Pope Benedict XVI talks with an unidentified prelate before the Santo Caliz, Holy Chalice, foreground, in Valencia's Our Lady of the Forsaken Basilica, Spain, Saturday, July 8, 2006.
Posted on 07/10/2006 1:20:23 PM PDT by NYer
Pope Benedict XVI talks with an unidentified prelate before the Santo Caliz, Holy Chalice, foreground, in Valencia's Our Lady of the Forsaken Basilica, Spain, Saturday, July 8, 2006.
VALENCIA, Spain (CNS) -- King Arthur and his knights and Indiana Jones looked for it, and most recently Dan Brown's sleuth, Robert Langdon, hunted it down in "The Da Vinci Code."
But these legendary and fictional characters might have saved a lot of trouble in their hunt for the Holy Grail by just going to Valencia.
The host city of Pope Benedict XVI's third pastoral journey abroad July 8-9 is home to what tradition says is the cup Jesus used during the Last Supper.
The custodian of the "Santo Caliz," or Holy Grail, said the age of the stone chalice and documents tracing its history back to 1071 make it "absolutely likely that this beautiful cup was in the hands of the Lord" during the Last Supper.
Msgr. Jaime Sancho Andreu, head of the Valencia Archdiocese's liturgy commission and curator of the Holy Grail, wrote a full-page article in the July 5 edition of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, describing the chalice, its history and the likelihood of its being authentic, although at least one Vatican art official challenged the notion.
Pope Benedict admired the holy vessel during his July 8 visit to Valencia's cathedral, where the chalice has been kept since 1437, and church officials also gave him a replica as a gift.
The pope used the Grail to consecrate the wine during a July 9 outdoor Mass to close the Fifth World Meeting of Families, just as Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass with the holy chalice during his visit to the city in 1982.
Valencia's sacred chalice is made up of two parts. The polished stone vessel on top is supposed to be the cup of the Last Supper. It is made of dark brown agate and measures 6.5 inches tall and 3.5 inches wide. Archeologists say it dates back to the first century B.C. and is of eastern origin, from Antioch, Turkey, or Alexandria, Egypt.
The part of the chalice that the cup rests upon was made during the medieval period. The chalice's stem and handles are made of fine gold, and its alabaster base is decorated with pearls and other precious gems.
Msgr. Sancho wrote in the Vatican paper that tradition says after Christ instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper St. Peter took the cup to Rome, where it was protected by successive popes.
The cup then made its way to Spain during the Christian persecutions in Rome by Emperor Valerian in the third century. The grail has a paper trail spanning the 11th-15th centuries that supports its origins, the Spanish monsignor said.
However, Umberto Utro, head of the Vatican Museums' department of early Christian art, told Catholic News Service that Valencia's grail was not the cup used during the Last Supper.
"It's impossible Jesus drank from it; that there were such rich and fine vessels used at the Last Supper was nonsensical," he said, especially since Jesus and most of the apostles came from humble or poor backgrounds.
"He most probably used a cup made from glass like everybody else," he said.
Utro also said preserving relics was not part of the Jewish culture.
The Holy Grail, like most other Christian relics, represents the pilgrims' "pious desire" to have a material or physical connection to one's spiritual roots, he said. Like the Shroud of Turin or Veronica's veil, people do not base their faith in Christ on the existence of such objects, he said, but the relics do help people recall the real past events that make up the Christian faith.
It seems Father Utro, who probably knows quite a bit about art, is not up to snuff on life in ancient Israel.
While glassware certainly existed, earthenware was far more common and stoneware wasn't any rarer than glassware.
Although at the same time that movie suggested that the cup was in fact nothing "special" from an appearence point of view.
Choose wisely ...
1071? So, He didn't die on the cross but lived to be a very, very, very, very, very old and obviously quite wealthy man?
I really doubt the cup that Christ had at the last supper would be ornate. I think that is a fake.
IMO it was probably a simple cup, because Christ was a simple Rabbi on earth, not an earthly king.
Very true. It was partially wooden...The line was "This is the cup of a carpenter." right?
A Rabbi, his dad was the Carpenter.
the ornate part was added later. only the top part (the stone cup) is what they think could be the Grail.
It's not a fake - it is indeed a very old chalice, but probably not the original one used at the Last Supper. However, there is some suggestion that it was used in Rome for the celebration of the Eucharist very early in the history of the Church, and then eventually ended up in Spain (which was a Roman territory) during a 3rd century persecution.
There is another chalice in Spain, known as the Holy Grail of Galicia, in the 9th century church at O Cebreiro, a steep and foggy mountain known for the bad weather at its summit. This chalice is famous for a miracle: during a storm, a devout peasant came, as usual, to attend mass. The lazy and faithless monk didn't want to be bothered and said to himself the equivalent of, "oh, here comes that stupid peasant again, out in the storm, just to see a piece of bread and some drops of wine." And then the bread and wine turned into the flesh and blood of Christ before the monk's very eyes. The chalice and paten (which are 12th century) are preserved and visible in a glass case in the church.
So in other words, there are various ways in which something can be a sacred chalice or Holy Grail, if not "the" Holy Grail.
That makes sense, thanks. Now watch for Libertarians to say Christ liked to get stoned. :-)
I was just given a nice explanation that the top part was the original part (made out of stone).
The rest was added and that makes sense to me.
A defensible position. As an alternative, though, may I remind that He did not celebrate the Passover in His own house ... rather, in the house of someone wealthy enough to have a fully furnished spare dining room, that could be loaned to an itinerant rabbi and His disciples. Hence, the cup in question might have been very rich and ornate.
The Pope offers the Holy Sacrifice with the real Holy Grail and nobody bats an eyelid.
Typical.
We deserve to be hoodwinked and deceived by liars and con artists.
Joseph of Arimathea was wealthy, contributed the Tomb and according to legend took the Grail with him to England.
Read below what someone posted to me about the cup. It was an education and made sense.
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