The Rise - Saunière’s magical workings and the penitential movement in Europe

the Rise Saunière’s magical workings and the penitential movement in Europe © 2009 Isaac Ben Jacob and Sarah Fishberg Cover design: Corjan de Raaf www.rlcresearch.com Layout: Buro kunst en drukwerk, Sylvia Carrilho ISBN : 978-1-931882-87-3

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the Rise

Saunière’s magical workings and the penitential movement in Europe

Isaac Ben Jacob and Sarah Fishberg

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Contents Introduction 7 Chapter 1

A priest for which saints? 13

Basic accounting practices 13 The Cathar possibility 22 Guardians of the spas 25 La Sanch, the Penitents, Boudet and Father Lasserre 28

Chapter 2 Abdon & Sennen, the Manichean saints of La Sanch… and of Bérenger Saunière? 33 Origins 33 Heretics 37 Blue Penitents 41 “Penitence, Penitense” 43

Chapter 3

The Sanch and the Tau 46

Chapter 4

Angelic magic 69

Chapter 5

Heretics everywhere… 80

Chapter 6

Paying the price for Heaven 115

The Persian triad 47 By this sign – Tau – you will conquer 49 The archangel Raphael 53 Funerary magic 56 A fish on a grill 63

A Concise Guide to the Penitent Symbolism 70 The Heretical Expansion 84 Penetration 88 The birth of the penitent movement 92 Dress code 98 The Mortuary Rite 103 The Cathar Belief 107

To sin or not to sin, that’s not the problem 116 The Consolamentum 121 Flagellants everywhere 123

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Shrouds 128 The Egyptian Wagy Festival and Saunière’s preoccupation with 130 January 17th 130

Chapter 7

Heretics everywhere 134

Chapter 8

The Penitents of Rennes-le-Château 164

Chapter 9

A golden cemetery 191

Appendix I

The Book of Tobit 219

Seizing power 139 The Priory of Sion? 148 The birth of the inquisition 152 The fold 158

Two orders 164 The scandal of the Cult of the Dead in Limoux 168 The Hautpoul family 172 The mystery of Rennes-le-Château 176 A family secret 181 1908, the trial and some unused documents 197 The Magi 204 Guilty as charged 209 A new era 214

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Introduction On first sight, the small village of Rennes-le-Château exudes an atmosphere of peace. High above the surrounding valley, the village could have been a hermit’s retreat, or a fortified structure… or the hideaway of a treasure or a secret?

Its old church, dating back to at least the 11th century, is worked into the fabric of the village, surrounded by the customary cemetery, a presbytery built for the local priest, and village houses. Little has changed since the start of the 20th century, when this side of the town was “reworked” by the local village priest, Bérenger Saunière. It is he, and his constructions, that have transformed this formerly quiet village into a hub of intrigue and conspiracy; some go as far as to claim that the village holds “a secret” that could rock the world – or at least the foundations of the Catholic faith.

Rennes-le-Château has become a concentrate of the history of France. Each episode of this country’s history, whether Celtic tribal leaders or Merovingian kings that ruled 1500 years ago, whether the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars or the treasure of the Knights Templar after their demise of 1307, whether the royal intrigues of Louis XIV’s court in the 17th century or the magical encounters of Parisian esoteric lodges in the late 19th century, seems to have a connection with this miniscule village. It is believed to be the trump card in the games of politics, and whoever holds this card, will rule the game.

Today, visitors come to Rennes-le-Château as pilgrims venture to sacred religious sites. Pilgrims try to touch the sacred relics of a saint; in Rennes-leChâteau, the tourist wants to experience the “puzzle” that they believe Saunière encoded into his buildings, especially the village church. Each tourist is thus equally suited to decode “The Saunière Code”, and it is indeed no coincidence that Dan Brown, in The Da Vinci Code1, used the name Saunière for the curator of the Louvre – the man who left the puzzles for the novel’s protagonists to decode.

Some visitors come for more: some have come to dig, some to explode (indeed), some to penetrate, each of those often only succeeding in causing consternation within the local community; some of these treasure hunters have left the village without running water for months, some have frightened visitors to the graveyard… by crawling out of the ground, from holes dug in the graveyard, often from a grave itself.

