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Home arrow Theories arrow Rennes le Chateau arrow The church restoration - an amazing discovery
The church restoration - an amazing discovery PDF Print E-mail
Saunière found three wooden tubes sealed tight with wax. He opened them and found inside a number of parchments.

A short while later while repairing a large flagstone in front of the altar, the workmen found a clay pot packed full of ancient gold coins, a very fine Visigothic necklace and bracelet and a 13th Century gold chalice.

An ancient carving was revealed on the underside of the flagstone. Experts have since confirmed that the stone dates to the Visigothic or Carolingian period. It has two carved panels one of which is very worn. The panel on the left shows a man bearing a sword drawn about to mount a horse while the right panel appears to show a man with sword drawn on horseback with possibly a child on the horse with him.

In addition to these finds, a number of skeletons were discovered interred under the stone and one skull in particular showed signs that it had a ritualistic hole drilled into it.

After a certain amount of restoration had taken place, whilst descending from the bells, a bell-ringer noticed something glinting in the wooden pillar at the foot of the stairs. On closer inspection it emerged to be a small glass phial inside which was a tightly rolled scrap of paper. He quickly took his find to Saunière who almost immediately began excavations within the church. Holes were dug in the Aisle, Nave and the Transept.

By the year 1893, Saunière was obviously unable to have deciphered the parchments and decided that help was needed. His bishop in Carcassonne at that time was Félix Arsène Billard who suggested that he take them to Paris where he knew of some priests who were well versed in such matters. To Saunière's surprise the bishop even paid his fare.

Having handed over the documents, he returned on the appointed day to hear the verdict on his discovery. It appears that whatever was discovered, the priests' superiors were not willing to part with all the information they had uncovered.

Although we have no evidence of what transpired between the two men, it is obvious that Saunière managed to extract something from Bieil because no sooner had he returned home than he apparently became rich beyond quantifiable measure.

Saunière had changed from a poor priest to a millionaire. He incredibly made the following purchases:

The complete restoration the church began, including help from the most skilled craftsmen in the region to create statues and carve intricate stonework.

Saunière had a luxurious villa built, with spectacular landscaped tropical gardens.

He built a gothic tower in which he housed his impressive library. Books were purchased from far and wide and he even appointed a professional bookbinder to work for him full time.

He bought a collection of 1000 postcards and another of 100,000 stamps. · Saunière filled his garden with exotic animals.

He imported wines and spirits from all over the word and entertained lavishly.

To the poorest families in the region he gave sums of between 10,000F and 15,000F, an absolute fortune in those days. considering the estimate of just 4,500 F for the construction of an entirely new church.

It is estimated that from the moment he came into his fortune to the end of his life he spent somewhere in the realm of 15-24 Million Gold Francs of the day.

At the start of the 1914-18 war years, Saunière began to experience a change in his fortunes. This was not due to his money had running out, but because he was prevented from crossing international boundaries to conduct his banking affairs. His funds began to dry up and he was obliged to sell off some of his assets. However, completely unruffled by his apparent predicament, he began in 1917, to lay down even more elaborate and ambitious plans for the construction of new buildings.

On the 5th of January 1917 he signed a contract with a builder for the sum of 8 Million Francs, an amazing amount in today's money that would be equivalent to tens of millions of Pounds Sterling.

Sadly on the 17th of January Saunière fell victim to a stroke. Close to death he asked for his old friend the Abbé Rivière from the nearby town of Esperaza to read his last rites and hear his confession.

Despite the fact that the two men had known each other all their lives, Rivière left the dying man's bedside with a look of shock and terror on his face. It was as though he had been in the presence of the Devil himself, and it is said that he became a recluse after that day, never smiling again.

Whatever Saunière's final words were, it left a terrible mark upon him and the rest of us who are eager to learn his secret.

Saunière's estate passed on to Marie Denarnaud, his long time housekeeper and lover. It was around about this time that the French government were having problems with black marketing and in order to put paid to this practice they came up with the idea of issuing new currency.

It was announced that the old banknotes would no longer be legal tender after a certain date and that anyone wishing to exchange their old notes for new should take them to their local bank. This posed a problem to anyone in the possession of large amounts of money, who would then have to explain to the authorities where this money came from. This was the case for Marie Denarnaud. Her solution to the problem, rather oddly or perhaps rather bravely, was to burn the lot.

Shortly following Saunière's death, neighbours reported that she had been seen in the garden throwing heaps of banknotes onto a bonfire.

In her old age she called in a family by the name of Corbu to look after her. She often told them "You are walking on gold" and she also promised that one day they would have more money than they could ever hope to spend. The Corbu family believed that upon her deathbed she would pass on some form of wealth to them.

Unfortunately Marie too fell victim to a stroke that prevented her from speaking. The result was that whatever secrets she knew went to the grave with her.
 
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