The first Director of the Center was the pathologist and scientific popularizer Giovanni Judica Cordiglia . In parallel, the Confraternity founded the biannual scientific magazine “Sindon” . The first issue of the periodical was in November 1959 .
The International Center for Shroud Studies has grown in authority over the years. In 1969 the director of the Center, still Professor Judica Cordiglia, was called to be part of the Commission of experts appointed by Cardinal Pellegrino for a survey of the state of conservation of the Shroud .

Since 1992, some members of the International Center for Studies on the Shroud have been part of the Commission of experts appointed by Cardinal Giovanni Saldarini to continue studies on the conservation of the Shroud . Studies culminated in July 2002 with the conservative intervention that saw the replacement of the Holland cloth and the removal of the patches sewn by the Poor Clare nuns of Chambery in 1534 .

On the occasion of the most recent exhibitions, the activity of the International Center for Studies on the Shroud has become very intense: some of its members have been called to be part of the Diocesan Commission of the Shroud, giving a notable contribution at an organizational, technical and scientific level to the exhibitions of recent years and to the management of the conservation of the Shroud.

The activity of CISS, the only centre in the world to be officially recognised by the Pontifical Custodian of the Shroud , to whom it provides consultancy services, also develops through exchanges and contacts with entities throughout the world, with researchers and research institutes, organising and participating in conferences and combining its more strictly scientific commitment with significant dissemination activities.