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80-755: The Holy Chalice , also known as the Holy Grail , is in some Christian traditions the vessel that Jesus used at the Last Supper to share his blood. The Synoptic Gospels refer to Jesus sharing a cup of wine with the Apostles , saying it was the covenant in his blood. The use of wine and chalice in the Eucharist in Christian churches is based on the Last Supper event. In the late 12th century,

160-471: A continuous teaching by the Church on matters of sexuality, life and death and crime and punishment are "simply not true". After examining seven medieval texts about homosexuality, Mark Jordan argues that, "far from being consistent, any attempt to make a connection among the texts proved impossible". He calls the tradition's teaching of the Church "incoherent". Karl-Wilhelm Merks considers that tradition itself

240-432: A derivative of crater or cratus , which was, in turn, borrowed from Ancient Greek krater ( κρᾱτήρ , a large wine-mixing vessel). Alternative suggestions include a derivative of cratis , a name for a type of woven basket that came to refer to a dish, or a derivative of Latin gradus meaning " 'by degree', 'by stages', applied to a dish brought to the table in different stages or services during

320-564: A flat dish made of green glass; recovered from Caesarea in 1101, it was not identified as the Holy Chalice until much later, towards the end of the 13th century. The Holy Chalice (Spanish: Santo Cáliz ) is an agate cup preserved in the Cathedral of Valencia . The chalice is commonly credited as being the actual Holy Grail used by Jesus during the Last Supper and is preserved in a chapel consecrated to it, where it still attracts

400-416: A glass bowl near Glastonbury; a group of his friends, including Wellesley Tudor Pole , retrieved the cup in 1906 and promoted it as the original Holy Grail. Glastonbury and its Holy Grail legend have since become a point of focus for various New Age and Neopagan groups. In the early 20th century, esoteric writers identified Montségur , a stronghold of the heretical Cathar sect in the 13th century, as

480-404: A meal". In the 15th century, English writer John Hardyng invented a fanciful new etymology for Old French san-graal (or san-gréal ), meaning "Holy Grail", by parsing it as sang réal , meaning "royal blood". This etymology was used by some later medieval British writers such as Thomas Malory , and became prominent in the conspiracy theory developed in the book The Holy Blood and

560-475: A mounting for use as a chalice. The bowl may date to Greco-Roman times, but its dating is unclear, and its provenance is unknown before 1399, when it was gifted to Martin I of Aragon . By the 14th century, an elaborate tradition had developed that this object was the Last Supper chalice. This tradition mirrors aspects of the Grail material, with several major differences, suggesting a separate tradition entirely. It

640-579: A prefigured apparition of the Holy Chalice that stands at the top of the mountain, illustrating the words "Let this cup be taken from me". Together with the halo-enveloped Hand of God and the haloed figure of Jesus, the halo image atop the chalice, as if of a consecrated Host, completes the Trinity by embodying the Holy Spirit. The Holy Grail appears as a miraculous artifact in Arthurian legend in

720-516: A standing lamp, in a style of the 6th century. The Nanteos Cup is a medieval wood mazer bowl, held for many years at Nanteos Mansion , Rhydyfelin , near Aberystwyth in Wales. It is recorded as having been attributed miraculous powers of healing in the late 19th century, and tradition apparently held it had been made from a piece of the True Cross at the time, but it came to be identified as

800-540: A vast influence on conspiracy and alternate history books. It has also inspired fiction, most notably Dan Brown 's 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code and its 2006 film adaptation . The combination of hushed reverence, chromatic harmonies and sexualized imagery in Richard Wagner 's final music drama Parsifal , premiered in 1882, developed this theme, associating the Grail – now periodically producing blood – directly with female fertility. The high seriousness of

880-425: Is "not the truth guarantor of any particular teaching." Keenan, however, says that studies of "manualists" such as John T. Noonan Jr. has demonstrated that, "despite claims to the contrary, manualists were co-operators in the necessary historical development of the moral tradition." Noonan, according to Keenan, has provided a new way of viewing at "areas where the Church not only changed, but shamefully did not". In

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960-657: Is an artifact discovered in Antioch in 1910 which was briefly marketed as the "Holy Chalice", but it is most likely a lamp in a style of the 6th century. The Chalice of Doña Urraca is an artifact kept in St. Isidore's Basilica in León, Spain . The connection of this artifact to the Holy Grail was made in the 2014 book Los Reyes del Grial , which develops the hypothesis that this artifact had been taken by Egyptian troops following

