Note 117a — NOTES ON PARISHES ROUND HORNCASTLE. (continued 3)

Two different things were formerly meant by the term “graduale,” or “grayle.” (1) It was the name given to the Communion Chalice, or Paten, probably from the “Sangraal,” or holy vessel, said to have been found in the chamber of “the last supper,” of our Lord, by Joseph of Arimathæa, and in which he afterwards collected the blood (sang-reale, or King’s blood), from the wounds of the crucified Saviour. This vessel, in Arthurian romance, was said to have been preserved in Britain, and to have possessed miraculous properties. The legend has been finely adopted by our late Poet Laureate in the “Quest of the Holy Grayle,” among his “Idylls of the King.” (2). The name was given to a part of the service of the Mass in pre-Reformation times, which was called the “Gradual,” or grail, because it was used at the steps (“gradus”) of the chancel. As the inscription on the first-named of these Kirkby tombs mentioned the gift of a “Missal,” or mass book, it is probable that the “gradual” here mentioned was this portion of the mass book, and not the Communion Chalice, or Paten. The Communion plate of Kirkby does not appear to be very old.