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Jeffrey Ringle
HIST-1700 Miller
B
érenger Saunière and The Rennes-le-Château Mystery
In 1885 a young clerical zealot by the name of Berenger Sauniere was appointed the parish priest in the tiny hilltop community of Rennes-le-Chateau. Save for a few events, Saurniere lived out his years in quiet faithful service to the Catholic Church.
However, the said ‘few events’ are of such monumental importance that the mystery and intrigue surrounding the life of Berenger Sauniere has inspired documentaries, films, books, and much more.
The more I’ve delved into my research on the subject of Berenger Sauniere the more I see it is clouded with doubt and speculation from all sides. The implications of
Sauniere’s secret were enough to potentially destroy the wealthiest church on the planet and the fastest growing religion, Christianity. This is reason enough for facts to become covered up and reports convoluted. There is however, enough fact to get started on this mysterious treasure hunt.
To understand the Sauniere mystery we need to take a look at a Gnostic sect in
Southern France called the Cathars, or Albigensians. The Cathars had a dualistic dogma believing that an evil god, Rex Mundi , created material things and that spiritual
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things were created by the malevolent god. The Cathars were very open minded and absorbed culture and language from their southern neighbors the Moors, and their northern European neighbors. Many of their beliefs can be traced back to Byzantine and can be seen as deeply rooted in the Egyptian Mystery Schools. (Sumption, 2000)
The Cathars were also specifically targeted in the Crusades of 1300 and eventually completely wiped out. The Albigensian Crusade can be seen as the first completed genocide carried out by the Catholic Church. In the
Béziers Massacre the entire population, regardless of faith, was slaughtered, and the city was burned to the ground.
Contemporary sources give estimates of the number of dead ranging between 7,000 to
20,000. One of the laders of the crusade army Arnaud-Amaury, reported back to Pope
Innocent III that no one was spared. (Sumption, 2000) The Cathars and their secrets will become more important in our story but let’s get back to Sauniere.
Early in Sauniere’s appointment at Rennes-le-Chateau he began the work of renovating his old church. As he was cleaning the pulpit from whence he delivered his sermons he found a peculiar series of very old parchments. (Desart, 2005) It was not long after that Sauniere was seen in the middle of the night in the graveyard with his maidservant Marie Denarnaud. They were digging in the moonlight. Sauniere in his personal diary wrote the following passage dated September 21, 1891, “…Found a
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tomb.” (Desart, 2005) There is a grave in the same yard with an unlikely spelling error.
The spelling errors correlate to other number and letter combinations found in paintings and other places around the church. (Baigent, Leigh, & Lincoln, 2005) Their description and relevance is too esoteric and extraneous for the context of this paper, but they make a fascinating supplemental read. As the French General Election of 1885 approached Sauniere urged his congregation to vote in opposition to Bonapartists and
Republicans whose influence in the government could weaken the influence of the
Monarchists and the Catholic Church. For this he was temporarily dismissed from duty and traveled to Rome for a few months. (Desart, 2005) When Sauniere returned from his visit in which he met directly with the Pope, he had access to money in the worth of millions.
During the next few years Sauniere performed many peculiar renovations to his church in the inflated amount of over 5 million s dollars by today’s standards. (Baigent,
Leigh, & Lincoln, 2005) Many of the paintings and reliefs that he decorated with carry a theme and code intertwined with the code found on the headstone in the graveyard. A few are very unlikely to be seen in a Catholic Church. For example, an inscription over the entrance to his church reads ‘Terribilis Este Locus Iste’ or ‘This Place is Terrible.’
(Desart, 2005) Another odd figure is a sculpture of a demon, Baphomet, on the
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baptismal font. Baphomet was the deity worshipped by the Knights Templar and gives
Sauniere a connection to the Holy Grail. Baphomet also represents the creation of Evil in Black Magic cults and thus has a direct correlation to the
Cathar’s Rex Mundi, who
‘created Earth and all other things Evil.’ (Sumption, 2000) An elaborate library was also built by Sauniere, called the Tour de Magdelene, in honor of the Mary who waited for
Christ’s return from the grave, not the one who birthed him.
Sauniere clearly found something! The debate begins here. It is widely believed that Sauniere either found a map to a buried treasure, or information worth millions to the Catholic Church. Perhaps the Cathars knew the implications of the killing of Jesus
Christ and realized the power of his body. If the Cathars took to body of Jesus from his burial tomb it would make perfect sense that they would bring the body back to their home in the Languedoc region of France, where Rennes-le-Chateau is located.
Sauniere could have found the burial place and went to the Pope with the knowledge, only to be paid handsomely for keeping it a secret. The idea of a treasure map is unlikely to me because Sauniere paid his bills in cash and there is no record of him converting gold or silver into cash.
Before entering a world of speculation and illusions of grandeur, which will serve no purpose in a historical paper, but may serve to close the story and give the tale some
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finality
—we need to look at one last mysterious fact. It’s a fact which will keep the ending open until undisputable proof is found. We are dealing with ideas not easily shaken. Suaniere’s death is of particular mysterious importance. He ordered his coffin a week in advance of his death. Sauniere however, did not die by his own hand. His official cause of death is stroke, or heart failure. In Sauniere’s last address to his congregation he announced that he would not be seeing them again. Some of his congregation laughed at the thought and some even wrote that they had never seen
Sauniere so jovial or healthy looking. Sure enough, Sauiere passed away and beforehand had arranged for his friend Abbe Jean Riviere to take Last Rites and administer Last Unction. Sauni ere’s maidservant Marie Denarnaud, who is the only other person who could’ve had access to his secret, died soon after him from the same death
—heart stopping.
We are left only to speculate what is true and what is myth. There is however, a very thin line between the two in many cases. Regardless what Berenger Sauniere found or knew during his lifetime, he stands an important historical figure with regards to the way his story has sparked so much interest in the past. Anyone who sparks the inquisitive mind to ask a question, especially a question regarding our ‘day to day truths’—like the existence of a Savior of mankind, holds an invaluable power to change
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the present. I believe that the whole reason to study the past is to gain understanding, and thus power, of the present. The mystery surrounding Berenger Sauniere and
Rennes-le-Chateau is certainly a powerful tale.
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Baigent, M., Leigh, R., & Lincoln, H. (2005). Holy Blood, Holy Grail.
(F. Miller, Ed.) New
York, NY: Delacorte Press.
Desart, E. (2005). Berenger Sauniere un homme et son secret.
(B. Q. Reynolds, Trans.)
Paris, France: Deux Encres Editions.
Sumption, J. (2000). The Albigensian Crusade.
London, England, UK: Faber and Faber
Limited.
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