Archeologist says Holy Grail is in Rome

June 22, 2007

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 archeologist 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.

A Vatican spokesman said no decision has been made on the possibility of opening the catacombs, the newspaper said.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International


print this article email this article download pdf blog this article bookmark this article     Stumble it Digg this share on Facebook retweet share on Reddit add to delicious
Rate this story - 3.6 /5 (27 votes)


June 22, 2007 all stories

Comments: 0

3.6 /5 (27 votes)
  • Stumble this up

  • Digg this

  • share this

  • hide
  • Related Stories




  • hide
  • Relevant PhysicsForums posts

  • Questions about diffusion
    created 1hour ago
  • Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) typing
    created 7 hours ago
  • Breeding program
    created Nov 20, 2009
  • How does a concentration gradient provide energy?
    created Nov 20, 2009
  • More from Physics Forums - Biology

Other News

Museum: Galileo's fingers, tooth are found (AP)

Museum: Galileo's fingers, tooth are found

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created 19 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 5

(AP) -- Two fingers and a tooth removed from Galileo Galilei's corpse in a Florentine basilica in the 18th century and given up for lost have been found again and will soon be put on display, an Italian museum ...


Measure to change U. of Neb. stem-cell rule fails (AP)

Measure to change U. of Neb. stem-cell rule fails (Update 2)

Other Sciences / Other

created 19 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(AP) -- The University of Nebraska's governing board on Friday voted not to place tighter restrictions on embryonic stem cell research than those outlined under federal guidelines, which were expanded after ...


Researcher: Faint writing seen on Shroud of Turin (AP)

Researcher: Faint writing seen on Shroud of Turin (Update)

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Nov 20, 2009 | popularity 1.9 / 5 (23) | comments 23

(AP) -- A Vatican researcher has rekindled the age-old debate over the Shroud of Turin, saying that faint writing on the linen proves it was the burial cloth of Jesus. Experts say the historian may be reading ...


Three of a kind

Three of a kind: Revealing language’s universal essence

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Nov 20, 2009 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (11) | comments 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- On the surface, English, Japanese, and Kinande, a member of the Bantu family of languages spoken in the Democratic Republic of Congo, have little in common. It is not just that the vocabularies ...


Maya

New insights into the life of the Maya

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (15) | comments 7

(PhysOrg.com) -- Ancient artifacts are almost always concerned with rich and powerful religious and political leaders, but new excavations of an ancient Maya site have unearthed a pyramid decorated with murals ...