Rest in peace, good friend.
If you’ve ever watched a TV special about the Shroud, if you’ve ever read a book about the Shroud or read an article about it, if you’ve ever listened to a relevant podcast, or even talked about the Shroud over a beer, you have undoubtedly come across the name Barrie Schwortz. Barrie worked tirelessly as a leader and organizer of conferences and meetings for many years. Barrie served as an unbiased archivist of documents and photographs. Mostly, Barrie was an all-around inspiration for the world of Shroud researchers and dabblers. If you were looking for pictures of the Shroud, scholarly citations, or academic papers, you have probably clicked on the Shroud of Turin Website. We simply knew it as Shroud dot com. Barrie created the website more than 25 years ago and until recently edited the site and wrote comprehensive, must-read summaries with each frequent update.
When Barrie created the site, there were less than 10,000 websites in the world. Today, there are more than 200 million active sites. Without a doubt, within this cyber vastness, Barrie’s website is the most extensive, visible, and heavily used website on the Shroud. He counted more than fifteen million hits from well over a million people. That’s a lot.
I talked to Barrie for the first time in 2001. I had just heard of the Shroud of Turin and called him out of the blue to ask a question—a sort of what-gives kind of question. The call lasted three hours, during which time Barrie explained why the Shroud was so important and why it might be authentic. His scientific and historical knowledge about the Shroud was encyclopedic, his willingness to help boundless. His objectivity was admirable to the point of frustration, something for which we can all be thankful. He was a consummate professional in every respect.
Barrie was part of the STURP team that went to Turin in 1978 as the Official Documenting Photographer. Since then, he traveled all over the world lecturing about the Shroud. He appeared on almost every major cable and broadcast network, including CNN, PBS, BBC, and Vatican Radio.
Not too long ago, while giving a lecture on the other side of the world, Barrie told a reporter for the New Zealand Herald, “The irony of my life is how much time I spend, as a Jew, trying to educate Christians that this could well be a relic of Jesus.”
The last time I heard Barrie give one of his educational talks was in 2013 in Savannah, Georgia, at the beautiful Catholic Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist. His lecture that evening was an expanded version of a TED talk he had given earlier that year at the Pontifical University inside Vatican City.
Barrie has enriched the lives of countless people throughout the world.
I shall miss him. We will all miss him.
We shall meet again, good friend. Godspeed.
I am so saddened to hear this news. I have followed Barrie Schwortz for years and referred frequently to the Shroud website he hosted for updates on the Shroud. I never met him but feel as if I have lost a friend. Rest in peace, Barrie.
This world is a little less bright with Barrie no longer in it. Yet, if we look to the stars, we might notice that the Heavens have gotten brighter.
In “The Wizard of Oz,” the wizard said to the Tin Man: “And remember, my sentimental friend, that a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.”
By that measure, our Barrie had a heart of gold.
Rest in peace, dear friend. Although we will miss you so much, we will keep your memory alive with endless delightful stories about you.
As Barrie routinely closed his comments to people, “Warmest regards,”
Teddi
Dan, I am sorry to hear of Barrie’s passing. Last year, I had him on my podcast and it was a blessing to so many people.
He was so kind to include my new book on the website, as I had written a chapter in the book about the Shroud.
Barrie and I had become friends, as we talked on the phone several times about the importance of the Shroud. I learned so much from him about it.
He was so humble and I will always be grateful for our friendship. Here is a link to our podcast, for those who wish to see Barrie doing what he did best – telling others about the Shroud and giving credit to so many people who had helped him publicize it over the years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlVF-ev9PuI&t=3s
I miss him and I thank God for his life and the work that he did!
Ken Bailey
author of – The End is Now Coming
I have had the absolute honor of meeting and talking with Barrie several times as I attended 2 Shroud conferences and a presentation of his in Virginia. When I once questioned him via email about his relationship with Christ, he called me at my home and we spoke for hours. I’m truly a nobody in the Shroud world.
In death, people always say ” they were nice etc”. Barrie truly was a gentleman. Open and honest, his passion for the Shroud was so contagious but so was his passion for life. He will be so missed.
I am saddened, today, to learn of his passing. However, we are not built for forever in this world. I look forward to seeing him in Glory.
DC
Thanks for posting this, Dan. Sad news and a reminder that our time here is fleeting. I wonder if there is anyone at Shroud.com that will step in to be the new moderator of the site.
Hi James
Joe Marino will be taking control of Shroud.com.
And there could not be a better choice than Joe Marino.
Bien que je ne sois plus en relation avec la question du linceul de Turin depuis des années, j’ai rencontré Barrie (et Dan et d’autres) lors de conférences.
