Dr.Petrus Soons M.D.
Dr Petrus Soons was born in the Netherlands and rest in peace on November 17, 2021. He studied Medicine at the University of Utrecht and the Erasmus University in Rotterdam where he graduated as a medical doctor in 1970.
He worked as a General Practitioner in the Netherlands and Curacao, the Netherlands Antilles, and was the Founder and Director of an Ultrasound Clinic in Curacao. He is now retired and since 2001 he lives with his wife Dalys in Volcan, Panama.
Since 2002 he works also as a sculptor in tropical woods and that resulted in 2009 in a sculpture of the Body of Christ based on the 3D studies that he did.
In the year 2004 he began his studies of the Shroud of Turin. He concluded that it was possible to create holograms based on the 3D information embedded in the image. To achieve this objective, he formed a team of 3D experts.
Under his guidance the team performed the following tasks:
- Digitized first generation Shroud photographs taken by Giuseppe Enrie in 1931.
- Enhanced the digitized images to improve details.
- Translated the enhanced images “ grayscale data into depth data”, so, a conversion
from 2D to 3D. - Generated a sequence of up to 625 images of each enhanced image.
- Combined these images with a Holoprinter.
- Produced life-size Holograms (3D images in Light) of the image on the Shroud.
Dr. Soons in front of Holograms
- Also producing Anaglyph 3D and Lenticular 3D images.
After the team produced the life-size Holograms in 2005 and 2006, he studied them intensively. His studies confirmed many of the previous findings but also revealed some surprises and the discovery of heretofore unknown details.
In November of 2006 he was granted an audience by the Custodian of the Shroud, Cardenal Severino Poletto. He showed the Holograms that his team had produced of the front and the back of the body and also the face to the Cardenal and a group of esteemed Italian Shroud scientists.
Audience with Cardenal Severino Poletto, Turin 2007
Holograms in Museo della Sindone, Turin
This led to the decision of Cardenal Severino Poletto to place these Holograms as a permanent exhibition in the MUSEO della SINDONE in Turin.
He was also introduced to Don Giuseppe Ghiberti who was in charge of the daily affairs of the Shroud and he brought Dr. Soons in contact with Father Hector Guerra of The Legionaries of Christ.
Father Héctor Guerra L.C., RIP
Father Guerra was responsible for creating a series of permanent expositions of the Shroud and he had established already two expositions in:
- The Ateneo Pontifico Regina Apostolorum in Rome, Italy and in the
- Pontifical Institute Notre Dame in Jerusalem, Israel.
Dr. Soons donated two sets of Holograms to these expositions.
The close cooperation of Dr. Soons and his sponsor group with Father Hector Guerra resulted in a series of new expositions:
- Sacramento, USA, inaugurated on February 26, 2010.
- Cathedral in Den Bosch the Netherlands.
- Krakow, Poland a permanent exposition
- Traveling expositions in Brasil and Portugal.
- Mexico City, Anahuac University.
- Monterrey, Mexico.
- Santiago de Chile.
- Cancun, Mexico.
Dr. Soons and Father Guerra cooperated closely until the untimely death of Father Hector Guerra on december 11, 2015 and then Dr. Soons organized very successful expositions in Panama in 2013 and in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula in Honduras in 2016.
As a sculptor he produced many life-size sculptures including a Pieta and Maria with child.
In 2009 he finished an exact copy of the body of Jesus Christ, based on the measurements on the Shroud and the 3D studies that he had conducted. These studies put him in a unique position to reproduce all the anatomical details and the exact position of the body in 3D.
Sculpture Shroud in Exhibition, Panama
His studies and scientific investigations of the holographic images with the new discoveries have been presented the last couple of years in the USA, Israel, Latin America and Europe.
He has given conferences in:
- Ateneo Pontifico Regina Apostolorum in Rome several times and also in the
presence of a large group of bishops and Cardenal RE. - Pontifical Institute Notre Dame in Jerusalem, Israel.
- Columbus Ohio, USA, in 2008, During the scientific Shroud Conference.
- Many times in Mexico D.F. Cuernavaca, Vera Cruz, Cancun, and participated in an
interview with Roberto O’Farrill in his famous TV program “El Pulso de la Fe”. - Missouri Botanical Garden together with Avinoam Danin, Botanist.
- Many conferences in schools, churches in Latin America and Europe.
- St. Louis, USA together with Pete Schumacher, presenting research of the HALO.
He participated in the following documentaries about the Shroud:
- ”THE FABRIC of TIME” by Grizzly Adams, that won the price of “Excellence in
Religion” in the USA in 2008. - “THE CASE for CHRIST’S RESURRECTION” by Grizzly Adams (2006)
- “THE SHROUD OF TURIN” by Discovery Chanel on Chanel 5 in Europe (2008).
- ”HE IS THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD, The Shroud of Turin”, by the Net for
God in France in 2009.
Dr. Soons is also a member of the Shroud Science Group (SSG) and is continuing with his scientific investigations of the Shroud and giving conferences in different countries.
Dr. Soons and Deacon Pete Schümacher