A 13th century silver chalice, known as 'The Lacock Cup' is about to be sold by the parish of St Cyriac in Lacock, Wiltshire.
A video clip giving an outline of the situation may be viewed on this link
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46462000/jpg/_46462082_untitled-1copy.jpg
Expectations are running high and those charged with the sale are expecting a sum in excess of £2 million to be made by this beautiful item.
Some, however, are not so happy.
Many parishioners, according to the Daily Mail, are bitterly opposed to the sale feeling that part of the village's heritage is about to disappear into a Charles Saatchi cellar (the actual likelihood is the The British Museum will bid successfully for it).
Trouble is, when this chalice was first used, it was at a Catholic Latin Mass; it would have been commissioned by the local Catholic priest or bishop, it would have certainly been consecrated by a Catholic bishop.
Some two hundred plus years after it was first used and, after it was used at many, many Latin Masses (if only used on High Days and Holidays it would probably have carried the True Presence on over 10,000 occasions) - the debauched and degenerate King Henry VIII came along and claimed all Catholic Church properties and materials as his own.
What was once Rome's fell into the hands of the Protestant church and the state. This chalice obviously survived the fate of most chalices and ciboria which was to be melted down for the scrap value.
So now, this great vessel, with all its sanctity and Catholic history, is to be auctioned off like a set of cutlery.
I seem to recall, fairly recently, the British Government returning Aboriginal skulls, held in a museum, to their rightful Aboriginal heirs who claimed a spiritual link to the bones.
.
There is no such sensitivity here.
What was once Catholic and sacred is now an object of curiosity in the market place - and no one gives a damn! Apart from worrying over the intrinsic value.
NB: Actually, if this chalice was to be returned to the Catholic Church, the authorities would probably be subject to some embarrassment as insurance premiums would render its possession within a church or cathedral environment impossible.
Likelihood is that it would be locked in a vault somewhere. Perhaps a museum is the best and most sensible place for it.
But it does seem somewhat sacrilegious all the same.
A video clip giving an outline of the situation may be viewed on this link
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46462000/jpg/_46462082_untitled-1copy.jpg
Expectations are running high and those charged with the sale are expecting a sum in excess of £2 million to be made by this beautiful item.
Some, however, are not so happy.
Many parishioners, according to the Daily Mail, are bitterly opposed to the sale feeling that part of the village's heritage is about to disappear into a Charles Saatchi cellar (the actual likelihood is the The British Museum will bid successfully for it).
Trouble is, when this chalice was first used, it was at a Catholic Latin Mass; it would have been commissioned by the local Catholic priest or bishop, it would have certainly been consecrated by a Catholic bishop.
Some two hundred plus years after it was first used and, after it was used at many, many Latin Masses (if only used on High Days and Holidays it would probably have carried the True Presence on over 10,000 occasions) - the debauched and degenerate King Henry VIII came along and claimed all Catholic Church properties and materials as his own.
What was once Rome's fell into the hands of the Protestant church and the state. This chalice obviously survived the fate of most chalices and ciboria which was to be melted down for the scrap value.
So now, this great vessel, with all its sanctity and Catholic history, is to be auctioned off like a set of cutlery.
I seem to recall, fairly recently, the British Government returning Aboriginal skulls, held in a museum, to their rightful Aboriginal heirs who claimed a spiritual link to the bones.
.
There is no such sensitivity here.
What was once Catholic and sacred is now an object of curiosity in the market place - and no one gives a damn! Apart from worrying over the intrinsic value.
NB: Actually, if this chalice was to be returned to the Catholic Church, the authorities would probably be subject to some embarrassment as insurance premiums would render its possession within a church or cathedral environment impossible.
Likelihood is that it would be locked in a vault somewhere. Perhaps a museum is the best and most sensible place for it.
But it does seem somewhat sacrilegious all the same.
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