Am I the only one?

Colin Berry’s latest posting on his Science Buzz blog is called. Shhh. Don’t mention slow-roasted St.Lawrence to shroudie authenticists – or the peculiar imagery on the Lirey pilgrims’ badge. Now, that is some attention grabbing headline.

I don’t think he likes this blog:

I see someone has made reference to the martyred St.Lawrence of Rome on ‘shredstory.com’ aka Troll Central.

He wonders and opines:

Am I the only one to have spotted a connection in the imagery of St.Lawrence’s manner of death, and that of the Man on the Turin Shroud, one that is reinforced by the Lirey Pilgrim’s badge, released it is said to coincide with the first recorded appearance of the Shroud in western Europe (Lirey being a small village near Troyes in the Champagne region of France).

Points of comparison to note are the restraining rope around the waist, the upturned head of a still live man enduring agony, and, on the reverse side of the Lirey badge, a diamond-shaped trellis that might well represent a roasting grid.

OK, I’ve previously suggested that the Shroud was created as a memorial to the last of the Knights Templar. But their leaders – Jacques de Molay, Geoffroi de Charney etc.-  were also slow-roasted on the banks of the Seine in Paris in 1314 in a manner similar to that of St.Lawrence of Rome in AD 258.

Colin wonders, Am I the only one?  I think so. I can’t imagine otherwise.