1040-447: Is not associated with Joseph of Arimathea or Jesus' blood; it is said to have been taken to Rome by Saint Peter and later entrusted to Saint Lawrence . Early references do not call the object the "Grail"; the first evidence connecting it to the Grail tradition is from the 15th century. The monarchy sold the cup in the 15th century to Valencia Cathedral , where it remains a significant local icon. Several objects were identified with

1120-527: Is of double-cup construction, with an outer shell of cast-metal open work, enclosing a plain silver inner cup. When it was first recovered in Antioch in 1910, it was touted as the Holy Chalice, an identification the Metropolitan Museum characterizes as "ambitious". It is no longer identified as a chalice, having been identified by experts at Walters Art Museum in Baltimore , Maryland as likely

1200-528: The Académie des sciences of the Institut de France established that it was a Byzantine crystal , and not emerald. Modern studies consider it to be an Islamic artifact of the 9th–10th century. Aside from the Holy Chalice of the Cathedral of Valencia , which some have believed to be the Holy Grail since the time of the first few centuries AD , and which has been used by popes to celebrate Mass through to

1280-554: The Bible itself is the only final authority (see sola scriptura ), but tradition still plays an important supporting role. All three groups generally accept the traditional developments on the doctrine of the Trinity , for instance, and set bounds of orthodoxy and heresy based on that tradition. They also have developed creedal and confessional statements which summarize and develop their understanding of biblical teaching. For instance,

1360-530: The Last Supper , is also described by the gospel writers, Mark and Luke , and by the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians. With the preceding description of the breaking of bread, it is the foundation for the Eucharist or Holy Communion , celebrated regularly in many Christian churches. Except within the context of the Last Supper, the Bible makes no mention of the cup, and ascribes no significance whatsoever to

1440-523: The Last Supper , which Joseph of Arimathea used to catch Christ's blood at the crucifixion . Thereafter, the Holy Grail became interwoven with the legend of the Holy Chalice , the Last Supper cup, an idea continued in works such as the Lancelot-Grail cycle, and subsequently the 15th-century Le Morte d'Arthur . In this form, it is now a popular theme in modern culture, and has become

1520-570: The "Grail" originally referred to the Image of Edessa . Goulven Peron (2016) suggested that the Holy Grail may reflect the horn of the river-god Achelous , as described by Ovid in the Metamorphoses . In the wake of the Arthurian romances, several artifacts came to be identified as the Holy Grail in medieval relic veneration. These artifacts are said to have been the vessel used at

1600-404: The 12th century, and is soon associated with the Holy Chalice. The "Grail" became interwoven with the legend of the Holy Chalice. The connection of the Holy Chalice with Joseph of Arimathea dates from Robert de Boron 's Joseph d'Arimathie  [ fr ] (late 12th century). The fully developed "Grail legend" of the 13th century identifies the Holy Grail with the Holy Chalice used in

1680-747: The 15th century. The narrative developed is that Jesus was not divine, and had children with Mary Magdalene , who took the family to France where their descendants became the Merovingian dynasty. Supposedly, while the Catholic Church worked to destroy the dynasty, they were protected by the Priory of Sion and their associates, including the Templars, Cathars, and other secret societies. The book, its arguments, and its evidence have been widely dismissed by scholars as pseudohistorical, but it has had

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1760-542: The 1970s, and was elaborated upon in the bestselling 1982 book Holy Blood, Holy Grail . The theory combines myths about the Templars and Cathars with various other legends, and a prominent hoax about a secret order called the Priory of Sion . According to this theory, the Holy Grail is not a physical object, but a symbol of the bloodline of Jesus . The blood connection is based on the etymological reading of san greal (holy grail) as sang real (royal blood), which dates to

1840-715: The Bible" and in view of the prima scriptura perspective, informs doctrine, such as that regarding infant baptism for example, in which Methodist teaching appeals to Scripture chiefly, along with the teachings of the Church Fathers and early Methodist divines for support of the practice. For many denominations of Christianity, included in sacred tradition are the writings of the Ante-Nicene Fathers , Nicene Fathers and Post-Nicene Fathers . In his book, James F. Keenan reports studies by some Catholic academics. A study by Bernard Hoose states that claims to

