Local designs crucifix modeled on the Shroud of Turin

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

Seeking to accurately portray Christ’s Passion in artistic form, a local Catholic designed what he named the Turin Crucifix™, after the Shroud of Turin.

Shrewsbury resident Mark R. Fisher also wrote a book, Turin Crucifix: A Description of the Elements used in the Creation of the Turin Crucifix Sculpture. The book shares the research behind his creation, and includes information about the shroud, which many people think is Christ’s burial cloth, bearing his image. Bishop McManus granted an Imprimatur on March 17, 2023 and the book was published in 2024.

Last week, on April 3, Mr. Fisher presented his crucifix and research for the first time at a parish – St. John the Evangelist in Hopkinton – and responded to questions from listeners, who were given a free copy of the book.

Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of the Saint Benedict Center from Still River, where Mr. Fisher attends Mass, came to sell the 19-inch, hand-painted, two-part-epoxy crucifix, and other items from True Devotionals, their gift shop.

Mr. Fisher is available to speak and display the crucifix and accompanying symbols of Christ’s Passion free of charge to other parishes and groups too.

He shared with The Catholic Free Press the story behind this project.

“I wanted to buy a crucifix three or four years ago,” he said. Not happy with his purchase and wondering why he couldn’t find one modeled on the Shroud of Turin, he set about designing his own.

To do so, he turned to the shroud, the Gospels, relics from Christ’s crucifixion, archeological discoveries, mystics’ private revelations and saints’ writings.

In his presentation April 3 he told some of the ways he used these sources for the details of the corpus, cross, titulus (the sign Pilate had affixed to the cross), crown of thorns, nails and rock mount, which bears a hammer, pliers and dice like those likely used at the crucifixion, and a skull representing that of Adam.The Turin Crucifix

“How am I going to get this [crucifix] made?” Mr. Fisher initially wondered. Through the website cghero.com he was matched with an artist in Brazil who designed a crucifix on computer according to his specifications.

“He did a very good job, but he could not finish the facial image as I wanted it,” said Mr. Fisher, who then got an artist in Great Britain to take on that project. He said he had students at Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Still River, where he was then teaching, vote on which rendition of Christ’s face they thought looked most like the shroud. He chose the majority vote.

The wounds on Christ’s body from the flagellation didn’t match the shroud to Mr. Fisher’s satisfaction. So, he had an artist in Iran design new ones.

Mr. Fisher himself designed the cross and inscription on the titulus, which said in Hebrew, Latin and Greek: “Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews” (Jn 19:19-22).

Mr. Fisher said the artists sent him 3-D models of the crucifix via computer. For $27, Shrewsbury Public Library made, on a 3-D printer, a prototype about one-third the size of the final product. (He was told it took about nine hours just to print the rock mount the cross stands on.)

Last December at the library, he gave his first public presentation about the project.
The crucifix is the creation of Ernest Works Inc., a company Mr. Fisher started in 2019 to produce, and help other people produce, literary and artistic works. He named the company after his father and published the book through it.

“We believe that the most profound expressions of God’s Love need a complementary and most profound depiction,” Mr. Fisher says in the preface.

“We are acutely aware of the state of what passes as religious ‘art’ in our times ... Ernest Works Inc. offers the Turin Crucifix, and each of its future works, in reparation for the grave offenses committed by such artists.”

Mr. Fisher said the crucifixes are made in China and he sells them below wholesale price to the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who sell them wholesale to 23 other retailers, and at retail prices at their gift shop and online, where they advertised the crucifix ahead of time.

They charge $184 for the crucifix with its mount, $14.95 for the book and $29.95 for the Holy Shroud Fragrance, composed of Holy Land oils infused with burial fragrances which were perhaps present on the shroud. The sisters get the fragrance from Abba Christian Products in Houston, Texas. There are discounts for purchasing the book and/or the fragrance with the crucifix.

Mr. Fisher said the crucifix and book went on sale Feb. 7, 2024 and there were 17 sales in first hour, and more than 100 in the first three weeks.
In a note to buyers, the book says, “It is our hope that the Turin Crucifix helps to fulfill Christ’s words, ‘And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself’ (Jn 12:32). May your meditation upon the Crucified Christ bring you to a deeper awareness of His great Love for us.”

– To learn more visit works-of-ernest.com/turin-crucifix.