<![CDATA[THE HOLY SHROUD GUILD PAST, PRESENT, & FUTURE - Public Blog Page]]>Thu, 02 May 2024 17:58:23 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[The unheard of Bill Donnelly]]>Wed, 10 Nov 2021 15:35:38 GMThttp://holyshroudguild.org/public-blog-page/the-unheard-of-bill-donnellyWho was Bill? I can start by saying, Bill was an art teacher. He began his career in 1964 at Shenendehowa Central Schools in Clifton Park New York. His favorite medium to paint was watercolors. In 1990, Bill retired and devoted his time studying the Holy Shroud of Turin. Bill had no scientific background but corresponded with countless Sindonologists, here in the States, and from all over the world. His findings were documented and given to Father Otterbein and Father Rinaldi of the Holy Shroud Guild. But to know Bill, you must understand his belief in the mystical visions of Sister Anne Catherine Emmerich.
 
For some that are not familiar with Sister Emmerich, here is a quick summary of who she was. Born in 1774 in Flamske, Westphalia, Germany, Sister Emmerich came from a poor farming family. Raised as a devoted Catholic, she entered the Augustinian Order in 1802. The following year she joined the at Dulmen, Westphalia. Even in her adolescents, Sister Emmerich experience mystical visions of Jesus and Mother Mary. Her stay at the Convent of Agnetenberg, only lasted nine years until Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, closed all religious houses during his reign. By this time, Sister Emmerich was very ill, and luckily, she found refuge in a poor widow’s house.
 
Bedbound, Sister Emmerich experienced many biblical revelations while suffering stigmatic wounds imitating Jesus’ crucifixion. Word started to spread amongst the town’s people of Anne’s ecstasies and visions of Christ. One such notable person to have heard about Sister Emmerich’s vision was the famous literature and poet, Clemens Brentano.
 
According to Brentano, Sister Emmerich told him that he was commanded by God to document her revelations during her periods of ecstasies. From 1819 to the time of Sister Emmerich’s death in 1824, Brentano transcribed the conversation he had with Sister Emmerich. These transcribed were published and for many Christians, are used to help explain the New Testament.    
 
Bill Donnelly was a follower of Sister Emmerich’s doctrine. Using Sister Emmerich’s revelation during her ecstasies, Sister Emmerich described the scene of the Passion, in which she mentions the True Shroud. This mystical vision by Sister Emmerich was the foundation of Bill Donnelly Studies of the Holy Shroud of Turin.
 
In one conversation, Brentano transcribed a biblical revelation by Emmerich relating to the burial of Jesus.
While all were kneeling around the Lord's body, taking leave of It with many tears, a touching miracle was exhibited before their eyes' the entire form of Jesus' sacred body with all its wounds appeared, as It drawn In brown and reddish colors on the cloth that covered It. It was as if He wished gratefully to reward their loving care of Him, gratefully to acknowledge their sorrow, and leave to them an Image of Himself imprinted through all the coverings that enveloped Him. Weeping and lamenting, they embraced the sacred body, and reverently kissed the miraculous portrayal. Their astonishment was so great that they opened the outside wrapping, and It became still greater when they found all the linen bands around the sacred body white as before and only the uppermost cloth marked with the Lord's figure. The cloth on the side upon which the body lay received the imprint of the whole back of the Lord; the ends that covered it were marked with the front likeness. The parts of this latter, to produce the perfect form, had to be laid together, because the corners of the cloth were all crossed over the body in front. The picture was not a mere Impression formed by bleeding wounds, for the whole body had been tightly wrapped in spices and numerous line bands. It was a miraculous picture. a witness to the creative Godhead In the body of Jesus. I have seen many things connected with the subsequent history of this holy winding-sheet, but I cannot recall them in their precise order. After the Resurrection it, along with the other linens, came into the possession of Jesus' friends. Once I saw a man carrying it off with him
under his arm when he was starting on a journey. I saw It a second time in the hands of the Jews, and I saw it long in veneration among the Christians of different places. once a dispute arose about lt and for its settlement. the holy winding-sheet was thrown into the fire; but rising miraculously above the flames, it flew into the hands of the Christians.
At the prayer of holy men, three impressions of the holy image were taken off, both the back and the picture formed on the folds of the front. These impressions were consecrated by contact
with the original and the solemn intention of the Church. They have even affected great miracles. I have seen the original, somewhat damaged, somewhat torn, held in veneration by
some non-Catholic Christians of Asia. I have forgotten the name of the city, but it is situated in a large country near the home of the Three Kings. In those visions I also saw something connected with Turin and France and Pope Clement I, as well as something about the Emperor Tiberius, who died five years after the death of Christ, but l have forgotten it. [1]
 
It was this passage transcribed by Brentano’s memory, that Donnelly based his study on the Shroud of Turin.

Believing strongly in Emmerich’s biblical visions, Donnelly set out to prove that the recent carbon 14 test was correct.  Donnelly of course manifested confirmation bias since all his investigation of evidence was partial to existing beliefs he held. Nevertheless, his research and dedication in his studies of textiles, have made him a valuable resource.
 
Donnelly has spent many years researching antiquity weaving processes and looms dating back to the time of Christ. His investigation also included biblical accounts, radiocarbon data, and an indebt study on all the challenges against the 14-century dating of the Shroud.
 
The documents below is just a minuscule amount of studies he shared with the Holy Shroud Guild, and his correspondence with Sindonologists, here and abroad.
​

[1] (Brentano, From the Visions of the Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich as recorded by the journals of Clemens Brentano)
]]>