Bérenger Saunière
Encyclopedia
François Bérenger Saunière (11 April 1852 – 22 January 1917) was a Roman Catholic priest
in the French
village of Rennes-le-Château
, in the Aude
region, officially from 1885 until he was transferred to another village in 1909 by his bishop, a nomination he declined and subsequently resigned. From 1909 until his death in 1917 he was a non-stipendiary Free Priest (an independent priest without a parish, who did not receive any salary from the church because of suspension), and who from 1910 celebrated the Catholic Ritual of the Mass
in an altar constructed in a special conservatory by his Villa Bethania
. Saunière's refusal to leave Rennes-le-Château to continue his priesthood in another parish incurred permanent suspension. The epitaph on Saunière's original 1917 gravestone read "priest of Rennes-le-Château 1885-1917".
He would be unknown today if not for the fact that he is a central figure in many of the conspiracy theories surrounding Rennes-le-Château. These speculations form the basis of several pseudohistorical
documentaries and books such as the 1982 Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent
, Richard Leigh
, and Henry Lincoln
. Many elements of these theories were later used by Dan Brown
in his best-selling 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code
, in which the fictional character Jacques Saunière is named after the priest.
, in the Arrondissement of Limoux
of the Aude region. He was the eldest of seven children, having three brothers (Alfred, Martial, and Joseph) and three sisters (Mathilde, Adeline, and Marie-Louise). He was the son of Marguerite Hugues and Joseph Saunière (1823–1906), also called "cubié", who was the mayor of Montazels
(Aude), managed the local flour mill, and was the steward of Marquis de Cazermajou's castle. Alfred became a priest; Joseph wanted to be a physician but died at 25. Saunière went to school at St. Louis in Limoux
, entered the seminary in Carcassonne
in 1874, and was ordained as a priest in June, 1879.
. From June 1882 to 1885, he was a priest in the deanery of the small village of Clat
. He was a teacher in the seminary in Narbonne but, because he was undisciplined, he was appointed to another small village of approximately 300 inhabitants, to Rennes-le-Château on 1 June 1885 with its church dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene
.
Because of preaching anti-republican sermons from his pulpit during the elections of October 1885, Saunière was suspended by the French Minister of Religion and between 1 December 1885 to July 1886 gave lessons once more in the seminary of Narbonne
. As the villagers wanted him back, the prefect of the Aude reinstated Saunière. Between 1890-1891 he also said mass on Sundays in Antugnac
. Marie Dénarnaud, his maidservant, moved in to the Presbytery at Rennes-le-Château with her family in 1890.
Claims that Bérenger Saunière had an ambiguous relationship with his maidservant, Marie Dénarnaud, are without foundation. Saunière himself outlined the following principles for dealing with a maidservant:
of the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes
on 21 June 1891, commemorating the First Holy Communion
of 24 children of the parish and "to bring to a close the spiritual exercises of the retreat that had been preached by the Reverend Father Ferrafiat, diocesan missionary, of the Family of Saint Vincent de Paul, residing at Notre Dame de Marceille" (the church, based at Limoux
, is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary).
A 'Visigothic pillar' acted as a plinth for the statue bearing the inscriptions Mission 1891 and Penitence! Penitence!. Its authenticity is the subject of much debate. Saunière claimed it was one of two pillars that supported the original church altar. A genuine Visigothic pillar resembling the one installed by Saunière is displayed in the museum of Narbonne
. The pillar that originally supported the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes was transferred into the Saunière museum in 1993 because of erosion and decay and was replaced by a resin replica.
In November 1896 Saunière commissioned prestigious sculptor and painter Giscard of Toulouse
(established in 1855) to decorate his church with new statues of the saints, Stations of the Cross
, Baptismal font
with statues of John baptising Jesus (bearing Ecce Agnus Dei), a bas-relief of Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount
above the Confessional
, and a figure of a Devil
supporting a Holy Water Stoup
surmounted by Angels making the Sign of the Cross
, bearing the inscriptions BS and Par Ce Signe Tu Le Vaincras ("By this sign you will conquer him"). All these items were chosen by Saunière from Giscard's catalogue. Although the 1896 edition of Giscard's catalogue has not survived, and later catalogues omit the statue of the Devil, its head bears a resemblance to the one found on the statue of the dragon being vanquished by Saint Michael
that was also made by Giscard. The total sum involved was 2,500 Francs paid in annual installments of 500 Francs by Saunière beginning from the end of December 1897.
Following Sauniere's renovations and redecoratations, the church was re-dedicated on the feast of Pentecost
1897 by his bishop, Monsignor Billard.
activities, and had sent him two written warnings in May 1901, these written warnings were repeated in June 1903 and August 1904. In 1899 Saunière purchased a clergymen's directory (Annuaire du clergé français) through which he contacted both priests and religious communities across France to solicit mass requests.
Monsignor Paul-Félix Beuvain Beausejour was appointed the new Bishop of Carcassonne in 1902 - initially transferring Saunière to the village of Coustouge
in January 1909, then on 27 May 1910 deciding to conduct an investigation and drawing up an ecclesiastical Bill of Indictment referring to:
Saunière had to attend an ecclesiastical trial to answer these charges.
in the monastery of Prouille
.
