François-Bérenger Saunière (11 April 1852 – 22 January 1917) was a French Catholic priest in the village of Rennes-le-Château, in the Aude region. He was a central figure in the conspiracy theories surrounding the village, which form the basis of several documentaries and books such as the 1982 The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln. Elements of these theories were later used by Dan Brown in his best-selling 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code, in which the fictional character Jacques Saunière is named after the priest.
Saunière served in Rennes-le-Château from 1885 until he was transferred to another village in 1909 by his bishop. He declined this nomination and subsequently resigned. From 1909 until his death in 1917, he was a non-stipendiary Free Priest (an independent priest without a parish, who did not receive any salary from the church because of suspension), and who from 1910 celebrated Mass at an altar constructed in a special conservatory by his Villa Bethania. Saunière's refusal to leave Rennes-le-Château to continue his priesthood in another parish incurred permanent suspension.Letter from Canon Huguet to Bérenger Saunière dated 22 January 1917, reproduced in contributions by Abbé Bruno de Monts published in Les Cahiers de Rennes-le-Château, Archives – Documents – Études, Number 11 (Éditions Bélisane, 1996). The epitaph on Saunière's original 1917 gravestone read "priest of Rennes-le-Château 1885-1917".
Early life François Bérenger Saunière was born on 11 April 1852 in Montazels, in the Arrondissement of Limoux of the Aude region. He was the eldest of seven children, having three brothers (Alfred, Martial, and Joseph) and three sisters (Mathilde, Adeline, and Marie-Louise). He was the son of Marguerite Hugues and Joseph Saunière (1823–1906), also called "cubié", who was the mayor of Montazels (Aude), managed the local flour mill, and was the steward of Marquis de Cazermajou's castle. Alfred became a priest; Joseph wanted to be a physician but died at 25. Saunière went to school at St. Louis in Limoux, entered the seminary in Carcassonne in 1874, and was ordained as a priest in June, 1879.
Ministry
From 16 July 1879 until 1882, Saunière was the vicar of Alet. From June 1882 to 1885, he was a priest in the deanery of the small village of Clat. He was a teacher in the seminary in Narbonne but, because he was undisciplined, on 1 June 1885 he was appointed to another small village of approximately 300 inhabitants, to Rennes-le-Château with its church dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene.
For preaching anti-republican sermons from his pulpit during the elections of October 1885, Saunière was suspended by the French Minister of Religion. Between 1 December 1885 and July 1886 he resumed lessons in the seminary of Narbonne. As the villagers wanted him back, the prefect of the Aude reinstated Saunière. Between 1890 and 1891 he also said Mass on Sundays in Antugnac. Marie Dénarnaud, his maidservant, moved into the Presbytery at Rennes-le-Château with her family in 1890.
Claims that Bérenger Saunière had an ambiguous relationship with his maidservant, Marie Dénarnaud, are without foundation. Saunière himself outlined the following principles for dealing with a maidservant:
Respect, but not familiarity. Not to permit her to talk about matters of his ministry. What you say to a servant should not be able to be said to other women. She must avoid excesses of language, and he must not trust in her age or her piety too easily. She is not to enter the bedroom when he is in bed, except in case of illnesses.Cited in Corbu & Captier, L'Héritage de l'Abbé Saunière, 1985, p. 71.
Mission 1891 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 Marseille" (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.
Church renovations
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.
Construction of the estate 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.
Ecclesiastical trials, punishment and suspension Saunière's renovation of his church and ostentatious construction programmes in a small hilltop village could not go unnoticed, and this attracted hostile reactions, with various complaints passed on by various sources to the Bishopric of Carcassonne. In 1899, Saunière purchased a clergymen's directory (Annuaire du clergé français) through which he contacted both priests and religious communities across France to solicit Mass requests. The bishopric had warned Saunière about his selling of Masses, and had sent him two written warnings in May 1901. These written warnings were repeated in June 1903 and August 1904.
Monsignor Paul-Félix Beuvain de Beauséjour was appointed the new Bishop of Carcassonne in 1902. He initially transferred Saunière to the village of Coustouge in January 1909. Saunière refused the nomination and resigned on 28 January 1909, becoming a free priest. Then on 27 May 1910 Monsignor Beauséjour decided to conduct an ecclesiastical investigation and drew up an official Bill of Indictment referring to:
Trafficking in Masses, Disobedience to the bishop, Exaggerated and unjustified expenditure to which fees from Masses that have not been said seem to have been devoted.
Saunière had to attend an ecclesiastical trial to answer these charges.
First two hearings Saunière did not attend the first hearing on 16 July 1910 nor on the rescheduled date 23 July when he was sentenced in his absence: he incurred a one-month suspension and was ordered to refund the money he had obtained from selling Masses. He also did not attend the second hearing on 23 August, but managed to attend on the rescheduled 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; this information was passed 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 at 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 193,050 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.
Third hearing 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. His 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.Bruno de Monts, Bérenger Saunière, curé à Rennes-le-Château 1885-1909 (Nice: Bélisane, 1989).
Later years
Following the ecclesiastical trial, Saunière lived the rest of his life in poverty, selling religious medals and rosaries to wounded soldiers who were stationed in Campagne-les-Bains.
Whatever money Saunière was still raising from selling Masses was used on his appeal to Rome that his lawyer, Abbé Jean-Eugène Huguet (doctor of canon law), was working on. In May 1914, Saunière planned to build a summer house, but abandoned the project because he could not afford the 2,500 francs required.