The relics of Christ's life are supremely meaningful. St. Helena, the mother of the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine, searched for and found the True Cross of Christ in Jerusalem in 326 A.D. It was near the mount of Calvary, which the Emperor Hadrian had leveled and obscured by building a pagan temple on top of the site. Finding the Cross was an enormous triumph for Christendom.

Likewise, the search for the Holy Grail was conducted with great zeal for centuries. It began to inflame the imaginations of Christians with the rise of knights and chivalry, especially around the year 1190 with the publication of Perceval, the Story of the Grail. The Holy Grail has held a fixed place in the imaginations of people ever since. The Grail was the cup Jesus used at the Last Supper to consecrate the wine into his blood, establishing the pattern of the Church for all time. In this picture, the Grail is like glowing blood red, like a beating heart.

Alas, no one knows with certainty if the Grail has ever been found. Many theories and much folklore abound, but, unlike the True Cross, the Church has never made a pronouncement on the Grail. However, in this gorgeous picture, a pure-hearted knight has sought for and found, by God's grace and God's ministering angels, the Holy Grail. Symbolically, may we all pursue Christ's life with such zeal.

Frederick Judd Waugh (1861-1940) was an American painter known primarily for his seascapes. He painted this in 1912, and it hangs in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington. It's huge, over ten feet wide, mounted on a curved wall. Oil on canvas. The Holy Grail ("The Knight of the Holy Grail") (source: wikipedia.com)

** IMPORTANT ** THE IMAGE IS SMALLER THAN THE PAPER! There is a white border of about 0.5" inch for 5x7", 1.3" for 8.5x11", or 1.6" for 11x14" pictures. All Approx! Fine art printers do this because the images are almost never the same rectangular ratio of the standard paper sizes. It also gives the prints a finished look, and lets them look good in a frame without a matt.

- Acid-free paper
- Archival pigments, rated to last for generations.
- Cardboard backer
- Above story of the art
- Enclosed in a tight-fitting, crystal clear bag.

Thanks for your interest!

Thanks!
Sue & John

"In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art." ~ St. Pope John Paul II

Original image is out-of-copyright. Descriptive text and image alterations (hence the whole new image) © by Sue Kouma Johnson - CatholicArtAndJewelry.