Wherever you go, the experience is usually the same.
You enter a church or a cathedral, and an ecclesiastical hush descends. You admire the architecture, the artworks, the centuries of history and of faith that have stood the test of time.
And then you enter a special chapel or museum, where the holiest of items resides. Behind a glass case stands the stuff of legend: the Holy Grail.
Or is it? What makes this cup the Holy Grail 鈥 but not another?
In Europe alone, there are said to be around 200 cups, each thought to be the Holy Grail 鈥 the cup used by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper.
Believers flock to see them and pray over them. But which is the real grail 鈥 and does it even exist?
A religious or cultural reality?
One thing鈥檚 for certain 鈥 the Holy Grail is embedded deep into our collective imagination. The idea of a quest is a constant theme in literature, art and movies, while we routinely refer to what would be our ultimate goals 鈥 but usually lie tantalizingly out of sight 鈥 as the 鈥渉oly grail.鈥 Major medical breakthroughs are often called the 鈥渉oly grail鈥 for the disease in question.
It鈥檚 part of pop culture, too. Dan Brown made millions off his interpretation of the Holy Grail in the 鈥淒a Vinci Code,鈥 in which he posited that the grail was not in fact an object, but a secret 鈥 that Jesus Christ had fathered children with Mary Magdalen. And who can forget Harrison Ford reaching out for the 鈥渃up of a carpenter鈥 in 鈥淚ndiana Jones and the Last Crusade鈥?
Even stories that have nothing to do with Christianity are often centered around quests 鈥 from Harry Potter to 鈥淟ord of the Rings.鈥
Strip away those modern connotations, though, and we鈥檙e left with a simple explanation. The Holy Grail is, supposedly, the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper.
The goblet that Christ drank from before his arrest, sentencing and crucifixion would of course be of interest to Christians around the world. And the fact that, over the centuries, legends have arisen of 鈥済rails鈥 producing miracles, has only added to the enthusiasm.
There鈥檚 just one problem, says Joanne Pierce, professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts.
鈥淚 honestly do not think that the actual cup from the Last Supper still exists,鈥 she says.
鈥淛esus certainly used a cup at the Last Supper, but if you look at some Gospel accounts, the room was already prepared by someone else [before they arrived]. So it may not have been his cup.鈥
For Pierce, a Catholic, the idea of the Holy Grail is more symbolic than realistic 鈥 in her words, 鈥渁 cultural reality rather than a religious reality.鈥
But for many people, the grail is a real object 鈥 and one that it鈥檚 possible to see if you go to Valencia. Or Léon. Or Genoa. Or any of the many places where, tradition says the Grail resides.
You might even be able to feel the mystical power of the Grail if you visit one of the many places it is said to be hiding, just out of site. Up the mountain of Montserrat, outside Barcelona, for example. Or in the , where the shadowy Knights Templar might have hidden it. Or around Glastonbury Tor, the mysterious hill in southern England where, medieval legend declared, Joseph of Arimathea brought the Grail shortly after Jesus鈥 death.
At Valencia, in eastern Spain, enter the cathedral, and to the right is a chapel, built expressly to house the 鈥淪anto Cáliz,鈥 or 鈥渉oly chalice.鈥
鈥淭radition reveals that it is the same cup that the Lord used at the Last Supper for the institution of the Eucharist,鈥 says the cathedral鈥檚 about the 鈥淗oly Chalice of the Lord鈥檚 Supper.鈥
They believe that St. Peter took it to Rome, from where it was sent to Spain in the third century CE.
Valencia鈥檚 tourist board also describes the as 鈥渢he Holy Chalice鈥 used by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper.鈥 Announcing that you have the Holy Grail is, of course, a tourism draw. It has been since the medieval period, when Europeans taking part in the Crusades would bring back 鈥渞elics鈥 from Jerusalem.
From worship to tourism
In fact, relics have been central to Christianity since the start, says Pierce.
When early Christians were martyred, other believers would pray at their graves. 鈥淭he martyr acted as a patron or intercessory for their prayers to be lifted up to heaven鈥 鈥 a practice taken from ancient Rome, where the 鈥減atronage system was an important part of society.鈥 That idea of saints intensifying prayer, or flagging it to the right place, persists in Christianity today.
But it wasn鈥檛 just the graves of martyrs that became holy; it was anything to do with their body, or things they had touched. 鈥淥bjects they might have handled were considered to have that same grace 鈥 a connection with the holy,鈥 says Pierce.
Of course, the cup held by Jesus with which he showed the disciples how to perform the eucharist, on the table as he announced that he was soon to be betrayed, would be the holiest of holy objects.
Little wonder that so much effort has gone into finding the Grail.
