Josie goes back to the Holy Shroud of Turin

By John Carey A DREAM came true for Josie Jones last week. Accompanied by Group Captain Leonard Cheshire and her sister Pauline, she returned to Turin to gaze once again at the Holy Shroud which, 23 years ago, gave her the courage to go on fighting a seemingly incurable illness.
And for Josie herself it was like a joyful homecoming, as the people of Turin took her to their hearts in an extraordinary display of love and affection. The day she left, one paper ran a headline which said simply "Josie Returns to England". For by then, it seemed, eveyone knew her.
When I met her in London last Saturday. only hours after her return, she looked tired but happy. The four day trip had proved profoundly moving and a vivid reminder of her previous journey.
Then she had been suffering from an acute illness which had forced her to spend much of the first 10 years of her life in hospital. It was her stubborn insistence that the Shroud could make her well where the doctors had apparently failed that had persuaded Group Captain Cheshire to take her to Italy.
Now married with a small son, she went back again with the man whom she continues to call "Linde Leonard". So much had happened in the meantime.
The high spot of the visit came on the Thursday night, when they went to the Cathedral for the evening Mass which ended the day's activity. It was then that it became clear that, for the moment at least, Turin belonged to her.
Fr Peter Rinaldi, SDB, one of the world's leading experts on the Shroud, had taken the little party under his wing. He had initiated a series of unique gestures by the cathedral authorities which enabled them to take up seats within a few yards of the Shroud itself.
That one felt would have been enough. But there was more, as Josie explained: "When the time came for Communion, Fr Rinaldi brought over the host and the wine and gave it to me and to Pauline and to Uncle Leonard.
"I felt then that this was the nearest that one could come to
Christ. The Shroud was just a few feet away and I had the body and the blood inside me. It was then that my emotions took over and I cried a little."
The moment brought out what Group Captain Cheshire calls "the special, personal relationship" that exists between Josie and the Shroud.
The cathedral was packed, with thousands of worshippers spilling out onto the steps outside. In the sanctuary and overflowing into the front 10 pews in the main body of the Church sat 500 concelebrating priests led by the Archbishop of Turin.
On their arrival at the cathedral Josie and her companions had been placed in a pew behind the priests. Then, as
Group Captain Cheshire explained, they were beckoned forward to a spot immediately behind the altar, about ten feet away from the Shroud.
"For a full five minutes we were able i 0 stand — or kneel if we wished — in front of the Shroud while the priests were vesting themselves in the sacristy. Then we were ushered to a little corner at the back of the sanctuary where we stayed for the whole of the service," he said.
When the Mass was over, Josie was further touched by the actions of two women who had been directed by the Archbishop to look after them during the service. "As we came down the steps, one took off her cross and chain and gave it to me. The other handed over a medal from the Holy Land. I was very moved," she said.
Josie herself has never claimed that the Shroud worked a miracle in saving her life. She has had to have a leg amputated and still suffers from a weak chest which needs constant treatment.
And on the occasion 23 years ago when she touched the Shroud her first thoughts immediately afterwards were not for herself so much as for the good the Shroud could do for others.
Group Captain Cheshire recalled: "She said then that if the whole world could see this, what great honour would be done to Our Lord and what great good to the Church."
These last few weeks have seen her wish come true and Fr Rinaldi told her last week that she had been instrumental in helping to bring that about. At last the whole world is seeing the Shroud and the number of pilgrims flocking to Turin is exceeding all expectations.
By the time the Shroud is locked away again on October 6, some four million visitors will have gazed upon it.