Why? Because “somewhere” underneath the feet of these visitors, it is 1 Dan Brown, “The Da Vinci Code”, published by Doubleday Books, 2003.

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believed that “it” – the secret, the treasure – still remains. It was either left behind, or secreted away, by the Visigoths, the Cathars, the Knights Templar, the Merovingians, etc. Though it is often claimed that this “treasure” is guarded – by the enigmatic Priory of Sion – it seems that no-one is able to stop, slow down or regulate treasure hunters. If the Priory guards this treasure, it is not as powerful as some people seem to claim – or perhaps it indeed does not exist, as others claim.

Just like Rennes-le-Château rises from the landscape, so Saunière rises as the only certainty amidst oceans of speculation. Though the subject of intense speculation himself, there are certain incontestable facts: he existed, he had a lot of money, it was unclear where he got that money from, and in his lifetime he never explained how he acquired his wealth – not even when his superior, the Bishop of Carcassonne, ordered him to do so.

François-Bérenger Saunière was born on April 11, 1852, in Montazels – just at the foot of the hill on top of which sits Rennes-le-Château. He was one of seven children, the eldest. Unfortunately, the Saunière family were not wealthy, and hence being the oldest did not amount to certain privileged birthrights. Still, it was customary for the family to make a special effort for the eldest. In this case, he had a priest’s calling, and so his family made sure he could fulfil his ambition. If he had chosen any other profession, perhaps the mystery of Rennes-le-Château might never have occurred.

Saunière was ordained in 1879, became vicar in Alet, then the priest of the small village of Le Clat. Three years later, he was promoted to professor at the Seminary at Narbonne. A bright future seemed to be ahead of him, yet it seems Saunière had plans of his own. He only remained in Narbonne for one month; on June 1, 1885, he was nominated priest at Rennes-le-Château. Why he opted for this posting is unclear, as it was definitely a step down.

When he arrived, the church was in near ruin and the presbytery where he was supposedly to live, was even worse. Fortunately, the Dénarnaud family offered him lodgings. Their daughter, Marie, would become his “bonne”, his maid – though some have argued she was even his lover, if not partner-incrime.

Whether it was an alchemical wedding, fate, or a plan in which he was either the master or the executor, eleven years later, Saunière had transformed the tiny village into a small version of Disneyland: there was a large estate, with verandas, greenhouses, a newly decorated church, and – the Disney effect par excellence – the Tour Magdala and the zoo. The priest had bought up almost half of the village – but with what money?

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Antoine Captier, whose forefather knew Saunière (and according to some accounts was there when the priest discovered the key to his fortune) explains that “the Villa Bethania (dedicated [like the Church] to Mary Magdalene), was very luxuriously furnished. My father has told me what he was told by his grandfather. He had descended from the bell tower, one evening when the labourers had been at work in the church. He saw an old wooden pillar, on the ground, completely deconstructed, with one part that had broken. Something shining was inside. It was, in fact, a small glass vial, which had been illuminated by a ray of light, and which contained a piece of paper. He carried the document to Father Saunière.” He decided to stop all further work in the church and apparently began to carry out some work of his own. It seems that from here onwards, Saunière became a different man – a very wealthy man.

But apart from a wealthy man, Saunière was, or at least hoped to be seen as, an important, influential figure. When the local authorities were displeased with him for carrying out certain unauthorised work in the cemetery, he was ill-disposed to accept their opinion. When the bishop wanted to see his accounts and called him to account for his expenses, he showed the bishop utter disdain, and did everything to fight the man.

He was, it appears, often absent from the village, having provided Marie with a set of instructions of what to do if he – for one reason or another – would not be back for the Sunday service. Some have hence speculated that he had a relationship with the famous opera singer Emma Calvé in Paris, others have said he spent time in Lyon, and others that he “knew” an important person working for the Ministry of Culture. Recently, some have claimed he even went to Budapest, where he had a bank account, and to the Spanish city of Gerona, where he may have had a mistress and where he may have fathered a child.

