At the end of the 19th century, in the tiny French village of Rennes-le-Château, untold treasures were found that once belonged to the priest Beranger Sauniere. From 1891 to 1917, this man spent more than one and a half billion francs, but his wealth did not run out. Why? Almost everyone who tried to find an explanation for this died a painful death …
A strange choice
On June 1, 1885, 33-year-old Beranger Sauniere appeared in a small parish of Rennes-le-Chateau. He brilliantly graduated from seminary, but abandoned the career of a clergyman, and went to a village nestled at the foot of the Eastern Pyrenees, with a population of only 200 people. True, the Church of St. Magdalene entrusted to him had long been dilapidated, but it was still somehow possible to hold services in it.
At that time, the salaries of the clergy were paid by the state, but once Saunière delivered a sermon, which the authorities considered untimely, put him on the "black list" and deprived of his monetary allowance. Now the priest was forced to earn his living by hunting and fishing. Nevertheless, he … hired a maid, Marie Denarneau!
Apparently, these two people, so different in character and education, were connected by some kind of secret. And even when Sauniere suddenly began to swim in luxury, he did not think to part with Marie. And she, in turn, even in her declining years, exhausted by diseases, did not reveal this secret that binds them.
Fortunately, a certain Abbot Pons bequeathed 600 francs to the parish of Rennes-le-Chateau, and in 1888, thanks to this modest gift, Saunière was able to begin the most necessary repairs in the temple. The local municipality also gave money for the restoration.
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With coils from the past
At the end of 1891, workers began to repair the church altar, which rested on two very ancient pillars decorated with fine carvings in the form of crosses and mysterious letters. The restorers were in for a surprise: one of the pillars turned out to be hollow, and Sauniere removed four wooden pipes from it, the ends of which were sealed with wax! Moreover, the wax bore impressions of some strange seals. The tubes were immediately opened, and parchment scrolls fell out of them, on which three genealogical trees were depicted and a Latin text was written.
At first glance, the text seemed meaningless, and only a very attentive reader could notice that some letters in the text rose slightly above others. If you read only them, you get phrases: “This treasure belongs to King Dagobert II and Zion. To those who encroached on the treasure - death! The case went public, but Saunière convinced the local authorities to sell the mysterious pipes to antique dealers in Paris. The municipality dispatched the enterprising curé there, paying all his expenses.
Apparently, Beranger Saunière realized that information about the treasures of some secret order was hidden in the scrolls, and decided to decipher it. Arriving at the place, he went to the head of the seminary in Saint-Sulpice, Abbot Biel, a specialist in the field of linguistics, cryptography and paleography, and also visited the Louvre, where he ordered copies of three paintings: "Arcadian Shepherds" by Poussin, "The Temptation of St. Anthony" by Teniers and a portrait of Pope Celestine V by an unknown artist.
For some reason, Abbot Biel did not return the scrolls to Sauniere (however, the curé managed to copy them just in case), and he had to somehow explain this loss to the local authorities. And soon he visited the bishop in Carcassonne (the town closest to Rennes-le-Chateau) and after talking with him, not only was he not punished for the lost scrolls, but also received 2000 francs for his labors! Apparently, he shared some information with the bishop.
This place is awful
Continuing the restoration of the church, the curé soon removed from the underground a carved slab dating back to the 7th or 8th century and possibly covering the old crypt. Then he found the grave of the Marquise Marie d'Hautepoul de Blanchefort, who died about 100 years ago, at the local cemetery. On her headstone one could make out the inscription, which the curé immediately destroyed!
Accompanied by his faithful maid, Marie, the curé went around the neighborhood in search of other tombstones. They say he was looking for some mysterious inscriptions on them. Soon, the priest began to travel to different countries, after which large money transfers began to come from there to the name of his maid Marie. After that, the holy father began to literally waste money and, explaining this by the fact that he had received an inheritance.
As it turned out after his death, these expenses were estimated at millions of francs! True, part of the money was used to improve the village and help its poorest residents. And above the portico of the church, by order of the priest, an inscription in Latin was engraved: "This place is terrible." The church itself was completely rebuilt.
All work was completed in 1897, it was consecrated by Bishop Billard of Carcassonne, although, it would seem, he should not have done this. Indeed, as soon as a person went inside, he was immediately seized by a vague anxiety!
In addition, the sprinkler was supported by an ugly bronze imp, and when the eyes grew accustomed to the twilight, an image of a whole crowd of ugly creatures appeared on the walls, frozen in obscene poses, painted in bright colors and staring at the guests with a chilling gaze. However, no matter what Saunière did, he always met the support of the highest church authorities.
Doesn't need communion …
Having restored the church, the priest continued to waste money. For example, he built a three-storey cogwheel tower on top of a mountain, built a huge villa for himself, and laid out a wonderful park with a reservoir. He bought rare Chinese things, expensive fabrics, antique marble figurines, and collected an excellent library.
In his villa, the priest arranged banquets for parishioners, at which he presented expensive gifts to all those present. On January 17, 1917, Sauniere was struck. A priest from a neighboring parish was invited to him, who, after a conversation with the dying man, said that he did not need the last communion … In his will, Sauniere announced that he did not have a centime for his soul.
However, his faithful servant Marie continued to live in the owner's villa on a grand scale until 1946, and only the monetary reform ruined her. In 1953, she, like Beranger Sauniere, suffered a stroke, and soon she died. However, before her death, the woman managed to say something to her brother Noel Corby. According to her, the ancient parchment found under the altar contained encrypted information about the location of the treasure, and the key to the secret was the painting “Arcadian Shepherds”.
The painting depicts three shepherds and a shepherdess, who, surrounding an old grave, contemplate on it an obscure inscription in Latin, and in the background there is a mountain landscape born of the artist's imagination. So, in 1970, ten kilometers from Rennes-le-Chateau, near the village of Arcs, a grave was found identical to the one that the shepherds in the picture are examining. When the grave was opened, it turned out to be empty …
A mystery that takes lives
In 1956, René Decadeyat, curator of the Carcassonne library, with several enthusiasts undertook excavations in the church of Rennes-le-Château, in front of the main altar, where they found a lot of curiosities. For example, the skull of a man with a chopped wound, and in the garden of Saunière's house - the bodies of three men with gunshot wounds.
Monsieur Noël Corbu, the last owner of the estate and the papers of Beranger Saunière, was killed in a car accident in 1968.
Mullah Fakhar-ul-Islam, who was also eager to unravel the secret of the treasures of Rennes-le-Chateau, was found disfigured on the railroad in 1967.
Less than a month later, Monsignor Boyer, chief vicar of the bishopric of Carcassonne, who was very, very interested in the mystery of Saunière's treasures, was seriously injured in a car accident. The mournful list of victims continues to this day. But, despite the unflagging attention to the secrets of Saunière's curé, one thing is certain: it is dangerous to show heightened interest in this matter …