March 11, 2025 // Diocese

Shroud of Turin Replica Comes to Diocesan Museum

Kevin Kilbane

Grand Opening of New Exhibit Set for March 27

A  high-quality, life-size replica of the Shroud of Turin will go on permanent display later this month at the Diocesan Museum in downtown Fort Wayne.

The exhibit’s grand opening on Thursday, March 27, will include an evening of events: Bishop Rhoades will lead the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 6:30 p.m. in the adjacent Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. That will be followed at 7 p.m. in the cathedral by a presentation on the Shroud of Turin by expert Cheryl White. Afterward, people can walk across the driveway to the museum to view the replica of the shroud, which many Christians believe to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ.

“The shroud (exhibit) is meant to be a real pivotal invitation for people to become more aware of the museum itself,” Kathy Imler, director of the Diocesan Museum, explained. Imler has found many people are willing to support the museum financially, but they often don’t know it exists.

Donations Needed

Imler is seeking sponsors for the Shroud of Turin exhibit and the grand opening event, and she hopes those donors and additional ones drawn in by the exhibit will support the museum in the future. The building, which was constructed in the 1950s, needs a new electrical system; new heating, cooling, and humidity-control systems; and repair of masonry around the windows.

The heating, cooling, and humidity-control systems directly affect the museum’s ability to preserve artifacts, documents, books, and artwork, Imler told Today’s Catholic.

“Estimates from the architects have been upward to half a million dollars or more to really get the building in good shape,” she added.

‘Amazed, Surprised, Moved’

The museum, which was founded in 1981 by the late Father Phillip Widmann, does more than preserve and share the history of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Imler said.

“As a downtown museum, we get people from all walks of life,” she explained. “I consider it a real ministry. It’s an ecumenical spot for people of all faiths to come in and ask questions that they might not have an opportunity to ask. ‘Why Catholics do this? What do they believe about that?’ There’s just a great exchange-of-faith conversation that’s really important.

“Once people are in here,” she noted, “they are amazed, surprised, moved.”

“One of the things that I have found extremely different than what I ever expected was how much – I don’t know any other word for it – but healing, goes on,” Imler said. “People with Catholic backgrounds come in, and you can see they are revisiting a childhood memory of their faith, something they wish to pass to their grandchildren, so they bring them in. I have war veterans who come in and look at the display – we have just a small display – about military prayer books, and they are just moved in a way, and they like to talk about their experiences. It’s very heartening to hear how their faith made a difference.”

Receiving the Replica

Imler believes the replica of the Shroud of Turin, which shows the faint outline of a man who has been crucified, will offer museum visitors an opportunity for a deeper, spiritual experience.

“I’m hoping to have the room available for not just people streaming through but for people to be able to literally go in, sit down, and to have a few moments to really absorb what they’re looking at [and] be possibly moved by it,” she said. “The bottom line is to try to keep it a quiet spot.”

Maintaining that solitude will depend on how many people come in at any one time, she added. Museum admission will remain free.

The Diocesan Museum received its replica shroud as a donation from Alex Fiato and his family. Fiato has been active for many years in the Fort Wayne restaurant and Catholic communities.

“It’s more for posterity that we gave it to the museum so it would be someplace safe and available year-round for anyone who wants to see it,” Fiato explained. He also wants it to be a sign of hope for children.

Fiato describes the Shroud of Turin as one of the most important Christian relics. Jesus Christ suffered crucifixion and death before His resurrection, Fiato noted. “The shroud certainly is one of the reminders the Lord left us of the enormity of His love.”

Fiato bought the replica in June of 2018 from the late Barrie M. Schwortz, who at the time was president of the Shroud of Turin Education and Research Association and editor and founder of the shroud.com website. A letter from Schwortz certifies the replica is life-size and produced on cotton canvas from original photographs he took of the real shroud in 1978. At that time, Schwortz served as official documenting photographer for the Shroud of Turin Research Project, a scientific examination of the actual shroud.

Fiato and members of the Father Solanus Casey Council 11276 Knights of Columbus group at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Fort Wayne considered using the replica shroud in a mobile Shroud of Turin exhibit that they would take to various events and locations. They decided against using the new replica, however, he said, so its display at the Diocesan Museum will be the first time the public can view it.

Preparing the Exhibit

Displaying the donated replica shroud involved some challenges, Imler said. It measures 14 feet long and 4 feet wide. Half of the cloth shows the front of a man, while the other half shows his back side.

