Saunière’s Discovery
On 21 September 1891, Saunière wrote this simple but startling statement in his diary, without expanding further: ‘Discovery of a tomb’. Whose tomb was he talking about? Many Theories have been put forward as to what Saunière found.
The replacement of the ancient altar, which was supported by an aged carved pillar from the Visigothic period (7th or 8th century). This was found to be hollow and documents of some kind were found insideère told the villagers that they were only papers relating to the building of the church and the altar. A lot of people don’t believe this and feel important documents of great interest to the Vatican where contained within.
Dalle de Chévalier, or ‘The Knights Stone’ was found in the church during excavations, placed faced down and hidden. It depicts two figures or Knights on horseback (on one horse) which is the seal of The Knights Templars. Some say that this stone covered the entrance to a crypt beneath the church, about which there is some mystery. Records of the 17th century explicitly refer to its existence, the burial vault of the lords of Rennes-le-Château. However, by Saunière’s time the location of the entrance seems to have been forgotten, ground scans since confirmed the existence of a crypt, and a planned excavations took place recently- revealing nothing unfortunately but an empty tomb.
Stories and reports have surfaced over time from alleged eye witnesses stating that as the renovations took place and the Knights Stone was discovered, Saunière had a poke around and immediately cleared the church of everyone, stopping work for some time. Some say the tomb was full of bones, others say money or gold. Some think he found a magical, or important occult object.
What we do know is cash from Archduke Johann von Habsburg, a cousin of Franz Josef, emperor of Austria was sent to Saunière and he is said to have then spent large amounts of cash, time and effort excavating under the church and the surrounding graveyard. What was found is still unknown to this day, we can only speculate.
Sauniere by his actions fulled this later on by arranging the stations of the cross inside the church to make it appear to suggest that Jesus’ body was actually being removed from the tomb, suggesting a resurrection in which instead of ascending to Heaven, Jesus just recovered and lived on. Saunière curiously erected a large, satanic statue above the doorway, which has been said to represent Asmodeus, the keeper of secrets and hidden treasures (and, according to Judaic tradition, the true builder of Solomon’s Temple). Above the door Sauniere placed a sign that read “Terribilis est locus ist”, meaning “This place is terrible.
Quite why he did all this, we may never know. Many accounts say after his ‘find’ he became obsessed by the occult and was even thought to have joined several secret occult societies. Curious behavior for a priest!
Some of the most interesting speculation I have read is the theory that, a pregnant Mary Magdeline was bought to the area (with or without Jesus, it’s unclear) and bore a child to Jesus. The House of David bloodline was therefore continued in the region. Statues to Mary Magdeline abound in the area, and she is believed by some to have been the wife of Jesus and the “vessel” that carried the royal blood of his offspring into France after the crucifixion so his line lived on.
A lot of items, paintings, documents and even grave stone carvings have been found in this little sleepy area of France that have proved so intriguing to many that theories abound. Nicolas Poussins painting “The Shepherds of Arcadia”, parchments and phrases on a tombstone, found in the churchyard at Sauniere’s parish fuel it further. On the grave of Marie, Marquise de Blanchefort, for example. a stone had been commissioned by the parish’s former cure, Abbe Antoine Bigou, and inscribed with a curious mixture of Greek and Latin letters which spelled the words “Et in Arcadia Ego” The inscription was removed by Sauniere, after he made his discovery but he had not realized that somebody had already made an engraving of the stone with this on. What does it all mean or point to? Did Saunière find proof that Jesus did not die on the cross, or that he had fathered children and his line was alive and well to this day? Did the Vatican pay him “hush money” to hide this fact? If this was the case, why would this make Saunière turn to occult practices, and lead him to decorate his church in such a bizarre manner?
What is clear is that many authors and self appointed experts have speculated wildly, long and hard on the conundrum.
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!
