Chronology
1885 Abbé François-Bérenger Saunière is appointed parish priest of Rennes-le-Château.
1886 Abbé Bérenger Saunière temporarily transferred to the Seminary of Narbonne for delivering anti-Republican, right-wing sermons during election time.
1887 Bérenger Saunière returns to Rennes-le-Château and begins renovating his church, with the aid of a donation from Mme. Marie Cavailhé.
1895 Sanctions were imposed against Saunière by the local Parish Council on 20 July for his refusal to assist in putting out a fire in the village on 14 July – Bastille Day.
1896 Bérenger Saunière’s selling of masses activities takes-off on a Grand Scale – with it becoming noticed by his superiors at the Bishopric of Carcassonne. Saunière touted his services in religious magazines, journals and papers around the world, – the priest cashed in on a religious activity during the height of the conflict between Church and State in France 1885-1905.
1897 Bérenger Saunière made major additions to his Church.
1899 At the end of 1899, Saunière is officially investigated by the church, On 16 October 1899 this Investigator replied “Monsieur Saunière is comfortably off. He has no family responsibilities. His conduct is good. He professes anti-government views. His attitude is militant and reactionary.
1901-1905 Bérenger Saunière builds his personal Estate: the Villa Béthanie; the Tour Magdala, surrounded by elaborate gardens.
Perhaps liek the folly of the suddenly wealthy lottery winners we see today, he drained his vast fortune quickly with the building of the elaborate villa, thinking his sudden fortune would never run out?
1905 Bérenger Saunière begins to live in poverty, his fortune in the main was said to have been spent, and he was also said to have spent a small fortune on legal bills for one reason or another. Now said to be living the lifestyle as somewhat of a pauper.
1910 – The Bishop’s Court of Carcassonne began an investigation into Bérenger Saunière’s activities at Rennes-le-Château, the bill of indictment referred to:Trafficking in Masses. (not a very rock and roll charge)
Disobedience to the Bishop (continuing to request fees for masses outside the diocese despite being forbidden to do so by the Bishop) Exaggerated and unjustified expenses (resulting from receiving money for unsaid masses) eg fraud. He is known to have been suspended from the priesthood for one month.
1910 – La Semaine Religieuse de Carcassonne announced that Bérenger Saunière no longer had the right to say masses.
1911 The Bishop of Carcassonne issued a severe warning against Bérenger Saunière, accusing him of selling masses without his consent and forbidding him to administer the Holy Sacraments.
1911 Carcassonne Bishopric imposed a Third and Final Judgement on Bérenger Saunière: after citing a huge list of indictments against the priest involving disobediences against the Bishop, so the following Sentence was passed:
“We condemn the priest Abbé Bérenger Saunière to a suspension a divinis for a period of three months, effective from the day of the notification of the present sentence, which suspension in any case will continue until he has undertaken the restitution into the hands of the rightful owner and according to canon law of the goods misappropriated by him.”
Since it was impossible for Bérenger Saunière to return the money that he had accepted for unsaid masses, the three month suspension turned out to be permanent. Saunière was to appeal against the Sentence to the Vatican, which proved fruitless and unsuccessful. Saunière never regained his priesthood following this Sentence. Saunière was still to enjoy success at selling masses regardless of being forbidden to do so by the church.
1917 Bérenger Saunière died. Rumor has it that that the priest that attended his last rites, was so shocked by his deathbed ‘Last confession’ that he fled, refusing to grant Saunière absolution and never speaking of what was said. Saunière left everything to his faithful housekeeper Marie Dénarnaud, his estate and home, little actual money is known to have been left (raising funds for his coffin was said to have been difficult). Marie is said to have known Saunière secret all along- never reveling a word of it. Curiously, she did not move into to Saunière’s home or sell it remaining instead in the presbytery they had both once shared. On March 25, 1917, two months after the death of Saunière, she renewed the lease of the presbytery for exactly nine years, curiously.
Marie Dernaud, had promised to reveal Saunière’s secret on her deathbed - but shockingly she suffered a massive stroke which left her paralyzed and unable to speak before her death in 1953. Speculation as to the cause of her stroke and enforced silence ran rife at this point. She was 85 years old at the time of her death. She left everything to Noel Corbu. Noel Corbu, who was soon to suffer a fatal car accident in 1968, sold the estate to Henri Buthion.