On 17 December 1910 Saunière unsuccessfully appealed to The Holy Congregation of The Council in Rome for his reinstatement as parish priest of Rennes-le-Château; with the The Holy Congregation passing this information on to the Carcassonne Bishopric. The Bishop issued a stong warning against Saunière in 1911 forbidding him to administer the sacraments, published in La Semaine religieuse de Carcassonne dated 3 February 1911 and in La Croix
dated 9 February 1911.
The Bishopric was not satisfied and by formal command asked Saunière to produce his account books by 2 March the latest in a letter dated 18 February 1911. A Commission of Enquiry was established to further scrutinise Saunière's financial activities.
On 13 March 1911 Saunière submitted 61 invoices relating to the renovation of his church and the building of his estate that came to the total of 36,250 Francs. On 25 March 1911 he submitted a letter of explanation to the Bishopric outlining the source of his finances, with a List of Donors giving details of his entire income since becoming priest of Rennes-le-Château, producing an exaggerated amount totalling 193,150 Francs. In a letter dated 14 July 1911 Saunière provided a statement of expenditure on the renovation of his church and building of his estate, producing an exaggerated amount totalling 193,050 Francs (claiming the Villa Bethania cost 90,000 Francs, and the Tour Magdala 40,000 Francs).
On 4 October the Commission of Enquiry submitted its report: only about 36,000 Francs could be accounted for out of the 193,150 Francs that Saunière claimed to have spent, and commented how Saunière refused to cooperate with the enquiry. Another hearing had to be arranged where Saunière had to produce his account books for inspection by the Bishopric.
Following the ecclesiastical trial, Saunière lived the rest of his life in poverty, selling religious medals and rosaries to wounded soldiers who were stationed in Campagne-les-Bains.
Whatever money Saunière was still raising from selling masses was used on his Appeal to Rome that his Lawyer, Abbé Jean-Eugène Huguet (Doctor of Canon law
), was working on. In May 1914 Saunière planned to build a Summer house
, but abandoned the project because he could not afford the amount: 2,500 Francs.
François Bérenger Saunière died on 22 January 1917, his suspension lifted at the moment of death (in articulo mortis) by Abbé Jean Rivière, who performed the Last Rites
. His Death certificate
dated 23 January 1917 was signed by Victor Rivière, the mayor of Rennes-le-Château. Saunière was buried on 24 January 1917. Marie Dénarnaud paid for Saunière's coffin on 12 June 1917.
In September 2004, the mayor of Rennes-le-Château exhumed Saunière's corpse from the cemetery and reburied it in a concrete sarcophagus
to protect it from grave-robbers. Since then, the cemetery of Rennes-le-Château has been closed to the general public.
, and that this was the alleged source of his income.
circulated the story from the mid-1950s when he opened his restaurant that Saunière discovered parchments in the hollow pillar of his Altar in 1891, and these related to the treasure of Blanche of Castile, and which 'according to the archives' consisted of 28,500,000 gold pieces. This was the treasure of the French crown assembled by Blanche of Castile to pay the ransom of Saint Louis, a prisoner of the infidels, the surplus of which she had hidden at Rennes-le-Château. Saunière had only found one part of it, so it was necessary to continue his investigations.
Corbu's story attracted custom and later achieved national fame through articles in the press, eventually catching the attention of Pierre Plantard
and inspiring the 1967 book L'Or de Rennes by Gérard de Sède
.
The book L'Or de Rennes by Gérard de Sède (with the collaboration of Pierre Plantard) contained elements relating to the fictitious secret society the Priory of Sion
, reproducing "parchments" that alluded to the survival of the Merovingian line of Frankish
kings from Dagobert II
, and Pierre Plantard claimed to be descended from that monarch. Pierre Plantard and Gérard de Sède fell out over book royalties when L'Or de Rennes was published in 1967 and Plantard's friend Philippe de Chérisey
revealed that he fabricated the parchments.
Chronicle
documentaries on the subject matter. Lincoln was also directed to one of Plantard's planted documents, "Les Dossiers Secrets
" in the Bibliothèque Nationale
in Paris. Later, Lincoln teamed up with two other authors, and co-wrote the 1982 book Holy Blood Holy Grail, in which unaware they were relying on forged documents as a source, they stated as a "fact" that the Priory of Sion had existed. Holy Blood, Holy Grail claimed that Bérenger Saunière possibly found evidence that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene
were married (possibly the marriage certificate), and produced offspring that eventually became the Merovingian Dynasty. The authors speculated that that Saunière engaged in financial transactions with who they claimed was "Archduke Johann von Habsburg" (and should instead have been named Archduke Johann Salvator of Austria), and Saunière could have been the representative of the Priory of Sion, and his income could have originated from The Vatican "which might have been subjected to high-level political blackmail by both Sion and the Habsburgs". The book was an international bestseller, inspiring Dan Brown's best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code.
