Julia Navarro - The Brotherhood Of The Holy Shroud

"Dottoressa, I'd be very disappointed if you did not come with us to dinner," the cardinal told Sofia.

"Oh, Your Eminence, I'm sure you understand better than anyone how uncomfortable I am. I really must go. I don't want to be any trouble."

"Well, if there is no way to convince you… but I do hope to see you again. Your view of modern archaeological methods intrigued me-your ideas are so innovative, really. I studied archaeology before devoting myself entirely to the Church, you know."

D'Alaqua interrupted them.

"The cars are waiting…"

"Dottoressa Galloni is not coming with us," Visier told him.

"I'm so sorry, I'd hoped you would, but if you'd rather not, the car will take you to your hotel."

"Thank you, but I'd prefer to walk-the hotel is not far."

"Forgive me, dottoressa," the cardinal interrupted, "but I don't think you should walk alone. Turin is a complicated city; my mind would be easier if you would let the car take you."

Sofia gave in so they wouldn't think her entirely ungracious.

'All right, thank you."

"Don't thank me," the cardinal murmured. "You are a formidable person, of great merit-you mustn't allow others to affect you so. Although I imagine that your beauty has been more of an inconvenience for you than an advantage, precisely because you have never traded on it."

The cardinal's unexpected words were comforting. D'Alaqua accompanied her to the car.

"I'm glad you came, Dottoressa Galloni."

"Thank you."

"Will you be staying in Turin for a few more days?"

"Yes, perhaps for as long as two weeks."

"I'll ring you, and if you have time I'd like us to have lunch together."

Sofia stammered a soft 'All right" as D'Alaqua closed the car door and gave the driver instructions to take her to her hotel.

As the rest of the party departed, Cardinal Visier confronted Sofia's old teacher.

"Professore Bonomi, you have offended Dottoressa Galloni and offended all of us who were with her. Your contribution to the Church is undeniable, and we are grateful for all you've done as our principal expert in sacred medieval art, but that does not give you the right to behave like a lout."

D'Alaqua watched, floored.

"Paul, I didn't think Dottoressa Galloni had made such an impression on you," he commented a few moments later when they were alone.

The cardinal shook his head. "I think Bonomi behaved terribly-he acted like an old lecher, and he offended her unnecessarily. Sometimes I ask myself how Bonomi's artistic talents can be so unrelated to the rest of the man's life. Galloni seems to me a good, serious person-intelligent, well educated, refined-a woman I could fall in love with were I not a cardinal. If we… if we weren't who we are."

"I'm surprised at your candor."

"Oh, please, Umberto, you know as well as I do that celibacy is a hard, hard option-as hard as it is necessary. I have kept my vow, God knows I have, but that doesn't mean that if I see an intelligent, beautiful woman I don't appreciate her. I'd be a hypocrite if I denied it. We have eyes, we can see, and just as we admire a statue by Bernini, or are moved by the marbles of Phidias, or tremble at the hardness of the granite of an Etruscan tomb, we recognize the value of the people around us. Let's not offend each other's intelligence by pretending we don't see the beauty and worth of Dottoressa Galloni. I hope you'll do something to make it up to her."

"Yes, I'm going to call her and ask her to lunch. I can't do any more than that."

"No. We can't do any more than that."

"Wow! You look terrific! Been to a party?" Ana Jimenez was just entering the hotel as Sofia got out of the car.

"Been to a nightmare. What about you? How are things going?"

"All right, I guess. This is harder than I thought, but I'm not giving up."

"Good for you."

"Had dinner yet?"

"No, but I'm going to call Marco's room; if he hasn't eaten yet I'll see if he wants to come down to the dining room."

"Mind if I join you?"

"I don't. Don't know about Marco-hold on a minute and I'll let you know."

Sofia came back from the front desk holding a message.

"He's gone out to dinner with Giuseppe. They're at the Turin carabinieri comandante's house."

"So let's you and I eat. It's on me."

"No, I'll treat."

They ordered dinner and a bottle of Barolo and measured each other.

"Sofia, there's one episode in the history of the shroud that seems very confused."

"Just one? I'd say they all are. Its appearance in Edessa, its disappearance in Constantinople…"

"I read that in Edessa there was a very well established and influential Christian community, and it was so fierce that the emir of Edessa battled the Byzantine army rather than be forced to turn over the shroud."

"Yes, that's right," Sofia confirmed. "In 944 the Byzantines stole the shroud in a battle with the Muslims, who at that time ruled Edessa. The emperor of Byzantium, Romanus Lecapenus, wanted the Mandylion, which is what the Greeks called it, because he thought if he had it he'd have God's protection and be invincible. He sent an army under his best general and offered a deal to the emir of Edessa: If the emir turned over the shroud, the army would withdraw without doing the city any harm, he would pay generously for the Mandylion, and he would free two hundred Muslim captives.

"But the Christian community in Edessa refused to turn over the Mandylion to the emir, and since the emir, even though he was a Muslim, feared that the shroud had magical powers, he decided to fight. The Byzantines won, and the Mandylion was taken to Byzantium in August of the year 944. The Byzantine liturgy celebrates the day. The Vatican archives contain the text of Pope Gregory's homily on August 16 when he received the cloth.

"The emperor sent it for safekeeping to the Church of St. Mary of Blachernae in Constantinople, where every Friday it was worshipped by the faithful," she continued. "From there it disappeared and it wasn't seen again until it appeared in France in the fourteenth century."

'And that's what I've been trying to figure out. Did the Templars take it?" Ana asked. "Some authors say that it was the Knights Templar that stole the shroud from the Byzantines."

"It's hard to say. The Templars are blamed for everything-they're pictured as these supermen who could do anything. They may have taken the Mandylion, or they may not have. The Crusaders sowed death and destruction-and confusion -wherever they went. Or it may be that Balduino de Courtenay, who became emperor of Constantinople, pawned it, and after that it was lost."

"He could pawn the shroud?"

"It's one of many theories. He didn't have enough money to maintain his empire, so he went begging to the kings and princes of Europe and wound up selling off all sorts of religious relics brought back by the Crusaders from the Holy Land-in fact, his uncle Louis the Ninth of France bought a number of them. It's also possible that the Templars, the most powerful bankers of the time, who also were constantly trying to recover sacred relics, paid Balduino for the shroud. But there's no document to support that."

"Well, I think the Templars took it." Ana's eyes were defiant.

"Why?" Sofia didn't understand this leap of reasoning, which turned out not to be reasoning at all.

"I don't know, just hints in what I've read. You yourself pointed to that possibility. They took it to France, where it finally reappeared."

The two women continued talking for quite a while, Ana speculating about the Templars, Sofia reeling off facts.

Marco and Giuseppe bumped into them on the way to the elevators.

"What are you doing here?" asked Giuseppe in surprise.

"We had dinner together and had a great time, right, Ana?"