One of the most precious relics the Catholic Church treasures is the chalice our Lord used during the Last Supper.
It has occasioned many legends, which recall the constant
devotion of Catholic believers to the precious cup.
The most widespread
is that of the Holy Grail, which only the brave and unblemished knight
would be worthy to find.
Some claim the true chalice is kept in the
metropolitan church of Valencia, Spain.
Some historians identified the owner of the house of the cenacle of the
Last Supper.
He was a Jewish noble named Chusa, the major domus and
treasurer of Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch (or governor of the fourth part
of the Roman province of Galilee).
He was a man of influence and his
wife, Joanna, was one of the holy women who followed our Lord in His
travels while preaching His religious message.
St. Luke, the evangelist, mentioned that she used to offer lodging in
her house to our Lord and, as we say today, "subsidized" His mission.
After our Lord’s ascension, the Blessed Virgin Mary lived there for 14
years until her own Assumption into heaven.
Simon Peter, the leader of the Apostles, would naturally keep the
chalice used in the Last Supper after the Ascension.
He carried it
wherever he went and brought it to Rome, where he was martyred.
Historians claim the chalice remained in the Eternal City until 258 A.
D.
Just before his own martyrdom, Pope Sixtus II instructed St. Lawrence to
distribute the treasures and jewelry of the Roman Church to other
churches.
In 261, the latter sent the chalice to the church in Huesca,
Spain, his homeland.
When Spain fell to the Moors in 712, the Bishop of Huesca escaped to the
cave of San Juan de la Peña in the Pyrenees, bringing with him the
precious chalice.
In 1398, after 686 years, and King Martin, the Pious,
had assumed the throne, he asked Abbot Fray Bernardo to transfer the
chalice to the royal chapel in his palace of Aljaferia.
Through the help
of St. Vincent Ferrer, the abbot granted the royal wish, and ceded the
chalice now encased in a small ivory ark, to the pious king, who for 23
years safeguarded it for veneration. King Marton’s son and grandson
continued the pious tradition.
The latter, Alfonso, the Magnificent, chose to reside in the royal
palace in Valencia, where he built a magnificent chapel.
There he
deposited the chalice.
But he had to go on a mission to Aragon.
Before
he left, he entrusted the chalice and other relics for safe-keeping in
the sacristy of the cathedral, where they were placed on March 18, 1437.
Church historians base this travelogue on the writings of two notaries,
now preserved in the sacristy of the cathedral of Valencia. There it has
remained (so the accounts tell us).
The chalice is unadorned, made of reddish agate, an unusual color, and
about the size of a large orange, big enough to hold 10 or 12 ounces of
wine, about eight centimeters deep.
When it is being turned, the chalice
reflects varied tints under the light, but no one has discovered its
original shade.
The base seems to be of shell, the only part adorned
with gold strips lined with 38 fine pearls around the edge and across
the middle, two rubies, and two emeralds.
The stem measures six
centimeters till the node.
Two finely pointed handles of pure gold show
it had been crafted long before.
The total height, from base to the rim
of the cup, is more than 20 centimeters.