The claims and conspiracy theories have substantially increased and have become more and more varied over the last few decades with more and more authors adding more and more myths to the story. The current favourite conspiracy theory involves what Saunière allegedly discovered in the crypt of his church during his 1887 renovations.
The 2005 Channel 4
documentary The Real Da Vinci Code presented by Tony Robinson
arrived at the same conclusion, followed by the 2006 CBS News
60 Minutes
documentary Priory of Sion, presented by Ed Bradley
: "The source of the wealth of the priest of Rennes-le-Château was not some ancient mysterious treasure, but good old fashioned fraud."
According to Canon law, priests were allowed to say up to three masses
per day and to accept a fee for requested prayers for the dead. Saunière, however, had been soliciting and accepting money via the post to say thousands of masses, charging one franc
per mass. Some clients would send payment for hundreds of masses, which he never actually performed.
Reviewing Descadeillas' Mythologie du trésor de Rennes in 1976, church historian Raymond Darricau commented "To begin with there was nothing: Saunière was just a schemer. Today however we find ourselves confronted with a genuine esoteric construction: Rennes-le-Château has been promoted to the rank of ‘mystical capital’ of the Languedoc
" and, "The manner in which the myth of Rennes-le-Château has grown to its present status is certainly worthy of reflection and could perhaps provide someone with material for a dissertation on precisely how stories of this kind come into existence."
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
in the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
village of Rennes-le-Château
Rennes-le-Château
Rennes-le-Château is a commune in the Aude department in Languedoc in southern France.This small French hilltop village is known internationally, and receives tens of thousands of visitors per year, for being at the center of various conspiracy theories, and for being the location of an alleged...
, in the Aude
Aude
Aude is a department in south-central France named after the river Aude. The local council also calls the department "Cathar Country".Aude is also a frequent feminine French given name in Francophone countries, deriving initially from Aude or Oda, a wife of Bertrand, Duke of Aquitaine, and mother...
region, officially from 1885 until he was transferred to another village in 1909 by his bishop, a nomination he declined and subsequently resigned. From 1909 until his death in 1917 he was a non-stipendiary Free Priest (an independent priest without a parish, who did not receive any salary from the church because of suspension), and who from 1910 celebrated the Catholic Ritual of the Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
in an altar constructed in a special conservatory by his Villa Bethania
Villa Bethania
The Villa Bethania was constructed in the French village of Rennes-le-Château between 1901-1905 as part of the former estate of the Abbé Bérenger Saunière, in the name of his maidservant Marie Dénarnaud.-History:...
. Saunière's refusal to leave Rennes-le-Château to continue his priesthood in another parish incurred permanent suspension. The epitaph on Saunière's original 1917 gravestone read "priest of Rennes-le-Château 1885-1917".
He would be unknown today if not for the fact that he is a central figure in many of the conspiracy theories surrounding Rennes-le-Château. These speculations form the basis of several pseudohistorical
Pseudohistory
Pseudohistory is a pejorative term applied to a type of historical revisionism, often involving sensational claims whose acceptance would require rewriting a significant amount of commonly accepted history, and based on methods that depart from standard historiographical conventions.Cryptohistory...
documentaries and books such as the 1982 Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent
Michael Baigent
Michael Baigent is an author and speculative theorist who co-wrote a number of books that question mainstream perceptions of history and the life of Jesus. He is best known as co-writer of the book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail....
, Richard Leigh
Richard Leigh (author)
Richard Harris Leigh was a novelist and short story writer born in New Jersey, USA to a British father and an American mother, who spent most of his life in the UK. Leigh earned a BA from Tufts University, a Master's degree from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D...
, and Henry Lincoln
Henry Lincoln
Henry Lincoln is an English author, television presenter, scriptwriter and former Supporting actor. He co-wrote three Doctor Who multi-part serials in the 1960s, and —starting in the 1970s— authored a series of books and inspired documentaries for the British television channel BBC2,...
. Many elements of these theories were later used by Dan Brown
Dan Brown
Dan Brown is an American author of thriller fiction, best known for the 2003 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novels, which are treasure hunts set in a 24-hour time period, feature the recurring themes of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, and conspiracy theories...
in his best-selling 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery-detective novel written by Dan Brown. It follows symbologist Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu as they investigate a murder in Paris's Louvre Museum and discover a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus having been married to...
, in which the fictional character Jacques Saunière is named after the priest.
Early life
François Bérenger Saunière was born on 11 April 1852 in MontazelsMontazels
Montazels is a commune in the Aude department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France.-Population:-Personalities:Bérenger Saunière, controversial priest in Rennes-le-Château, was born in Montazels....
, in the Arrondissement of Limoux
Arrondissement of Limoux
The arrondissement of Limoux is an arrondissement of France, located in the Aude département, in the Languedoc-Roussillon région. It has 8 cantons and 149 communes.-Cantons:The cantons of the arrondissement of Limoux are:# Alaigne# Axat...
of the Aude region. He was the eldest of seven children, having three brothers (Alfred, Martial, and Joseph) and three sisters (Mathilde, Adeline, and Marie-Louise). He was the son of Marguerite Hugues and Joseph Saunière (1823–1906), also called "cubié", who was the mayor of Montazels
Montazels
Montazels is a commune in the Aude department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France.-Population:-Personalities:Bérenger Saunière, controversial priest in Rennes-le-Château, was born in Montazels....
