BURLINGTON, ONT. - It can be dangerous to say so, but there is no real proof that the Shroud of Turin is authentic. Even the Vatican has never pronounced itself on the authenticity of the world’s most famous piece of linen.

There’s no historical record of it before 1390. Skeptics ask what are the odds that for more than 1,000 years Christians ignored the existence of an image that accurately records Jesus’ likeness at the time of His crucifixion?

In the 14th century there was an enormous industry which produced, bought and sold relics. There were, of course, genuine relics. But the real thing could never possibly satisfy demand for ever more, and ever more dramatic, remembrances of holiness. A shroud somehow recovered from the empty tomb of Jesus — like all the vials of precious blood, and the many, many nails from Jesus’ cross — would surely have been a money maker.

TORONTO - Heavy rain that wreaked havoc on Toronto May 31 wasn’t enough to deter thousands from lining up outside St. Maria Goretti Church for a chance to spend 30 seconds with a relic of the parish’s patron saint.

“The church was jammed from the beginning to the end,” said pastor Fr. Edwin Galea. “We expected a good level of interest but we were fairly overwhelmed by the extent of interest. It was far beyond our imagination.”

Charles Freeman offers a history of medieval relic worship that is both intriguing and engaging — but not, in the end, sympathetic to its subject.

Freeman ambitiously tackles the long Middle Ages — from the start of relic worship among early Christians to the Renaissance and Reformation, when the cult of saints and the reality of miracles began to be questioned. There are many relics in Holy Bones, Holy Dust, but Freeman finds few saints as he generally disparages the Medieval men and women who wrote about, built around and venerated relics.

The author deserves praise for trying to bring together into one story, spanning more than 1,500 years, the complex facets of relic worship from across Europe. Scholars specializing in medieval religion tend, instead, to focus on one area, period or cult.