1920-538: The Cathars guarded the Grail at Montségur, and smuggled it out when the castle fell in 1244. Beginning in 1933, German writer Otto Rahn published a series of books tying the Grail, Templars, and Cathars to modern German nationalist mythology. According to Rahn, the Grail was a symbol of a pure Germanic religion repressed by Christianity. Rahn's books inspired interest in the Grail within Nazi occultist circles, and led to

2000-540: The Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy, sacred tradition , but not "ecclesial traditions", is considered official doctrine and of equal authoritative weight to the Bible. In the Anglican and Methodist traditions, sacred tradition, along with reason and experience, inform Christian practice at a level subordinate to Sacred Scripture (see prima scriptura ). Among the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Christianity,

2080-414: The Church may retain, modify or even abandon. Apostolic tradition, on the other hand, is the teaching that was handed down by the Apostles by word of mouth, by their example and "by the institutions they established", among which is the apostolic succession of the bishops : "this living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit, is called Tradition". "And [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety

2160-521: The Grail and of the quest to find it became increasingly popular in the 19th century, referred to in literature such as Alfred, Lord Tennyson 's Arthurian cycle Idylls of the King . A sexualised interpretation of the grail, now identified with female genitalia, appeared in 1870 in Hargrave Jennings ' book The Rosicrucians, Their Rites and Mysteries . In the cinema, the Holy Grail debuted in

2240-470: The Grail castle. Similarly, the 14th-century Rosslyn Chapel in Midlothian , Scotland, became attached to the Grail legend in the mid-20th century when a succession of conspiracy books identified it as a secret hiding place of the Grail. Since the 19th century, the Holy Grail has been linked to various conspiracy theories. In 1818, Austrian pseudohistorical writer Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall connected

2320-553: The Grail to contemporary myths surrounding the Knights Templar that cast the order as a secret society dedicated to mystical knowledge and relics. In Hammer-Purgstall's work, the Grail is not a physical relic, but a symbol of the secret knowledge that the Templars sought. There is no historical evidence linking the Templars to a search for the Grail, but subsequent writers have elaborated on the Templar theories. Starting in

2400-591: The Holy Chalice in the early 20th century. Christian tradition Tradition also includes historic teaching of the recognized church authorities, such as Church Councils and ecclesiastical officials (e.g., the Pope , Patriarch of Constantinople , Archbishop of Canterbury , etc.), and includes the teaching of significant individuals like the Church Fathers , the Protestant Reformers , and

2480-624: The Holy Chalice, on this occasion calling it "this most famous chalice" ( hunc praeclarum Calicem ), words in the Roman Canon said to have been used for the first popes to refer to the Holy Grail until the 4th century in Rome. The Sacro Catino ("Sacred Basin"), kept in Genoa Cathedral , is a hexagonal dish made of green Egyptian glass, some 9 cm high and 33 cm across. It was taken to Genoa by Guglielmo Embriaco as part of

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2560-470: The Holy Grail , in which sang real refers to the Jesus bloodline . The literature surrounding the Grail can be divided into two groups. The first concerns King Arthur's knights visiting the Grail castle or questing after the object. The second concerns the Grail's earlier history in the time of Joseph of Arimathea . The nine works from the first group are: Of the second group there are: The Grail

2640-647: The Holy Grail in the 17th century. In the 20th century, a series of new items became associated with it. These include the Nanteos Cup , a medieval wooden bowl found near Rhydyfelin , Wales; a glass dish found near Glastonbury , England; the Antioch chalice , a 6th-century silver-gilt object that became attached to the Grail legend in the 1930s; and the Chalice of Doña Urraca , a cup made between 200 BC and 100 AD, kept in León ’s Basilica of Saint Isidore . In

2720-528: The Holy Grail, "made of a single emerald" is kept in Genoa Cathedral. The bowl was seized and taken to Paris by Napoleon in 1805, and it was damaged when it was returned to Genoa in 1816, on which occasion it was confirmed it is made of glass rather than emerald. It was the subject of various restorations, in 1908, 1951, and 2017. The study of the object made during the period of presence in France by

2800-555: The Last Supper and later used to collect Christ's blood , brought to Hispania by Joseph of Arimathea . In the account of Arculf , a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon pilgrim, mention is made of a chalice venerated as the one used in the Last Supper in a chapel near Jerusalem. This is the only mention of the veneration of such a relic in the Holy Land. Two artifacts were claimed as the Holy Chalice in Western Christianity in

