Page - 48 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 05/01

During the early modern age, a large linen cloth considered a precious relic was the object of a remarkable popular devotion in the city of Besançon, in the east- ern region of Franche-Comté. The fabric, constituted of two panels sewn to- gether lengthwise, is said to have measured 8 feet in length and almost 4 feet in width, thus about 2.5 meters by 1.2 meters. The frontal imprint of a man’s naked body, with five wounds, one to each hand and foot and one on the chest, was visible on its front and back. It was believed not to have been made by hu- man hands, but rather to be a trace, an “imprint” left by Christ’s body. During its substantiated period of veneration, from the early 16th century until the end of the 18th century, this winding sheet was first preserved in a chapel within the cathedral of Saint-Etienne and, after the church was abandoned in the lat- er 17th century and the building subsequently demolished, in the cathedral of Saint-Jean. Famous far and wide, it received particular devotion and was the fo- cus of religious beliefs, practices, liturgies and public ostensions celebrated on a regular basis two times a year, at Easter and on Ascension Day.1 For a time it was a serious competitor for the prestigious and already well-publicized shroud of the House of Savoy, which was displayed for some time in the historical capital of the Savoy region, Chambéry, and subsequently, from the late 16th century, in Piedmont, in the ducal court’s newly instituted capital, Turin.2 The winding sheet of Besançon was a reason for pride in the city and also a source of con- siderable income, an important element in the social and political identity of a region proud to be a Habsburg island in a sea of French territory.3 During the French Revolution, the cloth was sent to Paris and examined by the National Convention. It was judged to be a fraud, painted by some artist as a prop prob- ably used in the liturgical performance of Easter Passion plays and certainly not the sacred touch relic it had been claimed to be for almost three centuries. A stencil found in the church’s premises was used as additional proof of the sly farce that counted many credulous people as its victims.4 The historical sources suggest the cloth was deliberately destroyed: the National Convention, after a series of consultations in the spring of 1794, ruled that it should be taken out of circulation for good by being cut into strips for wound dressing.5 1 Cf. Spinelli-Flesch 2004; Vregille 2004. 2 The Besançon cloth may most likely have been a copy of the Turin shroud. Many sources confirm and in fact describe the making of such official “facsimiles”, painted copies, commissioned by members of the Savoy ducal court. Upon their completion they would briefly be put in contact with the Turin Shroud and thus “loaded”. Cf. Marcelli 2004, 56–57; Cozzo 2010, 60–61; Nicolotti 2015. 3 Cozzo 2010, 63. 4 Interestingly, a discussion about a stencil and the problem of life-size copies had already occurred in the early 17th century and supposedly had led to the stencil’s destruction. Cf. Marcelli 2004, 61; Spinel- li-Flesch 2004, 49. 5 Cf. Baciocchi/Julia 2009, 487–488; 537–546. 48 | Paola von Wyss-Giacosa www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/1