(Aude), managed the local flour mill, and was the steward of Marquis de Cazermajou's castle. Alfred became a priest; Joseph wanted to be a physician but died at 25. Saunière went to school at St. Louis in Limoux
Limoux
Limoux is a commune and subprefecture in the Aude department, a part of the ancient Languedoc province and the present-day Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France...
, entered the seminary in Carcassonne
Carcassonne
Carcassonne is a fortified French town in the Aude department, of which it is the prefecture, in the former province of Languedoc.It is divided into the fortified Cité de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. Carcassone was founded by the Visigoths in the fifth century,...
in 1874, and was ordained as a priest in June, 1879.
Ministry
From 16 July 1879 until 1882, Saunière was the vicar of AletAlet-les-Bains
Alet-les-Bains is a commune in the Aude department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France.-Geography:...
. From June 1882 to 1885, he was a priest in the deanery of the small village of Clat
Le Clat
Le Clat is a commune in the Aude department in southern France.-References:*...
. He was a teacher in the seminary in Narbonne but, because he was undisciplined, he was appointed to another small village of approximately 300 inhabitants, to Rennes-le-Château on 1 June 1885 with its church dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...
.
Because of preaching anti-republican sermons from his pulpit during the elections of October 1885, Saunière was suspended by the French Minister of Religion and between 1 December 1885 to July 1886 gave lessons once more in the seminary of Narbonne
Narbonne
Narbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Once a prosperous port, it is now located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea...
. As the villagers wanted him back, the prefect of the Aude reinstated Saunière. Between 1890-1891 he also said mass on Sundays in Antugnac
Antugnac
Antugnac is a commune in the Aude department in southern France.-Population:...
. Marie Dénarnaud, his maidservant, moved in to the Presbytery at Rennes-le-Château with her family in 1890.
Claims that Bérenger Saunière had an ambiguous relationship with his maidservant, Marie Dénarnaud, are without foundation. Saunière himself outlined the following principles for dealing with a maidservant:
Respect, but not familiarity. Not to permit her to talk about matters of his ministry. What you say to a servant should not be able to be said to other women. She must avoid excesses of language, and he must not trust in her age or her piety too easily. She is not to enter the bedroom when he is in bed, except in case of illnesses.
Mission 1891
An important part of Saunière's ministry at Rennes-le-Château was the installation and BlessingBlessing
A blessing, is the infusion of something with holiness, spiritual redemption, divine will, or one's hope or approval.- Etymology and Germanic paganism :...
of the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes
Our Lady of Lourdes
Our Lady of Lourdes is the name used to refer to the Marian apparition said to have appeared before various individuals on separate occasions around Lourdes, France...
on 21 June 1891, commemorating the First Holy Communion
First Communion
The First Communion, or First Holy Communion, is a Catholic Church ceremony. It is the colloquial name for a person's first reception of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Catholics believe this event to be very important, as the Eucharist is one of the central focuses of the Catholic Church...
of 24 children of the parish and "to bring to a close the spiritual exercises of the retreat that had been preached by the Reverend Father Ferrafiat, diocesan missionary, of the Family of Saint Vincent de Paul, residing at Notre Dame de Marceille" (the church, based at Limoux
Limoux
Limoux is a commune and subprefecture in the Aude department, a part of the ancient Languedoc province and the present-day Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France...
, is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary).
A 'Visigothic pillar' acted as a plinth for the statue bearing the inscriptions Mission 1891 and Penitence! Penitence!. Its authenticity is the subject of much debate. Saunière claimed it was one of two pillars that supported the original church altar. A genuine Visigothic pillar resembling the one installed by Saunière is displayed in the museum of Narbonne
Narbonne
Narbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Once a prosperous port, it is now located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea...
. The pillar that originally supported the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes was transferred into the Saunière museum in 1993 because of erosion and decay and was replaced by a resin replica.
Church renovations
The presbytery was one of several building projects Saunière launched around the village. He renovated the interior and exterior of the local church, as recommended by the architect Guiraud Cals in his Report dated 1853. A receipt dated 5 June 1887 shows the first renovations involved the re-flooring of the church. A new altar to the value of 700 Francs was donated by a wealthy benefactress of monarchist persuasion, Mme Marie Cavailhé in July 1887. New stained-glass windows were fitted that cost 1,350 Francs - that Saunière settled in three installments - April 1897, April 1899 and January 1900.In November 1896 Saunière commissioned prestigious sculptor and painter Giscard of Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
(established in 1855) to decorate his church with new statues of the saints, Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. The tradition as chapel devotion began with St...
, Baptismal font
Baptismal font
A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...
with statues of John baptising Jesus (bearing Ecce Agnus Dei), a bas-relief of Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount
Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...
above the Confessional
Confessional
A confessional is a small, enclosed booth used for the Sacrament of Penance, often called confession, or Reconciliation. It is the usual venue for the sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church, but similar structures are also used in Anglican churches of an Anglo-Catholic orientation, and also in the...