Since then….
More books and programs than I can possibly list here (see resources) were written, and from time to time more real or fake documents show up. As well as yet ‘another self confessed academic expert with a theory’.
2003 Excavations conducted beneath the Tour Magdala on 20 August 2003 by Professors Eisenman and Baratollo in search of treasure yielded absolutely nothing at all. Many were not surprised by this as it is thought that whatever it was that Marie Dénarnaud stayed on to protect for those nine years, had either been moved to nearby countryside and buried, secreted to Rosslyn Chapel, or is in the safe keeping of ‘the Knights Templars’. Others still feel the secret discoveries location, died with Marie.
What has always puzzled myself is that much has been made of every location and buildings involved, except..’The Presbytery’. It is currently a museum, but as far as I can tell from all the books I have read and lectures attended- no one ever took any notice of the very place Marie Dernaud stayed on at and guarded jealously. Could there be a very good reason she stayed on there uncomfortably, instead of cashing in on Saunières estate and keeping from breaking her silence as to the whole affair long after Saunière death? Did she feel the secret she had kept for so long was best taken to her grave, and merely say she would reveal it on her deathbed to keep folk off her back till it was too late? That kind of loyalty is extremely rare, unless the keeper of the secret feels it of paramount importance and that it should remain a secret- for a very good reason.
Favourite Saunier Society Newsfeeds
- Coming To America!
Wouldnt you prefer a nice game of chess? British UFO Hacker Gary McKinnon has lost his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights against his extradition to the United States, which will now most likely occur in the next two weeks: His solicitor Karen Todner said this had been her clients “last chance” and appealed to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to intervene. “He is absolutely devastated by the decision,” she said. “He and his family are distraught. “They are completely beside themselves. He is terrified by the prospect of going to America.” She added Mr McKinnon had recently been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and would ask for the case to be tried in this country. “The offences for which our clients extradition is sought were committed on British soil and we maintain that any prosecution ought to be carried out by the appropriate British authorities,” she added. “Our client now faces the prospect of prosecution and imprisonment thousands of miles away from his family in a country in which he has never set foot.” Mr McKinnon, from Wood Green, north London, was arrested in 2002 but never charged in the UK. For more detailed examination of this case, see my post from a few weeks back here on TDG, which includes links to the full text of the House of Lords judgement.
- Last Call!
This story stickied for the next few days regular updates continue beneath This coming Monday is the Daily Grails 10th birthday! As mentioned previously, were celebrating this feat by asking for voluntary subscriptions to the site, in order to help the site grow and continue on for years to come. With more than 10,000 readers per day, that should be a simple matter of asking everyone to chip in just a dollar or two not bad value youd have to say, for 10 years of TDG. Unfortunately, the apathy monster generally has a pretty firm grip on everyone out there but you might just be that freespirited exception, willing to support independent news and commentary! So, one more time, this is how you can help out: You can donate using Paypal, credit card, or via selected debit cards, using the PayPal donation button beneath: Alternately, for cheques/money orders via the post only for amounts over 50 please, due to the expenses involved, or simply great wads of cash bundled in envelopes really, really big envelopes: Greg TaylorP.O. Box 28Petrie, QLD, 4502AUSTRALIA As mentioned previously, there will be prizes distributed to lucky subscribers so throw in a few dollars and give yourself a chance. Trust me, youll be kicking yourself when your neighbour proudly shows off his newly won special TDG merchandise… For those numbercrunchers out there of the 232 voluntary subscribers so far, European and UK readers are currently the majority contributors over the USA barely, with Scandinavian countries in particular making up a huge proportion, given the percent of readers we have from there versus the US. We definitely need to post more Viking stories here on TDG… Sincere thanks to all those who have contributed thus far hopefully youll enjoy watching TDG evolve and grow over the coming years, on the back of your wonderful support. For those expecting fireworks and celebrations for our birthday, please note that currently Im barely able to stay upright due to a severe dose of flu. Sorry!
