Cracking The Da Vinci Code, Part 1 Series

“When Grail legend speaks of ‘the chalice that held the blood of Christ’…it speaks, in fact, of Mary Magdalene—the female womb that carried Jesus’ royal bloodline” (The Da Vinci Code, p. 249).

One of the final lines of the novel is “The quest for the Holy Grail is the quest to kneel before the bones of Mary Magdalene. A journey to pray at the feet of the outcast one.”

Jesus drank from a cup the night He instituted the Lord’s Supper, but no one knows what happened to it. What we do know is that in the twelfth century, stories circulated about the cup, which was dubbed the Holy Grail and believed to have magical power.

In about the fifteenth century the idea developed that the Grail is not an object, but rather a family tree. Specifically, in The Da Vinci Code, the Grail is said to be the Sang Real—the royal bloodline of Jesus. (Lutzer, TDVD, p. 57)

“…the Sangreal documents…contain proof that Jesus had a royal bloodline” (The Da Vinci Code, p. 249).

The Priory of Sion, according to The Da Vinci Code, is one of the oldest secret societies still in existence. It is the Priory that has been charged with guarding the secret of the true Holy Grail, starting in 1099 when the Knights of Templar discovered long-lost documents beneath the ruins of Solomon’s Temple. Leonardo Da Vinci was Grand Master of this society, says Robert Langdon, from 1510 to 1519. The only problem is this: It is all a hoax.

Brown relies on a 1982 publication, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, for his information on the Priory of Sion. The authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail relied on documents provided them by Pierre Plantard, an anti-Semitic Frenchman who spent time in jail for fraud in 1953. Plantard and three other men started a small social club in 1954 called the Priory of Sion, taking the name from a nearby mountain. Their club’s “cause” was the call for more low-cost housing in France. The club dissolved in 1957, but Plantard held on to the name.

Throughout the 1960s and the 1970s, Plantard created a series of documents “proving” the existence of a bloodline descending from Mary Magdalene, through the kings of France, down to the present day to include (surprise!) Pierre Plantard.

In 1993, Plantard’s name came up in light of a political scandal involving a close friend of the French president. When called before the court to testify, Plantard, under oath, admitted he had made up the whole Priory scheme. The court ordered a search of Plantard’s house, which revealed further documents that proclaimed Plantard to be the true king of France. The judge gave Plantard a stern warning and dismissed him as a harmless crank.

While there are numerous books and articles revealing Plantard’s hoax, they do not prove as exciting as a conspiracy thriller. Thus, millions of readers are being introduced to Plantard’s fantasies through the writings of Dan Brown in the fictional The Da Vinci Code (Barlow & Jones, CDVC, pp. 112-113).

The authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail unknowingly hit on a truth in the legend of the Grail. They write that the Grail is “the receptacle or vessel that received and contained Jesus’ blood.” They are absolutely correct, but they are looking for this vessel in all the wrong places. In fact, this Grail can be seen clearly in Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Listen to Jesus’ words during that meal: “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink for it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:26-28).