The True Story of the Holy Grail

Richard Salbato June 4, 2007

Thirty years ago I started studying the knights of the early church. These knights came before the Crusades, the Knights Templar, and the Hospitallers. In my study I ran across a very old book called, “The True Story of the Holy Grail” Author, unknown. It became apparent in the first paragraph that this was a fiction story and the author went out of his way to let you know that it was fiction. Why then, I asked myself, did he call it a true story? This book, at least its first version, seems to date back to before the first Crusades. Another interesting thing about this book is that it contained almost no mention of the Holy Grail, which is what I was interested in. I came to believe that this book contained hidden mysteries that only those with the knowledge of these codes could understand. I could never figure them out.

I am still interested in the history and location of the Holy Grail and may never know the truth. However, there is one source that I have trust in and great devotion to and that is Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich. Throughout her many volumes of revelations she touches on information about the Holy Grail. Unless you peace all this together the relevance is elusive. Comparing her information with passages in the bible that are somewhat vague but verify what she says, it seems to me that we can come up with a fairly accurate history of the Holy Grail, with some degree of truth. All history is somewhat suspect and when it comes to a mystic, even an approved mystic like Emmerich, mistakes and flaws are common because they have to interpret what they see.

OK! Now that I have convinced you that the story I am about to tell you cannot be considered a true story of the Holy Grail anymore than the original book of the same title, let me offer you what I think might be close to the truth. It might not be anymore than a fun and fiction story, but as for me, I think it comes close to the truth. However, since there is no way to prove this story I will just write it in a story form using my own imagination as to how this story might have unfolded.

History of the Holy Grail

The Lord God brought forth out of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat: the Tree of Life also in the midst of paradise, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And the gold of the land was very good, and there was found bdellium and Onyx stone. And the Lord told Adam “Of every tree of paradise you can eat but from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you shall not eat or you shall surely die.”

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Life. This fruit was pear shaped and filled with blood red juice that poured out when opened. To capture this juice God showed them a cup under the tree. This cup was naturally made of a brown colored clear substance, something like today’s brown diamonds. It was about 6 inches in diameter at the top and about 2 inches at the bottom. It was about 6 inches tall. It had no handles and no stand.

They ate from the fruit of the Tree of Life and drank the juice from this cup. This fruit and juice united them with God and gave them spiritual life and sanctifying grace. This was God’s first blood related family, God’s first Church.

But Adam and Eve sinned by also eating the forbidden fruit and knew evil. And God saw this sin:

“Behold Adam has become like us, knowing good and evil, therefore, lest perhaps he put forth his hand, and take also from the Tree of Life and eat and life forever let us cast him out of the garden.”

God cast them out and placed before the garden a Cherubim angel with the flaming sword, turning every way, to keep the way to the Tree of Life. The gates of Heaven were closed and the sanctifying grace from the Tree of Life was cut off.

When they were expelled out of the Garden, Adam took the brown diamond cup with him to remind him of what he had lost and what was cut off from him. Adam lived to see the time of Methuselah and passed this cup on to Methuselah just before his death 930 years later. Methuselah gave the cup to Enoch. Just before God took him to Paradise, Enoch gave the cup to Noah. After building the ark, Noah placed the cup in the ark and waited for the flood. Noah had triplets when he was 500 years old: Sem, Cham and Japheth. One hundred and one years later the floods came.

After the flood Noah took the cup and placed it in a cave with the bones of Adam on a hill. He called the hill Golgotha (place of the scull of Adam) and he called the area, Salem (peace). From his son, Sem, came forth a righteous man named Abram in the land of Ur.

Abram was the first to be called Hebrew. After saving his brother, Lot, and the other kings from war, God sent to him, Melchisedec, the king of Salem. Melchisedec, who was without beginning of days or end of days, for he was a priest of the most high God, the word of God, Christ. Melchisedec brought from Golgotha the brown diamond cup and from this cup he gave Abram the bread and wine blessing, the blessing of God. Melchisedec left the cup with Abram. I Am appeared to Abram and made a perpetual covenant with him and changed his name to Abraham.

Later, to test Abraham’s faith, God sent him to Golgotha to offer up his own son, Isacc. It was because of this sacrifice and Abraham’s statement: “God, Himself, will offer the sacrifice”, that the city of Salem was changed to Jerusalem and the Jews then waited for the “Lamb of God” to be offered as the final sacrifice.

The cup was then passed on down to Jacob. Jacob’s son, Joseph, was sold into slavery in Egypt by his bothers for 20 pieces of silver. But Joseph prospered in Egypt and became the Pharaoh’s right hand man and in time Jacob and his other sons had to come to Joseph for help. Before his death Jacob gave the cup to Joseph.

Before Joseph’s death, he made his family promise to take his bones out of Egypt with them when they left the land. Because the Pharaoh made them slaves, it would be 400 years before the Hebrews would leave Egypt. When Moses brought them out of the land of the Pharaohs he took Joseph’s bones and the brown diamond cup with him.

On Mount Sinai God commanded Moses to build the Ark of the Covenant and to put the Ten Commandments and other things in it. God described how it was to be built and even showed Moses a vision of how it and other things were to be built. God even hand picked Beseleel and Ooliab to make these things.

Beseleel and Ooliab built the Ark with the two Cherub Angels on it and the oracle in the top of pure gold. They build the Tabernacles, candle stands, tables, tents, and all that God commanded. They took the brown diamond cup and added a stand and handles to it in Gold. They made gold webbing of grapes and vines surrounding the diamond cup. The gold stem and base were also decorated with grapes and vines. They put two large handles of Gold on it also covered with vines and grapes. he base was wrapped with a serpent and studded in precious stones. In the base they placed a hole and in it a gold spoon. With the stand and foot it was a foot tall and including the two handles is was ten inches wide.

