Of all the objects claimed to be the Holy Grail, one has been venerated by the Church for more than seven centuries and has been used at the altar by two Popes. It is the Holy Chalice of Valencia, kept today in a Gothic chapel of Valencia Cathedral, in Spain.
What is the Holy Chalice of Valencia?
The Holy Chalice is composed of two parts. The upper cup, carved from a single piece of dark red agate, is the object of veneration. The archaeologist Antonio Beltrán, who studied it in 1960, dated it to between the first century before Christ and the first century after, and attributed it to a workshop of the eastern Mediterranean. The foot, also of stone, and the gold mounts with their handles and gems are medieval additions made to use the cup as a chalice.
How did it reach Spain?
According to tradition, the cup of the Last Supper was taken to Rome by Saint Peter and used by the first Popes. During the persecution of the Emperor Valerian, in the year 258, it was entrusted to the deacon Lawrence, who sent it to his family in Huesca, in Aragon, before his martyrdom.
When the Muslim armies entered the Iberian peninsula, the chalice was carried into the Pyrenees and hidden in a series of mountain churches and monasteries. It was eventually kept at the Royal Monastery of San Juan de la Peña, built beneath a great overhang of rock near Jaca. In 1399 the monks gave it to King Martin I of Aragon, and it followed the Crown to Zaragoza and Barcelona. King Alfonso the Magnanimous brought it to Valencia, and in 1437 it was entrusted to the Cathedral, where it has remained, save for the years of the Spanish Civil War, when it was hidden to protect it from destruction.
Have the Popes used it?
Yes. Saint John Paul II celebrated Mass with the Holy Chalice during his visit to Valencia in 1982, and Benedict XVI did the same in 2006, during the World Meeting of Families. Neither declared it authentic, but both used it at the altar, a gesture that speaks of the veneration the Church reserves for it.
Can you visit the Holy Chalice?
The Holy Chalice is displayed in the Chapel of the Holy Chalice, the former chapter house of Valencia Cathedral, a Gothic hall of the fourteenth century. It can be seen during visiting hours of the Cathedral. Pilgrims who wish to arrive at it on foot can follow the Camino del Santo Grial, which retraces its journey from San Juan de la Peña to Valencia.
Is it really the Holy Grail?
No one can prove that any object held the wine of the Last Supper. What can be said is that the cup of Valencia is of the right age and origin, that its history is documented without interruption since 1399, and that it has been venerated by the faithful for centuries. For the Knights and Dames of the Holy Grail, it is the visible sign of a mystery that no object can contain: the gift Christ made of Himself at the Last Supper.
The Order of the Knights and Dames of the Holy Grail walks the Camino del Santo Grial each year, in collaboration with the association that promotes the route. Discover the pilgrimage.
