Pamphlet from St. Mary Magdalen church
Welcome to St. Mary Magdalen Church.
By 1646, when a significant restoration was done to the building, a church had stood on this site for centuries. When Abbé Berenger Saunière arrived in 1885 the church was once again in serious desrepair. During early labours a discovery was made under the altar stone - a discovery which led to great wealth for the Abbé. The story of Saunière can be found at the Rennes-le-Château museum and in many books. By the end of his life, Saunière had restored the church in a colourful, expensive and unhortodox manner of his own design. Some feel he may have hidden clues to the secret of his wealth in the church decorations.
The sunlight phenomenon
On July 22nd of each year, the feast day of St. Mary Magdalen, if one stands at the church at dawn and turns towards Chateau de Blanchefort, the sun will rise directly over the ruins, forming a straight line between the two. There are those who claim that the alignment and consacration of this site, and others in the valley, were plotted long ago, perhaps even by the early Celtic inhabitants.
#1: The devil and the four angels
The devil in the church draws as much attention as all the other elements combined. What was Abbé Saunière's purpose? Some have linked the devil to the demon Asmodeus, others to the Cathar idea of Rex Mundi, King of the World. Some tie him to the 'armchair of the devil' nearby, still others to Satan himself as the sign above proclaims 'by this sign you shall conquer him'. The Latin on the four angels, 'par ce signe tu vaincrais' can be translated as 'by this sign you shall conquer him/it' or 'by this sign shall you win him/it'. The four angels themselves are a classic Catholic motif, showing the positions of the hands during genuflection but to some secret direction or shape.
#2: St. Roch
St. Roch, along with St. Germaine, is one of two regional saints in the church. Roch was the son of a governor of Montpellier. He went to Rome and cared for plague victims, curing many miraculously. He is invoked against pestilence and is the patron saint of invalids.
#3: St. Mary Magdalen
The Magdalen statue is depicted with a cross made of branches, the silver vase of healing balm with which she washed Jesus' feet, and a SKULL at the saint's feet. The oddity of this statue lies in the unusual juxtaposition of Magdalen and the skull, a relationship uncommon in religious art. Interestingly, there are three other Magdalen statues with skulls in three other churches in the area: ST: JUST ET LE BEZU, BUGARACH, AND COUSTAUSSA.
#4: St. Anthony of Padua
St. Anthony of Padua was a Franciscan monk who focused his ministry on heretics. The statue depicts a vision he had of the infant Christ; the lily represents purity. In keeping with his conversion of the heretics, he is the patron saint of lost items.
#5: St. Joseph and the Virgin
Behind the altar can be seen the holy family, St. Joseph with infant ant the Virgin with infant. Some have speculated on the oddity of there being two infants depicted between the saints instead of one.
#6: St. Mary Magdalen altar
The altar repeats elements found in the Magdalen statue and adds new ones. The Magdalen appears to be in a cave. At her knees is a skull and she gazes fixedly upon a slight cross made from branches. But on this cross one can see a new, living twig growing forth. Could this refer to the living offshoot of Christianity or...?
#7: St. Anthony the Hermit (l'ermite)
St. Anthony with a book and a staff. St. Anthony, c. 468 A.D., longed for a life of quiet meditation. But he was forced to move to ever more remote locales to escape his growing followers. He finally fled to Lerins, Gaul (also in the Languedoc) and there he died.
#8: St. Germaine
Germaine is a local saint, from Pibrac, France. Her stepmother starved her, beat her, and forced her to live with the sheep. Despite this cruelty and increasing illness, Germaine remained loving and prayerful. The statue depicts an incident in which Germaine was caught by her stepmother smuggling something in her apron. The mother grabbed at the apron and found it contained flowers though it was the dead of winter. Germaine claimed they were from God. She is the patron saint of abused children and poverty.
#9: St. John the Baptist and Jesus
Jesus, as he's being anointed by his cousin the Baptist, gazes placidly downward.
#10: The Sermon on the Mount
Crowning the apse is the large bas-relief of the Beatitudes sermon, the sermon of the mount. Many have pointed out the incongruity of the bag of gold and the roses strew on the hill.
#11 The Church Floor
The black and white alternating squares of the church floor have been much debated. Some have linked the tiles to the heretic Cathar notion of duality. Though Saunière would have been familiar with Cathar beliefs, there's no reason to assume that he himself expounded them.
Last update: October 24, 2007