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.
Nah, I mean the line in the Indiana Jones movie, which I think was "this is the cup of a carpenter." "Rabbi" would have made the audience think...
| The Grail of the Last Supper |
"This is the cup of my blood. It shall be shed for you and for all, so that sins may be forgiven..."
 |
It is the Holy Grail, today custodied in the 'Santa Catedral de Valencia' (Spain). |
 |
This Chalice is the only admited as Holy for Christian world. Venerable Pope John XXIII awarded indulgences to people making pilgrimage to the Chapel del Santo Caliz in Valencia . Pope Pio XII awarded "Sacram Communionen" to this Chapel where the Holy Grail is present. On 1966 March12, The Cofradia del Santo Caliz was established in Valencia, its rules are in the Vatican, and the head office in Cathedral of Valencia. This Cofradia is able to award 'Caballero' or 'Dama' del Holy Grail to Christians willing to fulfill these rules. There are Caballeros del Santo Caliz in a lot of nations of the world. His Holiness Pope John Paul II is Caballero de Honor Perpetuo. |
It makes for some interesting speculation, either way. And there certainly are some interesting artifacts floating around in the obscure chapels of Europe.
I'd love to see what's locked away in the Vatican Library.
Many churches close and some alters, religious objects and such are being sold all over the world now.
Huh?
My Parish has 'benefited' from some of that ... we were able to get a lot of very fine furnishings for our new church for next to nothing.
So has night clubs.
has = have
>> "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. <<
Mr. Utro is not a very good Catholic, and doesn't understand ancient cultures very well for a curator. He's too used to Wal-Mart apparently.
First, Jesus and the apostles, contrary to the Marxist class-warfare bullsh!+ that infects the Church, were NOT poor. Some of the apostles owned their own fishing boats, and Jesus had a professional craft. They would have had hard lives according to OUR lives, but well off for their days.
Now, our economy is so large because off the cheapness of mass production. Anything not mass-produced has become greatly exaggerated in cost to what has not been mass produced. Handcrafts that cost 2 months' salary of a Joe Schmoe century ago still cost 2 months' salary for a Joe Schmoe today. Populations were fairly stable so heirlooms weren't endlessly divided. Religious artifacts were most highly valued heirlooms.
Noble elements such as Gold weren't decorative; they were practical. Craft something out of iron, and you have to craft it again, every generation. Craft it out of gold, and it survives many generations, and actually becomes more economical than iron.
Jesus had friends with uppity-ups, and had relatives who taught in the synagogues. He was a rabbi. His mother grew up in the very Temple of Jerusalem, and was known by professional prophets and prophetesses. As a well-regarded religious teacher, it is quite very likely SOMEONE would have given him an heirloom. He certainly didn't sneeze at 200 silver peices' worth of perfume being poured over his feet and hair.
Mr. Utro may have rejected the Da Vinci Code, but apparently fell for Indiana Jones' nonsense without having used his brain.
I know ... I consider that very unfortunate. At best. Some of the uses to which 'nightclubs' put some of those artifacts are sacriligious at best, blashpemous at worst.
I don't get why some churches wouldn't come get the stuff to store it.
In the United States, at least, many dioceses have a closed church or two that serve as a warehouses for for this stuff ... Most of our old furnishings came from various closed churches in eastern Pennsylvania or Baltimore. Most of the items needed some work, but we have some seriously talented parishoners.
I'm glad to read your post.
Sure seems a waste of available product for other churches if they didn't store it.
The Grail is one of those funny fascinations of mine. If I remember right, that particular cup has a lot of extra stuff gilded on to the bottom. The only "real" portion would be the stone cup on the top.
Which would make sense, since stoneware was considered impossible to make unclean, it was very popular around the first century.
For the rich, glass was pretty common. In Pompeii, there have been find of complete drinking sets.
But I suspect that it was either a cheap clay cup or a stone cup.
"Now go away or I shall taunt you a second timeah!"
Tres cool.
Y'know, I was thinking earlier how many people would never belive the stone portion to be the Grail.
Many don't belive in the shroud or the sudarium or the Tilma or Lanciano or Fatima. People can come up with all sorts of explanations or excuses for why not. We more readily believe that it is a fraud rather than the Lord God who created everything could preserve some material article. We talk about faith but do we really belive in anything beyond what man can do? So many so little faith.
Oh well, I'm tired.
Wow don't you know it. Some years ago a tiny portion of the Vatican's art collection was toured and I saw it at the Art Institute of Chicago. Spectacular is too mild a term.
Upon what evidence do you base your statement that Mary was brought up in the Temple?
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