During the time of the Crusades, interest in Jesus鈥 life on Earth increased, says Pierce. People were 鈥済oing back and forth鈥 between Europe and the Holy Land, looking for artifacts that could have been related. That鈥檚 why most of the supposed Holy Grails around Europe first arrived on the continent during those centuries.
鈥淚t鈥檚 similar to the interest in the paranormal we have now,鈥 says Mathew Schmalz, founding editor of the Journal of Global Catholicism and professor of religious studies at Holy Cross.
鈥淚n the Middle Ages, it reached a public consciousness that it didn鈥檛 have before.鈥
But over the centuries, collecting relics hasn鈥檛 purely been about getting closer to God, says Schmalz. There were 鈥渧arious economic interests related to pilgrimage,鈥 he says.
鈥淩elics were taken away from tombs and widely dispersed. You have a variety of places becoming pilgrimage sites which was a very lucrative business for those who had the relics.鈥 Religious tourists would make pilgrimages to these places, boosting the local economy as they did so.
Relics were also political in the time of the Crusades. 鈥淔inding items like the lance that pierced the side of Christ was considered affirmation of the divine mission to 鈥榣iberate鈥 the Holy Land,鈥 says Schmalz.
That鈥檚 one of the reasons that some 鈥渞elics鈥 are so numerous that they couldn鈥檛 possibly be true.
鈥淵ou could construct a city with the wood that鈥檚 claimed to be the true cross,鈥 he says.
Jesus or鈥 King Arthur?
The Holy Grail may have started out as a sacred relic for Christians, but over the centuries, it has also come to have relevance to others. For starters, it has been linked to the legendary King Arthur since the Medieval period 鈥 thanks to chivalric poetry, says Pierce.
A ninth-century French poem posited that Joseph of Arimathea had caught the blood of Christ in the Grail during the crucifixion and had later taken it to Glastonbury in what鈥檚 now England.
鈥淭his was conflated with Celtic, Irish, Welsh and pre-Christian narratives about objects imbued with power,鈥 she says.
A 鈥済raal鈥 or grail in English originally referred to a deep dish, serving platter or even a cauldron belonging to early British kings, according to ancient myth.
In the 12th century, Chrétien de Troyes鈥 poem 鈥淧erceval, the Story of the Grail鈥 is a romp including King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, a chivalrous quest, a bloody lance 鈥 and a glittering grail, a serving dish with magical healing powers.
By the 15th century, Perceval had become , the son of Arthurian knight Lancelot, who goes on a quest for the grail, finds it, and chooses to die on the way back after a heavenly vision. Galahad, by the way, was able to heal the sick and perform miracles.
Sound familiar?
How one woman 'found' the Holy Grail
So what is it like to have a Holy Grail in your city? Representatives from the Cathedral of Valencia didn鈥檛 reply to request for comment from CNN. Neither did anyone from the Italian cathedral of Genoa 鈥 home to the Sacro Catino, a beautiful glass bowl, once thought to have been the Grail, made of emerald, but now seen as more likely to be crystal, and work of Islamic art from the 9th or 10th century, brought to Italy in the 11th.
But someone who is convinced she has the grail in her hometown is Margarita Torres Sevilla, professor of medieval history at the University of Léon in Spain.
In fact, Torres was the one to discover that what was thought of as a mere medieval chalice in her city was 鈥 she believes 鈥 the Holy Grail.
In 2010, she and colleague José Miguel Ortega del Río were working at the Basilica of San Isidoro, a church in Léon that doubles as the burial place for the royal dynasty of Léon and Castile. They were looking at items in the basilica鈥檚 museum of medieval history.
鈥淪ome objects came from Islamic countries but didn鈥檛 have the correct references,鈥 she says. Among them was the 鈥渃halice of Doña Urraca鈥 鈥 an onyx chalice that had been adorned in a gold casing and encrusted with precious jewels. It had come to Spain from Egypt in the medieval period, apparently as a diplomatic present.
Torres and Ortega del Río delved deeper into its provenance, asking a colleague in Cairo to look for documents that could explain this gift to the Spanish. What they found astonished them.
鈥淚n the middle of the 11th century, there was a great famine in Egypt and the caliph had from other Islamic countries,鈥 she says.
In the library of Cairo鈥檚 Al-Azhar university were two medieval parchments from the 14th century. One 鈥 apparently a historical account 鈥 recounted that the taifa (ruler) of Dénia had sent a boat full of food to Egypt. Dénia, near modern Valencia, was under Muslim rule at the time.
The parchment goes on to say that in return for the help, the taifa made a request: for 鈥渢he cup that the Christians call the Cup of the Messiah 鈥 used during the celebration with his disciples.鈥
The cup had been found in 鈥渙ne of the small churches that are on the outskirts of Jerusalem鈥 and possessed 鈥渆xtraordinary medicinal powers鈥 according to Christians, said the document 鈥 which also gave the caveat that 鈥渕en of science and doctrine disregard it.鈥
Ali bnu Muyahid ad-Danii, the ruler of Denia, requested it so that he could 鈥渟end to the King of Léon 鈥 to strengthen their alliance,鈥 the document continued.
