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Plants in the Sacred Scriptures

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Plants in the Sacred Scriptures Plants in the Sacred Scriptures 1st An exhibition on occasion of the exposition of the Holy Shroud The Holy Shroud and the city of Turin have been closely connected since 1578, when the “Shroud” first arrived in the city after a long journey. This journey which, according to an old tradition for which there is no proof, passed through Jerusalem, Edessa, Constantinople, Athens and Lirey, before it ended in Chambéry, from which the “Holy Shroud” was later on transferred to Turin. The first public exposition of the “shroud” was in fact in that same year, in the presence of Saint Carlo Borromeo, who was then the Archbishop of Milan. Up to the year 2000, this exposition was followed by another 25 expositions, which were open to the general public to various extents, to celebrate significant events for the members of the House of Savoy, the then owners of the “shroud” (at weddings, births, on the reconquering of power…) and to celebrate particular recurring Church events, such as the celebration of the Holy Year in 1933 or the IV Centenary of the transport of the Holy Shroud from Chambéry to Turin (1978). In 1998, a solemn exposition was decided on to concelebrate the fifth centenary of the consecration of Turin Cathedral and the first centenary of Secondo Pia’s historical photography, in which the positive image of a man who showed signs of the Passion of Christ was reconstructed on a photographic plate negative, an image that led to the conclusion that the signs left on the “shroud” were those of a negative imagine rendered positive on the photographic plate. In the spring of 1997, a huge fire had destroyed the Cathedral and the Chapel in which the Holy Shroud had been kept, but it had fortunately been removed and taken to another site. Although this disaster seemed to present an insurmountable obstacle to the foreseen exposition, the extraordinary interventions conducted by both public and private organizations made it possible for the exposition to still take place between 18 April and 14 June 1998. 2nd Plants in the Sacred Scriptures A large number of plants, more than 150, have been mentioned either directly or indirectly in various parts of the Sacred Scriptures. Most of these plants in fact originate from the western Mediterranean area, that is, from Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, where they can still be found today. Others come from the Arabian Peninsula and from Egypt; many arboreal species are of African origin and important perfumed varieties come from India. Other texts in the Bible also refer to spontaneous and cultivated plants, to which, over the years, a religious or symbolic significance has been given; these plants enrich both the number of types mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures and knowledge on their uses and properties. The plant world is already named in the Bible in the first chapter in the first book: “… and God said: Let the earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit trees yielding fruit after its kind…” (Book of Genesis 1:11), thus the Garden of Eden was created. The theme of the garden and the recurring reference to luxuriant nature, which is glorified as a gift from God, is constantly present in the life of Jews, as it is in the life of Moslems, populations that lived as nomads in countries in which there was a predominance of arid areas and deserts: the gardens on the Earth represented the reflections of the celestial Eden, in contrast to the barren lands that they passed through every day. Only for brief periods in spring did the mountainous and plain environments, even though they were less arid than they are now, become covered in flowers, which helped to modify the severe aspect of the landscape, producing sensations of beauty and suggesting images of the Garden of Eden. Even the everyday life of these peoples was closely connected to plants: the diet of man depended to a great extent on the spontaneous plants, with which it was possible to integrate products from the first chosen cereal species and other food plants which, however, were not so productive back then; the balsams and perfumes that characterized the rituals, the celebrations and the cure of their bodies were taken from local or foreign plants; their health and that of the animals was connected above all to herb-based therapies. Many scholars have dedicated a great deal of attention to the study of the species that were used for medicinal purposes; the ancient medicinal traditions have been compared not only with the present-day folk medicine but also to verify the presence of active principles that are recognized in pharmacopoeia. It is because of this dependence of man on plants over the years that the Jewish population has attributed an even symbolic significance to many plant entities, and they are mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures in association with everyday life, with celebrations, with rituals and with the commandments; wood and trees are celebrated as symbols of prosperity, of beauty and peace, or of struggles for power. In the Scriptures, as in all ancient documents, a collective name was often given to plants, and it is therefore difficult to unravel the different denominations in order to be able to recognize the precise species, as they are known today. The more or less 150 “species” mentioned in the Scriptures offer a fascinating field of research, in which the problems of interpretation have created, and continue to create, debate between botanists and theologians, as well as between botanists themselves, who often do not agree on the attribution of the biblical name to a determined species. Many scholars have grappled with these problems, and a vast bibliography, to which reference can be made, is currently available. It is on the basis of this type of study that numerous gardens have been set up throughout the world with plants from the Bible, some of which have been connected to Botanical Gardens: mention should be made of Kew Gardens and those in Israel as they are among the most beautiful and complete in the world. On occasion of the exposition of the Holy Shroud, the Turin Botanical Garden will once again participate in the event by showing more than 50 of the 150 plant species mentioned in the Scriptures, identified from among the permanent collection and from those that were planted for the “One hundred plants useful for man” exhibition. The biblical verse corresponding to each one is written on a specific card and, in order to find them among the others, they are highlighted with yellow tape. The verses quoted in Italian are taken from the TOB Bible (Traduction Oecuménique de la Bible, Official CEI Edition) while those in English are taken from the authorized King James Version. .
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