c. 700

The Bobbio Missal calls burial linens witnesses

A Western liturgical text calls the tomb linens witnesses of resurrection.

This is an early Western witness to the theology of the burial linens. It does not identify a surviving relic or describe the Turin Shroud.

The Bobbio Missal is an early medieval liturgical manuscript associated with the monastery of Bobbio and now preserved in the Vatican Library. A prayer in the manuscript says that the linen cloths remaining in the tomb became witnesses of the resurrection. This is a theological reading of John’s empty-tomb scene, framed for worship rather than an independent report about a relic.¹

What the surviving source says

The manuscript is usually dated around the turn of the eighth century, although its components and liturgical layers are studied as a textual witness rather than assigned one simple date. The Latin wording echoes the Gospel account and gives the cloths evidentiary meaning within Christian devotion. It says nothing about an image, a named Shroud, or an object in the manuscript’s own custody.¹²

Historical significance and limits

The text is valuable for the history of western liturgy and the interpretation of the empty tomb. Its “witness” language refers to the narrative cloths in the Gospel, not necessarily to a physical relic available for inspection.²³

Sources and further reading

1. Bobbio Missal, Vatican Library MS Vat. lat. 5768. Consult the cited passage in the full source and its transmission context; the article distinguishes the source’s wording from later interpretation.
2. Otangelo Grasso, The Image That Should Not Exist: A Scientific Investigation of the Shroud of Turin (2026), ch. 2, “Origins and Historical Record,” pp. 23–31, and ch. 17, “The Mandylion, Art, and the Historical Record,” pp. 232–243. Author synthesis; not an independent witness.
3. Otangelo Grasso, From Forensics to Faith (2026), ch. 2, “Pre-1355 History,” pp. 32–125, and ch. 3, “6th to 14th Century History,” pp. 126–194. The book advances a proposed reconstruction; claims are assessed here against the primary texts.
4. Otangelo Grasso, Chronological List of Pre-1356 Literature Mentioning the Shroud and Christ’s Burial Cloth (20 July 2025), pp. 1–9. Prepared with AI assistance and used as a research checklist; its identifications and confidence labels are not treated as verified facts.
5. Mark Guscin, The Tradition of the Image of Edessa (source study). Further reading or contextual source retained from this event’s earlier bibliography.
6. Andrea Nicolotti, From the Mandylion of Edessa to the Shroud of Turin (critical study). Further reading or contextual source retained from this event’s earlier bibliography.