2880-460: The Last Supper until later, in the wake of the Grail romances; the first known association is in Jacobus de Voragine 's chronicle of Genoa in the late 13th century, which draws on the Grail literary tradition. The Catino was moved and broken during Napoleon 's conquest in the early 19th century, revealing that it is glass rather than emerald. The Holy Chalice of Valencia is an agate dish with

2960-403: The Last Supper, but other details vary. Despite the prominence of the Grail literature, traditions about a Last Supper relic remained rare in contrast to other items associated with Jesus' last days, such as the True Cross and Holy Lance . One tradition predates the Grail romances: in the 7th century, the pilgrim Arculf reported that the Last Supper chalice was displayed near Jerusalem. In

3040-490: The Nicene Creed. Holy Grail The Holy Grail ( French : Saint Graal , Breton : Graal Santel , Welsh : Greal Sanctaidd , Cornish : Gral ) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature . Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miraculous healing powers, sometimes providing eternal youth or sustenance in infinite abundance, often guarded in

3120-589: The SS chief Heinrich Himmler 's abortive sponsorship of Rahn's search for the Grail, as well as many subsequent conspiracy theories and fictional works about the Nazis searching for the Grail. In the late 20th century, writers Michael Baigent , Richard Leigh , and Henry Lincoln created one of the most widely known conspiracy theories about the Holy Grail. The theory first appeared on the BBC documentary series Chronicle in

3200-627: The Word of God, which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit." Prima scriptura is upheld by the Anglican and Methodist traditions, which teach that Scripture is the primary source for Christian doctrine, but that "tradition, experience, and reason" can subordinately inform Christian practice as long as they are in harmony with the Bible . In Methodism, sacred tradition refers to "church's consensual interpretation of

3280-631: The author Robert de Boron associated the pre-existing story of the Holy Grail , a magical item from Arthurian literature, with the Holy Chalice. This association was continued in many subsequent Arthurian works, including the Lancelot-Grail (Vulgate) cycle, the Post-Vulgate Cycle , and Sir Thomas Malory 's Le Morte d'Arthur . A cup kept in the Spanish Cathedral of Valencia has been identified since medieval times as

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3360-615: The authority of a certain (probably fictional) Kyot the Provençal , claimed the Grail was a Stone, the sanctuary of the neutral angels who took neither side during Lucifer's rebellion . It is called Lapis exillis , which in alchemy is the name of the philosopher's stone . The authors of the Lancelot-Grail Cycle used the Grail as a symbol of divine grace ; the virgin Galahad, illegitimate son of Lancelot and Elaine ,

3440-624: The chalice is made again in 1399, when it was given by the monastery of San Juan de la Peña to king Martin I of Aragon in exchange for a gold cup. Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass with the Holy Chalice in Valencia in November 1982, and in that occasion the Pope referred to it as "a witness to Christ's passage on Earth". In July 2006, at the closing Mass of the 5th World Meeting of Families in Valencia, Pope Benedict XVI also celebrated Mass with

3520-400: The chalice of the Last Supper to collect Christ's blood upon his removal from the cross. Joseph is thrown in prison, where Christ visits him and explains the mysteries of the blessed cup. Upon his release, Joseph gathers his in-laws and other followers and travels to the west. He founds a dynasty of Grail keepers that eventually includes Perceval. In Parzival , Wolfram von Eschenbach, citing

3600-652: The cup to one of his deacons , Saint Lawrence , who passed it to a Spanish soldier, Proselius , with instructions to take it to safety in Lawrence's home country of Spain. The iconic significance of the Chalice grew during the Early Middle Ages. Depictions of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane , such as that in the fourteenth-century frescoes of the church at Öja, Gotland ( illustration, right ), show

3680-661: The custody of the Fisher King and located in the hidden Grail castle. By analogy, any elusive object or goal of great significance may be perceived as a "holy grail" by those seeking such. A mysterious "grail" (Old French: graal or greal ), wondrous but not unequivocally holy, first appears in Perceval, the Story of the Grail , an unfinished chivalric romance written by Chrétien de Troyes around 1190. Chrétien's story inspired many continuations, translators and interpreters in