, and a figure of a Devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
supporting a Holy Water Stoup
Holy water font
A holy water font or stoup is a vessel containing holy water generally placed near the entrance of a church. It is used in Catholic Church and Lutheran churches, as well as some Anglican churches to make the Sign of the Cross using the holy water upon entrance and exit...
surmounted by Angels making the Sign of the Cross
Sign of the cross
The Sign of the Cross , or crossing oneself, is a ritual hand motion made by members of many branches of Christianity, often accompanied by spoken or mental recitation of a trinitarian formula....
, bearing the inscriptions BS and Par Ce Signe Tu Le Vaincras ("By this sign you will conquer him"). All these items were chosen by Saunière from Giscard's catalogue. Although the 1896 edition of Giscard's catalogue has not survived, and later catalogues omit the statue of the Devil, its head bears a resemblance to the one found on the statue of the dragon being vanquished by Saint Michael
Michael (archangel)
Michael , Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; , Mikhaḗl; or Míchaël; , Mīkhā'īl) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as Saint Michael the Archangel and also simply as Saint Michael...
that was also made by Giscard. The total sum involved was 2,500 Francs paid in annual installments of 500 Francs by Saunière beginning from the end of December 1897.
Following Sauniere's renovations and redecoratations, the church was re-dedicated on the feast of Pentecost
Pentecost
Pentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...
1897 by his bishop, Monsignor Billard.
Construction of the estate
Saunière built a grand estate between the years 1898-1905 that also involved buying several plots of land - this included the Renaissance-style Villa Bethania, the Tour Magdala (that he used as his personal library) connected to an orangery by a belvedere with rooms underneath, a garden with a pool and a cage for monkeys - all in the name of his maidservant, Marie Dénarnaud.Ecclesiastical trials, punishment and suspension
Saunière's renovation of his church and ostentatious construction programmes in a small hilltop village could not go unnoticed, and this attracted hostile reactions, with various complaints passed on by various sources to the Bishopric of Carcassonne. The Bishopric had warned Saunière about his selling of massesSimony
Simony is the act of paying for sacraments and consequently for holy offices or for positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus , who appears in the Acts of the Apostles 8:9-24...
activities, and had sent him two written warnings in May 1901, these written warnings were repeated in June 1903 and August 1904. In 1899 Saunière purchased a clergymen's directory (Annuaire du clergé français) through which he contacted both priests and religious communities across France to solicit mass requests.
Monsignor Paul-Félix Beuvain Beausejour was appointed the new Bishop of Carcassonne in 1902 - initially transferring Saunière to the village of Coustouge
Coustouge
Coustouge is a commune in the Aude department in southern France.-Population:...
in January 1909, then on 27 May 1910 deciding to conduct an investigation and drawing up an ecclesiastical Bill of Indictment referring to:
- Trafficking in Masses,
- Disobedience to the Bishop,
- Exaggerated and unjustified expenditure to which fees from Masses that have not been said seem to have been devoted.
Saunière had to attend an ecclesiastical trial to answer these charges.
First two hearings
Saunière did not attend the first hearing on 16 July 1910 nor on the re-scheduled date 23 July, when he was sentenced in his absence: incurring a one month suspension and ordered to refund the money he obtained from selling masses. He also did not attend the second hearing on 23 August, but managed to attend on the re-scheduled date 5 November 1910, when he was sentenced "to withdraw to a house of priestly retreat or into a monastery of his choice, there to undertake spiritual exercises for a period of ten days" for trafficking in masses, and for accepting more money than he was able to say masses for. He served his penancePenance
Penance is repentance of sins as well as the proper name of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox Christian, and Anglican Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation/Confession. It also plays a part in non-sacramental confession among Lutherans and other Protestants...
in the monastery of Prouille
Prouille
Prouille or Prouilhe , "cradle of the Dominicans", where the first Dominican house, a convent, was founded in late 1206 or early 1207, is a hamlet in Languedoc, France, lying between Fanjeaux and Bram , at the point where the road from Castelnaudary to Limoux crosses the road from Bram to...
.
On 17 December 1910 Saunière unsuccessfully appealed to The Holy Congregation of The Council in Rome for his reinstatement as parish priest of Rennes-le-Château; with the The Holy Congregation passing this information on to the Carcassonne Bishopric. The Bishop issued a stong warning against Saunière in 1911 forbidding him to administer the sacraments, published in La Semaine religieuse de Carcassonne dated 3 February 1911 and in La Croix
La Croix
La Croix is a daily French general-interest Roman Catholic newspaper. It is published in Paris and distributed throughout the country, with a circulation of just under 110,000 as of 2009...
dated 9 February 1911.
The Bishopric was not satisfied and by formal command asked Saunière to produce his account books by 2 March the latest in a letter dated 18 February 1911. A Commission of Enquiry was established to further scrutinise Saunière's financial activities.