It could now be called a Chalice. This Chalice that came all the way from the foot of the Tree of Life was now placed in the Ark of the Covenant with the Ten Commandments.

Fire and smoke came out from the oracle in the top of the Ark and God spoke from it. The Ark with the Chalice in it had power, power to lead and power to win wars. In the hands of enemies it was a curse, but in the hands of the Hebrews it was a blessing and a protection. Except for the poles, God commended that no one even touch the Ark and that if they did, they would die and this happened. Later Manna was placed in the Chalice and even later the staff of Aaron. Then the books of the Torah were placed in the Ark. But the power of the Ark was the Chalice.

The Ark and the Chalice passed down to King David but when David saw that Oza was stuck dead for touching the Ark he was afraid to take it into Jerusalem and left it in the house of Obadiah for three months. (2 Kings 6-11) When David saw that the house of Obadiah was blessed by the Ark of the Covenant, he took the Ark into the city with great ceremony.

Strange but true, there was nothing in the Ark except the Ten Commandments when David took it from the house of Obadiah. (3 Kings 8-9) God had commanded Obadiah to remove everything from the Ark except the two stone tablets. Obadiah placed the Chalice in a hidden compartment in the wall of his upper room. He made copies of the Torah and hid the original.

Solomon built the Temple of Jerusalem to hold the Ark of the Covenant and placed it in the Holy of Holies between two 30 foot tall gold Angels with wings spanning the entire Temple.

When God told Jeremiah, the prophet, that the Temple of Jerusalem was about to be destroyed, He commanded Jeremiah to hide the Ark of the Covenant. Jeremiah took the Ark up to the mountain where Moses died and placed it in a cave.

“The place will be unknown, till God gather together the congregation of the people and receive them to mercy. And then the Lord will show these things and the majesty of the Lord will appear and there will be a cloud as it was also showed to Moses and to Solomon when he prayed that the place might be sanctified to the great God.”

(2 Machabees 2: 7-8)

When Christ told the Apostles to prepare for the last supper, He ordered them to go to a particular house. (Matt 26:18, Luke 22:10) This house was the former house of Obadiah and the Chalice was in a hidden compartment in the wall.

This house was miraculously saved during the first distruction of Jerusalem and later purchased by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea to be used for their stone business on the ground floor and to rent out for feasts in the upper room. Heli, brother-in-law of Zachary, had rented out the upper room to help pilgrims celebrate the feast.

Many of the Holy Vessels and plates made by Moses were left sacrilegiously in storage rooms of the Temple, and were bought by Saraphina, later known as Veronica, meaning “woman with the veil”. In seeking dinning plates and cups the Apostles went to Veronica’s house and she gave them these holy vessels. So it was that not only the Chalice but also most of the other dinning ware were made at the time of Moses for use in the Holy Sacrifices.

Christ brought out the Holy Chalice and placed a gold plate on top of it. He took six small cups of gold and placed them around the Chalice. In the foot of the Chalice was a spoon. He poured wine into the Chalice and using the spoon He put a spoonful of water in the wine. He used another pear shaped cup to break bread into. Pulling the brown diamond cup out of its golden holder, stem and stand, Christ held it up and prayed. He then placed it back in the gold webbing making it a Chalice again. He bowed his head and prayed long but silently. Picking up the other chalice with the bread He said:

“Take and eat. This is my body which is given for you.”

Then pulling the brown cup out of the Chalice again, He said:

“This is my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant which is being shed for you.”

He passed out the cup of bread and using the spoon placed the wine in the six cups and passed them out to the Apostles.

After Christ, Peter and John left for the Mount of Olives, Veronica and the holy woman cleaned up the upper room and took the holy vessels back to her home. This included the Holy Grail which had held Christ’s saving blood, the fruit of the Tree of Life.

Just before the persecution of the Jews in 70 AD the Chalice, now called the Holy Grail, was taken by James, the Less, Joseph of Arimathea, Veronica and Mary Magdalena. They first brought it to Caesarea and there they gathered other precious relics of Christ and Mary, including the His Shroud, His Robe, the nails of the cross, the crown of thorns, the sword that pierced his Heart, and many other things. When it even became unsafe to hide in Caesarea, James sent the six cups to the newly established Churches in Antioch, Ephesus, and the other apostolic churches.

James then took the Holy Grail and the other relics to France and later to Spain. Some have been found. But to this day the Holy Grail has not been found. Someday it will be found and maybe it will lead us to the peace promised by Our Lady of Fatima for we know it has power, the power of God.

Richard Salbato

“Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb that they may have the right to the Tree of Life and may enter in by the gates to the city. Without are dogs, sorcerers and unchaste, murders, servers of idols, and every one that loves and makes lies.” Apocalypse 22:14-15

 Note:

 The chalice at Valencia, Spain, the Sancta Caliz, could not be the Holy Grail because:

1. It was already in existence when Blessed Emmerich said it would be found someday.

2. It does not fit the description of the Holy Grail by Emmerich

3. The base and stem were not made until the 13th century.

4. The cup part was made by Egyptians or Syrians

5. The base came from a Moslem Sultan, who believed it to be the cup.

6. The real Holy Grail should hold some of the blood from the cross in it and this does not.

7. The upper cup (not the rest) may have been used at the last supper but not the real Holy Grail.