Churches and Institutes Welcome the Pilgrims

About two hundred thousand pilgrims were hosted in religious institutes’ rooms and courtyards. More than two thousand religious services were celebrated in Torino's churches. Besides the number of services regularly scheduled in the historic centre's churches and the "masses for the pilgrims" that took place every day at 11.00 a.m. in the parishes Maria Ausiliatrice and Consolata. Hundreds and sometimes a thousand people attended the services, especially on Saturdays and Sundays. The following records were collected by a commission that was organized by the Commissione Diocesana Ostensione Sindone (Diocesan Committee for the Exposition of the Shroud) in order to host the pilgrims who came to Torino to see the Holy Linen.

There was a total mobilization: a hundred churches were made available for the celebration of the Eucharist, 16 centers for meetings, fifty halls and forty courtyards for lunches. Twenty-four locations were also available for overnight staying. Twenty thousand hot meals were distributed, nine thousand of them at Santa Giulia’s parish. Fifty thousand people were provided a place to consume their backpack meals. Religious centers hosted about sixty-four thousand pilgrims overnight.

To these numbers we should add the groups and individuals who arranged their staying directly with churches and religious institutes: five hundred fifty thousand people at Valdocco, more than twenty-six thousand people at Cottolengo, and thirty-five hundred people were helped by the Consolata Missionaries. Two thousand masses were celebrated at Basilica di Maria Ausiliatrice, about a thousand at Santuario della Consolata.

Four hundred expert volunteers welcomed the pilgrims in the historic center churches; then professional tourist guides introduced them to the art of the most famous churches of Torino. The most visited churches were: San Lorenzo, Santissimo Sudario, Corpus Domini, Santa Cristina, San Carlo, San Francesco da Paola, Santa Teresa, Basilica di Maria Ausiliatrice, and Santuario della Consolata.

Ufficio Stampa Comitato per l’Ostensione della Sindone.
(Committee for the exposition of the Shroud press office)
Via XX Settembre 83 Torino
Tel. 011 436 03 70 Fax 011 521 64 49.