3760-576: The early 20th century, writers, particularly in France, further connected the Templars and Grail to the Cathars. In 1906, French esoteric writer Joséphin Péladan identified the Cathar castle of Montségur with Munsalväsche or Montsalvat, the Grail castle in Wolfram's Parzival . This identification has inspired a wider legend asserting that the Cathars possessed the Holy Grail. According to these stories,

3840-572: The esoteric significance of the grail, relating it to the Iranian Islamic symbols that he studied. Richard Barber (2004) argued that the Grail legend is connected to the introduction of "more ceremony and mysticism" surrounding the sacrament of the Eucharist in the high medieval period, proposing that the first Grail stories may have been connected to the "renewal in this traditional sacrament". Daniel Scavone (1999, 2003) has argued that

3920-471: The evangelist of Britain rather than as the custodian of the Holy Grail, but from the 15th century, the Grail became a more prominent part of the legends surrounding Glastonbury. Interest in Glastonbury resurged in the late 19th century, inspired by renewed interest in the Arthurian legend and contemporary spiritual movements centered on ancient sacred sites. In the late 19th century, John Goodchild hid

4000-510: The faithful on pilgrimage. The artifact has seemingly never been accredited with supernatural powers. The cup is made of dark red agate which is mounted by means of a knobbed stem and two curved handles onto a base made from an inverted cup of chalcedony . The agate cup is about 9 centimeters (3.5 inches) in diameter and the total height, including base, is about 17 centimetres (7 inches) high. The lower part has Arabic inscriptions. The base, stems and handles are posterior additions, but

4080-467: The founders of denominations . Many creeds , confessions of faith, and catechisms generated by these bodies, and individuals are also part of the traditions of various bodies. The Catholic , Eastern Orthodox , Oriental Orthodox and Persian churches distinguish between what is called Apostolic or sacred tradition and ecclesiastical traditions. In the course of time ecclesial traditions develop in theology, discipline, liturgy , and devotions. These

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4160-520: The hero instead with a platter containing his kinsman's bloody, severed head. The Grail is first featured in Perceval, le Conte du Graal ( The Story of the Grail ) by Chrétien de Troyes, who claims he was working from a source book given to him by his patron, Count Philip of Flanders . In this incomplete poem, dated sometime between 1180 and 1191, the object has not yet acquired the implications of holiness it would have in later works. While dining in

4240-457: The implication being that emerald was thought to have miraculous properties of its own in medieval lore , and not that the bowl was thought of as a holy relic. The Sacro Catino would later become identified as the Holy Grail. The first explicit claim to this effect is found in the Chronicon by Jacobus de Voragine , written in the 1290s. Pedro Tafur , who visited Genoa in 1436, reported that

4320-818: The invasion of Jerusalem and the looting of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre , then given by the Emir of Egypt to the Emir of Denia , who in the 11th century gave it to the Kings of Leon for them to spare his city in the Reconquista . This silver-gilt object is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It was apparently made at Antioch in the early 6th century, and

4400-409: The last supper" among many relics displayed at the Basilica erected by Constantine near to Golgotha and the Tomb of Christ . Herbert Thurston in the Catholic Encyclopedia (1908) concluded that: No reliable tradition has been preserved to us regarding the vessel used by Christ at the Last Supper. In the sixth and seventh centuries pilgrims to Jerusalem were led to believe that the actual chalice

4480-413: The later medieval period. The first is the Santo Cáliz , an agate cup in the Cathedral of Valencia , purportedly from around the 1st century AD, and celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 as "this most famous chalice" ( hunc praeclarum Calicem ); Valencia's Holy Chalice is the object most commonly identified as a claimant to being the Holy Grail . The second is the Sacro Catino in Genoa Cathedral ,

4560-412: The later-12th and early-13th centuries, including Wolfram von Eschenbach , who portrayed the Grail as a stone in Parzival . The Christian, Celtic or possibly other origins of the Arthurian grail trope are uncertain and have been debated among literary scholars and historians. In the 1190s, Robert de Boron in Joseph d'Arimathie  [ fr ] portrayed the Grail as Jesus 's vessel from

4640-434: The legend as essentially Christian in origin. Joseph Goering identified sources for Grail imagery in 12th-century wall paintings from churches in the Catalan Pyrenees (now mostly moved to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya ), which present unique iconic images of the Virgin Mary holding a bowl that radiates tongues of fire, images that predate the first literary account by Chrétien de Troyes. Goering argues that they were

