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poker holes

Researchers have identified an L-shaped pattern of small burn holes, repeated four times. They are often called the poker holes because some have speculated that the patterns of the holes were created by someone thrusting a hot poker through the Shroud while it was folded in four. Some believe that this was some sort of ""test by fire"" by early Christians to ascertain the Shroud's authenticity. That seems fanciful and there is no good reason for imagining that this is how the holes were created. But they are burn holes. Because there are four matched mirrored repetitions of the holes showing progressive levels of burn penetration so that each pattern has four burn marks or holes, it is certain that the cloth was folded in half lengthwise and then widthwise when the burns were made.

It is more likely that the burns were caused by a thurifer who may have accidentally sprinkled some granules of burning incense onto the Shroud. Regardless of how the burn holes came about, it did not happen in a devastating fire in Chambéry in 1532 when the Shroud was severely damaged by its burning storage reliquary. We know this because a painted copy of the Shroud, the Lierre Shroud painted in 1516, possibly by Albrecht Durer or Bernard van Orley, clearly shows the burn holes but does not, obviously, show the 1532 damage.

The burns holes are significant because they can be seen in an illustration in the Hungarian Pray Manuscript found in the Budapest National Library. This codex is circa 1195 CE.

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Shroud of Turin Story

© 2005 Daniel R. Porter, Bronxville, New York