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Archaeologist Sparks Hunt For Holy Grail
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 6-20-2007 | Nick Pisa

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."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: antichristian; archaeologist; davincicode; godsgravesglyphs; grail; holy; holygrail; kingarthur; rome; sangraal; thedavincicode
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To: MeanWestTexan

That is a beautiful cup! Can you explain the symbolism of the decorations?


61 posted on 06/21/2007 1:37:56 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: blam
Answer me these questions three!


62 posted on 06/21/2007 1:49:38 PM PDT by eyedigress (A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you hav)
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To: Arthalion

From the Cathedral of Valencia.

Or;

The Jerusalem Chalice

The earliest record of a chalice from the Last Supper is the account of Arculf a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon pilgrim who described it in De locis sanctis as being located in a reliquary in a chapel near Jerusalem, between the basilica of Golgotha and the Martyrium. He described it as a two-handled silver chalice with the measure of a Gaulish pint. Arculf kissed his hand and reached through an opening of the perforated lid of the reliquary to touch the chalice. He said that the people of the city flocked to it with great veneration. (Arculf also saw the Holy Lance in the porch of the basilica of Constantine.) This is the only mention of the Holy Chalice being situated in the Holy Land.

Or;

The Genoa Chalice

Of two vessels that survive today, one is at Genoa, in the cathedral. The hexagonal vessel is known as the sacro catino, the holy basin. Traditionally said to be carved from emerald, it is in fact a green Egyptian glass dish, about eighteen inches (37 cm) across. It was sent to Paris after Napoleon’s conquest of Italy, and was returned broken, which identified the emerald as glass. Its origin is uncertain; according to William of Tyre, writing in about 1170, it was found in the mosque at Caesarea in 1101: "a vase of brilliant green shaped like a bowl." The Genoese, believing that it was of emerald, accepted it in lieu of a large sum of money. An alternative story in a Spanish chronicle says that it was found when Alfonso VII of Castile captured Almería from the Moors in 1147 with Genoese help, un vaso de piedra esmeralda que era tamanno como una escudiella, "a vase carved from emerald which was like a dish". The Genoese said that this was the only thing they wanted from the sack of Almería. The identification of the sacro catino with the Holy Chalice is not made until later, however, by Jacobus de Voragine in his chronicle of Genoa, written at the close of the 13th century.

63 posted on 06/21/2007 2:09:27 PM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: Lady In Blue; Salvation; narses; SMEDLEYBUTLER; redhead; Notwithstanding; nickcarraway; Romulus; ...
Catholic Ping List
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list


64 posted on 06/21/2007 2:22:48 PM PDT by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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To: Lady In Blue; Salvation; narses; SMEDLEYBUTLER; redhead; Notwithstanding; nickcarraway; Romulus; ...
Catholic Ping List
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list


65 posted on 06/21/2007 2:23:55 PM PDT by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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To: DieHard the Hunter
From your homepage-

Unlike many Kiwis, I admire GWB and the job he has done as President. I applaud the selfless sacrifice made by the American Armed Forces in the Middle East, and I hope and pray that they can come home safely to you, one day soon, Mission Accomplished.

It is my understanding that the Kiwis have participated in the Middle East as well. Is that not true? Also, doesnt New Zealand have its own SAS? Regardless, thanks for your kind words about my Country and GWB..

66 posted on 06/21/2007 2:42:04 PM PDT by cardinal4
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To: Mr. K

The link is from Ebay.


67 posted on 06/21/2007 2:52:47 PM PDT by MeanWestTexan (Kol Hakavod Fred Thompson)
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To: Arthalion
Personally, I think the hunt for the grail is nonsense. I believe it does exist, and it's sitting in a cathedral in Spain. The cup's design fits, it matches early descriptions of the Holy Chalice, and the story behind its transfer fits extremely well with known history.

I don't remember where I read it, nor do I speak French, so I could not confirm it, But the jist of the passage I had read stated that there is a small difference between grail ("graal") and "gra' al" (or something like that)in the French language... one meaning cup or chalice, while the other means (roughly) burial cloth.

Considering the fact that the Shroud of Turin was almost certainly brought to France by the Crusaders, and arose at about the time of the beginning of the earliest grail-like stories involving knights and etc, it is interesting to propose that the grail stories were generated from a misspelling or mistranslation of the rumored (at the time) burial cloth of Christ, as the tale of it's recovery reached mythic proportions.

Mind you, I do not write to dispute the Cup of Christ, but to suppose the "Grail" to be a different thing.

I do not suggest that the grail/burial cloth thing is true- As I said, it was a thing briefly read a long time ago, so if anyone can speak with authority on the subject, I would be happy to be corrected...

-Bruce

68 posted on 06/21/2007 3:25:04 PM PDT by roamer_1 (Build the fence. Enforce the law.)
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To: cardinal4

> It is my understanding that the Kiwis have participated in the Middle East as well. Is that not true?

