In less than a generation, Spain has passed from being a bastion of Catholicism under the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco to a predominantly lay society
The word you want is "secular," Ma'am, unless you wish to cast aspersions on the Spanish capacity to observe a vow of chastity.
Not being in such a serious mood, however, I was more interested in Allen's description of what many believe to be the actual Holy Grail, held at the Cathedral in Valencia.
The upper cup, regarded as the original cup of Christ, is made of red agate stone, semi-spherical in shape, sometimes described as the size of half an orange. According to the tradition, the cup was sent to Spain by St. Lawrence, himself a Spaniard, during anti-Christian persecutions under Emperor Valerian in 258 AD.
One scholar has dated the cup to between the second century B.C .and the first century A.D., and says it originated in a workshop of Egypt, Syria or Palestine -- as close as one is likely to come to scientific confirmation of the tradition, though obviously not definitive.
The base, formed by an oval inverted cup, is adorned with gold along the lower edge, and has a stem containing 27 pearls, rubies, and emeralds. It's considered a medieval addition.
Pope John Paul II was a devotee of the Holy Chalice. During his Nov. 8, 1982, visit to Valencia, he kissed the chalice and called it "a witness to Christ's passage on earth." Later, he celebrated Mass with it, believed to be the first time a pope had done so since Sixtus II more than 1,700 years earlier.