Saunière was therefore in his time, at least within the village, a man of mystery. No doubt, all villagers worked together in trying to piece together the life and times of Saunière. Chief amongst their concerns was, however, what Saunière did at night, in their cemetery. “No-one knew what Saunière went in search of in the cemetery at night. A clue? A message? A treasure hidden in a tomb? What we know is that his parishioners often caught him, at night, while he was profaning the tombs in the cemetery. He didn’t leave any whole”, is what Jean-Luc Robin tells the visitors to his restaurant today.

When the priest stated he started a new project, a replica of the grotto of Lourdes, in which the Virgin Mary had appeared a few decades before, we see primary evidence of how Saunière manoeuvred. The replica – itself now restored 9

and in the garden in front of the church – was an excellent excuse for Saunière to explain away why he needed to go on long walks in the countryside: he had to collect appropriate rocks for the grotto. When the local villagers saw – if not followed – him, they saw him painstakingly choosing some, and rejecting some other stones that he found on his way. Yet, when we look at the final product, it is clear that Saunière could have sourced the stones locally – or just asked others to bring some stones for this “oeuvre”. But did Saunière know he was being observed? And did he search his stones in certain locations that were perhaps of interest for other things than their quality of stone?

The construction of the grotto does show that Saunière had an eye for detail. And hence, this eye for detail, coupled with his intellect, are seen as the prime ingredients that would allow Saunière to code his estate. Researchers thus point out various anomalies in his church – such as his colouring in of the Stations of the Cross – or wonder whether it is a coincidence that the paving slabs in his Tour Magdala (Magdala Tower) add up to 64 – and that some of these stones reveal certain anomalies too.

Soon, an observation of an anomaly would lead to the construction of a theory, like Saunière having hidden something underneath the tower. Half a century of illegal and authorised excavations have nevertheless revealed nothing under the tower – or anywhere else in the village.

The absence of evidence for some is merely fuelling a continued search for the truth or the treasure. For others, those of a sceptical disposition, it is seen as further confirmation that there is no secret and that the enigma is based on a lie – or rather, a denial of the known truth. For these sceptics, the “truth” is that Saunière trafficked in masses and that this is the known and only means as to how he acquired his wealth. Though it is shown that Saunière trafficked in masses and received money for masses, Jean-Luc Chaumeil has pointed out that if “traffic in masses” was the total of the mystery, Saunière would have had to receive just under 400,000 demands – begging the question why so many French people wanted Saunière, an obscure village priest in the South of France, to say masses for them. Rennes-le-Château was not, after all, a pilgrimage site – not yet.

Indeed, it was the anomalous nature of his income that caught the attention of bishop de Beauséjour and which would lead, on December 5, 1911, to a formal condemnation: a “suspensio a divinis”: Saunière was no longer allowed to administer the sacraments, which included saying mass. The suspension lasted until 1913, when Saunière won his appeal with the Vatican2.

2 With the help of Canon Huguet as his attorney. The services of Canon Huguet were rec10

Apparently, the bishopric nevertheless “forgot” to fully reinstate Saunière – though he, it must be said, did not really care about such details; that he had won his battle with the bishop seemed more important.

Saunière died relatively shortly afterwards, on January 22, 1917. It would, nevertheless, take half a century before he would become the subject of first national and than global interest. As his fame rose, so rose the calibre of his alleged discovery. In 1996, authors Andrews and Schellenberger3 argued that Saunière had discovered no less than the Tomb of Jesus Christ. Such a discovery would indeed shake if not destroy the very foundations of the Christian faith, for their central dogma is that Christ rose – body and soul – to Heaven. However, a more popular theory is that Saunière found the body of Mary Magdalene, and that he had evidence that she was married to Jesus.

Such a relation might shake, but definitely not destroy, the foundations of Christian faith. It is this theory that inspired Dan Brown4. The main problem for these imaginative authors is that neither theory is supported by much – if any – factual evidence, other than conjecture.

