London/Rome: The Turin Shroud, which is said to be the burial cloth of Christ, was hidden during the Second World War as the Vatican allegedly feared that Adolf Hitler, who was obsessed with the shroud, would steal it, an official said.
The linen cloth measures 14.4 feet by 3.6 feet. It is imprinted with the image of a man bearing all the signs of crucifixion, including blood stains. The shroud is to go on display for six weeks after Easter at Turin Cathedral.
The Turin Shroud was secretly hidden in a Benedictine abbey during the Second World War, The Telegraph reported on Wednesday.
It was taken to the Benedictine sanctuary of Montevergine in Avellino, in the southern Campania region of Italy in 1939 and was bought to Turin in 1946.
Father Andrea Cardin, director of the library at the abbey, said the reason behind the move was because Hitler was "obsessed" with the sacred relic.
The Vatican as well as the Italian royal family, the Savoys, were afraid that Hitler may try to steal the linen cloth.
"The Holy Shroud was moved in secret to the sanctuary in the Campania region on the precise orders of the House of Savoy 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, top-ranking Nazi aides asked unusual and insistent questions about the Shroud," Father Cardin told Italian magazine, Diva e Donna.
He said that after Italy entered the war in alliance with Hitler, the shroud was nearly discovered.
"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."
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