Mystery Sparked
François Bérenger Saunière - he preferred to use his middle name - was born in 1852 in the village of Montazels, just 3 miles (5km) as the crow flies from the place with which the priest is now synonymous: the remote hilltop village of Rennes-le-Château, in the Languedoc area of south-west France.
Sauniere was one of seven and the eldest child - one of his brothers, Alfred, was also a priest. His father was an estate manager for the Marquis de Cazemajou, who was related to the former lords of Rennes-le-Château, the Hautpoul family. It is a matter of great debate as to if these connections had any barring on what was to happen later on.
In the impoverished and neglected region of France, there were only two ways for a young man of intelligence to make a living - clerical work, or the priesthood. Saunière chose the route of priest.
He was intelligent, showed linguistic skills and was very well-read. In addition to the Latin that all priests had to learn as standard in those days, he studied ancient Greek and is thought to have spoken German too. Later in his life, he indulged himself and assembled an eclectic collection of rare books that he housed in his own private custom-built library, the Tour Magdala (Magdala Tower).
Saunière was ordained a Catholic priest in 1879 he became the priest of the small mountain village of Le Clat. Later moving on to serve the Rennes-le-Château diocese after three years, taking on the church of St Mary Magdalene, where Saunière made discoveries that were to change Saunière’s life and cause great debate to this day.
Relocating to Rennes-le-Château, home to a paltry impoverished 300 villagers, Saunière found himself stuck with an ancient and derelict church of St Mary Magdalene which was virtually uninhabitable. He took up lodgings instead with the Dénarnaud family. He became friends with their youngest daughter, Marie Dénarnaud who was later to become his house keeper and lone confidante of his secret.
Saunière new charge, St Mary Magdalene’s Church was originally the private chapel of the lords of Rennes-le-Château, whose castle, which gives the village its name, and is located nearby. The last noble family to inhabit it were the Hautpouls, the last of whom, Marie de Nègre d’Ables, Dame d’Hautpoul-Blanchefort, died on 17 January 1781, a few years before the French Revolution, and during the tenure of Abbé Bigou. This point becomes important later on in our mystery.
Saunière was at a loss of how to manage his new church, repairs were badly needed and there was no money in the coffers. Unexpectedly, he received a gift of 3000 francs from Marie-Thérèse, the Countess of Chambord, and the widow of the main claimant to the French throne. He used this to undertake some renovations in his dilapidated rundown church, installing a new altar and replacing the stained glass windows as well as essential repairs.
What happened at this point is what has caused the entire debate and controversy. What did Saunière find that changed his fortunes, was it an artifact important to some secret sect, a documents containing sensitive information that someone or some body would pay handsomely to suppress or was it something else entirely?
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!
