Raes Problematic 14 sample threads

   A thorough chain of custody (CoC) protocol is essential for scientific research. Unfortunately, for STuRP, Rogers received 14 yarn segments from Raes’ 1973 samples that did not adhere to the protocol. The threads were procured by Monsignor Caramello and later given to Professor Gonella. It has been assumed that the total threads that Gonella received from Monsignor Caramello were 14, and that they were from all Raes’ corner.
   It was at the 1973 Commission when Raes’ fragment was extracted. During the examination of the Shroud,  Professor Frache, doctors Mari and Rizzatti wished to analyze the haematological on the cloth which would require a few samples of threads measuring a few millimeters long. The threads were to be selected from areas believed to have traces of blood on them. It was agreed but, on the condition, that the samples would be taken from the dorsal area and that upon completion returned as communicated by the owner so that they can be kept with the relic. It was later decided that more hematic threads would be removed on the behalf of Professor Filogamo. 
   Professor Gilbert Raes of the Grand Institute of Textile Technology of Belgium was absent during the initial procedure due to flying conditions affected by the weather. Regardless of Prof. Raes’ tardiness, it was decided to remove even upon in his absentia a modest amount of material at the corner where the sampling would contain the actual cloth as well as the strip added along its length. 
    It was during the afternoon session when work resumed, Prof. Raes arrived and was told of the actions during his absence. Presiding over the procedures, were, Msgrs. Caramello, Cottino, and Baldi. It began with a careful examination to determine the most suitable areas of samples that were thought to be haematic observed by its bright contrast and dark colors. Judica Cordiglia was asked to photograph the sampled area. The removal of the samples was undertaken by four Sisters of the Turin Institute of the Daughters of St. Joseph, who were experts in darning and embroidery. To avoid contact with any organic substance, the threads were extracted and placed, one by one, in a small plastic envelope, and put inside small transparent boxes. Thirteen separate procedures took place including photographic documentation in order to document the precise locations each thread was removed from on the Shroud. The removal of these threads was for structural, fabricatery, haematological and ultra-structural research carried out by the distinguished scientists in their respective fields of expertise. 
   After the 1969-1973 Commission of scientific findings, a commission was subjected to a Critical Study report by thirteen experts under the auspices of the International Center of Sindonology (Centro). In the Critical Study’s findings, they concluded that there should have been experts in the fields of Biblical exegesis, theology, history, forensics, and medicine. Because of these deficiencies of scientific disciplines and all the complexities, the Shroud contains, the Critical Study believed it would be impossible for the commission to make a definitive study. The Critical Study also felt that the commission should have worked together to avoid separate conclusions from each study.
    Once the Critical Study report was released to the public, the Holy Shroud Guild offered American team of scientists to assist in the next Shroud examination. In June of 1977, Otterbein requested permission in a letter to Conte Lovera di Maria, President of the Centro Internazionale di Sindologia, to meet with his team of American scientists. The meeting was a vetting process for the Centro, Central committee, and European scientists led by Prof. Baima Bollone, to hear the American proposal. As the coordinator of the international Congress, and a member of the Critical study, Professor Baima Bollone affiliated himself with the Centro, respecting the long tradition started by the Brotherhood that has been placed by the ecclesiastical and scriptural significance of the Shroud. Impressed with the American’s presentation and state of the art NASA approach in Shroud science, Msgr. Caramello indicated his willingness to give samples for carbon dating, while Prof. Baima Bollone offered the Romanese’s 1935 sample for testing. The sample Prof. Baima Bollone was referring to were Romanese possession of Princess Clotilde’s collection.
   During the very early years of Sindonology, Dr. Ruggereo Romanese, was the Director of Legal Medicine University of Turin. In several documents one penned by Otterbein to Monsignor Coero Borga, does clearly demonstrates that Romanese in 1935 did possess Princess Clotilde’s samples and that it was now in the possession of Prof. Baima Bollone.  The historian of the Savoy dynasty, Carlos Evaristo, explains in his 2011 book, The Untold Story of the Holy Shroud  how these threads existed.

