Charlotte nodded. “All those years of hard manual work would have resulted in visible changes to the finger joints and wrists, where the bone and surrounding tissue thicken to accommodate increased demand. The joints would have shown signs of premature wearing in at least one of the hands.” She flipped to close-ups of the hands. “Yet this man’s show no obvious changes.”
“That’s fascinating,” Donovan managed, almost sounding sincere.
“But most importantly,” she pointed to the monitor, “his genetic makeup isn’t what you’d expect of someone born in ancient Judea. I carefully reviewed the DNA’s gene sequencing and it doesn’t match any documented Middle Eastern profiles for Jews or Arabs. The Bible states that Jesus Christ was born from a long bloodline of Jews. As you both know, Matthew’s Gospel begins by retracing Jesus’s lineage—forty-two generations—and all of them Jews. Way back to Abraham. That blood line would have been flawlessly Jewish. Yet this man’s DNA has no identifiable genealogy.”
Now both Santelli and Donovan looked perplexed.
Santelli tilted his head to one side. “So, Dr. Hennesey, are you telling us that you don’t believe that these are actually Jesus’s remains?”
Their eyes met in a silent standoff.
For an instant, she thought back to her conversation with Bersei—how he’d said that people might have been killed for these relics. Unlike Donovan, the cardinal’s shifty gaze was starting to convince her that Giovanni’s suspicions might just have been right. “From what I’ve seen here, claiming these to be the actual remains of Jesus Christ would be a long shot. The scientific methods available today pose too many questions. There remains a very real possibility that this is some kind of first-century forgery.”
“That’s a relief,” said Donovan.
Taken aback, Charlotte looked at him sharply. “Why’s that?”
Opening his satchel he produced the Ephemeris Conlusio. “Let me explain.”
57
******
Carefully resting the ancient, weathered manuscript on the glossy mahogany tabletop, Father Donovan turned to her. “You know, of course, that the Vatican has been extremely concerned about the ossuary’s provenance?”
Cardinal Santelli sat back in the chair, hands folded across his chest. Charlotte eyed the book curiously.
“And there was a very good reason why,” he explained. “No one outside a small circle within the upper reaches of the Church has heard what I’m about to tell you.”
Judging from the cardinal’s body language, she highly doubted that. “Okay.”
“First, I need to give you some background,” Donovan began. “Many Jews, particularly those living in ancient Judea, maintained that Jesus—the self-proclaimed son of God—hadn’t fulfilled the messianic criteria outlined in the Old Testament. And they were right.”
That’s an odd admission, she thought.
“The Messiah foretold by the prophets was supposed to be a warrior directly descended from King David, empowered by God to militarily reunite the tribes of Israel, thus freeing the Promised Land from tyranny and oppression.” Donovan was speaking quickly, his face animated, hands gesticulating. “The Messiah was supposed to rebuild the Holy Temple. The Messiah was supposed to conquer Rome. The Jews had been vanquished for centuries and subjugated by all the major empires—Persians, Greeks, and Romans. For the first thousand years of its existence, Jerusalem had known only bloodshed.” Images of dead Israeli soldiers reminded him how little had changed. “Yet in reading the scriptures, you find Jesus advocating peace. Here was a man telling the Jews to pay their taxes and accept their lot in life. In return he promised them eternity with God. He believed using evil to conquer evil only prolonged a perpetual cycle.”
Charlotte realized that Donovan needed to tell this story and that she needed to encourage it. “Live by the sword, die by the sword?”
“Exactly. Jesus knew Rome couldn’t be defeated. He was trying to prevent a massive Jewish rebellion that would have ended in a massacre by the Romans. But many chose not to listen.” Donovan’s voice was solemn. “Less than thirty years after Christ’s death, the Jews finally revolted. The Roman response was swift and it was brutal. They besieged Jerusalem and after they’d taken the city, they slaughtered every man, woman, and child. Thousands were crucified, burned, or simply hacked to pieces. Jerusalem and the second temple were razed to the ground. Just as Jesus had predicted.” He paused. “Dr. Hennesey, are you aware that most theologians estimate that Jesus’s ministry spanned only one year?”
She knew that Christ had been in his early thirties when he died. “I never realized that.”
Donovan leaned in closer. “I hope you’d agree that regardless of one’s faith, or even the degree of one’s faith, Jesus was a remarkable human being—a philosopher and teacher—someone who emerged from relative obscurity to bring a lasting message of hope, kindness, and faith that still resonates two thousand years later. No other figure in history has had such an impact.” His eyes on her, Donovan’s hands migrated to the Ephemeris Conlusio and rested flatly on its cover, as if protecting it.
“That book has something to do with all this?” Charlotte noticed that Donovan had yet to look at Santelli, making it clear that this part of the discussion had been choreographed by the two men.
Donovan answered her with a question. “You’re familiar with Christ’s resurrection story, the empty tomb?”
“Of course.” Having attended catechism classes throughout elementary school and having gone to an all-girls Catholic high school, she knew plenty about scripture—more than she wanted to. She gave Donovan the straightforward answer that he’d expect—the one that smoothed out the inconsistencies within all the Gospels: “Jesus was crucified and buried. Three days later he rose from the dead and reappeared to his disciples,”— In what form is anybody’s guess—“before ascending to Heaven.” That summed it up nicely, she thought.
“Absolutely.” Donovan was pleased. “Which brings us to this most remarkable story.” He gently patted the book’s cover. “This is a journal written by Joseph of Arimathea—a biblical figure intimately linked to Jesus’s death and resurrection.”
Charlotte was amazed by the Vatican’s secret treasure trove. Had this book been stolen too? “The Joseph of Arimathea?”
