Sauniere's Altar Pillar

THE RENNES-LE-CHATEAU MARY MAGDALENE CHURCH ALTAR PILLAR + Sauniere's Missing Altar Pillar

Saunière's Mary Magdalene Church at Rennes-le-Chateau. View shows position of the Altar pillar in the church garden.

Parchment Discovery

The original Mary Magdalene altar support pillar seems to be, if the story is true, where everything began to change for Berenger Sauniere. Supposedly he discovered a small parchment or parchments, while carrying out repairs to the ancient altar.

July 27 - 1887. Sauniere employed some local workers to remove the stone altar so he could install a new one to fit in with the look he wanted to achieve in the church. It is not clear what happened next as the facts are as elusive as the fabled Holy Grail. It is said that in one of these pillars were found tubes of wood sealed with wax. The workers handed these tubes to the priest Sauniere and inside he found some parchments.

Another hypothesis is that while the church renovations were being carried out a glass vial was found by Antoine Captier the bell ringer. It had fallen out of a secret compartment in the wooden baluster, part of the pulpit that had been removed. The vial was handed to Sauniere who found it contained some parchments. Baluster Research HERE and Glass Vial Discovery HERE

There are some discrepancies in what , where and when Sauniere found something and I have covered this in more depth here: Rennes-le-Chateau Timeline - See dates 1886 - 1887 and 1891

Sauniere standing next to the Altar Pillar he had placed upside down in the church garden. A statue of 'our Lady of Lourdes' or Mary, stands on top.This photo shoes how it looked during Sauniere's era but it has changed now.

Garden Altar Pillar Changes

2 views of the 4 Towers on the building above the statue

The front right tower is now missing and a mirror mosaic pattern has been added behind the head of the statue to cause sunlight to reflect off of when it is at the right angle.

Sauniere's old Altar Pillar and the New Altar Pillar copy

The pillar top or cap stone dose not seem to be part of the original altar pillar and is something Sauniere probably had carved to adorn the top for a base to place the statue on.

It is not easy to see on the old pillar but the inscription reads PENITENCE! PENITENSE!

Old Inscription Close-up showing the 'S' of Penitense

New Inscription Close-up showing the 'S' of Penitense has now been changed to a 'C'

Note the deference between the two 'C's'

It is possible the 'S' could just be a trick of the light as PENITENSE does not seem to be a word and seems unlikely to be a spelling mistake. If it is not and Sauniere's purpose was to spell Penitence with an 'S' why? Is there an anagram hidden in the inscriptions on the altar and he needed an 'S' to use? if so I have not been able to find it.

Please feel free to Email me with any of your suggestions or comments at benhammott2@aol.com

Original Altar Pillar

Rennes-le-Chateau Musuem Altar

The original Altar pillar shown here is now on display in the Saunière Museum at Rennes-le-Chateau.

If you look at the images of the pillar on this page you will see that there appears to be no possible hiding place for the 2 or 5 parchments, reports vary on the number discovered, or any wooden tubes. The square shaped recess seen in the top, was once thought to have been the hiding place. This hole though is a recess for the stone lug that would have protruded from the underside of the altar top, or for the cement to hold the top securely in place. With the altar top now missing we have no way of knowing if the lug would have left any room for hiding anything. I am not convinced that this square hole ever concealed anything of importance to the mystery. The Altar top, which seems to have been a substantial piece of stone or marble, and thus quite heavy, must have been almost impossible for Bigou to have raised up on his own, and then place something underneath. Of course he may have had help from a fellow priest or one or more of his parishioners. Also it is believed that the design of the altar consisted of one side of the top cemented into the wall, the rest of its weight supported by two stone pillars. One of which still remains today. The where about's of the other is unknown.

So if no parchment was ever discovered in the altar why does this rumour persist? The pillar appears to date from Visigothic times by the carvings that cover all of its four sides. Sauniere, for reasons only known to him, had some of the details removed, smoothing the stone to add some inscriptions of his own. PENITENCE! PENITENCE! was carved on the top edge and 'MISSION 1891' along the bottom.

PENITENCE! PENITENCE! seems to commemorate the 8th apparition of the Virgin Mary by Bernadette, at nearby Lourdes, but this is spelt different, also there are three: PENANCE! PENANCE! PENANCE! This believes me to think that maybe Sauniere's inscription has another meaning.