A cette époque j’ai échangé à de nombreuses reprises par mail et physiquement avec Barrie.
Il m’a fait assez confiance pour me confier un échantillon du Linceul (les résultats sont à voir sur shroud.com).
Barrie fut pour moi un ami et un modèle de probité.
Ma tristesse est immense.
Thibault.
PS: merci Dan de traduire.
As translated by ChatGPT:
Although I have not been involved with the Shroud of Turin for many years, I met Barrie (and Dan and others) at conferences. At that time, I exchanged numerous emails and had physical meetings with Barrie. He trusted me enough to entrust me with a sample of the Shroud (the results can be seen on shroud.com). Barrie was a friend and a model of integrity to me. My sadness is immense.
Thibault.
P.S. Thank you, Dan, for translating.
Hello.
While reading an article about the shroud, I came across a link that connected the reader to a shroud site, though I don’t believe it was shroud.com, and I clicked on it to pose a question about the use of the Maillard reaction in the creation of the shroud image. It had been suggested by the writers of a television documentary I had watched about the shroud, that this reaction was likely how the shroud image was created, which of course meant that it was a forgery.
Little did I expect that Barrie would be the one to write me back, and he was kind enough to provide copious points of information, sources, and facts surrounding my inquiry. We had a couple of further exchanges afterwards, and I went on to watch interviews with him on YouTube as he explained his story and provided more information about the shroud and the tremendous efforts over the years to study it.
When Barrie wrote back to me that first time, I really wasn’t aware of who he was and his association with the shroud. Now in retrospect, I realize I have been honored by the fact that a man of his stature and deep understanding of this sacred artifact had taken the time to correspond with someone like me for the sake of spreading his intimate knowledge of the shroud. That speaks to his passion and dedication for the shroud and what it means for humanity.
His passing is a great loss to that effort, and I hope there are those willing to pick up the mantle and carry the message forward in his stead. People need to hear it, now more than ever.
Daniel Covino.
Around 2018 I met Barrie when he was giving a talk about the Shroud at the Ammadiyah Muslim Jalsa, a gathering of some 25,000 Muslims, plus me, a Jewish teacher of Religious Studies who had specially been invited. I was due to speak on their ‘Voice of Islam” Radio about the importance of interfaith work.
Barrie was mid-lecture, saw me enter, saw my kippah & beard, and with a big smile waved and called out: “See, I’m not the only Jew in the village!”.. We just cracked up over that, and he spent a long while talking with me afterwards.
Just one meeting and he endeared himself to me immediately.
Barrie was my kind of educator, he was approachable, passionate, well informed, and his love of discovery enticed others to investigate for themselves. I’m glad when we can leave our audience, our students, our colleagues asking for more.
In Judaism, when we hear of the passing of anyone we say “Baruch dayan ha’emet” or “Will not the God of the Earth judge rightly?”
Whatever our beliefs, I am sure that we are all better for having spent time with Barrie. Wishing long life and happy memories of him for all those who mourn his passing.
I have spoken with Barrie twice over the years, I considered him a dedicated warrior for the Shroud. He was also a very nice, personable man. He will be missed.
I have been interested in the Shroud for many, many years. I have spoken to Barrie twice in the last 10 years and found him to be very personable and fully dedicated to furthering knowledge of and about the Shroud. He was a very nice man and he will be sorely missed. God bless you, Barrie.
This is hard to conceive it. So it took me so long to write this.
Maybe I will say so. The peculiar thing is that Barrie was Jewish -and always highlighted his Jewishness, with a pride he deserved.
This gave him a unique view on the Shroud of Turin, which is hard to understand to most of us who are Christians (and having in mind centuries old animosity between Jews and Christians). As he told the story every time, he initially had doubts, whether the case of the Shroud of Turin should concern him at all! But nevertheless, he decided to join the STURP. Everything followed then…
What I want to say, is that Barrie taught me more than just the knowledge about the Shroud of Turin. There were sometimes issues we disagreed upon, with mutual respect. Simply, because we both grew up in two different worlds that diverged since the time of Christ. I had to learn why. It took me years to understand. Now I have a sense of understanding -or do I? Well due to Barrie, I did have to learn not only Catholic perspective on the Shroud (in which I grow up), but Jewish as well. And I have learned -and learned a lot -about the Jewish origin of Christianity.
I must say the style how Barrie presented the Shroud to us, his wit and clever judgment was actually arch-Jewish! Barrie was one of the great representatives of the wisdom of the Chosen People.
Thanks God he granted us Barrie!