It’s true: we have troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, and several other places like East Timor and the Solomon Islands. They are also involved in clearing agricultural land of mines and unexploded cluster-bombs in southern Lebanon.

> Also, doesnt New Zealand have its own SAS?

We do: the NZ SAS was New Zealand’s initial contribution to the War on Terror — they were deployed to Afghanistan to track down terrorists and perform long-range reconnaisance along with elite troops from other nations. There aren’t very many of them — they’re elite — but they are very good.

> Regardless, thanks for your kind words about my Country and GWB..

It’s a pleasure!


69 posted on 06/21/2007 3:25:10 PM PDT by DieHard the Hunter
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To: blam

To find the Holy Grail all that one needs to do is to attend any Catholic Mass. It’s not difficult at all.

-Theo


70 posted on 06/21/2007 4:00:48 PM PDT by TeĆ³filo (Visit Vivificat! - http://www.vivificat.org - A Catholic Blog of News, Commentary and Opinion)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

It’s a tourist version of Old Jerusalem.

I think it means “Dentist’s kid from Jersey buy me so your parents won’t think you spent your entire stay in your homeland chasing women.”

:-)

(The cup in the picture is just a link from ebay -— search for “seder cup” or the like.)


71 posted on 06/21/2007 4:07:51 PM PDT by MeanWestTexan (Kol Hakavod Fred Thompson)
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To: blam

Attention New Age nutjobs. I think it’s buried under the kaaba in Mecca. Now go get it!


72 posted on 06/22/2007 5:55:27 AM PDT by Aquinasfan (When you find "Sola Scriptura" in the Bible, let me know)
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To: sageb1
What do they really want? DNA?

Easily obtained elsewhere.

73 posted on 06/22/2007 5:56:55 AM PDT by Aquinasfan (When you find "Sola Scriptura" in the Bible, let me know)
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To: MeanWestTexan
Really, it makes perfect sense for the Last Supper to be Passover.

Theologically, the idea is that Jesus replaced the Temple worship by being the “ultimate” Passover lamb, replacing the Levitical structure (and necessary animal sacrifice rituals for purity and forgiveness) enacted with Mt. Sinia and thus giving the every day Joe (Jew and non-Jew) direct access to God to repent and/or pray w/out the necessity of further sacrifice.

Of course, all this is lost on people who: (1) aren’t Jewish or (2) don’t know squat about Temple practices.

This is why Jewish converts to Catholicism "get" the Eucharist better than most Protestant converts initially do.

The term "remembrance," as in "do this in remembrance of me," must be understood within the Passover framework. Jews believe that in the Passover celebration, the Exodus event is actually made present, not simply remembered.

When Catholics celebrate the Eucharist, we believe that Jesus' sacrifice on Calvary is mysteriously made present to us; it is not simply remembered; nor is it regarded as a different sacrifice.

74 posted on 06/22/2007 6:07:44 AM PDT by Aquinasfan (When you find "Sola Scriptura" in the Bible, let me know)
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To: AmericaUnited
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.

How do you know?

The bible records the fact that God has attached miracles to relics of the saints, and even objects that saints touched.

Acts 19:11-12

God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.


75 posted on 06/22/2007 6:22:39 AM PDT by Aquinasfan (When you find "Sola Scriptura" in the Bible, let me know)
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To: blam
Basilica of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura, one of the seven churches which Christian pilgrims used to visit when they came to Rome.

Christian pilgrims continue to visit this church and the others when they make pilgrimage to Rome.

76 posted on 06/22/2007 6:27:18 AM PDT by civis ("Paging Hillaire Belloc!")
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To: MeanWestTexan
Thank You, for the education! I too, always assumed that any cup that was used was probably plain.
Also, although I had heard that Joseph of Arimathea was an uncle to either Mary or Jesus, and owned tin mines in Cornwall; I hadn’t ever read about his house in Jerusalem being used for the Last Supper.
Interesting, what is your source? I would have thought that if that was the case, the house’s owner would have been identified in the Gospels, as the tomb’s owner (again, Joseph of Arimathea) was.
77 posted on 06/22/2007 6:44:38 AM PDT by ROLF of the HILL COUNTRY ( ISLAMA DELENDA EST!)
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To: Aquinasfan
God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

Oh please! You completely misunderstand what the point is in the verse. IT IS that the anointing on Paul was so great, that even objects he touched carried it. IT IS NOT supposed to mean that those objects be set up as some type of idols, something that is roundly condemned all throughout scripture.

78 posted on 06/22/2007 6:45:48 AM PDT by AmericaUnited
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To: Aquinasfan
The bible records the fact that God has attached miracles to relics of the saints, and even objects that saints touched

So you build a huge edifice on one verse in which you don't understanding the meaning of. Typical.

79 posted on 06/22/2007 6:47:31 AM PDT by AmericaUnited
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To: blam

80 posted on 06/22/2007 6:48:22 AM PDT by RockinRight (Our 44th President will be Fred Dalton Thompson!)
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