The date '1891' is also significant in this mystery. It on this date Sauniere wrote in his diary, 'FOUND A TOMB'. It was also the year his relationship with his housekeeper Marie Dénarnaud began. They are rumoured to have become lovers in the following years. Marie would remain faithful to Sauniere her entire life, never seeming to reveal any of the secrets he confided in her.

If the pillar is turned the right way up, the date now reads '1681'.

Sauniere most have known the historic importance of this carved stone, yet he still defaces part of it. He then places it upside down in the Mary Magdalene church garden to suffer at the mercy of the wind and rain. He also placed a statue of the Virgin Mary on top. Did the carvings, he had removed, contain information that started the priest on his mysterious road to riches? Though it would be a few years before his spending spree begins, it all leads back to this specific moment. Maybe the carving/s he may have had removed were not originally part of the Visigothic design but added at a later date by a previous priest of the village. Bigou perhaps? This would have been easier to carry out by himself than to try and lift up the top. The carvings could have been on the side facing the wall and so away from prying eyes. if this is so then this information could then have led Sauniere to lift the large flagstone in front of the altar revealing the carved stone we know today as 'THE KNIGHTS STONE' or maybe to something else. This would explain the persisting story and importance of Sauniere finding something hidden in or on this altar.

The Knights Stone (Dalle du Chevalier)

The Knight's Stone

The Knights Stone (Dalle du Chevalier)

Sauniere's Missing Altar Pillar.

As mentioned above, the altar in Sauniere's church was originally supported by two stone pillars, but now only one remains. The second pillar has disappeared, but I think I may have found it. While visiting Boudet's old church in Rennes-le-Bains, I took a stroll around the graveyard to look at the old tomb stones. As I left the graveyard I happened to glance to my right and glimpsed something in the shadows of a large bush. Pulling back the branches I discovered an old stone pillar. On closer examination, matching in size and shape, it looked very similar to the one from Sauniere's church. But if so what is it doing here in Rennes-les-Bains by Boudet's church. We know he had an interest in stones and objects from around the area, he even hacked off a head from a stone in the hills and placed it in the presbytery wall, now missing. Perhaps he showed interest in this stone and Sauniere gave it to him. Sauniere already had the carved pillar so had no use for the plain pillar.

Stone Pillar situated outside the Rennes-les-Bains Graveyard

The pillar has suffered badly from being exposed to the elements over the years. No discernable carving remains. Maybe this pillar, unlike Sauniere's pillar, if it was ever in his church, had already suffered badly from the rain and weather entering through one of the supposedly many holes in the roof, before Sauniere ever arrived in the village. This may explain one of the reasons Saunière was so keen to carry out repairs or renew the altar. Perhaps when he first took possession of it some details of the carved decoration still remained. Later he might have defaced the information to keep it secret for some reason. Of course this is all speculation on my part It has been reported that only one of the pillars were decorated, the other was unadorned, this gives further credence to the Rennes-les-Bains pillar once having been in Sauniere's Mary Magdalene church.

(From 1908 timeline section)

"On 16 August 1908, members of the Societe d'Etudes Scientifiques de l'Aude make a second visit to Rennes-le-Chateau, having traveled through Rennes-les-Bains and Espéraza, they climb the hill to arrive at the village. Antoine Fagès, author of 'De Campagne les Bains a Rennes-le-Chateau' reports that he spoke with Saunière about the pillar on which stood the statue of the Lady of Lourdes, and Saunière told him the pillar was once part of the church altar. Saunière told Antione that the old altar was formed by a large stone slab recessed into the wall with its front supported by two stone pillars, one plain and the other decorated with carvings."

Two Pillars Comparison

The Complete Statue

Church Altar Top

Sauniere's Church Old Altar Top

Large Stone Slab in front of the Garden Altar Pillar

It is very likely that the old stone slab in front of the Altar pillar in the garden is the missing Altar top from the Mary Magdalene church. It would certainly be big enough and I assume Sauniere had the the inscription carved on it.

THE RENNES-LE-CHATEAU MARY MAGDALENE CHURCH ALTAR PILLAR + Sauniere's Missing Altar Pillar

Sauniere's Missing Altar Pillar.

RENNES LE CHATEAU, Research and Discoveries by Ben Hammott -THE RENNES-LE-CHATEAU MARY MAGDALENE CHURCH ALTAR PILLAR