The Last Temptation of Christ, which was about Jesus having sex with a lady called Mary
Magdalene. Her grandfather's article said the Church was arrogant and wrong to ban it.
No wonder the priest is mad, Sophie thought.
"It's pornography! Sacrilege!" the priest yelled, emerging from the study and storming to
the front door. "How can you possibly endorse that! This American Martin Scorsese is a
blasphemer, and the Church will permit him no pulpit in France!" The priest slammed the door
on his way out.
When her grandfather came into the kitchen, he saw Sophie with the paper and frowned.
"You're quick."
Sophie said, "You think Jesus Christ had a girlfriend?"
"No, dear, I said the Church should not be allowed to tell us what notions we can and can't
entertain."
"Did Jesus have a girlfriend?"
Her grandfather was silent for several moments. "Would it be so bad if He did?"
Sophie considered it and then shrugged. "I wouldn't mind."
Sir Leigh Teabing was still talking. "I shan't bore you with the countless references to Jesus and
Magdalene's union. That has been explored ad nauseum by modern historians. I would, however,
like to point out the following." He motioned to another passage. "This is from the Gospel of
Mary Magdalene."
Sophie had not known a gospel existed in Magdalene's words. She read the text:
And Peter said, "Did the Saviour really speak with a woman without our
knowledge? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?"
And Levi answered, "Peter, you have always been hot-tempered. Now I see you
contending against the woman like an adversary. If the Saviour made her worthy,
who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Saviour knows her very well. That is
why he loved her more than us."
"The woman they are speaking of," Teabing explained, "is Mary Magdalene. Peter is
jealous of her."
"Because Jesus preferred Mary?"
"Not only that. The stakes were far greater than mere affection. At this point in the gospels,
Jesus suspects He will soon be captured and crucified. So He gives Mary Magdalene instructions
on how to carry on His Church after He is gone. As a result, Peter expresses his discontent over
playing second fiddle to a woman. I daresay Peter was something of a sexist."
Sophie was trying to keep up. "This is Saint Peter. The rock on which Jesus built His
Church."
"The same, except for one catch. According to these unaltered gospels, it was not Peter to
whom Christ gave directions with which to establish the Christian Church. It was Mary
Magdalene."
Sophie looked at him. "You're saying the Christian Church was to be carried on by a
woman?"
"That was the plan. Jesus was the original feminist. He intended for the future of His
Church to be in the hands of Mary Magdalene."
"And Peter had a problem with that," Langdon said, pointing to The Last Supper. "That's
Peter there. You can see that Da Vinci was well aware of how Peter felt about Mary Magdalene."
Again, Sophie was speechless. In the painting, Peter was leaning menacingly toward Mary
Magdalene and slicing his blade-like hand across her neck. The same threatening gesture as in
Madonna of the Rocks!
"And here too," Langdon said, pointing now to the crowd of disciples near Peter. "A bit
ominous, no?"
Sophie squinted and saw a hand emerging from the crowd of disciples. "Is that hand
wielding a dagger?"
"Yes. Stranger still, if you count the arms, you'll see that this hand belongs to... no one at
all. It's disembodied. Anonymous."
Sophie was starting to feel overwhelmed. "I'm sorry, I still don't understand how all of this
makes Mary Magdalene the Holy Grail."
"Aha!" Teabing exclaimed again. "Therein lies the rub!" He turned once more to the table
and pulled out a large chart, spreading it out for her. It was an elaborate genealogy. "Few people
realize that Mary Magdalene, in addition to being Christ's right hand, was a powerful woman
already."
Sophie could now see the title of the family tree.
THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN
"Mary Magdalene is here," Teabing said, pointing near the top of the genealogy.
Sophie was surprised. "She was of the House of Benjamin?"
"Indeed," Teabing said. "Mary Magdalene was of royal descent."
"But I was under the impression Magdalene was poor."
Teabing shook his head. "Magdalene was recast as a whore in order to erase evidence of her
powerful family ties."
Sophie found herself again glancing at Langdon, who again nodded. She turned back to
Teabing. "But why would the early Church care if Magdalene had royal blood?"
The Briton smiled. "My dear child, it was not Mary Magdalene's royal blood that concerned
the Church so much as it was her consorting with Christ, who also had royal blood. As you
know, the Book of Matthew tells us that Jesus was of the House of David. A descendant of King
Solomon— King of the Jews. By marrying into the powerful House of Benjamin, Jesus fused two
royal bloodlines, creating a potent political union with the potential of making a legitimate claim
to the throne and restoring the line of kings as it was under Solomon."
Sophie sensed he was at last coming to his point.
Teabing looked excited now. "The legend of the Holy Grail is a legend about royal blood.
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 words seemed to echo across the ballroom and back before they fully registered in
Sophie's mind. Mary Magdalene carried the royal bloodline of Jesus Christ? "But how could
Christ have a bloodline unless...?" She paused and looked at Langdon.
Langdon smiled softly. "Unless they had a child."
Sophie stood transfixed.
"Behold," Teabing proclaimed, "the greatest cover-up in human history. Not only was Jesus
Christ married, but He was a father. My dear, Mary Magdalene was the Holy Vessel. She was
the chalice that bore the royal bloodline of Jesus Christ. She was the womb that bore the lineage,
and the vine from which the sacred fruit sprang forth!"
Sophie felt the hairs stand up on her arms. "But how could a secret that big be kept quiet all
of these years?"
"Heavens!" Teabing said. "It has been anything but quiet! The royal bloodline of Jesus
Christ is the source of the most enduring legend of all time— the Holy Grail. Magdalene's story
has been shouted from the rooftops for centuries in all kinds of metaphors and languages. Her
story is everywhere once you open your eyes."
