Holy Grail Discovered!! (?!)
Here’s the jist:
ROME, June 21 (UPI) — An Italian archeologist says the Holy Grail — a cup used by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper — is buried beneath a church in Rome.
Alfredo Barbagallo said ancient records show the cup is buried in a chamber beneath the Basilica of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura, one of the seven churches Christian pilgrims used to visit when they came to Rome, The (London) Telegraph said Thursday.
The archaeologist said he spent two years studying medieval iconography inside the basilica, and a description of the chamber in a guide to the catacombs written in 1938 by a Capuchin friar named Giuseppe Da Bra.
He said the cup, given the name the Holy Grail in the Middle Ages, disappeared in A.D. 258 after a deacon named Lorenzo — with whom Pope Sixtus V reportedly entrusted treasures of the early Church — was martyred.
Hmm… What do you think? It’s still very hard for me to imagine that at any point during or after the Supper or after the crucifixion that the disciples or the house owner would’ve decided to go find the cup and keep it, or that anyone that early in the Jesus movement would’ve cared.
HT: Paleojudaica
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I am a graduate student in Classical Studies in New York. The title encapsulates my outlook on life, and no doubt the blog’s content. I don’t have a particular focus–this is just an opportunity to take a break from life to think and dialog, though I’m sure my work and interests will inevitably be a major component.
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YOu never know…after the Last Supper, they may have taken a cup for the road (Jesus could be long-winded at times, and a good drink could help when his throat dried out, or, alternatively, would have been helpful for his disciples to get through some of his sermons–the ones they were careful not to record, except for John).
I’m with you: It is hard for me to see why they would have. And how often do we hear of some relic being at some church location (or a church being located at some geographic spot (and they are usually not there)?