In 1868, Princess Maria Coltilde de Savovia replaced the support backing of the Shroud that was added by Sebastiano Valfré in 1694. Any loose or fraying threads during the relic’s restoration were removed and stored in the reliquary boxes. This was customary according to King Umberto II, that it was customary, for centuries, upon the marriage of a Prince or Princess of the Ducal and Royal House, that a private veneration or public Ostentation of the Holy Shroud be held by order of the head of the same Family and that on such an occasion, a small portion of the Holy Shroud was taken from the small gold Reliquary box and placed in a Teca to be then presented as a precious Dowry or Wedding Gift, during a special ceremony that was complete with pre-nuptial blessing.
Evaristo, The untold story of the Holy Shroud, 2011.

   The General Committee agreed to allow the American team in the upcoming 1978 examination of the Shroud. It was agreed that the Centro would take a consultative role on the behalf of the Archbishop. A written American proposal of scientific experiments was given to Father Rinaldi, to give to the Committee. Once the Committee received the proposal from Father Rinaldi, they made it clear that the Italian scientists under the command of Professor Pierluigi Baima Bollone, would coordinate teams of individuals, who would participate in the shroud research. When the news of the committee’s decision reached Dr. Jackson who was the main officiator for STuRP, was understandably upset. Besides the language barrier, the collection of data from their equipment relied on experienced operators. Jackson felt that any data extraction had to be led by his team.
   Dr. Jackson’s concerned are not without warrant. Thus, diplomacy amongst the Ecclesiastical members responsible for the upcoming Shroud research was a necessity if American participation would be successful.  Unfortunately, it was already doomed to failure. Breaking the tradition started from the Brotherhood adhering to the Canon Laws relating to relics, Cardinal Ballestrero, Archbishop of Turin, decided to bring in an outsider to lead the researchers. Elected to supervise the tests for the international science team, was Professor Luigi Gonella, from the Department of Physical Polytechnic at Turin. 
   Following normal procedures, the General Committee assembly forwarded several proposals to the Archbishop that included an appointee to oversee the testing procedural. Instead, the Archbishop decided on a new approach. To avoid the public perception of the Church’s influence, he decided to allow freedom to all competent researchers without oversight from any ecclesiastical control.  The Archbishop reached out to the University in Turin, to appoint an advisor whose ultimate task was to assure Shroud’s conservation and avoid any proposed procedure that could have any undesirable effects on the relic. Ballestrero’s decision was considered to help promote the Shroud’s influence on the ecumenical movement that was founded during Vatican II. 
   It was on the final day of the exhibition, Cardinal Ballestrero, Archbishop of Turin, received a letter from Don Oreste Favaro, objecting to the data mining capabilities of the American scientists regarding their relic. Favaro reveals,

I do not know if Your Excellency is aware that the American researchers—who have been granted four days and four nights for their tests on the Holy Shroud— They have set up a computer in the United States to which they will directly relay all the data they will extract from our Relic. I have discussed the matter with the officials of the International Center, Count Lovera, and Don Coero-Borga who, as you may note from their signatures to this appeal, declare that they are completely in the dark as to the type of exams and the instruments involved. One thing they do know—that the bank of data they have set up in the United States is, to say the least, an imprudent and dangerous thing, being as it is so far away from us and totally in the hands of laymen! I would very much like to summarize for Your Excellency the dangers and risks of such a situation. It is dangerous to have a ‘Bank of Data’ on the Shroud about which we know nothing as to its location or even as to its code of information. This would mean that future access to, and also the elaboration and diffusion of all data regarding the Shroud of Turin will be the exclusive monopoly of a ‘Trust’ or group in the United States. We suggest that such a ‘Bank’ should be set up in the Archbishop’s residence or at the International Center so that all information be accessible now and in the future to all students of the Shroud without interference or manipulation. We have reason to fear these things, judging from the past performance of the USA group, and, too, of the worldwide interest which now centers on the Shroud and the amount of control that the Americans will have. The letter, whose endorsements included the officials of the International Center, Count Lovera, and Don Coero-Borga, expresses concerns about how much control the Americans will obtain using computers.
Letter to Cardinal Ballestrero from  Favaro, October 8, 1978
Uncovering the Paradox from the Archives of the Holy Shroud Guild

