SUDARIUM. This is a Latin Word, which, according to several good Interpreters,1 signifies a Bandage of Cloth, which was wrapp’d about the Head. Sudarium comes from Sudor, because this Linen was chiefly of use to receive and dry up the Sweat. We generally translate Sudarium by Handkerchief or Napkin; but it is certain its proper Signification and proper Use was to wipe off the Sweat of the Head and Face. Hence it is, that they have given the Name of Sudarium to the Linen Coverings of the Heads of dead Bodies in their Graves. The wicked Servant in the Gospel brought back his Master’s Money which he had hid in a Napkin; Quam habui repositam in sudario; instead of putting it out to Use. And in the Acts of the Apostles, we read, that they brought their Sudaria of Linen, which St. Paul had made use of in wiping himself, and which, being apply’d to sick People, restored them to their Health.
The Word Sudarium is chiefly us’d in Ecclesiastical Phrase, to signify the Shrouds in which the Body of our Saviour was wrapp’d in his Sepulchre. They shew at Besancon, at Turin, at Tholouse, at Sarlat, and at Compeigne, the holy Sudarium or Shroud, in which is imprinted the Image of Jesus Christ. That which is at Tholouse was preserved for near the Space of three Centuries in the Abby of Cadoin, and was removed to Tholouse at the Time of the English Wars. ‘Tis pretended it was recover’d out of the Hands of a Jew of Antioch in the Year 1098.
But these Sudaria are rather mortuary Cloths or Shrouds, than Sudaria properly so call’d. For in the Gospel of St. John, there is express mention made of the Sudarium that was upon the Head of Lazarus, Brother to Mary and Martha,2 and upon the Head of Jesus Christ,3 as they lay in their Tombs. And besides that, they were wrapp’d in Bandages, after the manner of that Country, where they thus wound up the Bodies of such as had been embalmed. Yet I do not pretend to deny, that besides these Bandages, and this Sudarium, there might be still some other Cloths to wrap the Body in. I can see nothing of them in the original Text of the Gospel of St. John; but, however, St. Luke and St. Mark sufficiently take Notice of them, under the Word SINDON. See Luke xxiii. 53. and Mark xv. 46.
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