Thos damn Nazis
The Holy Grail has been found, quite a while ago actually. It seems that either no-one told us or most of those who knew about the claim were not the kind of raving loons who actually believe this kind of thing.
Religious icons and artifacts along with the raisin-like limbs and organs of the Church’s most revered saints are the stock in trade of many (predominantly Mediterranean) churches. The vast majority are of origins which make the word ‘dubious’ sound like a mark of authenticity. Fortunes were made during the crusades digging up corpses and chopping up old furniture to make splinters of the true cross and John the Baptist’s heads (he had at least three). But the Grail was such a prize that it has become synonymous with any highly sought-after prize.
So, naturally, the Church had to have at least one; enter the Santo Caliz (referred to in a programme on Discovery Channel [a channel well known for its level-headed approach to history; none of that awful glamourisation that other channels indulge in] as the Valencia Cup so that less educated viewers could associate with it as a kind of trophy).
Pope Benedict and the Chalice, 8th July 2006
The cup in question is a little agate goblet which has had later additions of gilded silver in Saint Mary of Valencia Cathedral. In 1960 a Spanish archaeologist conducted a scientific investigation. After looking at it he declared the grail to be from the relevant era and location. That was good enough for Pope John Paul. He (kind of) gave it his blessing in 1982.
The chalice has a certificate of authenticity from 262AD. Good for it. It is first mentioned in an official inventory almost 1000 years later. Right…
The cup has a long history of being passed from pillar to post. Briefly; it has been claimed it was brought to Rome by an Apostle (Peter or Mark depending on who you ask), and then to Spain where it did the rounds from safe-haven to safe-haven avoiding areas full of persecution. It ended up in Valencia in the 15th century.
The best bit of the story is that it calls into question the gullibility of the entire Spanish population: “Everyone in Spain believes it is the cup.” according to Janice Bennett, who wrote a book on the topic. Unless of course, she meant to use the indefinite article.
Bibliography
In Search of the Holy Grail: From the Last Supper to the 21st Century, Digiview Entertainment, ASIN B000N1JIWW, 2006
The relevant Wikipedia page
Cuckoo who actually belives this stuff
Valencia Tourist Authority – no vested there then
The church its in
Dan Brown’s favourite Wikipedia page – The Holy Grail
This article was posted on
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at
00:30.
It is archived in History, Mysterious, Religion and tagged archaeology, History, mystery, Religion.
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