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Priests and nuns, sport-men, people of the army,
children, seminarists…. Riding a bike, running, walking,… People
came to see the Shroud from many different roads, with any mean of
transportation.
In the first days of the exposition, more than 30
thousand young people went to see the Shroud before going to Rome in
pilgrimage for the youth world meeting. Three thousand of them belonged
to the «Youth international arise» and a thousand were going to take
part to the meeting of the Movimento giovanile salesiano held in August
at Colle don Bosco.
There have been more than 40 pilgrimages organised by
dioceses, for a total of 161.623 people. Some groups were very numerous,
for example Ivrea (950), Asti (750), Ventimiglia-San Remo (680) and Susa
(560). Besides, many diocesan groups came from abroad, some from very
far: from Vanimo (Papua Nuova Guinea), from San Josè de Antique in
Philippine Ilands, from Owando in Congo and from Hamilton in Bermuda
Islands.
About 37.287 people were part of groups organised by
schools. More than a thousand of them visited the exposition in the last
week of September and the first of October.
Groups of diplomats were numerous, guided by the
ambassadors of Hungary, Chile, Philippine Islands and by people of the
army. There were 52 volunteers “alpini” of the section of Torino, a
hundred young people from the I Compagnia del Genio Ferrovieri of the
Cavour base of Torino, 50 alpini of IX Abruzzo troop.
Two groups of cyclists came, 80 pilgrims from Bairo
in Piedmont, belonging to the community “Brotherhood of Nazareth”.
The other group came from Villanova Mondovì and left from Lirey, French
town where the Shroud was preserved from 1350 to 1453, ending the
pilgrimage after about a thousand kilometers. Two more groups of
pilgrims, one from La Loggia and one from Castelnuovo don Bosco walked
respectively 20 and 40 kilometres. And more: in September 35 young
people at the end of their pilgrimage lit a torch in front of the shroud
and took it to Abbiategrasso (Milan).
Many religious groups went to the exposition: 80 of
them came from Greece and Russia, as guests of the community of Bose for
the VIII Ecumenic International Meeting, there were Luterans, Anglicans,
Catholics, and representatives of Ortodox churches. More than 500 nuns
of the Nuns Federation of San Joseph celebrated their 350 anniversary of
the foundation of their Congregation and 200 priests and diacons of
Torino.
A thousand families of the dioceses of Torino came to
see the Shroud, 600 from the Homes of Divine Providence of Piedmont, 150
deaf people from Piedmont and numerous communities of Italian and
foreign monasteries. About 500 boys and girls of “Catholic Action”
of Piedmont, more than a thousand seminarists from all over Italy, and a
group of a hundred boys, some with physical problems, took part to the
“Train of Joy”.
Comitato per l’Ostensione solenne della Sindone e
per l'anno giubilare 2000
Committee for the Solemn Exposition of the Shroud and for the jubilee
year 2000
Ufficio Stampa - Press Office
Via XX Settembre 83 - Torino
Tel. 011-521.61.67 Fax 011-460.11.82
E-MAIL: press.sindone@torino.chiesacattolica.it |
