NAZI dictator Adolf Hitler hatched a plot to steal the Shroud of
Turin but was thwarted by a handful of plucky Benedictine monks, it was
reported today.
Hitler dispatched aides to swipe the sacred
relic – believed to have been used to wrap the dead body of Christ –
after visiting Italy in 1938.
Vatican officials had it moved south
from Turin to the Montevergine monastery in the country's Campania
region, but the Fuhrer's henchmen eventually stumbled across the
shroud's hiding place.
relic – believed to have been used to wrap the dead body of Christ –
after visiting Italy in 1938.
from Turin to the Montevergine monastery in the country's Campania
region, but the Fuhrer's henchmen eventually stumbled across the
shroud's hiding place.
However they were unable to find it because
of a group of brave monks who surrounded the altar in which the
artifact was stashed and pretended to pray, Italian news agency ANSA
reported today.
Their quick-thinking meant Hitler – who historians
say was obsessed with religious symbols and the occult – was never able
to get his hands on the linen relic, which has captivated the minds of
worshipers and skeptics alike for more than 500 years.
In an interview published in Italian magazine Diva
e Donna, Father Andrea Davide Cardin, the director of the
Montevergine library, said: "The Holy Shroud was moved in secret to the
sanctuary in the Campania region on the precise orders of the (Royal)
House of Savoy (which owned it at the time) and the Vatican.
"Officially
this was to protect it from possible bombing (in Turin). In reality, it
was moved to hide it from Hitler who was apparently obsessed by it.
"When
he visited Italy in 1938, his top-ranking Nazi aides asked unusual and
insistent questions about the shroud," the monk said.
"Then in
1943 when German troops searched the Montevergine church, the monks
there pretended to be in deep prayer before the altar inside which the
relic was hidden.
"This was the only reason it wasn't discovered."
The
shroud remained hidden at the monastery until 1946 when it was returned
to the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin.
It bears a
faint image of the front and back of a tall, long-haired, bearded man
and appears to be stained by blood from wounds in his feet, wrists and
side.
Experts have repeatedly questioned its authenticity but an
estimated two million people from across the globe are expected to view
the shroud when it goes on view to the public later this month for the
first time since 2000.
of a group of brave monks who surrounded the altar in which the
artifact was stashed and pretended to pray, Italian news agency ANSA
reported today.
say was obsessed with religious symbols and the occult – was never able
to get his hands on the linen relic, which has captivated the minds of
worshipers and skeptics alike for more than 500 years.
e Donna, Father Andrea Davide Cardin, the director of the
Montevergine library, said: "The Holy Shroud was moved in secret to the
sanctuary in the Campania region on the precise orders of the (Royal)
House of Savoy (which owned it at the time) and the Vatican.
this was to protect it from possible bombing (in Turin). In reality, it
was moved to hide it from Hitler who was apparently obsessed by it.
he visited Italy in 1938, his top-ranking Nazi aides asked unusual and
insistent questions about the shroud," the monk said.
1943 when German troops searched the Montevergine church, the monks
there pretended to be in deep prayer before the altar inside which the
relic was hidden.
shroud remained hidden at the monastery until 1946 when it was returned
to the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin.
faint image of the front and back of a tall, long-haired, bearded man
and appears to be stained by blood from wounds in his feet, wrists and
side.
estimated two million people from across the globe are expected to view
the shroud when it goes on view to the public later this month for the
first time since 2000.