Members of St. Faith’s Church in the village of Bacton have long held that their fine altar cloth (that’s how the gown had been used) was a relic of Elizabeth’s reign.

New research suggests that the burial cloths of Jesus have been central to the Roman liturgy for more than a millennium, and possibly from the earliest days of the Church.

Workers from Rich Murray Granite and Marble Works lift the top piece of the altar Tuesday while moving it to the center of the sanctuary at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Champaign.

He donated the altar cloth to Atonement, the church he occasionally attended with his late wife, Grace, a member. He also said he has no qualms about the cloth being returned.

Dress unparalleled to others of the 1590s When she first saw the T-shaped altar cloth at St. Faith's Church, Lynn said that she "immediately" thought it might be a dress worn by Elizabeth I.

Preserved for centuries in a small rural church in Bacton, the fabric has been identified by experts as a piece of a 16th century dress, which may even have belonged to Queen Elizabeth.