The previous year, Léon had attacked Valencia 鈥 war was getting too close to comfort for those in Dénia, and it appeared that the taifa wanted to placate Ferdinand I, the king of Léon. Ferdinand suffered from 鈥渢he disease of the stones鈥 and the taifa thought that the miraculous cup might help.
The other parchment, also from the 14th century, purports to be a copy of a letter from Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (known as Saladin), the 12th-century sultan of Egypt and Syria, recounting how he had asked to be sent the 鈥渇ine shard鈥 of the 鈥渉oly stone鈥 or 鈥渃up鈥 that had been chipped off during its journey to Dénia, for his sick daughter.
She was healed by the 鈥減iece of stone placed upon her body,鈥 and the shard had been kept carefully in the Islamic public treasury, states the document.
They went back to the cup in the church in Léon.
鈥淲e checked 鈥 it had a cut in it, as the parchment suggested,鈥 says Torres. 鈥淲e knew we had a hot potato in our hands.鈥
The pair claim to have dated the onyx cup to the first century, and believe that Doña (princess) Urraca, Ferdinand鈥檚 daughter, melted down all her jewelry to cover the chalice in riches. They鈥檝e even identified what they think is the onyx cup in a painting of the Last Supper at San Isidoro鈥檚 royal pantheon, where the dynasty is buried. They believe that is a hint about the cup鈥檚 identity.
Of course, not everybody believes them. One Oxford professor memorably said it was 鈥溾 to claim that the cup must have belonged to Jesus, even if it鈥檚 of Roman origin.
Torres 鈥 proving that the Grail has penetrated culture like no other 鈥 likens her situation to that of Hollywood鈥檚 before finding the Grail.
鈥淗e closes his eyes and starts with a step. Our sensation was the same,鈥 she says.
鈥淚鈥檓 a Christian, but my colleague is not. My mother was a historian; his father was a journalist.鈥 They were not the type to get carried away.
The idea that a princess would have donated her jewelry to cover a broken cup in gold is, she says, 鈥淟ike the daughter of Bill Gates melting down her jewelry to cover a broken toy.鈥
Torres鈥 claims are certainly persuasive 鈥 and although she was Léon鈥檚 city councilor for tourism from 2015 to 2019, she says she 鈥減ut a line between being a politician and a historian.鈥
Can she guarantee it鈥檚 the cup of Christ? 鈥淚 can offer that the cup venerated in Jerusalem from the fourth century to the 11th century is the same as you see in the chalice of Urraca,鈥 she says.
鈥淏ut I鈥檓 not sure what happened from the first to the fourth century, because I was not in Jerusalem, not with Jesus Christ, and neither were you.鈥
'My faith doesn鈥檛 depend on this'
For Pierce, who doesn鈥檛 believe that the Grail exists anymore, items like the chalice of Urraca are still worthwhile as a cultural phenomenon.
鈥淚鈥檓 very skeptical 鈥 but what鈥檚 important is the fact that these items were venerated 鈥 they鈥檙e literary objects and cultural reality,鈥 she says.
鈥淢y faith doesn鈥檛 depend on [this]. To believe in Jesus Christ doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean that there are actual physical remnants of his [life].鈥
She compares the quest for the Grail to the Shroud of Turin. 鈥淚鈥檝e seen it, it was fascinating, but analysis shows it鈥檚 from a later period. That doesn鈥檛 threaten my belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ at all 鈥 someone believed in it so much that they fabricated it,鈥 she says.
Schmalz, who鈥檚 鈥渄oubtful鈥 about whether the Grail still exists, agrees about the shroud.
Not that he鈥檚 against all relics. He used to wear a piece of Pope John XXIII鈥檚 vestment around his neck. 鈥淚 mysteriously lost it and many people said it was the result of a demonic attack,鈥 he says.
鈥淚 believe it was more a result of my carelessness. But I do believe relics are important 鈥 they connect us not just with holy people but with God.鈥
His best bet about what the Grail would look like, if it exists? 鈥淚鈥檇 agree with the Indiana Jones vision of it as a simple cup 鈥 the 鈥榗up of a carpenter鈥 who was at a local inn. In some ways, that鈥檚 the religious meaning 鈥 that something so simple and worldly could hold the blood of Christ.鈥
Is that the Holy Grail sitting in Léon? Or Valencia? Or any of the other 200 places that claim to be home to it? We鈥檒l never know.
But one thing is for sure. The idea of that simple cup of a carpenter looks set to stay in the public consciousness for another 2,000 years.