4720-471: The magical abode of the Fisher King , Perceval witnesses a wondrous procession in which youths carry magnificent objects from one chamber to another, passing before him at each course of the meal. First comes a young man carrying a bleeding lance, then two boys carrying candelabras. Finally, a beautiful young girl emerges bearing an elaborately decorated graal , or "grail". Chrétien refers to this object not as "The Grail" but as "a grail" ( un graal ), showing

4800-407: The modern era, a number of places have become associated with the Holy Grail. One of the most prominent is Glastonbury in Somerset , England. Glastonbury was associated with King Arthur and his resting place of Avalon by the 12th century. In the 13th century, a legend arose that Joseph of Arimathea was the founder of Glastonbury Abbey . Early accounts of Joseph at Glastonbury focus on his role as

4880-405: The next morning alone. He later learns that if he had asked the appropriate questions about what he saw, he would have healed his maimed host, much to his honour. The story of the Wounded King's mystical fasting is not unique; several saints were said to have lived without food besides communion, for instance Saint Catherine of Genoa . This may imply that Chrétien intended the Communion wafer to be

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4960-441: The object itself. St. John Chrysostom (347–407 AD) in his homily on Matthew asserted: The table was not of silver, the chalice was not of gold in which Christ gave His blood to His disciples to drink, and yet everything there was precious and truly fit to inspire awe. The pilgrim Antoninus of Piacenza (AD 570) in his descriptions of the holy places of Jerusalem , said that he saw "the cup of onyx, which our Lord blessed at

5040-416: The original inspiration for the Grail legend. Psychologists Emma Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz used analytical psychology to interpret the Grail as a series of symbols in their book The Grail Legend . They directly expanded on interpretations by Carl Jung , which were later invoked by Joseph Campbell . Philosopher Henry Corbin , a member of the Eranos circle founded by Jung, also commented on

5120-452: The origins of the Holy Grail before Chrétien, suggesting that it may contain elements of the trope of magical cauldrons from Celtic mythology and later Welsh mythology , combined with Christian legend surrounding the Eucharist , the latter found in Eastern Christian sources, conceivably in that of the Byzantine Mass , or even Persian sources. The view that the "origin" of the Grail legend should be seen as deriving from Celtic mythology

5200-423: The present Chalice of Valencia is found in an inventory of the treasury of the monastery of San Juan de la Peña drawn up by Don Carreras Ramírez, Canon of Zaragoza, on 14 December 1134. The Chalice is described as the vessel in which "Christ Our Lord consecrated his blood" ( En un arca de marfil está el Cáliz en que Cristo N. Señor consagró su sangre, el cual envió S. Lorenzo a su patria, Huesca ). Reference to

5280-413: The present, a number of other artifacts of greater or lesser notability have come to be identified with the "Holy Grail" or "Holy Chalice", beginning with the rising popularity of the Grail legend in 19th-century Romanticism . The Chalice of Doña Urraca , for example, had not traditionally been associated with the Holy Chalice, and was only proposed as such in a 2014 publication. The " Antioch Chalice "

5360-445: The purported Holy Chalice used at the Last Supper. The Gospel of Matthew (26:27–29) says: And He took a cup and when He had given thanks He gave it to them saying "Drink this, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I shall not drink again of the fruit of the vine until I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom." This incident, traditionally known as

5440-458: The red agate cup itself was most likely produced in a Palestinian or Egyptian workshop between the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD. It is kept together with an inventory list on vellum , said to have accompanied a lost letter which detailed state-sponsored Roman persecution of Christians that forced the church to split up its treasury and hide it with members, specifically the deacon Saint Lawrence . The first explicit inventory reference to

5520-439: The significant part of the ritual, and the Grail to be a mere prop. Though Chrétien's account is the earliest and most influential of all Grail texts, it was in the work of Robert that the Grail truly became the "Holy Grail" and assumed the form most familiar to modern readers in its Christian context. In his verse romance Joseph d'Arimathie , composed between 1191 and 1202, Robert tells the story of Joseph of Arimathea acquiring