"And the Sangreal documents?" Sophie said. "They allegedly contain proof that Jesus had a
royal bloodline?"
"They do."
"So the entire Holy Grail legend is all about royal blood?"
"Quite literally," Teabing said. "The word Sangreal derives from San Greal— or Holy
Grail. But in its most ancient form, the word Sangreal was divided in a different spot." Teabing
wrote on a piece of scrap paper and handed it to her.
She read what he had written.
Sang Real
Instantly, Sophie recognized the translation. Sang Real literally meant Royal Blood.
CHAPTER 59
The male receptionist in the lobby of the Opus Dei headquarters on Lexington Avenue in New
York City was surprised to hear Bishop Aringarosa's voice on the line. "Good evening, sir."
"Have I had any messages?" the bishop demanded, sounding unusually anxious.
"Yes, sir. I'm very glad you called in. I couldn't reach you in your apartment. You had an
urgent phone message about half an hour ago."
"Yes?" He sounded relieved by the news. "Did the caller leave a name?"
"No, sir, just a number." The operator relayed the number.
"Prefix thirty-three? That's France, am I right?"
"Yes, sir. Paris. The caller said it was critical you contact him immediately."
"Thank you. I have been waiting for that call." Aringarosa quickly severed the connection.
As the receptionist hung up the receiver, he wondered why Aringarosa's phone connection
sounded so crackly. The bishop's daily schedule showed him in New York this weekend, and yet
he sounded a world away. The receptionist shrugged it off. Bishop Aringarosa had been acting
very strangely the last few months.
My cellular phone must not have been receiving, Aringarosa thought as the Fiat approached the
exit for Rome's Ciampino Charter Airport. The Teacher was trying to reach me. Despite
Aringarosa's concern at having missed the call, he felt encouraged that the Teacher felt confident
enough to call Opus Dei headquarters directly.
Things must have gone well in Paris tonight.
As Aringarosa began dialing the number, he felt excited to know he would soon be in Paris.
I'll be on the ground before dawn. Aringarosa had a chartered turbo prop awaiting him here for
the short flight to France. Commercial carriers were not an option at this hour, especially
considering the contents of his briefcase.
The line began to ring.
A female voice answered. "Direction Centrale Police Judidaire."
Aringarosa felt himself hesitate. This was unexpected. "Ah, yes... I was asked to call this
number?"
"Qui êtes-vous?" the woman said. "Your name?"
Aringarosa was uncertain if he should reveal it. The French Judicial Police?
"Your name, monsieur?" the woman pressed.
"Bishop Manuel Aringarosa."
"Un moment." There was a click on the line.
After a long wait, another man came on, his tone gruff and concerned. "Bishop, I am glad I
finally reached you. You and I have much to discuss."
CHAPTER 60
Sangreal... Sang Real... San Greal... Royal Blood... Holy Grail.
It was all intertwined.
The Holy Grail is Mary Magdalene... the mother of the royal bloodline of Jesus Christ.
Sophie felt a new wave of disorientation as she stood in the silence of the ballroom and stared at
Robert Langdon. The more pieces Langdon and Teabing laid on the table tonight, the more
unpredictable this puzzle became.
"As you can see, my dear," Teabing said, hobbling toward a bookshelf, "Leonardo is not the
only one who has been trying to tell the world the truth about the Holy Grail. The royal bloodline
of Jesus Christ has been chronicled in exhaustive detail by scores of historians." He ran a finger
down a row of several dozen books.
Sophie tilted her head and scanned the list of titles:
THE TEMPLAR REVELATION:
Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ
THE WOMAN WITH THE ALABASTER JAR:
Mary Magdalene and the Holy Grail
THE GODDESS IN THE GOSPELS
Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine
"Here is perhaps the best-known tome," Teabing said, pulling a tattered hardcover from the
stack and handing it to her. The cover read:
HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL
The Acclaimed International Bestseller
Sophie glanced up. "An international bestseller? I've never heard of it."
"You were young. This caused quite a stir back in the nineteen eighties. To my taste, the
authors made some dubious leaps of faith in their analysis, but their fundamental premise is
sound, and to their credit, they finally brought the idea of Christ's bloodline into the
mainstream."
"What was the Church's reaction to the book?"
"Outrage, of course. But that was to be expected. After all, this was a secret the Vatican had
tried to bury in the fourth century. That's part of what the Crusades were about. Gathering and
destroying information. The threat Mary Magdalene posed to the men of the early Church was
potentially ruinous. Not only was she the woman to whom Jesus had assigned the task of
founding the Church, but she also had physical proof that the Church's newly proclaimed deity
had spawned a mortal bloodline. The Church, in order to defend itself against the Magdalene's
power, perpetuated her image as a whore and buried evidence of Christ's marriage to her, thereby
defusing any potential claims that Christ had a surviving bloodline and was a mortal prophet."
Sophie glanced at Langdon, who nodded. "Sophie, the historical evidence supporting this is
substantial."
"I admit," Teabing said, "the assertions are dire, but you must understand the Church's
powerful motivations to conduct such a cover -up. They could never have survived public
knowledge of a bloodline. A child of Jesus would undermine the critical notion of Christ's
divinity and therefore the Christian Church, which declared itself the sole vessel through which
humanity could access the divine and gain entrance to the kingdom of heaven."
"The five-petal rose," Sophie said, pointing suddenly to the spine of one of Teabing's books.
The same exact design inlaid on the rosewood box.
Teabing glanced at Langdon and grinned. "She has a good eye." He turned back to Sophie.
