The first decoding of the
largest of the two parchments is given away in 1978 by Franck Marie in
his "Etude Critique". It is taken up again in 1991 by Henry Lincoln in
"Le Message" where the author specifies in particular the solution was
communicated to him by Gérard de Sède. The document was decrypted on the
basis of certain anomalies inscribed on the stela of the marquise de
Blanchefort enabling to compose the keyword "Mortépée" and by using the
table of Vigenère many times. The final result, obtained by the knight’s
leap, is a perfect anagram of the epitaph increased by the Latin words "prae
cum". Since then, needed it be concluded the link existing between the
stela and the great manuscript is prior to a presumed discovery of the
latter in the church? For answering this question, the chronology of
facts should be collected.
Since the first writings reporting Bérenger Saunière’s story, the
majority of the authors claim the curate of
Rennes-le-Château went to
Paris on the advice of his bishop Mgr Billard to entrust the
manuscripts’ decoding to religious experts.
In pages 55-60 of "L’Héritage de l’Abbé Saunière", Claire Corbu and
Antoine Captier present a text telling the old curate’s adventures. This
story recorded on a magnetic tape, is distributed in the years 1955/56
by the narrator Noël Corbu to the visitors of his restaurant "La Tour".
In this text the priest’s trip to the capital is evoked for the first
time. In his account, the restaurant owner puts this voyage shortly
after the discovery of manuscripts done by Bérenger Saunière in his
church during the change of the altar in February 1892.
(1) Noël Corbu
however specifies there exists no confirmation of this voyage.
In his work, "L’Or de Rennes" published in 1967, Gérard de Sède fixes
this same episode to the beginning of the year 1893. Twenty years later,
in "Rennes-le-Château, le Dossier, les Impostures, les Phantasmes, les
Hypothèses", the same author writes:
«But this was most
enigmatic about the voyage of Bérenger Saunière to Paris, that we
believe may have occurred during summer 1891, …».
Jean-Luc Chaumeil, as for
him, specifies the curate’s departure for Paris in March 1892 in "Le
Trésor des Templiers".
It’s so clear this hypothetical event of Abbé Saunière’s life (there is
no proof), is surrounded by the greatest historical vagueness. Never
mind! All these informers agree to say, on the return from Rennes-le-Château,
the priest brings back in his luggage the message,
"BERGERE PAS DE
TENTATION QUE POUSSIN TENIERS GARDENT LA CLEF PAX DCLXXXI PAR LA CROIX
ET CE CHEVAL DE DIEU J’ACHEVE CE DAEMON DE GARDIEN A MIDI POMMES BLEUES".
However, I’m challenged by the end of this phrase "at midday
blue
apples".
(Blue Apples at Midday)
Photo taken at 12:45pm in the church at Rennes le Chateau
on 17 January 2005
In Sainte Marie-Madeleine church, during sunny January days, at true
noon, a light phenomenon appears. The rays of the sun, then low over the
horizon, penetrate a stained glass in the church’s south wall and
project on the opposite side a tree, moving from left to right, and
among its fruits "three
blue apples" stand out. Arrived to its right
end, the effect finishing its movement disappears suddenly.
What should be known about the stained glasses?
In page 73 of their common work, Claire Corbu and Antoine Captier point
out:
«In 1887, he (Abbé
Saunière) orders the stained glasses from the house of Henri Feur(2)
at Bordeaux, …».
René Descadeillas in his "Mythologie
du Trésor de Rennes", page 17 also said:
«At the same time (in
1887), the abbé was occupied with replacing the stained glasses. »
Pierre Jarnac wrote in page
143 of his "Histoire du Trésor de Rennes-le-Château" :
«On the 30th September
1887, the house of Henri Feur delivers a bill of 1350 francs for the
stained glasses placed in the choir and nave. »
In "Le Fabuleux
Trésor de Rennes-le-Château" page 77, Jacques Rivière brings some
additional details:
«The magnificent stained glasses today
decorating the church were put in by the firm of Henri Feur at
Bordeaux, the painter and glass maker placed his work in September
1887 and delivered a bill of 1350 frs. »
These authors, relying on
all of the curate’s personal documents, seem unanimous in placing the
order for the stained glasses in 1887.
At its meeting of the 8th April 1888, the Factory Committee registers an
outlay in the sum of 2478 francs "for paying the repairs made in our
church during the year 1887". Besides, without knowing the curate’s
debt, we know he often used the spreading of payments for his bills.
Sometimes he even awaited a pestering letter from certain creditors.
Concerning the stained glasses, two documents were published:
a state of
payments of Abbé Saunière to Henri Feur with a last payment of 309.70
francs for balance of entire account (C. Corbu-A. Captier, "L’Héritage"
page 89), and
a duplicate of 1905 for receiving 4 payments made by Abbé
Saunière for the sum of 1350 francs, the first occurring on the 30th
September 1887 (J. Rivière, "Le Fabuleux Trésor" page 76).
All this evidence tends to show in 1887
Bérenger Saunière made a first
payment to the painter and glass maker for the installment of one and
the same order of the set of stained glasses than he then balanced with
3 more payments on the 12th April 1897, the 26th April 1899 and the 7th
January 1900, i. e. as his finances were permitting to honour his initial
order.
Villa Béthanie, built over many years, is a significant example.
In this sense, Abbé Saunière brings a determining element since he
specifies himself in the speech given in honour of Mgr Billard come to
visit Rennes-le-Château at Whitsun 1897:
«Since your last visit
(July 1889), in the shrine, two new windows, decorated with rich
stained glasses, continue to reproduce the principal events of the
life of our illustrious Patron have been added to our beautiful rose
window and so give more regularity and light to the essential part
of the house of God. »
However, if an order made in
1887 concerns the stained glasses of the shrine, one of them (the
resurrection of Lazarus) produces the phenomenon of three
blue apples.
In this case, it appears doubtful the priest returned from a trip to
Paris in 1891, 1892 or 1893 provided with a decoding of the manuscript
meaning the same light effect! This detail could confirm the manuscripts
and their messages were elaborated a little before the era when they
appear literarily!
The debate is open…
Patrick Mensior
(1)
The change of
the altar indeed took place in July 1887, a discovery of the
document(s) was really made in the baluster during the disassembling
of the old pulpit in 1889.
(2)
Pierre Henri Feur is born on the 18th July 1837 at
Bordeaux. First pupil of Joseph Villiet, he becomes his collaborator
then his successor on the 15th August 1877. He dies on the 18th May
1925. Many years before, his son Marcel had taken over the company.
