THE SHROUD
The Shroud is the most studied fabric worldwide, at least since 1898, after the famous photography made by Secondo Pia, who noticed in the negative the picture imprinted in the Holy Linen. It is a very ancient shroud which has definitely covered a body with a series of wounds, a body nobody links to the evangelic story of the Jesus of Nazareth crucifixion.
The probability that it was him is very high. The Shroud was property of the Savoia family, who brought it in Piemonte in 1576 from Chambery. A choice made after San Carlo Borromeo votive pilgrimage, following the plague hitting Milano, Bergamo and Brescia.
It is still preserved in the Duomo of Torino, left in heritage by Umberto II di Savoia to the Pope, with the obligation to keep it in Piemonte.
This element, together with its dimensions (mt. 4,41 x 1,13) implied almost an obligation to develope the project of the certified replicas. The Shroud is a recognised symbol between the Catholic, the Orthodox and the Muslim religion. The exhibitions are limited in Torino since the linen tends to yellow if exposed at light for a long time of period. Here comes the idea of making certified copies
on an appropriate support, to satisfy the aspiration of a lot of faithful. The copies of the Shrouds will be promoted also through a digital Qr Code which will be linked to a specific location. Among others, there is the Museum of the Bible of Washington (USA), where a specific section dedicated to the Shroud will be launched in spring 2022, after the pandemic.
The master of the Duomo
Quirino Gasparini
Also, Quirino Gasparini (1721 – 1778), a Gandino songwriter who became a kapellmeister in the Duomo of Torino, is connected to the Shroud.
Play the music by Quirino Gasparini
He became famous for the motet he composed , assigned for almost a century to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and also included in the Kochel Catalogue (code K327). The track was probably heard and transcribed on some sheets by Leopold Mozart, Wolfgang’s father. Those sheets ended somehow in the artist documents, resulting in the wrong assignment of the piece. In 1922 Hermann Spiess, kapellmeister in Salzburg, published a study on the German organistic journal Gregorious, revealing the past mistake. Mozart, as well as Gasparini, was a student of G.B. Martini, therefore the two of them met during their studies in 1771 in Torino.
Some of the Gasparini artistic productions are closely related to the theme of Christ Passion and to the Holy Shroud. The “Adoramus Te, Christe” assigned to Mozart, is one of the Responsories during the Holy Friday, made for the adoration of the Cross.
In addition, also the motets of the “Rogazioni” at the Holy Shroud, made by Gasparini in 1766 are important. They are preserved at the Fondo Musicale della Cappella dei Cantori di Torino. It is a series of four motets: “Sicut cervus”, “Sicut cedrus”, and the “Tuam Sindonem venerarum”.