5600-638: The spoils from the conquest of Caesarea in 1101. William of Tyre (10.16) describes it as a "vessel of the most green colour, in the shape of a serving dish" ( vas coloris viridissimi, in modum parapsidis formatum ) which the Genoese thought to be made of emerald , and accepted as their share of the spoils. William states that the Genoese were still exhibiting the bowl, insisting on its miraculous properties due to its being made of emerald, in his own day ( Unde et usque hodie transeuntibus per eos magnatibus, vas idem quasi pro miraculo solent ostendere, persuadentes quod vere sit, id quod color esse indicat, smaragdus ),

5680-543: The subject of folklore studies , pseudohistorical writings, works of fiction, and conspiracy theories . The word graal , as it is spelled in its earliest appearances, comes from Old French graal or greal , cognate with Old Occitan grazal and Old Catalan gresal , meaning "a cup or bowl of earth, wood, or metal" (or other various types of vessels in different Occitan dialects). The most commonly accepted etymology derives it from Latin gradalis or gradale via an earlier form, cratalis ,

5760-758: The subject was also epitomized in Dante Gabriel Rossetti 's painting in which a woman modeled by Alexa Wilding holds the Grail with one hand, while adopting a gesture of blessing with the other. A major mural series depicting the Quest for the Holy Grail was done by the artist Edwin Austin Abbey during the first decade of the 20th century for the Boston Public Library . Other artists, including George Frederic Watts and William Dyce , also portrayed grail subjects. The story of

5840-568: The successful end of the Grail Quest and are witnesses of his ascension to Heaven . Galahad and the interpretation of the Grail involving him were picked up in the 15th century by Thomas Malory in Le Morte d'Arthur and remain popular today. While it is not explicit that the Holy Grail is never to be seen again on Earth, it is stated by Malory that there has since then been no knight capable of obtaining it. Scholars have long speculated on

5920-615: The wake of Robert de Boron's Grail works, several other items came to be claimed as the true Last Supper vessel. In the late 12th century, one was said to be in Byzantium ; Albrecht von Scharfenberg 's Grail romance Der Jüngere Titurel associated it explicitly with the Arthurian Grail, but claimed it was only a copy. This item was said to have been looted in the Fourth Crusade and brought to Troyes in France, but it

6000-514: The word was used, in its earliest literary context, as a common noun. For Chrétien, a grail was a wide, somewhat deep, dish or bowl, interesting because it contained not a pike, salmon, or lamprey, as the audience may have expected for such a container, but a single Communion wafer which provided sustenance for the Fisher King's crippled father. Perceval, who had been warned against talking too much, remains silent through all of this and wakes up

6080-632: The world's greatest knight and the Grail Bearer at the castle of Corbenic , is destined to achieve the Grail, his spiritual purity making him a greater warrior than even his illustrious father. The Queste del Saint Graal ( The Quest of The Holy Grail ) tells also of the adventures of various Knights of the Round Table in their eponymous quest. Some of them, including Percival and Bors the Younger , eventually join Galahad as his companions near

6160-626: Was championed by Roger Sherman Loomis , Alfred Nutt , and Jessie Weston . Loomis traced a number of parallels between medieval Welsh literature and Irish material, and the Grail romances, including similarities between the Mabinogion ' s Bran the Blessed and the Arthurian Fisher King, and between Bran's life-restoring cauldron and the Grail. The opposing view dismissed the "Celtic" connections as spurious, and interpreted

6240-417: Was considered a bowl or dish when first described by Chrétien de Troyes. There, it is a processional salver , a tray, used to serve at a feast. Hélinand of Froidmont described a grail as a "wide and deep saucer" ( scutella lata et aliquantulum profunda ); other authors had their own ideas. Robert de Boron portrayed it as the vessel of the Last Supper . Peredur son of Efrawg had no Grail as such, presenting

6320-548: Was lost during the French Revolution . Two relics associated with the Grail survive today. The Sacro Catino (Sacred Basin, also known as the Genoa Chalice) is a green glass dish held at the Genoa Cathedral said to have been used at the Last Supper. Its provenance is unknown, and there are two divergent accounts of how it was brought to Genoa by Crusaders in the 12th century. It was not associated with

6400-517: Was still venerated in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, having within it the sponge which was presented to Our Saviour on Calvary. According to one tradition, Saint Peter brought it to Rome , and passed it on to his successors (the Popes). In 258, when Christians were being persecuted by Emperor Valerian and the Romans demanded that relics be turned over to the government, Pope Sixtus II instead gave

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