“Literally, there are only two walls in the museum that can hold it,” she said.

The exhibit will be located in a main-floor room behind the high-traffic exhibit spaces in the front of the museum. That makes it accessible to people with physical disabilities, who can enter the museum from its side door to avoid climbing steps at the front entrance.

The replica shroud will be mounted on the room’s back wall and protected by a wood frame and glass, Imler said. Volunteers from the Carpenter’s Sons ministry affiliated with the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Fort Wayne, made the frame and installed the replica shroud and glass. Group members volunteer time to complete woodworking and small building projects, such as installing wheelchair ramps at homes.

Lighting experts who work with the Fort Wayne Youtheatre stage organization provided advice on lighting for the exhibit, Imler said.

Just as on the original shroud, the images on the replica appear very light. Imler plans to provide materials in the exhibit to help people see the markings left by the man who once wore the burial cloth.

This is the second new permanent exhibit the Diocesan Museum has opened within the past six months. In October, it unveiled a room showcasing the history and memorabilia of Central Catholic High School, which served the Fort Wayne Catholic community from 1939 to 1972.

Shroud Expert to Speak at Cathedral

Shroud of Turin expert Cheryl White supports using new scientific and technological advances to see if we can learn more about the artifact many people believe to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. However, White told Today’s Catholic that she doubts the new methods will prove or disprove its authenticity.

“Trying to authenticate it or scientifically prove somehow, we’re kind of asking science to do what science doesn’t do, right?” White, the Hubert Humphreys Endowed Professor of History at Louisiana State University, told Today’s Catholic during a recent telephone interview. “Science is a great natural measure, but it’s never going to prove a supernatural event. That’s a matter of faith.”

People must decide individually if they believe in Jesus Christ’s resurrection or not, White said.

White will explore the history of the Shroud of Turin and scientific and forensic research on it during three presentations in Fort Wayne – Wednesday, March 26, at 9:30 a.m. at the parish Life Center at St. Vincent de Paul Parish; later that evening at 6 p.m. in the sanctuary at St. John the Baptist Parish; and on Thursday, March 27, at 7 p.m. at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception as part of the exhibit’s grand opening.

During White’s time in Fort Wayne, the museum also will display artworks and artifacts related to the shroud that she plans to bring from the Richard Orareo Collection of shroud-related artifacts. White serves as the collection’s curator and custodian.

White said the House of Savoy, a family of Italian royalty, owned the original Shroud of Turin from 1453 to 1983. Since then, it has been considered the property of the living pope, currently Pope Francis. The shroud has been kept at the cathedral in Turin, Italy, since 1578.

White, who teaches classes at LSU-Shreveport on medieval Europe and Christian Church history, said she became interested in the Shroud of Turin while an undergraduate history major.

“There is an overlap in sort of the way that I have studied the history of the patterns of devotion among Christians and the veneration of relics,” she said.

White, who serves on the board of directors of the Shroud of Turin Education and Research Association, describes the shroud as a very unusual relic that has inspired great outpourings of public religious devotion throughout the centuries.

She speaks regularly about the shroud, including at last summer’s National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. She also has been part of documentaries on the shroud that have aired on EWTN, the History Channel, and Discovery Channel.

The shroud continues to fascinate people of all types, White said.

“The image, to me, is what attracts the student, the scholar, and the skeptic,” she noted. “It attracts everybody because it can only represent one person of history because of the unique nature of the wounds that are displayed there. … Then people have to decide what it means.”

White concluded: “It’s a one-of-a-kind. There’s nothing else in the world like it.”

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Replica Shroud of Turin Exhibit and Events

Where: Diocesan Museum, 1103 S. Calhoun St., Fort Wayne, and adjacent Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 1105 S. Calhoun St.

When: Grand opening on Thursday, March 27

Praying of the Divine Mercy Chaplet with Bishop Rhoades at 6:30 p.m. in the Cathedral. Shroud of Turin expert Cheryl White will speak at 7 p.m. People then can view the replica Shroud of Turin exhibit at the museum.

Admission: Free

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Additional events

Shroud of Turin expert Cheryl White will speak at two other locations in Fort Wayne:

9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 26, in the parish Life Center at St. Vincent de Paul Parish, 1502 E. Wallen Road

6 p.m. on March 26 in the sanctuary at St. John the Baptist Parish, 4500 Fairfield Ave.

Admission: Free