic.
Yet in all of these places the most important fact is the true presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. All of these churches, while containing precious relics, are centered around celebration of mass, where at Jesus’ Word He changes bread and wine into His body and blood. He desires to commune with us.
“I know that my Redeemer Lives” is a battle cry of the Christian. He lives in His resurrected body, He lives in His Mystical Body the Church, and He lives in the Eucharist.
An artifact that causes people to kneel and pray to God.
That forcibly reminds them of the reality of the Incarnate Christ.
That ... doesn’t sound so terrible.
Attributing powers to physical objects and conflating them with God seems to be an historical issue there, agreed.
Why should one need an artifact to want to kneel and pray to God?
No-one’s worshipping this cloth. It doesn’t have the Blood of Christ on it.
But if it’s real then it has a sacred character. And it would point us towards - not away from but towards - the Author of Life.
If it had the Blood of Christ on it you would worship it?
No, it doesn’t point you toward the Author of life, it distracts you from Him. You spend your time with the artifact instead of the Living Lord.
But what if an artefact helped you - what if it stung you into facing the awesome Reality of the Incarnation?
Now this tablecloth is not a good example of what I mean - the Shroud would be better. Or the Ark of the Covenant.
But here’s a secular, neutral example.
That photo of a loved one in your wallet or on your phone. Why do you carry it?
Answer: so that in the busy day you can be recollected to your wife, your daughter, your son. You glance at the photo and reconnect with them in love.
A relic that recollects you to God - that by its nature directs and recollects you towards Him. How is that not good and useful?
Christs Body and Blood is the Real Presence. Do you mean that you wouldn't worship Him, fully present in His Body and Blood?
No, it doesn’t point you toward the Author of life, it distracts you from Him. You spend your time with the artifact instead of the Living Lord.
So - if we carry pictures and momentoes of a loved one, then these things actively prevent us from thinking about, or being reminded of, that person. Got it.
Seriously?
Hey Grannie’s been looking for those!
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