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It's towards the end of 1100 A.D.. The story that we are about to tell
centers around a round chapel, a knight and a sword in the stone. But
instead of the mythical kingdom of Camelot, we are in Montesiepi, in the
heart of Tuscany.
The sword in the stone is not Excalibur and the knight is not King
Arthur.
Its mystery is kept in a book that has been sealed for more than 800
years. A book that could reveal many of the secrets that surround the se
arch for the Holy Grail.
Galgano Guidotti was born in Chiusdino in 1148, the only son of Guido
and Dionisia. From his youth, Galgano leads rather a dissolute life,
until, at the age of 32, the Archangel Gabriel appears to him in a dream
and tells him to follow him. In the dream, Galgano receives an order
from the 12 apostles to build a round chapel at Montesiepi and to retire
there to live. His mother and friends try to convince him to desist, but
his horse takes fright and takes him to Montesiepi.
At Montesiepi, Galgano thrusts the Sword forcefully into the ground to
make a cross and miraculously the Sword gets stuck in the stone. This
situation causes quite a sensation and Montesiepi becomes filled with
many pilgrims asking Galgano to perform Miracles. Before his
canonization in 1185, 19 such miracles occur.
In 1190 a French write wrote a lengthy text telling the story of a king
and other riders who leave in search of a mysterious object, which is
the Holy Grail. A few years later, another German writer tells a similar
story and wrote the Parsifal. Much of what these writers tell in their
works have strange similarities with a sword in the stone that is found
in this church.
There are many coincidences, and when analyzed in detail, they are even
more impressive because the life of Galgano of Montesiepi, as certified
in the beatification, correspondes almost entirely to the life of
Parsifal. The Grail is the chalice of the Last Supper, or the container
that collected the blood of Christ and the Round Chapel at Montesiepi,
reminiscent of an upside down cup, would be just such a representation.
Many have indicated the place as a possible hiding place of the Holy
Grail. Testimonies speak of a secret underground cavity which is
accessed by moving a single stone in the floor of the anteroom. No one
has yet succeeded in finding the secret passage, but in addition, the
Grail and the Sword in the Stone point to a connection that may exist
between Galgano and King Arthur, that they could perhaps be one in the
same person?