Crowds Swarm Spanish Church to View 'Holy Grail' After Historians Claim Discovery of Goblet Used by Jesus
Crowds reportedly swarmed a Spanish church to view an ancient goblet after historians claimed they have identified it as the Holy Grail, the cup from which Jesus Christ sipped at the last supper before the crucifixion.
"It was in a very small room where it was not possible to admire it to the full," said Raquel Jaén, director of San Isidro Basilica in the city of León. Thousands of people have reportedly tried to visit the church this past week.
The chalice, made out of agate, gold and onyx and encrusted with precious stones, became famous after two historians recently published a book claiming it was the mythical goblet of Christ, AFP reported.
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"This has been an incredibly popular endeavor to try to find something that Jesus touched," Dr. Robert Cargill, an assistant professor of classics and religious studies at the University of Iowa, told ABC News.
The historians, León University medieval history lecturer Margarita Torres and art historian José Manuel Ortega del Rio, published Kings of the Grail last week, where they make the claim. The chalice had been known as the goblet of the Infanta Doña Urraca, daughter of Fernando I, King of León from 1037 to 1065.
Torres and del Rio revealed that the discovery of two Egyptian parchments at Cairo's University of al-Azhar inspired a three-year investigation, in which they inspected the history behind the goblet, and attempted to debunk the authenticity of other supposed holy grails in Europe.
Torres explained that the onyx chalice itself is contained within another cup, known as the Chalice of Doña Urruca, which sits at León's basilica.
"This is a very important discovery because it helps solve a big puzzle," Torres told The Irish Times. "We believe this could be start of a wonderful stage of research.
The historians believe the chalice has been at the church since the 11th century, with scientific data indicating it was made somewhere between 200 B.C. and 100 A.D. – which would coincide with Jesus' time.
Cargill argued, however, that it would be impossible to come to a definitive conclusion about whether the chalice is indeed the Holy Grail.
"I don't think we'll ever find the Holy Grail," he explained. "Even if we had it, there would be no way to confirm it was the grail."
CatholicCulture.org offers a history of the search for the Holy Grail, noting that the saga has been retold in various cultures and languages for hundreds of years.
"The appeal of the quest is universal because it expresses at its deepest level our human desire for union with God," the website states.
