The chapel of the Holy Chalice in the cathedral of Valencia. Credit: Diego Delso via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0). / null

Valencia, Spain, Aug 24, 2021 / 19:19 pm (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Valencia conserves the relic of the Holy Chalice, believed to be that used by Christ at the Last Supper. Every five years a Jubilee Year of the Holy Chalice is celebrated to promote Eucharistic adoration.

The theme for this Jubilee Year, which began in October 2020 and will conclude in October 2021,  is “the intimate relationship between the Passion of Christ and the Eucharist.”

The chalice is an agate cup, mounted on a gold base with precious stones. The cup has been dated to the first century at the latest, while the base is medieval. 

It is believed that the chalice was brought to Rome by St. Peter, and was then sent to Spain by St. Lawrence, who was himself from Valencia, during the persecution of Valerian.

Four popes have recognized the chalice in various ways. 

St. John XXIII granted a plenary indulgence on the feast of the Holy Chalice; St. John Paul II venerated it in the cathedral and used it for the consecration during his visit to Valencia in 1982; Benedict XVI used it at the Mass of the Fifth World Meeting of Families in 2006; and Pope Francis granted the Holy Year of the Chalice in 2016.

Fr. Edgar Esteve, in charge of liturgy for the Archdiocese of Valencia, encouraged people to participate in the Eucharistic Jubilee Year of the “Chalice of the Passion” by making a pilgrimage to the Valencia cathedral.

“All of us are invited to make a pilgrimage to the Chapel of the Holy Chalice to contemplate and pray before the relic of the Chalice of the Lord’s Supper and to be renewed in our faith and hope and encouraged in our Christian charity,” Fr. Esteve said.

“We are invited to visit the places where  Eucharistic miracles have taken place, which have enriched the spirituality and the Church in Valencia, places where the Eucharist has been manifested in a special way and which celebrate Jubilee Days on their feast days,” he added.

The priest stressed that the Jubilee Year “is not only for the Diocese of Valencia, it is a gift that Pope Francis has made to the universal Church, and therefore all the faithful of Valencia, Spain, and the rest of the world are invited to gain the plenary indulgence by making a pilgrimage to the chapel where the Holy Chalice is venerated.”