The Old Abbot's Black Bag
The Old Abbot's Black Bag
The Templars were coming
Abbot Gregory was seventy-nine years old and he loved his life at the old monastery on the island. Few people were living on the island and few visited from the mainland. It was winter and it was time for the Abbot and his fellow monks to go for their prayers after they had finished their meals.
The old Abbot could not help worrying about what he had heard at the dinner table that evening. The Templar Knights had been spotted in one of the village inns on the mainland. The monks at the monastery were the scroll writers and they were given the task to write all the sacred gospels by the bishop, under the orders of the King.
It was a community of twenty monks, eight of them were old and twelve of them were middle-aged. Abbot Gregory was the man in charge. The younger men took care of the cleaning, cooking and the gardening. They were self-sufficient and they had a few traders and workmen who would visit them from the nearby towns.
The next morning, the monks were excited to know that there were a group of traders who were to visit the monastery to sell them items, like candles, wine, incense sticks and bound journals, as well as books on travel and adventure for their library.
When Abbot Gregory saw the monks enter the monastery doors, he was shocked to know that these men were not traders. One of them had a large scar across the side of his cheek, another walked with a crutch. All twelve men were well built and although they had the garments of traders, Gregory knew they had concealed weapons. The men were soldiers.
There was one thing that needed to be done. Abbot Gregory went to his room; he picked up a chalice, wrapped it in paper, he covered it with a silken red fabric, he next covered it in a pale blue fabric, before he placed it in a black cloth bag. The Abbot walked past the chapel and went into the kitchen. There was a small tile that he removed from the floor. The sound of the river gushing below could be heard. He threw the bag down the hole, made the sign of the cross, covered the hole in the floor and went to his room.
The next morning, all twenty monks and the abbot were killed by the Templar Knights. They searched every room and could not find the Holy Grail. They knew that it was in the monastery. None of the monks revealed the secret even when tortured. The Chalice of Christ had eluded them yet again.
