|
HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 04/12/2010 : 09:20:49
|
Sheet from the bed upon which God deflowered
and impregnated Mary goes on display in Vatican
Vatican April 12, 2010 (SNN) -- The Holy Bottom Sheet of Nazareth has completed a two-year laundering and restoration, and has been returned to its display case in Rome's Sistine Chapel.
The stained bottom sheet, which the Vatican insists dates to about 1 BCE, is a powerful object of veneration to Roman Catholics around the globe, who in the past have flocked to Rome to gaze upon its holy body fluid stains. Among pieces of cloth owned by the Church, only the Sacred Shroud of Turin approaches the perceived holiness of the Bottom Sheet of Nazareth.
The late Pope Paul II was an especially taken by the relic. "Here in this sacred object we have material proof of the holy deflowering of the Virgin Mary by the Father, which resulted in the Son." The Bottom Sheet has been vetted for authenticity by hundreds of priests. The Church says it was recovered from the Holy Land by Roman Emperor Constantine's mother, Saint Helena, in early Church times.
Detail of disputed stains on the Bottom Sheet of Nazareth.
Some faithful say the stains resemble God cursing
an apple, or maybe Greenland attacking Iceland.
But not everyone who has examined the Bottom Sheet agrees to its authenticity. Fabric archaeologist Dr. Michael Breem of Stanford University suspects the Bottom Sheet is a modern forgery.
"Several facts create difficulties in establishing the Bottom Sheet of Nazareth as a valid relic of earliest Christian times," said Breem. "Firstly, it is not made of linen as one would expect, but cotton. Secondly, its measurements exactly match the size of a bottom sheet sized to fit a standard modern Italian matrimoniale size mattress, which measures 1.6 meters by 1.8 meters. Thirdly, a label on the edge of the Bottom Sheet of Nazareth has the words, 'Fatto in Egitto, 1967' (Made in Egypt, 1967) imprinted upon it in tiny Latin letters and Arabic numerals. Fourthly, radiocarbon study dates the growth of the cotton which makes up the Bottom Sheet to 1965 AD, plus or minus one year. Fifth and finally, it is a fitted sheet."
The nature of the stains upon the Bottom Sheet of Nazareth themselves are also a matter of hot dispute. Though Pope Benedict XVI has declared the stains to be "The venerable and veritable cum-stains of God the Father, gloriously admixed with blood from the holy hymen of Mary," scientists such as Breem disagree.
"The stains have proven to be primarily fecal in origin, with small amounts of semen and blood," says Dr Breem. "Also, DNA analysis shows Y Chromosomes from two males."
When pressed, Dr. Breem continued, "My personal gut-level conjecture is that around the mid or late 1960's, the housekeeper of some choirboy-buggering priest asked about the stains, and the priest made up the crazy story. After that, and with a little help from the Vatican, the tale of the Bottom Sheet of Nazareth just grew on its own."
|
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
Edited by - HalfMooner on 04/12/2010 11:26:48
|
|
Vatican unveils "Bottom Sheet of Nazareth"
