Mary Magdalene

The words in brackets are missing from the scroll and have been guessed at. But no matter for it seems that Jesus kissed her somewhere that made the disciples jealous.

It is important to note that there is no mention of Mary Magdalene's being favoured in this way in the synoptic Gospels.

Note

1 This incident is depicted as a stained glass window in Rennes le Chateau church and is also the theme of the second (shepherdess) parchment.

Stained glass window depicting Mary of Bethany anointing the feet of Jesus. This story is depicted in the large Shepherdess parchment text.

It has been assumed that Mary of Bethany is Mary Magdalene although this has been by no means accepted by all scholars of theology.

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The Village of Brenac

Here is painting by unknown artist that used to feature in Brenac church of a penitent Mary Magdalene kneeling and praying to another rugged cross, accompanied by scroll and skull and spikenard vessel (or perhaps a vessel containing ashes). The hills in the background are particularly distinctive.

A church where Sulpicions are traditionally buried which is resplendent in imagery.

Now look at this

As the game goes - Say what you see!

Left to right

A chateau - Rennes le Chateau?

In front of this on the same ridge, a tower with wall to the right? - La tour Magdala?

An Arch in the background? - Arques?

Blue and white conical hill behind the flat ridge but in front of the Arch? - Cardou?

A line drawn on a map that leaves Rennes le Chateau to the left, Arques in the middle and Cardou to the right extends to the west through Brenac Church. In other words this frieze under the altar in Saunière's church of Saint Marie Madeleine could be a theoretical view from a cave that is situated at Brenac showing a Golden Dawn emerging from behind the Arch.

It is worth noting that, despite the distance (just under 10km), Brenac church can be clearly seen from Rennes le Chateau and vice versa. We're told that Saunière made many visits to this church and after consulting a retired priest from there apparantly turned his attention to Perillos to the east of Rennes near to Perpignan. However it is worth noting that this line drawn from Brenac church to Arques is at an angle of 23.5 degrees from due east i.e. The tilt angle of the earth.

Brenac is a village just off the road from Quillan to Montsegur. The village was formerly known as Bernacum and is at the foot of the plate of Nebias which encompasses the commune of hamlets comprising of Fauruc, Lasserre, Monsec and Prax. The name Brenac is probably of Gallo-Roman origins. The Chapter of Narbonne holds the title deeds to it in the 9th century and there is mention of the village, as Bernacum, in 870, in the cartulary of St Just. The Chapter of Narbonne (St Just) then equipped the place as a stronghold and this was done by royal approval.

Its history dates back to prehistoric times, as several remains continue to testify. In the 11th century, the church was built and the old remains of this church are visible in the current church, which has since then been altered numerous times. The village suffered during the Cathar crusade, as well as the religious wars that occurred in the 16th century. The chronicle states that virtually everything had to be rebuilt. The church also had to be repaired. It would suffer again during the French Revolution, but unlike others in the area, was not destroyed.

There exists a persistent rumour linking this village with the village of Rennes-le-Château which wont go away. Both villages were close to one another and throughout recent times at least, priests from each village would definitely occasionally meet, either socially or officially; indeed Saunière mentions such visits in his diary. However just outside the village are the remains of a small insulated vault (it can be reached by car), which is a Visigothic oratory and is listed as under the protection of St Anthony. There are many points, all around Brenac, where this vault could have been built, but from this specific point the village of Rennes-le-Château can be clearly seen. There appears to be a natural alignment between these two sites – and seems to suggest some intention on the part of our early ancestors. However there is another site, near Brenac, that has attracted the attention of vandals and has been violated in the hope of discovering the famous treasure of the Razès in that location. No treasure has been found and the site had to be carefully protected from further destruction by treasure hunters.

There was a former priest of Brenac called Capel who was curé in 1793. We know that the priest of Rennes-le-Château, Bigou, went to Spain to flee the French Revolution, there is some speculation that the priest of Brenac went with him?

In the early 19th century, the church was in a sorry state. In 1809, Mgr. de Laporte, bishop of Carcassonne, worried about the maintenance of the building. However it would be 1837 before any work was carried out. An entry porch was added and to the left and right, two side chapels were created.
In 1843, beautiful but strange frescoes were added to panels in the ceiling. They have been listed in the Historic buildings inventory since April 9, 1987 (as was the bell dating from 1646). In some ways this church is decorated better than the St Marie Madeleine church in Rennes le Chateau.

The church is under the protection of St Julien and St Basilisse, both saints that lived in the 4th century and were martyrs in Antioch. In the county of the Razès we find the churches of Especel, Magrie and Villar-Saint-Andre also under their patronage. In Brenac, the celebrations in their honour occur on January 19, the day of St Marius, but before, it was the feast of St Germanique. The following day, January 20, masses were said for the dead.

One priest of Brenac is worth special mention, he is François Courtade. Born in 1820, he attended the great seminar of Carcassonne. He was named priest of Brenac on May 10, 1848, where he would remain for the next 40 years – until the time when a young Beringer Saunière arrived at Rennes-le-Chateau as curé. He was the great nephew of Felix Armand, who was famous for having made tunnels in the region. François Courtade was also an experienced sculptor and painter, he may well have painted the Mary Magdalene picture shown above. The village still has the statue of former bishop Petrus Amelius, residing on top of the fountain near the church, inaugurated in 1878 it was sculptured by Courtade. Petrus Amelius (Pierre Amiel) was a former native of Brenac and he was connected with the Avignon popes and specifically involved in the return of the Holy See to Rome at the time of Gregory XI. Amiel’s career began around 1365 and lasted up to his death in 1401. He was the patriarch of Raden and Alexandria, a position he received in 1386 and which he held until 1391.

