Bérenger Saunière

An important part of Saunière's ministry at Rennes-le-Château was the installation and Blessing 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.

Statue of the Devil supporting the Holy Water Stoup

Bas-relief of Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount

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, which Saunière settled in three installments – April 1897, April 1899, and January 1900.

In November 1896 Saunière commissioned the 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 instalments of 500 francs by Saunière beginning at 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.

Saunière built a grand estate between the years 1898 and 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.

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 penance in the monastery of Prouille.

On 17 December 1910 Saunière unsuccessfully appealed to The Sacred Congregation of The Council in Rome for his reinstatement as parish priest of Rennes-le-Château, with The Sacred Congregation passing this information on to the Carcassonne Bishopric. The bishop issued a strong 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 scrutinize 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 totaling 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 totaling 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 that 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.

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 temporary – for three months – the priest's reinstatement depended on the ecclesiastical judgement 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.[4]

After opening his restaurant at Rennes-le-Château in the mid-1950s, Noël Corbu circulated the story that, in 1891, Saunière discovered parchments in the hollow pillar beneath his altar; and that these related to the treasure of Blanche of Castile. 'According to the archives' her treasure consisted of 28,500,000 gold pieces—the treasure of the French crown assembled by Blanche to pay the ransom of Saint Louis (a prisoner of the Egyptians during the Seventh Crusade) whose surplus she had hidden at Rennes-le-Château. Saunière had found only one part of it, so it was necessary to continue his investigations.[7]

Corbu's story 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 unpublicised 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.

In 1969, the English scriptwriter Henry Lincoln read the paperback version of L'Or de Rennes and then between 1972 and 1979 produced three BBC Two 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 The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. Unaware they were relying on forged documents as a source, they stated as a fact that the Priory of Sion had existed. The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail claimed that Saunière possibly found evidence that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene were married, and produced offspring that eventually became the Merovingian dynasty. The authors speculated that Saunière engaged in financial transactions with a man they claimed was 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".[8] The book was an international bestseller, inspiring Dan Brown's best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code.

Hypotheses surrounding Saunière have proliferated over the last few decades, as different authors elaborate on the story of the priest's activities and discoveries in and around his church during its 1887 renovations.

The first scholarly book on Saunière's activities was by a 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. He concluded in his 1974 Mythologie du trésor de Rennes: histoire véritable de l'abbé Saunière, curé de Rennes-le-Château that there never was any treasure or mystery; all of the priest's wealth was generated from selling Masses and accepting donations. 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 such as Jean-Jacques Bedu and more recently David Rossoni.

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."[9]

According to canon law, priests are ordinarily allowed to say one Mass per day, with permission regularly granted to say two or three on Sundays, solemnities, and feast days (although not in Saunière's time with the exception of All Soul's Day and Christmas); however, they may accept a stipend or "Mass offering" for only one Mass per day.[10] 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. The question of why clients should request masses from the impoverished priest of a rural church has not been pursued as enterprisingly.

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."[11]