Charles Pellegrino on the Jesus Tomb and the Shroud…

A bit over a year ago the World was stunned by claims that the Tomb of Jesus had been found, called the Talpiot Tomb because it was found in the Talpiot Hills near Jerusalem, with forensic evidence that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had a child. What’s happened since then? Knee-jerk reactioneering by all the usual suspects – fundamentalists of all stripes calling it a hoax, and nut-bag atheists saying it had to be untrue because Jesus didn’t exist (sic). Once the Attention Deficit Disordered media forgot about the Tomb new findings by its researchers have opened up a whole new picture – the Tomb might be what it was claimed to be but the “Holy Couple” of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is looking less and less likely. Dr. Charles Pellegrino was involved in the indepth study of the Tomb from the start, and is a good friend of James Cameron. Here’s his conclusions on the Tomb and its relationship to the Shroud of Turin…

Discussion Page on Talpiot Tomb… see post Thu Sep 18, 2008 8:24 am by Charlie P.

…basically the Tomb ossuary marked with Jesus’ name appears to have contained two different cloths consistent with the Shroud. Also fibres from the Shroud show signs of being left to accumulate a mineral patina from a tomb, just like the Talpiot Tomb.

Second, Mary wasn’t married to Jesus but Jesus did adopt a son, Judas Didymus Thomas, and this adoption is recorded in some very early traditions in The Gospel of Philip, an Apocryphal Gospel containing some genuine early tradition. It was customary in those days for adoption to be considered the legal equivalent of birthing a child, and to avoid reprisals against Thomas, Jesus also called him “brother” legally. Roman Law generally left siblings alone – remember Jesus had been executed on what amounted to sedition charges, so making Thomas ‘brother’ would protect him.

All in all, an incredible boost to the basic facts of Christianity, more light on Jesus’ family, and a big boost for linking the Shroud directly to Jesus.

Addendum
Dr. Pellegrino has kindly let me reproduce one of his comments, summarising his current understanding of the Tomb and the Shroud…

More details are above and on other threads in this discussion group, related to the Talpiot Tomb. At this point, given the unique biological anomalies in fiber traces recovered from Jesus ossuary bio-concretions – (all consistent with the Turin fibers), and other evidence including consistent patina fingerprint, and a tentative date on one fiber collected on sticky tape from the Turin Shroud (bracketing 1st century AD) – to say nothing of the fact that that I would never have accepted the cuts for the C-14 tests allowed by Cardinal Pellegrino over 20 years ago (too many recorded cuts and reweaves during the past 400 years, in the permitted sampling corner) – I’m willing to give it a maximum probability ceiling of 50%, that the Turin Shroud (regardless of whether or not the image of the Turin man is a Medieval artistic enhancement over the blood stains), is real and is original with the Jesus ossuary.

Much more data is required, to either negate or confirm this. One random fiber that seems to date, by C-14, from the right period (the shroud being consistent with wool weaves from another Jerusalem tomb and with flax herringbone weaves from Masada fabric) has my attention. Very well, then. What we await is permission to date ten more fibers from random points on the Turin Shroud, along with some blood stained fibers to see if mtDNA can be recovered and matches mtDNA from the Jesus ossuary bio-concretions. Jesiuts and Franciscans, by the way, have been extremely supportive and helpful, during the past year, with research on the Talpiot Tomb and apocrypha related to it. Also on Turin.

Full text can be found here…