Posted on 06/20/2007 3:54:57 PM PDT by blam
Archaeologist sparks hunt for Holy Grail
By Nick Pisa in Rome
Last Updated: 8:47pm BST 20/06/2007
An archaeologist has sparked a Da Vinci Code-style hunt for the Holy Grail after claiming ancient records show it is buried under a 6th century church in Rome.
The cup - said to have been used by Christ at the Last Supper - is the focus of countless legends and has been sought for centuries.
Alfredo Barbagallo, an Italian archaeologist, claims that it is buried in a chapel-like room underneath the Basilica of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura, one of the seven churches which Christian pilgrims used to visit when they came to Rome.
Mr Barbagallo based his claim on two years spent studying mediaeval iconography inside the basilica and a description of a particular chamber, in a guide to the catacombs written in 1938 by a Capuchin friar named Giuseppe Da Bra.
The friar describes a room of about 20 square metres with a vaulted roof ceiling. "In the corner of a wall-seat there can be seen a terracotta funnel whose lower part opens out over the face of a skeleton," he wrote.
Da Bra then explains that giving liquid refreshment (refrigerium) to the dead was part of ancient funeral rites.
According to Mr Barbagallo, who heads an association called Arte e Mistero [Art and Mystery], this funnel is the Grail.
He also points out to several beautiful mosaics and frescos in the basilica which feature images of the sacred cup.
Mr Barbagallo added that its presence in the church fits the sketchy accounts of its early guardians.
In 258 AD, during a phase of Christian persecution, Pope Sixtus V reportedly entrusted the treasures of the early Church to a deacon called Lawrence, Lorenzo in Italian. This deacon was martyred four days later and since then no one has ever seen the Grail.
Various legends have it that the cup, given the name Holy Grail in the Middle Ages, was taken to different countries - including Britain.
Dan Brown’s work of fiction, The Da Vinci Code, said the cup had been buried at Rossyln Chapel in Scotland, and sparked off a stampede to the isolated location as thousands flocked to see it for themselves.
Mr Barbagallo said he believed it never went anywhere, and stayed with St Lawrence in his tomb.
Emperor Constantine built a shrine on the site of Lawrence’s martyrdom in the 4th Century and the main part of the Basilica of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura was built in AD580 on the same spot.
The catacombs where Mr Barbagallo believes the cup to buried come under the authority of the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology.
A spokesman said: "We are aware of the reports and a few weeks ago made an initial investigation of the area with the possibility of opening the catacombs up but as yet no decision has been made."
“What is the air speed velocity of an unladen sparrow?”
Or else Zoot’s been lighting the Grail-shaped beacon again...
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I went to a Catholic school growing up and at least one year (I think it was more like 2-3 years in a row), we had a sedar meal on Good Friday — right after we had all gone to mass. (o:
It was very interesting and IIRC (I was pretty young) they brought in someone (not sure if it was a local Rabbi, or what) who said all the prayers, told us the story of Moses, and had us eat the different foods that symbolized what the people had gone through. I though it was really interesting, and I always thought it odd when I was young that (since Jesus was technically a Jew and celebrated all of the Jewish holy days and such) we didn’t celebrate more of the Jewish holy days...
Not really to the point but Jesus was much more likely to be a stone mason than a carpenter. The gospels only tell us he was a “builder” (greek: Tekton).
When you read the gospels with this in mind it is interesting how often he use stone in metaphors and parables.
I think you understand Jesus’ role vis a vis reversing the damage done in Exodus 32 better than many Christians.
> Not really to the point but Jesus was much more likely to be a stone mason than a carpenter.
It’s an interesting idea, I hadn’t heard that one before. Where did it come from?
I actually first read an article about it on FR and have since read more about it elsewhere.
there is no claims to supernatural powers surrounding the Chalice of Valencia. It's just a stone cup with a pretty base that Jesus happened to drink out of.
And that's just as He would have wanted it.
So pagans took the grail and used it to funnel drinks to the dead. Figures.
Be prepared to be BLOWN AWAY!!! Read this: Christ's Blood On the Mercy Seat
The Discovery of the Earthquake Crack in the Ceiling With adrenaline flowing through his veins and great anticipation, he looked around to see what else he could see, which wasn't much. He shined his flashlight around the open area and then up to the ceiling. There, he saw something that caught his eye - it was a crack in the ceiling with a black substance within the crack. Crawling slowly and painfully over the rocks to the rear of the chamber, he saw a stone case extending through the rocks. It had a flat stone top which was cracked completely in two and the smaller section was moved aside, creating an opening into the stone case. But the top was too near the ceiling for him to look inside. Yet he knew what was inside- the crack in the ceiling was directly above the cracked part of the lid, where it was open, and the black substance had fallen from the crack into the case because some of it had splashed onto the lid. It was at this time, as Ron recalls, as the instant realization of what had happened here dawned on him, that he passed out. When he realized that the crack in the ceiling was the end of the crack he had found in the elevated cross-hole many feet above him, and the black substance was blood which had fallen through the crack and into the stone case, he KNEW the Ark was in the stone case. But the most overwhelming realization was that Christ's Blood had actually fallen onto the Mercy Seat.
When he came to, it was 2:45 pm. A mere 45 minutes had passed since he entered the chamber, yet in that short time, he became the first witness to the literal fulfillment of the "type" represented by all the sacrifices made by God's people since Adam and Eve, and later specifically directed by God, Himself, in the laws of the sacrificial system. Now he knew why he and the boys had to do the last three years of excavation that he had sometimes felt was useless. If they had not found first, the cut-out niches, and then the elevated cross-hole with the earthquake crack, he would not have recognized what had happened here.
Interesting...
Thanks for posting!
Calling the KOETT {!}
Surely a topic of interest for the Knights who say Neener.
I done told ya before. The Holy Grail isn’t a cup. It’s the bloodline of Christ passed down through His daughter, Sarah, with Mary Magdalene. Doesn’t anybody watch the History Channel?
Or substituting another one entirely.
He’s a direct male-line ancestor (or so my DNA analysis says — that 99% of all cohens have a common male ancestor about 3,500 years ago -— could be Aaron, or it could be a nice story backed up by a lot of tradition), so the failings of my line are rather personal and were pretty well beat into me at an early age.
You’ve been hanging around with too many freemasons. :-)
cool - where can I get one?
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