   Ballestrero dismissed Favaro’s concern. The planned examination began right after the public exposition on October 8, 1978, late in the evening with one major change. Baima Bollone was no longer coordinating the event. As in the past, the Commission of 1969 and 1973, was under the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical authority. Keeping to tradition regardless of Cardinal Ballestrero changes who was to lead the investigation,  the Centro demanded that each member of the group of American scientists sign an agreement based on the Committee’s conference from the previous year. This arrangement, however, would have impeded STuRP’s objective in their research. The matter was brought to the attention of Gonella, who advised STuRP, not to sign the accord. Gonella noted that the Centro did not have the authority to act as a representative for the Archbishop and did not have any authority over legal dealings with the Shroud. However, the cavalier attitude of STuRP that considered the Centro to be no more than an affiliate to Turin, much like the Holy Shroud Guild, were underestimated. 
   During the 1978 Shroud examination, more threads were extracted from the Shroud. The only individual of the international scientific team who was allowed to excise the material, was granted to Professor Baima Bollone. He alone had the only threads that were removed during the examination. STuRP’s only Shroud material at the time came from Dr. Ray Rogers who had secured threads using a special formulated 3M non-destructive adhesive tape (sticky tape). The tape was specifically made to adhere on the Shroud at a certain pressure then quickly removed collecting Shroud fibers and deposited material throughout the Shroud’s history. The material Rogers collected from the tape was later divided and supplied to Dr. McCrone for microscopic research. Within a year, the sticky tapes were then transferred to Drs., Adler and Heller for microscopic analysis to dispute McCrone’s findings that he declared the supposed traces of blood on the cloth were made from an artist mixture of red ochre and vermilion tempera paint. 
   When the sticky tapes were received by Drs., Adler and Heller they were shocked at the poor conditions due to mishandling by Dr. McCrone. While Adler and Heller examined the tapes for hemoglobin, Adler did confide to Dr. Sava, a Holy Shroud Guild member and medical scientist, that he wished he had possession of Baima Bollone’s extracted blood-stained threads instead of working with the fibrils from Roger’s sticky tape. 
In 1979 a request was made by members of STuRP if they could receive some sample threads from the Baima Bollone’s collection. STuRP’s request was relayed by Professor Gonella who then asked Baima Bollone for some samples. According to Baima Bollone, he claimed he was not authorized to release the material since the Church is the custodian of all material extracted from the Shroud. 
   An extremely important revelation was explained by Father Rinaldi in a letter to Father Otterbein how Rogers, a leading scientist for STuRP, received a thread from the Shroud. Father Rinaldi writes,

Baima refused to come to the meeting, severed his ties with Riggi (who wants to become part of STURP), and is now working with Max Frei and others. Gonella will probably tell you that he (Baima) refused to let him have the thread of the Shroud in his possession (from Princess Clotilde’s collection). And here is where the Cardinal was truly magnificent. He directed Msgr. Caramello gave Gonella several threads from the two samples available since the exposition in 1973.

   Monsignor Caramello was the Shroud’s caretaker on the behalf of the Cardinal. Ballestrero told Msgr. Caramello to provide several threads to Gonella. Only Caramello is believed to know the true thread’s provenance that he gave to Gonella. On November 4, 1979, Rinaldi documented the transfer of a thread from Gonella to be given to Ray Rogers for his analysis. Rinaldi documents the transaction in his native language.

“Oggi, dalle mani del Prof. Luigi Gonella, di Torino, ho ricevuto
in consegna un Filo estratto dalla Santa Sindone che mi impegno di portare personalmente al Prof. Raymond Rogers, membro della SHROUD OF
TURIN RESEARCH PROJECT, Inc., In Fede: Padre Pietro M. Rinaldi, s.n.B.”

   Father Rinaldi transferred the thread on December 6, 1979, to Dr. Jackson. Dr. Jackson documented the transaction in a written statement to Father Rinaldi, which he writes,

Dear Father Rinaldi:
December 6, 1979, I hereby certify that today I have received from you a fragment of a thread from the Holy Shroud of Turin. It is my understanding that said fragment is to be entrusted to Ray Rogers of Los Alamos, N.M., as per request of Prof. Luigi Gonella, of Turin, Italy.