On 13 March 1911 Saunière submitted 61 invoices relating to the renovation of his church and the building of his estate that came to the total of 36,250 Francs. On 25 March 1911 he submitted a letter of explanation to the Bishopric outlining the source of his finances, with a List of Donors giving details of his entire income since becoming priest of Rennes-le-Château, producing an exaggerated amount totalling 193,150 Francs. In a letter dated 14 July 1911 Saunière provided a statement of expenditure on the renovation of his church and building of his estate, producing an exaggerated amount totalling 193,050 Francs (claiming the Villa Bethania cost 90,000 Francs, and the Tour Magdala 40,000 Francs).
On 4 October the Commission of Enquiry submitted its report: only about 36,000 Francs could be accounted for out of the 193,150 Francs that Saunière claimed to have spent, and commented how Saunière refused to cooperate with the enquiry. Another hearing had to be arranged where Saunière had to produce his account books for inspection by the Bishopric.
Third hearing
Saunière did not attend the third hearing on 21 November 1911 and was sentenced in his absence on 5 December 1911 to three months suspension. Although Saunière's suspension was only provisionally temporary -- for three months -- the priest's reinstatment depended on the ecclesiastical judgment that he had to "undertake the restitution into the hands of the rightful owner and according to canon law of the goods misappropriated by him", which the priest was unable to do.Later years
Whatever money Saunière was still raising from selling masses was used on his Appeal to Rome that his Lawyer, Abbé Jean-Eugène Huguet (Doctor of Canon law
Canon law
Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...
), was working on. In May 1914 Saunière planned to build a Summer house
Summer house
A summer house or summerhouse has traditionally referred to a building or shelter used for relaxation in warm weather. This would often take the form of a small, roofed building on the grounds of a larger one, but could also be built in a garden or park, often designed to provide cool shady places...
, but abandoned the project because he could not afford the amount: 2,500 Francs.
François Bérenger Saunière died on 22 January 1917, his suspension lifted at the moment of death (in articulo mortis) by Abbé Jean Rivière, who performed the Last Rites
Last Rites
The Last Rites are the very last prayers and ministrations given to many Christians before death. The last rites go by various names and include different practices in different Christian traditions...
. His Death certificate
Death certificate
The phrase death certificate can describe either a document issued by a medical practitioner certifying the deceased state of a person or popularly to a document issued by a person such as a registrar of vital statistics that declares the date, location and cause of a person's death as later...
dated 23 January 1917 was signed by Victor Rivière, the mayor of Rennes-le-Château. Saunière was buried on 24 January 1917. Marie Dénarnaud paid for Saunière's coffin on 12 June 1917.
In September 2004, the mayor of Rennes-le-Château exhumed Saunière's corpse from the cemetery and reburied it in a concrete sarcophagus
Sarcophagus
A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos...
to protect it from grave-robbers. Since then, the cemetery of Rennes-le-Château has been closed to the general public.
Controversy
The controversy around Saunière originally centered on parchments that he is alleged to have found hidden in the old altar of his church, that related to the treasure of Blanche of CastileBlanche of Castile
Blanche of Castile , was a Queen consort of France as the wife of Louis VIII. She acted as regent twice during the reign of her son, Louis IX....
, and that this was the alleged source of his income.
The popular story of Saunière's wealth
Noël CorbuNoel Corbu
Noël Corbu is best known as a former restaurateur in the Southern French village of Rennes-le-Château, who from the mid-1950s circulated the story that Bérenger Saunière discovered the treasure of Blanche of Castile....
circulated the story from the mid-1950s when he opened his restaurant that Saunière discovered parchments in the hollow pillar of his Altar in 1891, and these related to the treasure of Blanche of Castile, and which 'according to the archives' consisted of 28,500,000 gold pieces. This was the treasure of the French crown assembled by Blanche of Castile to pay the ransom of Saint Louis, a prisoner of the infidels, the surplus of which she had hidden at Rennes-le-Château. Saunière had only found one part of it, so it was necessary to continue his investigations.
Corbu's story attracted custom and later achieved national fame through articles in the press, eventually catching the attention of Pierre Plantard
Pierre Plantard
Pierre Athanase Marie Plantard was a French draughtsman, best known for being the principal perpetrator of the Priory of Sion hoax, by which he claimed from the 1960s onwards that he was a Merovingian descendant of Dagobert II and the "Great Monarch" prophesied by Nostradamus.-Surname:Pierre...
and inspiring the 1967 book L'Or de Rennes by Gérard de Sède
Gérard de Sède
Géraud Marie de Sède de Liéoux was born in Paris to parents who supported the right-wing politics of Action Française....
.
The book L'Or de Rennes by Gérard de Sède (with the collaboration of Pierre Plantard) contained elements relating to the fictitious secret society the Priory of Sion
Priory of Sion
The Prieuré de Sion, translated from French as Priory of Sion, is a name given to multiple groups, both real and fictitious. The most notorious is a fringe fraternal organisation, founded and dissolved in France in 1956 by Pierre Plantard...
, reproducing "parchments" that alluded to the survival of the Merovingian line of Frankish
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
kings from Dagobert II
Dagobert II
Dagobert II was the king of Austrasia , the son of Sigebert III and Chimnechild of Burgundy. The Feast Date of St Dagobert II is 23 December -Biography:...
