The Shroud Key by Vincent Zandri Read Free Book Online

precise.”
    I was a bit struck by her obvious knowledge of the shroud. But then, I could only guess that she was able to pick up quite a lot about her husband’s work by living with him for all those years.
    “My question stands then. Why study it at all?”
    “Because the shroud is more than a depiction of the body of Jesus as he was laid to rest in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea immediately following the crucifixion. Andre was convinced that it was a giant map which was created in order to keep a precise and running record of the Jesus remains locations.”
    “Locations?” I ask. “As in the plural usage?”
    “Yes, take it from a Freshman English Comp 101 teacher…Location ssss .” She exaggerates the s at the end of “locations” making it sound like an extended Z.
    I feel the light hairs on the back of my neck stand up at attention. Feel my blood begin to flow faster. So Andre had been onto something all along. Eight years ago whenever he’d bring up the subject of the shroud and its map-like possibilities, I would laugh and shrug it off as a nutty professor’s overactive imagination. But now it appears his theory had some real validity to it.
    She goes on, “For centuries people have been trying to make sense of the shroud, wishing and praying that it was the true cloth that wrapped Jesus’s remains when he was pulled down from the cross. Proof of the mortal corpus and the divine resurrection incarnate. But in all their zeal to confirm their faith, they never stopped for a second to consider that the shroud could actually be a guide in disguise. A way for the disciples, the bloodline of the disciples, and eventually, Holy Roman Catholic Church to keep track of the Jesus remains once he died.”
    “The cloth has been guarded over by Franciscan monks for centuries,” I point out.
    Anya nods.
    She says, “The Vatican only allows limited testing every twenty years and even then by a handful of scientists they hand pick. For the rest of the time it’s locked in an impenetrable vault. It’s not even available for public display in its bullet-proof glass case expect for once every dozen years.”
    “Why give something that much protection if in essence it’s just another 14 th century painting that might be hung in the Uffizi or the Louvre?”
    “Precisely because the Vatican is aware of its true meaning as a map. A purpose and a meaning that would disprove the essence of Christianity.”
    “A purpose shrouded in the form of a fake image undergoing a false transformation.” I burst out laughing. “A brilliant deception. The shroud is really the ultimate proof of Christ’s mortality while at the same time masquerading as ultimate proof of his divinity. Talk about sheep in a wolf’s clothing.”
    “Andre knows all this of course, and for years he’s been begging the Vatican for close inspection of the shroud. It’s part of the reason for his coming to Florence to teach within the proximity of the shroud in the first place. If he could get a serious look at it, he might discover not one map of the present whereabouts of the Jesus remains, but many maps detailing many different resting places. Andre firmly believed the bones were always on the move because they were always being hunted.”
    “Like now,” I say. “He must have the map hidden somewhere.”
    “No,” she says, once more shaking her head. “There’s one major problem with my husband’s map theory.”
    “And that is?”
    “Whoever created the shroud wasn’t foolish enough to simply draw detailed maps on the back and front of the Christ image. They hid them somewhere within the body itself. Existing photographs haven’t been helping Andre find a precise location. They only offer tidbits of information. He needed to see the entire thing, face to face, in real-time.”
    “So you’re telling me Andre never actually uncovered a precise map.” It’s a question.
    “Portions…Suggestions, but not a full map. A few lines and