   This transfer was part of the 14 fragments of threads Ray Rogers eventually secured through Professor Gonella. The threads were reportedly from the Raes’ corner but in the testimonies declared by Father Rinaldi and Dr. Jackson, neither stated if the thread they received were in fact from Raes’ corner. In actuality, Professor Gonella was not present and as I previously wrote, and only Msgr. Caramello knew the true thread’s provenance that he gave to Gonella. Rogers himself admitted in his book, A Chemist's Perspective On The Shroud of Turin, that the material did not have any documents specifying which threads were from the side strip or from the main body of the Shroud.
   It is established that Monsignor Caramello never provided a chain of custody detailing where he extracted the threads. It is possible while in Raes custody, Raes had already excised threads from the original cut fragment, allowing Monsignor Caramello to have single strands of  threads from the cloth already separated. No documentation exists in the Guild’s archives, supporting such an occurrence.  Without any detailed CoC prior or at the time Monsignor Caramello gave the threads to Gonella, we can only speculate that these are threads from the Raes corner and excised by Msgr. Caramello. According to Gove, Rogers indeed expressed the fact that he does not know if the 14 threads he received are even threads from the Shroud.
   Recently introduced to the world of the Shroud was, Dr. Eugenia L. Nitowski. She was contacted by Dr. Joseph A. Kohlbeck, Manager of Applied Chemistry for Hercules Aerospace. Kohlbeck was recognized as an expert in microscopy and in 1982, Ray Rogers loaned Kohlbeck 42 sample tapes and a vial containing Raes’ 12 milometer thread to photograph. On the evening of April 28, 1986, Nitowski was invited to the home of Gonella, to have supper with his family. Inevitably, during dinner, Gonella asked about the progress on Rogers’ samples that had been loaned to Kohlbeck. Nitowski responded placidly about Kohlbeck’s discovery that the vile containing Raes’ 12mm thread was coated with starch. What began as a tranquil conversation,
quickly turned to apprehension, since Gonella expressed that no one had ever reported starch on samplings removed from the Shroud. He asked Nitowski to identify whether the thread contained the consistent Z pattern. Gonella believed some or all of Raes’ threads were switched or were forgeries. Rumors began at the Symposium in Hong Kong in which several participants discussed confidentially the possibility that Raes samples had been switched. 
    Dr. Kohlbeck’s discovery of starch ignited the rumors that a switch occurred. It is also possible that Professor Gonella by this time realized that the threads received by Rogers were not all from Raes’ fragment. To make matters worse, in a letter from Dinegar to Otterbein, Rogers claimed along with some friends in New Jersey, they positively identified starch on the threads Gonnella brought over in 1979. In a conversation with Dinegar, Rogers indicated that the presence of starch substantiates that the cloth comes from ancient Roman times. 
   It is factual that Ballestrero assigned Msgr. Caramello to provide several threads from the two samples available since the exposition in 1973 Commission. The issue at hand is that nowhere in the Guild’s archive does it explicitly state that Caramello retrieved loose fibers from Raes’ samples or extracted threads directly from the documented Raes’ fragment that Raes cut into two samples. Msgr. Caramello could have selected existing loose fibers from the samples already available from Professors Mari, Rizzatti, Filogamo, and Zina threads used by the Commission.  It is also conceivable that loose threads were taken from Princess Maria Clotilde’s collection during the commission to replace the backing of the Shroud. In the Holy Shroud Guild’s archives, there are supporting evidence confirming Baima Ballone did possess samples of stray threads removed by Princess Maria Coltilde. 327 And we cannot forget that Rogers even confided with Gove and confessed he did not know if the threads he had received from Gonella were authentic. Gove, P. H., Relic, Icon, or Hoax? Carbon dating the Shroud, 1996.
   Msgr. Caramello would have respected The Cardinal's request to secure samples for the American Scientists. The question now remains if Msgr. Caramello worked meticulously securing  Raes’ threads for the American Scientists or whatever threads were available in single strands. It was no secret after the 1978 examination of the Shroud, Msgr. Caramello was no big fan from outside participation in Shroud studies. He was still disturbed about the damages to the famous Shroud frame used by Seconda Pia while Rolfe and company were filming Silent Witness. To make matters worse, Caramello anticipated a monetary reimbursement for their hospitality but received none. Paraphrasing from a conversation with Rinaldi, Msgr. Caramello cunningly remarked that it was the Italians who had discovered America, while your friends in STuRP believe it is they who discovered the Shroud. 
   Only Msgr. Caramello knows which threads he selected for Ray Rogers. I am afraid that the carelessness of how the threads were secured will be problematic for any scientific findings using data from the supposedly 14 threads Rogers received that were claimed the threads were excised from Raes’ corner.