The offices Joseph rendered to Christ’s body were symbolical of the Sacrament: the sepulchre is the altar; the sheet in which the body was wrapped the corporal; the vessel in which the blood was received shall be called chalice; and by the patina upon which it rests is signified the tombstone (v. 901-912). Finally Christ promises Joseph that:—
Tout cil qui ten veissel verrunt,
En ma compeignie serunt;
De cuer arunt emplissement
Et joie pardurablement. (917-20)
The prose versions repeat this account in the main, but with some important additions, thus: B II, Cangé MS., adds after Christ’s last words, “Lors li aprant Jhésu Christ tex paroles que jà nus conter ne retraire ne porroit,” etc. (I, 227); when Christ hands the vessel to Joseph, “Tu tiens lou sanc as trois personnes en une déité, qui degota des plaies de la char au fil,” etc. (I, 225-26); after the description of the Grail, “lou Graal c’est à dire sor lou caalice.”... In C, Didot-Perceval, the Holy Ghost, speaking to Brons, commands him to reveal to Perceval, “icelles paroles segroies qu’il (i.e., Christ) aprist à Joseph en la prison,” which, adds the narrator, “je ne vous puis dire ne ne doi” (I, 483). E, Grand St. Graal: The Jews, angry at Joseph’s having taken Christ’s body down from the Cross, throw him into “la plu hideuse chartre qui onques fust veue” and when they hear of the Lord’s resurrection propose to starve him; but Christ comes to him, brings him for comfort “la sainte esceuele que ostoie en sa maison a tot le sanc qu’il Auoit requelli,” and comforted him much, and assured him that he should not die in prison but come out safe and sound, and his name be glorified. And Joseph “fu en la prison ... tant qu’il demoura xlii ans” (pp. 25-26).[48] Here again are three distinct accounts:—
(1) That of Pseudo-Gautier, which merely mentions Joseph’s devotions to the Grail, and does not connect that devotion with any solace during his captivity.
(2) That of the B versions, in which Christ Himself brings the holy vessel to the captive, and connects it with certain promises and recommendations which He makes to him; the vessel shall remain with his seed, but it is to be in charge of three persons, a symbol of the Trinity. The services rendered by Joseph to Christ’s body are connected with the Mass. The late (prose) drafts of this version insist still more upon the sacramental nature of the Grail.
(3) The Grand St. Graal and Pseudo-Manessier introduce a fresh element—the Grail is the material means by which Joseph is sustained (forty years according to the one, forty-two years according to the other version) without food or drink.
The great importance of the incident in the B versions is most remarkable when contrasted with the comparative indifference displayed by the other versions, and notably by the Grand St. Graal, which, at the first blush, looks so like a mere amplification of B, still more remarkable the agreement between the prose versions of B, with C, Didot-Perceval, respecting Christ’s words to Joseph against B I, Metr. Jos. It is difficult to decide which of the two versions is the older; B I, after Christ’s words, has the following important passage:—
Ge n’ose conter ne retreire,
Ne je ne le pourroie feire,
Neis, se je feire le voloie,
Se je le grant livre n’avoie
Où les estoires sunt escrites,
Par les granz clers feites et dites:
Lá sunt li grant secré escrit
Qu’en numme le Graal et dit.
which may either have been the reason why the prose versions, followed by the Didot-Perceval, speak as they do about the secret words, or may be the versifier’s excuse for giving those secret words themselves, i.e., the explanation of the mysteries of the Grail in its relation to the Sacrament, in which case the verse would be later than the prose forms.[49] Finally, it would seem that Pseudo-Manessier, A IIIa, and the Grand St. Graal drew their information one from the other or from a common source.