The Holy Grail was the cup that Jesus Christ used at the Last Supper and which Joseph of Arimathea later used to collect drops of Jesus’ precious blood at the Crucifixion. Joseph of Arimathea and his company brought the sacred cup to the British Isles where it was eventually lost. This is where the legend of the Holy Grail becomes intertwined with the legend of King Arthur and his knights. Because this holy vessel was thought to be the source of all things good and the source of divine favour, those who were noble and pure in heart — such as King Arthur and his knights — desired to possess it and use its power for good.
These legends of the Holy Grail were the most popular in the darkest of the Dark Ages. At this time Europe was a spiritual wasteland, and the people looked to inspiration such as this for hope as it represented a lost golden age and the quest to regain it. The legend of the Holy Grail arose out of the Celtic Church’s claim to apostolic succession, which they traced back through Joseph of Arimathea to the apostle John. In the midst of oppression by the Roman Catholic Church, which claimed that its apostolic succession and sacerdotal authority was through the apostle Peter, the legend of the Holy Grail represented hope to the Celtic Church (aka the Grail Church) through an alternate line of apostolic succession. While the Roman Catholic Church claimed that they were the only church with apostolic authority, the Holy Grail became a tangible symbol of the Celtic Church’s claim to equal authority, also by a direct line of apostolic succession.