Hence, when we set out our search, in our approach, we wanted to return to factual evidence – of which there is remarkably much, but which is nevertheless put to one side by most authors – and see where that evidence would lead to. It soon became apparent that Saunière, at least when it comes to attaining his wealth, had stumbled upon a local dimension of a larger movement, which dated back to – at least – the Cathar crusades, i.e. the 13th century.

But rather than being a thing of the past, there continued to exist a network of “priests” that seemed to perform certain specific – and heretical – rites and for which certain adherents of this heresy were willing to pay dearly for, as it was believed that the administration of these rites was instrumental for the salvation of their soul. It seems that Saunière became a member of this underground network and that it was masses of an altogether different kind that brought about his wealth. In short, hidden in the pool of available evidence about the mystery of Saunière, lay an unknown dimension, there for the taking, but which everyone – it seems – had missed. Hence, the mystery of the Rise rose from the largely unused pieces of evidence – and the truth would set us all free? ommended to Saunière by Father Grassaud, priest of Amélie-les-Bains, a mysterious (and, as we will see, influential) character.

3 Richard Andrews & Paul Schellenberger, “The Tomb of God – the Body of Jesus and the Solution to a 2,000-year-old Mystery”, published by Little Brown & Company, 1996.

4 Dan Brown, “The Da Vinci Code”, published by Doubleday Books, 2003.

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Chapter 1

A priest for which saints?

Bérenger Saunière. For more than a century, the village priest of Rennesle-Château has intrigued so many people, because of his sudden and unexplained wealth – money which he invested in various building projects that continue to dominate Rennes-le-Château. Almost every possible and impossible suggestion has been proposed as to how he acquired his wealth.

But reading all the various books on the subject, we still feel like spectators, watching his life – and yet another theory – unfold on the screen in front of us. As each book progresses, reality disintegrates and the authors’ pet theories slowly take over.

Projected onto this screen, it is clear that the real Saunière has become distorted; he has became an excuse, an allegory, a pretext which merely serves as a point of focus so that the author – or director – can project onto this man anything he desires. The true history of this village priest has therefore become nothing but a distant echo of his true self; and it has become difficult to separate the legend from the man… in which both the popular and the sceptical author often mistake fact for fiction, and vice versa.

Let us leave the comfort of our cinema seat and enter into the reality that lies beneath the projected fiction. So many have rewritten the life of Saunière, that in order to return it to its true origins, it feels as if we also have to rewrite his life – to remove layer upon layer of imagination or conjecture.

Basic accounting practices In 1898, Pope Leo XIII ruled the Christian world from the Vatican. While the pope was known throughout the world, Saunière found himself at the other extreme of the popularity scale. This meant that he could largely do as he pleased; the only people interested in his comings and goings were his small village flock – and being a village, they they were steeped in a country mentality in which they wanted to know everything about everyone else in the village. The lives of the local priest, mayor and school teacher were the prime subjects of debate, for they represented the three basic pillars of society: religious, political and educational.

If anyone, back in 1898, had stated that the fame of abbé Saunière would one day eclipse that of Pope Leo XIII, he would now be taken for a prophet – but in his own time, he would have been seen as a deluded individual. At the turn of the 20th century, for a man like Saunière, a priest of no 13

the Rise

Saunière’s magical workings and the penitential movement in Europe

Within medieval Europe, a new power was rising. Within the heart of the Catholic Church, a heresy had infiltrated its hierarchy almost to the very top, and began a centuries’ long campaign of altering its original teachings, to make it conform with their own.

Today, best known as “penitent movements”, the somewhat bizarre public spectacles they continue to display on the streets of Europe were originally but smokescreens as to the movement’s true doctrine, which was based on a Babylonian cult of the dead.

Isaac ben Jacob and Sarah Fishberg are the figureheads of a team of researchers that has identified and tracked this movement from the Middle East to Italy, Germany and France. Eventually, they realised that the mystery of Rennes-le-Château, linked with the extra-ordinary fortune of one Béranger Saunière – at the basis of numerous bestsellers, including The Da Vinci Code – was but another episode in the long and intriguing tale of this heretical movement.

The Rise unveils a battle between factions that has been waged in front of our eyes for centuries – and which is now wonderfully explained, in all its gory detail.

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