Valencia Chalice

SIR'I have been very interested in the Holy Chalice at Valencia since I saw it in the years 1951 and 1953, and the letter of your correspondent in your recent issue referring to Father McCormick's article in your previous issue leads me to write to you.
There appears to be no Arthurian legend or romance of chivalry attached to the Holy Chalice of Valencia. Its history and tradition consist of a few bare statements of fact and a few dates. Canon D. Elias Olmo Canalda of that Cathedral, who was in charge of the Chalice. published in 1949 the sixth edition of his short account of its history and its salvation from the Marxist mobs who sacked and desecrated the cathedral on July 20, 1936. According to this booklet a certain Canon D. Juan Augustin Ramirez of Zaragoza, in his life of St. Lawrence, says definitely that: " In the year 1134 the sacred Chalice of the Last Supper was in the monastery of St. Juan de la Pena, according to a duly attested document dated the 14th of December of that year which said as follows in Latin:-' In a marble coffer there is a Chalice in which Christ Our Lord consecrated His Blood which St. Lawrence sent to his native place Huesca.' This document was in the archives of the said monastery, and was copied by the Senor Ramirez above mentioned, as he himself states."
The handing over of the Chalice to the King Don Martin by the Prior of the monastery on Septemher 26, 1399 was evidenced by a Deed of Gift that is preserved in Barcelona in the archives of the Crown of Aragon. This document opens by reciting that with great longing the King had " wished and procured " to have in his Chapel Royal:" that Chalice of stone in ot limb Our Lord Jesus Christ during his Holy Supper consecrated his precious blood and which the blessed St. Lawrence, who received it from St. Sixtus. at that time the supreme Pontiff, whose disciple he was, and deacon of Sta. Maria in Dominica, sent and gave with his own letter to the monastery and convent of St. Juan de la Palo"
Canon Canalda also refers to and quotes from several Spanish ecclesiastical writers concerning " the constant tradition of the Kingdom of Aragam " that the Sacred Chalice was venerated in Huesca and afterwards in St. Juan de la Pefia. It is to be noted that it is believed to have been brought from Huesca in the year 713.
It seems to be clear that the tradition and belief in the authenticity of the Valencia Chalice are long prior to the Arthurian legends, and its public veneration has had for centuries full ecclesiastical support. There is marked contrast between the romantic Glastonbury and Arthurian legends and the _plain, matter of fact history of the Chalice, P history which is not inherently improbable.
W. J. Mason
26, Craven Street, Strand, London, W.C.2.