Easter is approaching, so it’s a topical question that may have just been answered: How did Jesus die? A priest – who was a doctor – claims that he suffered from a shoulder injury that caused a lot of internal bleeding. Reverend Professor Patrick Pullicino, a former consultant neurologist at the East Kent Universities Hospital Trust, came to this conclusion based on a study by the Shroud of Turin. He claimed that the image in the shroud showed a man with a dislocated shoulder, pulled so far from his slot that his right arm was stretched four inches lower than his left. He wrote: “Because of this stretching of the right arm, the right subclavian / axillary artery was also stretched, as it was one of the only intact structures that joined the body and the right arm.” He claims that as Jesus stretched for crucifixion, the subclavian artery – a pair of large arteries that supply blood to the head, neck, shoulder and arms – broke. In the Bible, he says that blood flowed from his side when a spear pierced him. However, Pullicino believes that this was actually due to the large internal bleeding caused by the rupture. The case was based on an analysis of the medical examiners’ work on the Shroud of Turin, also known as the Holy Shroud. (Image: Acquired by John Chapple for DailyMail.com) Pullicino said: “This study claims that within three hours, the subclavian artery was scraped, injured and its wall weakened until the artery finally ruptured and profuse bleeding ensued.” Pullicino agrees with other scholars that Jesus’ dismembered hand was most likely the result of being trapped under the T-shaped cross he was forced to carry. A London-based doctor claims that Jesus Christ may have died as a result of complications related to his dislocated right shoulder. (Image: Getty Images / iStockphoto) The Shroud of Turin is said to show the negative image of Jesus Christ. However, the authenticity of the shroud, which has been preserved in Italy since 1578, has long been disputed by a study in the 1980s that concluded it was probably medieval rather than 2,000 years old. Jewish and Roman historians have written about Jesus as a Galilean Jew born in the early 1st century. It is estimated he was around 31 or 33 when he died. MORE: Dad finds the “face of Jesus” in a bruise on his hand a few days before Christmas MORE: Does the “Crucifixion of Jesus” appear in the mandarin or is it Spiderman?
