Delivery & Remodeling

“For the grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of the great God and of our savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good.” — Titus 2:11-14

In the freezing midmorning of January 6, 2022, these words were particularly alive in the city of Ann Arbor, and especially in the parish of St Thomas the Apostle, where a copy of the Holy Shroud had been delivered on that very day. Indeed, St Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in the diocese of Lansing, Michigan, had been blessed by the possibility of hosting the Othonia’s Permanent Exhibit on the Shroud of Turin.

Two trucks were needed to unload the precious cargo. The operation was quite laborious, since the framed copy of the Holy Shroud, crated as seen in the pictures, is approximately 16 feet long. The copy of the Holy Shroud and the other exhibit elements were then stored in a safe room waiting to be properly displayed. Since then, the parish has provided a room to host the exhibit. The Shroud Room was completely remodeled between the middle of June 2022 and the end of August 2022.

Inauguration in October 2022

The exhibit was inaugurated on October 7, 2022, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. On the inauguration day, Fr. Joseph Spence, FFM, offered a meditation on The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary in the Light of the Shroud of Turin. Our pastor at St. Thomas, Fr. Bill Ashbaugh, blessed the exhibit and read the Gospel of John 20:1-18. Soprano Ginger Thorne-Herrmann sang the Ave Verum Corpus and the Salve Regina accompanied by Brittany Osman at the viola. Since then, the Shroud Exhibit is open to the public.

The Shroud, a challenge to our intelligence, has indeed appeared in our lives so that once more the questions of what Truth is, where Life can be found, which is the Way that we can direct our lives, could resonate in us and find an answer, and to help each one of us to confront oneself with the great questions that the very fact of our existence poses to us. It is the Holy Shroud, bearer of the living and loving presence of Christ, that came towards us and that can speak to the heart of every person, calling each person individually to abandon oneself to the kind of Love that on it is eloquently manifested. Thus, it is the Risen Christ, the one who, through the Holy Shroud, invites us to do with our lives something great united to him. With these feelings, with much gratitude to the Lord and being witnesses of this Love, we are welcoming the Holy Shroud Exhibit at St Thomas.

First Anniversary Celebration

On December 2, 2023, we celebrated the first year of the exhibit with a speaking event in the parish hall. Professor Antonio Cassanelli, who is responsible of the Diocesan Center of Sindonology “Giulio Ricci” of Rome and collaborates with the CISS of Turin (International Center for Shroud Studies), and Fr. Joseph A. Spence FFM, who is a guest professor at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome at the Postgraduate Certificate in Shroud Studies, presented some reflections on the Sindonic Crucifix crafted by Msgr. Giulio Ricci. Msgr. Ricci (1913-1995) devoted all his life to the study and dissemination of knowledge of the Shroud of Turin and left behind him an inestimable work of research and of apostolate. Professor Cassanelli joined us via Zoom, while Fr. Spence was able to come to St. Thomas.

Second Anniversary Celebration

The second anniversary of the exhibit was celebrated on October 6, 2024, at St. Thomas, with the same event replicated at the University of Michigan at the Union building the following day. We hosted Robert Rucker for a presentation titled “Carbon Dating and Image Formation on the Shroud of Turin.” Robert Rucker worked for 38 years in the nuclear industry. He has been researching the Shroud of Turin since 2013, including the application of MCNP nuclear analysis computer calculations to solve the carbon dating problem for the Shroud. He organized a four-day international conference on the Shroud in 2017. We were also joined by Dr. Marco Ginatta, who came expressly from Turin for this event. Dr. Ginatta holds a PhD in metallurgical engineering and is a retired professor of electrochemistry. He also has a master’s degree in science and faith, has given many presentations on the Holy Shroud, and has organized several conferences on the topic. Dr. Ginatta sent us many copies of his most recent book, The Holy Shroud and the Resurrection, which is available for visitors at our Shroud exhibit.

Third Anniversary Celebration

On the third anniversary of the Shroud exhibit at St. Thomas, our Shroud room was enriched with the installation of the replicas of the Holy Sudarium of Oviedo. The installation ceremony was celebrated on September 14, 2025 (the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross). The replica was carried in procession from the church following Mass to the parish hall, where Fr. Bill blessed it before it was installed in the Shroud Exhibit. The blessing was followed by a reception and a lecture on the Sudarium by Dr. Paola Conti Puorger Maki, director of the St. Thomas Shroud Exhibit.