At Mass in Valencia, pope used what tradition says is Holy Grail

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.

Well, it ain't in the bible... merely, the testimony of Church tradition for at least 1800 years.

Several infancy narratives, from which Catholics also establish the identities and traditions surrounding St. Ann and St. Joaquin, describe it. These narratives date back to very early Christian history. There are some other hints, however:

The narratives tell of how St. Ann was barren at an old age, and swore to God that she would give her son to the Temple if she were to become pregnant. When she became pregnant, she contracted to give her son up. Oops. It was a girl.

The Temple leaders took the child, believing somehow it was the will of God. And the child took an oath of perpetual virginity. But when the girl approached puberty, she had to married off. They assembled the young men, and released a dove, and planned to name as her husband the man the dove flew to. But the dove flew away and landed on Joseph's staff, which instantly bloomed, confirming God's will, even though he was an old man. And that's why an old man was married to a young girl.

Now, if you were going to try to make up an explanation for some of the stranger elements of Mary's backstory, you could come up with alternate explanations, no doubt, but the story does explain:

Why Mary, a near child, marries an old man; why a married woman with child is recognized by the prophets of the temple as being a demonstration of a prophecy that a virgin would give birth; how Elizabeth can likewise make such a realization (note they say they have SEEN the fulfillment, not that they SENSE the impending fulfillment); What happened to Joseph; How the child of a WOMAN from a rabbinical family and a carpenter ends up so knowledgeable about scripture*.

The Greeks also use this story to explain how Mary had no other children (cf, eg. Jn. 19:26), yet Jesus had "brothers": Joseph was an aged widower with grown children when he married Mary. Certainly, Mary of Clopas/Alphaeus had children with the same names as the "brothers" of Jesus, who were among Jesus disciples, including James the elder, who appears to be the one who calls himself "the brother of Jesus."

[*Acknowledgedly, many Christians write this off to psychic forecasting. I don't believe Jesus used "magic," or else he "could" have healed the residents of Nazareth; it is faith which healed the sick, not the use of magic-like powers, hence he refers to what "The Son of Man" can do. I believe prophecy stems from an understanding of the ways of God, Man, and Natural Law through an indwelling of the Holy Spirit, thus a prophet anticipates the future, but doesn't psychically divine it. God the Son COULD do anything, but he CHOSE to be fully human. Hence, in the Desert, he has to DECIDE how his ministry will play out, and thus, he faces temptation. There is no temptation if he is consciously aware of all future things without use of reason.]

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.

The part that is suggested Jesus used, IS very simple.

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