VALENCIA

SPAIN

The Holy Grail of

This precious object has

always been at the center of

fantastic stories and novels

like the legend of the Knights

of the Round Table in

England, the stories of

Perceval in France and

Parzival in Germany of the

Twelfth - Thirteenth century.

This genre was used by

Wagner in a Christian-esoteric

perspective and at the end

of the twentieth century

the fantastic novels of

B. Cornwell favored the birth

of the editorial trend still alive

today.

he Holy Grail of Valencia is the chalice used

by Jesus in his Last Supper with the

Apostles to consecrate and offer the

Eucharistic wine, that is his blood, but it has also

been identified as the cup in which Joseph of

Arimathea collected the blood of Jesus on the Cross.

There are a number of variants to indicate the

Grail: San Greal, Holy Grail, Sangreal in

England, Sanct Graal and Saint Graal in the

antique and modern French, Gral and Graal in

German. The “grolla” of the Aostan valley is

lexically related to the grail and similar to the

Latin gradalis o gratalis, “vase” or glass.

From many sources we know that a few centuries

after the death of Christ the Holy Grail was being

shown to Christian pilgrims in Jerusalem.

According to the account of Arculo, a French

bishop who lived in the Holy Land in 720 a. C.,

the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem

was preserving the chalice in which the Lord

himself consecrated his own blood.

The venerable Bede adds that the

cup was protected by a net and it could be

touched and kissed through an opening. No

one knows exactly when the chalice was taken

from Jerusalem, most probably as far back as

the seventh century. Today in the gothic chapel

of the “Santo Caliz” (the “Holy Chalice”) in the

city’s cathedral, a miraculous chalice, identified

by tradition as the Holy Grail, is kept and

shown to the veneration of the faithful.

This precious item is made up by different

portions: the inverted upper part of a cornelian

chalice constitutes the base, the stem is enriched

by precious stones and the upper part is a cup,

also of cornelian. These parts are attributed to

different eras; the cup is the most antique and the

most difficult to date and constitutes the most

interesting part. On the base there is an inscription

in Arabic of disputed interpretation, but that

could be another proof to determine the date.

According to professor Salvador Antunano,

“When we know the mystery of the chalice of the

Holy Grail we realize that in it there is nothing

enigmatic or esoteric. The history of this precious

chalice concerns The most dramatic, most

sublime episode ever lived by humanity:

the history of the Word made man and

Eucharist”.

Text of the notation written by

John Ribera in which he certifies

that “till now the Holy Chalice

is preserved in our Cathedral”

John Paul II kisses

the Holy Grail of Valencia

The Last Supper. Juan de Juarez.

Prado Museum (Madrid)

Document regarding the

reception of the Holy Chalice in

the Cathedral of Valencia in 1437

The Holy Chalice of Valencia

Route traveled by the Holy Chalice

Cathedral of Valencia