Spirituality
The spiritual life of the Order is ordered to the mystery the Grail signifies: the Blood of Christ, offered for the life of the world and received in the Eucharist. This page gathers the Patron, the prayer, the motto and the practices of the Order for the use of its members and of all who wish to know them.
Saint Lawrence, Patron of the Order
Lawrence was one of the seven deacons of the Church of Rome under Pope Sixtus II and the keeper of its goods. According to a tradition preserved in Aragon, he was born in Huesca, and the Pope entrusted to him the cup of the Last Supper, which Lawrence sent to his family in Spain to save it from the persecution of the Emperor Valerian.
When the prefect of Rome ordered him to hand over the treasures of the Church, Lawrence gathered the poor, the sick and the widows of the city and presented them: these, he said, are the treasures of the Church. He was martyred on 10 August 258, according to tradition on a gridiron, which has become his emblem. His tomb is venerated in the Basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura in Rome.
The Order has chosen him as its Patron because he was the first guardian of the Grail and because he taught that every treasure is given to be served. His feast, on 10 August, is kept by all members of the Order.
The Grail and the Eucharist
In the Christian tradition the Grail is the cup of the Last Supper, in which Christ gave His Blood to the apostles under the sign of wine. Its meaning is therefore inseparable from the Eucharist, in which the Church receives the Body and Blood of Christ.
The Holy Chalice of Valencia, venerated as that cup, has been used at the altar by Saint John Paul II and Benedict XVI. For the Order, devotion to the Holy Chalice is not the pursuit of a relic but a way to the Eucharist and to the charity that flows from it.
The motto of the Order
Sanguis Christi, mundum lava; Sanguis Christi, nos purifica.
Blood of Christ, wash the world; Blood of Christ, purify us.
The Prayer of the Order
The Order has adopted as its own the Anima Christi, a prayer of the fourteenth century, recited by members each day.
Anima Christi, sanctifica me. Corpus Christi, salva me. Sanguis Christi, inebria me. Aqua lateris Christi, lava me. Passio Christi, conforta me. O bone Iesu, exaudi me. Intra tua vulnera absconde me. Ne permittas me separari a te. Ab hoste maligno defende me. In hora mortis meae voca me, et iube me venire ad te, ut cum Sanctis tuis laudem te in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body of Christ, save me. Blood of Christ, inebriate me. Water from the side of Christ, wash me. Passion of Christ, strengthen me. O good Jesus, hear me. Within Thy wounds hide me. Suffer me not to be separated from Thee. From the malicious enemy defend me. In the hour of my death call me, and bid me come unto Thee, that with Thy saints I may praise Thee for ever and ever. Amen.
The practice of the Order
The Order proposes to its members a simple rule, to be kept wherever they live.
Each day. The Prayer of the Order in the morning, a time of silent prayer or reading of Scripture, and an examination of conscience in the evening.
Each week. Participation in the Eucharist on Sunday according to one’s own Church, Catholic or Orthodox, and a work of charity in the spirit of Saint Lawrence.
Each year. The feasts of the Order, a period of study proposed by the Grand Library and, when possible, the pilgrimage along the Camino del Santo Grial.
Saints of the tradition of the Grail
Saint Sixtus II
Pope and martyr, who according to tradition entrusted the treasures of the Church, and with them the cup of the Last Supper, to his deacon Lawrence. Commemorated on 7 August.
Saint Lawrence
Deacon and martyr, first guardian of the Grail and Patron of the Order. Commemorated on 10 August.
Saint Galgano
Tuscan knight of the twelfth century who laid down his sword in the rock of Montesiepi, where it still stands as a cross. Commemorated on 3 December.
