Lesser Holy Graal the implicit of the metrical romance passes into actual expression, and it becomes more clear in consequence that the secret words were those used, ex hypothesi, by the custodians of the Holy Graal in the consecration of the elements of the Eucharist.
Let it be understood that I am not seeking to press this inference, but am stating an aspect only. If the references to the secret words in the metrical Joseph do not offer a sacramental connection with full clearness--because they are also talismanic and protective--their operation in the latter respects must be regarded as subsidiary and apart from the real concern of the Holy Graal. When all possible issues have been exhausted, the matter remains Eucharistic in the final terms of its appearance, and behind it there is that which lies wholly perdu for the simple senses in sources that are concealed utterly. It is further to be noted that any Eucharistic appearance has nothing to do with transubstantiation, of which there is no trace in the Lesser Chronicles. Finally, the sole custodian of the Sacred Vessel through a period of many centuries lived in utter seclusion, and after the words were imparted to Perceval he was interned apparently for ever. The message of the Lesser Chronicles seems to be that something was brought into Britain which it was intended to manifest, but no manifestation took place.
When the Book of the Holy Graal was produced as an imputed branch of Arthurian literature, there is no need to say that the Roman Pontiff was then as now, at least in respect of his claim, the first bishop of Christendom, and, by the evidence of the traditional claim, he derived from St. Peter, who was episcopus primus et pontifex primordialis. This notwithstanding, the romance attributes
