To avoid destruction in the invasion, it was taken away first to Alexandria by the presbyter Philip, then carried through northern Africa when Khosrau II conquered Alexandria in 616 AD and arrived in Spain shortly thereafter.
The Sudarium entered Spain at Cartagena, along with people who were fleeing from the Persians.
Remarkably, two ancient pieces of cloth, the Shroud of Turin and the Sudarium of Oviedo, are extant today. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, the Shroud is believed by millions to be the burial cloth of Jesus.
This is as it should be—a mystery for our era that calls us into a deeper examination of faith, or the lack of faith, in Jesus as Savior.
The science of carbon dating is a major question in the comment section.
On hearing the astonishing news, Thomas declared, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hand and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” A week later, Jesus appeared, giving Thomas the physical proof he demanded.
Then Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” If in your faith walk you identify with Doubting Thomas, keep reading.
The laboratory immediately concluded that the cloth (and the mummy) were fakes.
The sample from the Sudarium was dated to around 700 AD.
I mean the familiar story of “doubting Thomas” (John –29).
The apostle Thomas was absent when the resurrected Christ appeared to some of the apostles.
Scientist César Barta spoke about the carbon dating process, emphasising the fact that if carbon dating is always absolutely accurate, then we could just as well finish the congress there and then.
However, there were several points to bear in mind– in specialist carbon dating magazines, about half the samples dated come up with the expected date, around 30% with an “acceptable” date, and the other 20% is not what one would expect from archaeology.
The laboratory used (via the National Museum in Madrid) said they were surprised by the result and asked if the cloth was contaminated with any oil based product, as oil is not cleaned by the laboratory processes used before carbon dating and if oil is present on a sample, the date produced by carbon dating is in fact the date of contamination. It is curious, because so far we know, the Sudarium had been carbon-dated in the 80s, by two laboratories: Tuscon and Toronto, based on samples taken from it by Max Frei and Pierluigi Baima-Bollone. So far I have met: 653-786 AD Toronto, and 642-769 AD (in other version 642-869 AD) Tuscon.