The Order of the Knights and Dames of the Holy Grail has been constituted in collaboration with the International Association of the Camino del Santo Grial, the body that has brought the road of the Holy Chalice before the institutions of Europe. Its President, Dr Ana María Mafé García, one of the foremost scholars of the Grail, is the Patron of the Order.
The collaboration joins an institution rooted in research and cultural diplomacy with a new international fellowship of Christians. The Order will support the work of the Association, already recognised across Europe, and help bring the Camino del Santo Grial to young Christians of every nation.
A life devoted to the Holy Chalice
Dr Ana Mafé García holds a doctorate in Art History, with further degrees in Art History and in Ecotourism, and is regarded as a world expert on the early history of the Holy Grail. She presides over the International Scientific Commission for Holy Grail Studies and is the author of El Santo Grial, a scientific essay published by Sargantana that sets out what the Holy Grail is and where it is to be found.
A road across Europe
The Camino del Santo Grial, the “Route of Knowledge, Way of Peace”, follows the journey that tradition attributes to the cup of the Last Supper: from Rome and Naples, through Toulouse, to Huesca, the homeland of Saint Lawrence, and on through Zaragoza and Teruel to the Cathedral of Valencia, where the Holy Chalice has been venerated since 1437. In Aragon the route passes the Royal Monastery of San Juan de la Peña, where the chalice was guarded through the Middle Ages.
What the Order brings
Through this bond the Order takes its place within the living tradition of the Camino. It commits to support the Association in the promotion of the route, to walk it each year in its annual pilgrimage, and to carry its message of peace and of service to the vulnerable, in the spirit of Saint Lawrence, to Christians of every nation.
The Order is led by Riccardo Pace, appointed its President and Grand Master, who brings to the role his experience in international associations and European institutions.
As Patron, Dr Mafé García accompanies the Order with her knowledge and her authority, giving the new fellowship a firm foundation in history and scholarship.
International Association of the Camino del Santo Grial: elcaminodelsantogrial.eu
El Santo Grial, by Ana Mafé García: available here
The Pilgrimage of the Order