, and Pierre Plantard claimed to be descended from that monarch. Pierre Plantard and Gérard de Sède fell out over book royalties when L'Or de Rennes was published in 1967 and Plantard's friend Philippe de Chérisey
Philippe de Chérisey
The marquess Philippe de Chérisey was a French writer, radio humorist, and actor...
revealed that he fabricated the parchments.
Holy Blood, Holy Grail
In 1969, the English scriptwriter Henry Lincoln read Le Trésor Maudit, (paperback version of L'Or de Rennes} and then between 1972–1979 inspired three BBC TwoBBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
Chronicle
Chronicle (UK TV series)
Chronicle was a BBC Television series shown monthly and then fortnightly on BBC Two from 18 June 1966 to its last broadcast in May 1991.Chronicle focused on popular archaeology and related subjects.The BBC have made some editions available ....
documentaries on the subject matter. Lincoln was also directed to one of Plantard's planted documents, "Les Dossiers Secrets
Dossiers Secrets
The Dossiers Secrets d'Henri Lobineau , compiled by Philippe Toscan du Plantier is a 27-page document deposited in the Bibliothèque nationale de France on 27 April 1967. The document purports to represent a part of the history of the Priory of Sion. The section of the history is attributed to...
" in the Bibliothèque Nationale
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The is the National Library of France, located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France. The current president of the library is Bruno Racine.-History:...
in Paris. Later, Lincoln teamed up with two other authors, and co-wrote the 1982 book Holy Blood Holy Grail, in which unaware they were relying on forged documents as a source, they stated as a "fact" that the Priory of Sion had existed. Holy Blood, Holy Grail claimed that Bérenger Saunière possibly found evidence that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...
were married (possibly the marriage certificate), and produced offspring that eventually became the Merovingian Dynasty. The authors speculated that that Saunière engaged in financial transactions with who they claimed was "Archduke Johann von Habsburg" (and should instead have been named Archduke Johann Salvator of Austria), and Saunière could have been the representative of the Priory of Sion, and his income could have originated from The Vatican "which might have been subjected to high-level political blackmail by both Sion and the Habsburgs". The book was an international bestseller, inspiring Dan Brown's best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code.
The claims and conspiracy theories have substantially increased and have become more and more varied over the last few decades with more and more authors adding more and more myths to the story. The current favourite conspiracy theory involves what Saunière allegedly discovered in the crypt of his church during his 1887 renovations.
The actual source of Saunière's wealth
The first scholarly book on Saunière's activities was by local historian and chief librarian of Carcassonne René Descadeillas, who sifted through the priest's account books and personal correspondence, as well as the records of Saunière's ecclesiastical trial lodged in the Carcassonne Bishopric --- and concluded there never was any treasure or mystery, all of the priest's wealth was generated from selling masses and accepting donations, in his 1974 Mythologie du trésor de Rennes: histoire véritable de l'abbé Saunière, curé de Rennes-le-Château. This conclusion was shared by the local priest and author Abbé Bruno de Monts, who himself contributed essential information during the 1980s and 1990s, as well as by other French authors like Jean-Jacques Bedu and more recently David Rossoni.The 2005 Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
documentary The Real Da Vinci Code presented by Tony Robinson
Tony Robinson
Tony Robinson is an English actor, comedian, author, broadcaster and political campaigner. He is best known for playing Baldrick in the BBC television series Blackadder, and for hosting Channel 4 programmes such as Time Team and The Worst Jobs in History. Robinson is a member of the Labour Party...
arrived at the same conclusion, followed by the 2006 CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
documentary Priory of Sion, presented by Ed Bradley
Ed Bradley
Edward Rudolph "Ed" Bradley, Jr. was an American journalist, best known for twenty-six years of award-winning work on the CBS News television program 60 Minutes...
: "The source of the wealth of the priest of Rennes-le-Château was not some ancient mysterious treasure, but good old fashioned fraud."
According to Canon law, priests were allowed to say up to three masses
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
per day and to accept a fee for requested prayers for the dead. Saunière, however, had been soliciting and accepting money via the post to say thousands of masses, charging one franc
Franc
The franc is the name of several currency units, most notably the Swiss franc, still a major world currency today due to the prominence of Swiss financial institutions and the former currency of France, the French franc until the Euro was adopted in 1999...
per mass. Some clients would send payment for hundreds of masses, which he never actually performed.
Reviewing Descadeillas' Mythologie du trésor de Rennes in 1976, church historian Raymond Darricau commented "To begin with there was nothing: Saunière was just a schemer. Today however we find ourselves confronted with a genuine esoteric construction: Rennes-le-Château has been promoted to the rank of ‘mystical capital’ of the Languedoc
Languedoc
Languedoc is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² .-Geographical Extent:The traditional...
" and, "The manner in which the myth of Rennes-le-Château has grown to its present status is certainly worthy of reflection and could perhaps provide someone with material for a dissertation on precisely how stories of this kind come into existence."
