CHAPTER SUMMARIES WITH NOTES

CHAPTERS 56 - 60

Summary

Robert, whose specialty is symbology, explains that the ancient symbol for woman was a chalice. Women, who were once considered sacred givers of life, have been demonized by the Church. The Grail is symbolic of the lost goddess. Sophie says she thought they meant the Grail was one woman. Teabing says it is one woman, a very well-known woman. He asks Sophie to follow him because he wants to show her a painting of the woman.

Collet gets a call from an agent at headquarters who tells him they have an exact location for Sophie and Langdon. Collet orders five cars to accompany him, telling them not to use lights or sirens. Meanwhile, Silas arrives at Teabing’s estate. He peers through the window, thinking how odd it is that they are all awake.

Teabing shows Sophie Da Vinci’s painting, The Last Supper. Teabing points out, to Sophie’s astonishment, that there is a woman seated next to Jesus in the painting. Teabing tells Sophie the woman is Mary Magdalene, and then corrects her common-misconception that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. After explaining the hidden aspects of the painting, Teabing tells Sophie that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. As Teabing offers more evidence that Jesus and Mary had an intimate relationship, Sophie remembers an article her grandfather wrote when she was a child, attacking the Church for banning a film which portrayed Jesus having sex with a woman. Sophie asked her grandfather if Jesus had a girlfriend. Saunière asked her if it would be so bad if he did.

Teabing tells Sophie that Jesus and Mary, who were both of royal bloodlines and thus a political threat, had a child. Aringarosa calls Opus Dei headquarters in New York and asks the receptionist if he has received any phone calls. The receptionist says there was an urgent call earlier for him. The caller left no message, only a phone number. Relieved that the Teacher contacted him, Aringarosa dials the number. He is surprised however when the call is answered by the French police department.

As Sophie absorbs the information Teabing has given her, he explains how important it is that the Church keeps the secret of the bloodline. If people knew that Jesus had a child, the notion that Jesus is divine would be undermined. Teabing tells Sophie that Mary was pregnant at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion. She escaped to France where her life and that of her daughter, Sarah, were chronicled. Teabing tells Sophie that the Holy Grail contains documents written by Jesus and Mary as well as many others that prove this story. The Holy Grail also contains the remains of Mary Magdalene. The Priory has kept watch over Christ’s bloodline, which married into the Merovingians in the fifth century.

Notes

As the history lesson continues, factual information is interwoven with conjecture. For example, the books mentioned in Chapter 60 are all real. The complete information on these books is as follows:

Picknet, Lynn and Clive Prince. The Templar Revelation: Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ. Touchstone, 1998.

Starbird, Margaret. The Woman in the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalene and the Holy Grail. Bear and Company, 1993.

Starbird, Margaret. The Goddess is the Gospels: Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine. Bear and Company, 1998.

Baignet, Michael. Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Dell, 1983.

However other information, such as a woman is seated next to Jesus in The Last Supper, is speculation. There are scholars who support this claim, but there are other scholars who refute it.

In this section three subplots begin to converge. Silas has arrived at the house and is about to act. Collet watches the house, also deciding what he should do.

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