Saunière is reported to have consulted Courtade before turning his attention to Perillos.

Last but not least it is worth a mention that at the beginning of the 17th century there was yet another enigmatic figure, Polycarpe de la Rivière, who showed a more than normal interest in the history of Brenac. Too strong an interest, it seems, as his work on the history was forbidden by the Church authorities.
His prohibited work was written in 1638 and entitled “Histoire de la ville d’Avignon”. What is so strange about the history of this town that it required the intervention of the Vatican. But could it have been something that Amiel, in his privileged position as papal librarian, was also aware of? Amiel was of course part of that history for Polycarpe.

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Careful close scrutiny of the Magdalene frieze under the altar reveals some interesting hypotheses. One of the things that is usually overlooked is the twin pillars either side of The Magdalene that symbolically hold up the Arch and the altar, but remembering the original story of how Saunière supposedly found his parchments in a cracked pillar. What is pretty clear is that no cracked pillars have been found so perhaps the story is allegorical. For indeed the story of a weeping virgin in front of a cracked pillar reading from a book has significant meaning in masonic circles and indeed the black and white chequered flooring of the church and the two pillars seems to reinforce this view. Remember of course that underneath this frieze there used to be the phrase (found also on the parchment):

JÉSU . MEDÈLA . VULNÉRUM + SPES . UNA . PŒNITENTIUM

PER . MAGDALÀNÆ . LACRYMAS + PECCATA . NOSTRA . DILUAS

"Jesus, cures wounds + hope at the same time pays the penalty,

by Magdalene's tears + dilute our errors." 

Note: For some reason this phrase under the altar was destroyed by a vandal in the 1970s, perhaps this interpretation was the reason why.

On the left is the masonic depiction of the weeping virgin (Virgo) holding the sprig of acacia and chalice and reading from an open book, whilst at her back stands father time teasing out the ringlets of her hair. At her feet is the broken pillar of Solomon's Temple.

"Masonry still retains among its emblems one of a woman weeping over a broken column, holding in her hand a branch of acacia, myrtle, or tamarisk, while Time, we are told, stands behind her combing out the ringlets of her hair. We need not repeat the vapid and trivial explanation... given, of this representation of Isis, weeping at Byblos, over the column torn from the palace of the King, that contained the body of Osiris, while Horus, the God of Time, pours ambrosia on her hair."

Illustrious Albert Pike 33°
Morals and Dogma, page 379

"The broken column denotes the untimely death of our Grand Master Hiram Abiff; the beautiful Virgin, weeping, denotes the Temple, unfinished; the book open before her, that his virtues there lie on perpetual record; the sprig of acacia in her right hand, the timely discovery of his body; the urn in her left, that his ashes were there safely deposited to perpetuate the remembrance of so distinguished a character; and Time standing behind her unfolding the ringlets of her hair denotes that time, patience and perseverance will accomplish all things..."

Master Mason Initiation Lecture

 

The Talmud associates the word 'Magdala' with 'The curling of a woman's hair'

You will of course notice the very long curly her of 'The Magdalene' featured in Saunière's altar frieze.

This altar frieze of Saunière's  is compelling in its allegorical references. You'll remember that the second Shepherdess parchment features a crude drawing.

Is this crude drawing surrounded by the word NOIS the 'Green Heart' cross featured in the frieze? The legend of the 'Green Heart' is purely a French story, it stems from the legend of her sarcophagus found in her supposed crypt at Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume. Bernardo Gui, Dominican grand inquisitor and ruthless slaughterer of the Cathars, found a sweet spicy fragrance coming from a tomb and on inspection found the remains of a woman with a Green Shoot emanating from her tongue. This unlikely tale is rich in allegorical significance. Was Gui led there by a Cathar under torture? Is this woman indeed 'The Daughter of Zion', the tower of the Flock (Migdal-Eder) as described by the Prophet Micah? One is reminded of the Abbey de Notre Dame du Mont de Sion described as the 'Mother of All Churches': who is the Notre Dame (Our Lady) here? Well some people say that this Abbey was occupied by a chapter of Augustine monks that had assumed the title of 'Sainte-Marie du Mont Syon et du Sainte-Esprit; Holy Mary of Sion and of the Holy Spirit. Since when has the Blessed Virgin been known as Holy Mary of Sion? This can only be referring to one person. 

Certainly the legend of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume would have been known by Saunière and his parishioners, he would have ignored these legends at his peril.  Particularly when there is a church just north of Rennes le Chateau in the town of Limoux that is steeped in this legend and was referred to by the Abbé Boudet in his book La Vraie Langue Celtique et le Cromleck du Rennes-les-Bains. The church is called Notre Dame d'Marseilles; and also known as the Black Madonna of Limoux

The legend says that Mary Magdalene and others landed at Marseilles (Marsilla)