Details of expenditure
Surviving receipts and existing account books belonging to Saunière, preserved by his servant Marie Dénarnaud and inherited by Noël Corbu, reveal that the renovation of the church, including works on the presbytery and cemetery, cost 11,605 Francs over a ten year period between 1887 and 1897. The construction of Saunière's estate that included the Tour Magdala and Villa Bethania (and the purchases of land) between 1898 and 1905 cost 26,417 Francs.In popular culture
- The French Television Channel France 3France 3France 3 is the second largest French public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5, and France Ô....
made a 6-part miniseriesMiniseriesA miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
L'Or du diable in 1989 about Bérenger Saunière directed by Jean-Louis Fournier, casting Jean-François BalmerJean-François BalmerJean-François Balmer is a Swiss actor. He has worked extensively in French cinema, television and stage productions since the early 1970s.-Selected filmography:* Little Marcel * La Menace...
as the priest, based on the novel of the same name by Jean Michel Thibaux published in 1987.
- Bérenger Saunière's wealth and supposed secret findings (unnamed this time) inspired the plot of Tim PowersTim PowersTimothy Thomas "Tim" Powers is an American science fiction and fantasy author. Powers has won the World Fantasy Award twice for his critically acclaimed novels Last Call and Declare...
' 1997 novel Earthquake Weather and Marco Buticchi's 1998 novel Menorah, in which Saunière is supposed to have found the seven-branched candelabra of the Temple of Jerusalem.
- The life and mysteries of Saunière were also used as basis for the plot of the 1999 video-game Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the DamnedGabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the DamnedGabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned is the third and final game in the Gabriel Knight series of adventure games by Sierra Online. The game was designed by Jane Jensen, Gabriel Knight's creator. In a departure from the previous two entries, the score is composed by David...
, a 3D adventure written by Jane JensenJane JensenJane Jensen is the game designer of the popular and critically acclaimed Gabriel Knight adventure games and author of the novels Judgement Day and Dante's Equation....
and developed by Sierra On-Line. The plot also revolves around the history of the Knights TemplarKnights TemplarThe Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
, the supposed conspiracies relating to the Freemasons and the Priory of Sion as well as JesusJesusJesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
.
Further reading
- Christiane Amiel, "L’abîme au trésor, ou l’or fantôme de Rennes-le-Château" in, Claudie Voisenat (editor), Imaginaires archéologiques, pages 61-86 (Ethnologie de la France, Number 22, Paris: Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme, 2008). ISBN 978-2-7351-1210-4
- Jean-Jacques Bedu, Rennes-Le-Château: Autopsie d'un mythe (Portet-sur-Garonne: Ed. Loubatières, 1990). ISBN 2-86266-142-2 Reprinted in 2003, ISBN 2862663727
- Claude Boumendil, Gilbert Tappa (editors), Les Cahiers de Rennes-le-Château, Archives – Documents – Études, Number 11 (Éditions Bélisane, 1996). ISBN 2-910730-12-3 http://www.insolite.asso.fr/rennes/biblio/biblio34.htm
- Claire Corbu, Antoine Captier, L'héritage de l'Abbé Saunière (Nice: Editions Bélisane, 1985). ISBN 2-902296-56-8.
- René Descadeillas, Mythologie du trésor de Rennes: histoire véritable de l'abbé Saunière, curé de Rennes-le-Château (Mémoires de la Société des Arts et des Sciences de Carcassonne, Annees 1971-1972, 4me série, Tome VII, 2me partie; 1974). Facsimile reprint by Savary, Carcassonne, 1988. ISBN 2-9500971-6-2. Facsimile reprint by Éditions Collot, Carcassonne,1991. ISBN 2-9-03518-08-4
- Christian Doumergue, L'Affaire de Rennes-le-Château, 2 volumes (Marseille: Ed. Arqa, 2006). ISBN 2-7551-0013-3 (volume 1). ISBN 2-7551-0014-1 (volume 2)
- Abbé Bruno de Monts, Bérenger Sauniére curé à Rennes-le-Château 1885-1909, Editions Belisane (Collection les amis de Bérenger Sauniére, 1989, 2000). ISBN 2-902296-85-1
- Bill Putnam, John Edwin Wood. The Treasure of Rennes-le-Chateau: a mystery solved (Sutton Publishing Limited, 2003) ISBN 0750930810. Reprinted and revised paperback edition published in 2005. ISBN 0750942169
- Jacques Rivière, Le Fabuleux trésor de Rennes-le-Château, Editions Belisane (1983). ISBN 2-902296-42-8
- David Rossoni, L'histoire rêvée de Rennes-le-Château: Eclairages sur un récit collectif contemporain (Books on Demand Editions, 2010). ISBN 2810611521
- Bérenger Saunière, Mon enseignement à Antugnac, 1890 (edited by Abbé Bruno de Monts; Éditions Bélisane, 1984). ISBN 2-902296-50-9
- Gérard de Sède, L'or de Rennes ou la Vie insolite de Bérenger Saunière, curé de Rennes-le-Château, Paris: Julliard, 1967. Reprinted in paperback with the collaboration of Sophie de Sède entitled Le Trésor maudit de Rennes-le-Château, J'ai Lu (L'Aventure mystérieuse series), 1968.