What is the significance of the quest for the holy grail

In one of the last scenes of the story, Christ conveys to the small group gathered before the grail that many have been filled with the grace of the Holy Grail, "but never face to face as you are now.

Many people are content with a frequent yet casual reception of Communion, but preparation and appreciation are what the sacrament deserves. The quest of the grail also illustrates that God dispenses grace to each and every person as that individual is capable of receiving it. Certainly, the Eucharist is seen today as a fount of grace for communicants, "the source and summit of the Christian life.

The Eucharist provides the pathway for it. The quest in modern times may convey less adventures, and hopefully less bloodshed, yet it is the universal thirst of the person seeking God.

Why did the legend of the holy grail appear in the 12th century and become so popular that it is known throughout the West within years? A plausible theory deals with the change in the celebration of the Eucharist at that time. Prior to the 12th century, the Mass was celebrated with the priest behind the altar facing the congregation and the ritual actions of the celebrant were visible to the people. When new cathedrals were built — picture the long nave of a Romanesque church — the altar was placed at the far end and the position of the priest changed.

Now he stood in front of the altar, facing in the same direction as the people. A "veil of mystery" separated members of the congregation from what was taking place on the altar. In addition to liturgical change, the Albigensian heresy may have influenced the popularity of the legend. Members of this group professed that the outer world was evil. The purpose of redemption for the Albigensians was liberation of the soul from the flesh and the end of a mixed state soul and body brought on the by the devil.

The legend of the grail leads one to the inner quest, that the soul might be cleansed to prepare for the reception of Our Lord. German poet Wolfram von Eschenbach c. The assumption that a Cistercian is the author may be due to the fact that a Cistercian spirituality pervades the work. Manifestation of this spirituality is seen in that chastity is the first of virtues and there is a continual emphasis on asceticism, frequent prayer and reception of the sacraments.

The "Charter of Love," a document that is part of Cistercian history, is portrayed in this epic in the infinite mercy of God toward the sinner. The work was written an era when Cistercian expansion had reached a high point in Europe. Some versions of the legend identify the grail with the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper, which later belonged to Joseph of Arimathea.

Carbon dating suggests the chalice was made between BC and AD Current home of the Antioch Chalice, a silver-and-gold double-cup design ornament, touted as the Holy Chalice when it was recovered in Antioch, Turkey, just before World War I. The Valencia Chalice is housed in its very own consecrated chapel.

Some Spanish archaeologists say the cup was produced in a Palestinian or Egyptian workshop between the fourth century BC and the first century AD. In the seventh century AD, a Gaulish monk named Arculf recorded seeing a vessel he believed to be the Holy Chalice contained within a reliquary in a chapel near Jerusalem, between the basilica of Golgotha and the Martyrium. This is the earliest known first-hand report of the Grail after the crucifixion, and the only known mention of the Grail being seen in the Holy Land.

The fate of the chalice he described is unknown. After the crucifixion of Jesus, for reasons that remain unclear and which may well owe more to poetic license and political and economic expediency than historical fact , the story of the Holy Grail is quickly transplanted from the Holy Land to the green and pleasant land of England.

According to legends that have been doing the rounds for at least the last years, the keeper of the Grail, Joseph of Arimathea, arrived in England in the first century AD. He crossed the Somerset Levels then flooded by boat to arrive at the foot of Glastonbury Tor on an island known in Arthurian mythology as Avalon.

At the foot of Wearyall Hill, just beneath the Tor, the tired missionary thrust his staff into the ground, and rested.

In the morning, so the story goes, his staff had taken root and grown into an oriental thorn bush now known as the Glastonbury Thorn. Joseph then went on to found Glastonbury Abbey, and set about converting the locals to Christianity — with a staggering success rate. Meanwhile the Grail — which, according to some stories, was buried at the entrance to the underworld in Glastonbury — became firmly interwoven into myths about King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table.

The area may have been a significant site for pre-Christian communities, but Glastonbury Abbey was almost certainly established by Britons in the early seventh century. The local monks wholeheartedly endorsed the fables, right up until the Abbey was dissolved in , during the English Reformation. An early example of this can be seen when, in , a fire destroyed most of the monastic buildings at Glastonbury.

There was a spike in pilgrimage traffic and the funds needed to rebuild the Abbey. For two millennia, the legend of the Holy Grail has been reported and contorted by imaginative poets, painters, writers, comedians and filmmakers — to such an extent that the small number of known facts have become increasingly hard to sift from an overwhelming mountain of speculative or purely artistic ideas.

Amateur historians and professional authors have gone off on wild tangents, generating countless pseudo-historical books masquerading as seriously researched non-fiction. Indeed, a vast amount of flimsy and fantastical evidence has been reported as fact to support questionable theories.

As a result, the Grail story has assumed a life of its own — one that constantly plays out on the pages of books and websites, and on TV and cinema screens — and each generation consumes a new version of it. Adding to the controversy is the fact that there are roughly alleged Grail cups in various locations around the world, and many scholars question whether the Holy Grail ever existed at all or is merely a legend.

Although scholars may never know whether the Holy Grail was an actual physical object or simply a mythical fantasy, the mysterious relic continues to fascinate millions even to this day. Crowds flock to Spanish church after holy grail claim: The Guardian. The Holy Grail: New Advent. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!

Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. From the knights of medieval legends to Indiana Jones, the holy grail has been the most sought-after Christian relic in popular culture for centuries. The grail is most commonly identified as the cup that Jesus drank from at the Last Supper and that Joseph of Arimathea used to This strategic Holy Land port came under Western control during the First Crusade—but changed hands several times after.

In it was the last Christian-held fortress in the Holy Land when it fell to the Mamluks—one of the most devastating events in Templar, and Western, The Knights Templar was a large organization of devout Christians during the medieval era who carried out an important mission: to protect European travelers visiting sites in the Holy Land while also carrying out military operations. A wealthy, powerful and mysterious order The medieval crusading period threw up literally dozens of military orders—knights sworn to lead religious lives as well as fighting the enemies of Christ.

We never hear about the mysteries of the Hospitallers. Or the secret bloodline of Jesus guarded by the Teutonic Order. The Crusades were a series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims started primarily to secure control of holy sites considered sacred by both groups. In all, eight major Crusade expeditions occurred between and