Alfred Sauniere
 

  • Jean Marie Alfred Saunière.

  • Berenger's brother was a jesuit, but he would have had an eventful life…

  • He was born in Montazels in 1855.

  • He was ordained as a priest in 1878 and was appointed as a curate in Alzonne.

  • He was a Jesuit. After 1879, he was a teacher in the Compagnie de Jesus (The Fellowship of Jesus).

  • In 1893, he was a teacher at the Petit Seminaire (the Small Seminary) in Narbonne.

  • He was a chaplain in the youth fellowship in Narbonne in 1897.

  • It is said he was in a relationship with Marchioness de Bozas and Marie Emilie Salière.

  • He was sent away from the Chefdebien de Zagariga’s house where he used to be a private tutor.

  • He died in Montazels in september 09 1905.

     

 

 

 

 

Marie Denarnaud
 

She was born on August 12th 1868 in Esperaza. Her parents were Guillaume (04/21/1840-01/28/1930) and Alexandrine Marre (1844-06/19/1928).
She had 3 brothers :

Barthélémy (1872-12/23/1944)
Antoine Dieudonné (12/12/1878-12/24/1878)
Jean (10/12/1881-10/13/1881)

She had a foster sister Julie Fons. She was a hatter in Esperaza. She became Saunière’s faithful servant in 1891. It is said she knew his secret. She owned the whole domain. When he died ,she was left penniless and she had to sell her domain in return for a life annuity to Noel Corbu. She died on January 29th 1953 and she never told anything about the priest’s secret. The villagers called her " the priest’s madonna ".

 

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Ruin of the house of the Denarnaud

 


 


 

 

 

Emma Calve
 

Rosa Emma Calvet. She was a famous singer. She loved Hinduism and occultism. In 1894, she bought the castle of Cabrières, near Millau.
 


 

Emma Calve, Superieur Inconnu

For a long time now there have been many authors who have explored the hypotheses that Emma Calve was a member of esoteric groups or secret society. In this document made in Paris on November 11th, 1892, at the cabaret "chat noir", we can see the sign of Emma Calve, just before one sign of SI, Supérieur Inconnu, the third degree of the Martinist Order.

Document exclusif

Among all the signatures, we can see also the one of Camille Flammarion

and also the one of Stanislas de Gaïta

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Father Boudet
 

Jean Jacques Henri Boudet was born on 16/11/1837 in Quillan. He entered the seminary in Carcassonne and got a degree in english. He was ordained as a priest on December 25th 1861. He was the priest of Rennes les Bains (447 inhabitants) from 1872 to 1914. He was a scholar who mastered perfectly greek, latin, english and saxon.

He succeeded Jean Vié. It is said that he saw very much Father Saunière .His behaviour raised questions. He changed the date of the death of Jean Vié on his tombstone. In the cemetery 2 graves bear the same name: Count Paul Urbain de Fleury (Marchionness of Blanchefort’s grandson).

He was buried in Axat, and his grave is also strange : there are the figures 31OXI… As he had written a small book it could mean 310pages and chapter, or page 11.

We can’t exactly know what part he played in the story. There were many rumours. Some said he was the instigator of the whole story ,said he brought Saunière’s wealth… His accounts book shows he has given 3 679 431 francs.

His book The true celtic langage and Rennes les Bains’s megalith was published in 1886. Its 310 pages are quite crazy and full of paradoxes : The publisher François Pomies wrote the date 1886,now,Pomies publications closed in 1880 !!!

Moreover, there was only one edition of this book, but 2 versions of the map inside,one was made by Edmond Boudet, a lawyer in Axat who was the priest’s brother.

P.U de Fleury's tomb

Jean Vie's tomb

 

Tombs nowadays

P.U de Fleury

l'abbé Jean V


 




 

Father Gélis
 

Jean Antoine Maurice Gélis was born on April 1827 in Villesequelandes. He was a priest in Durban and in Lanet. He was appointed to Coustaussa in 1858. He was murdered in the kitchen in his presbytery on November 1st, he had been hit several times on his head.

Nothing was stolen. The money he had was left there. A bag which contained documents was searched . The corpse had been brought back in the center of the room, and his hands joined on his chest. The murderer left no trace except cigarette paper (TZAR), on one piece of paper was written "viva angélina". He was suspicious. The front door was not broken, the priest knew the one who killed him.


Father Saunière and Father Boudet came to his burial.


Father Gélis’s nephew was accused for the murder on April 13th, but the court discharged him because he wasn’t in the area when his uncle was killed.

Coustaussa Castle
 

 

SOUVENEZ-VOUS DANS VOS PRIERES
de l'âme de
Mr GELIS ANTOINE
Curé de Coustaussa de 1857 à 1897
Assassiné dans cette paroisse
Victime de la haine des méchants
Dans la nuit du 31 octobre
Au 1er novembre 1897
Erat vir simplex et rectus, ac timens
Deum, et recedens a malo.

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Hic est veré Martyr, qui pro christi
nomine sanguinem suum fudit

 

 

 

 

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Etienne Dujardin-Beaumetz
 

Henri Charles Etienne was born in Paris on September 29th 1852. He died in La bézole on September 27th 1913.

In 1884 he married Eulalie Juliette Marie Louise Petiet who was a famous paintor from Limoux. She died on April 17th 1893.

His father was appointed as prefect of Puy de Dôme in 1848.


The painter

  • He was interested in painting and he was the pupil of Maîtres Cadanel and Roux.

  • He painted pictures of the military life and many portraits. He even got a price at the 1889 World Fair.

  • In 1875 he starts exhibiting under his mother's name: Etienne Beaumetz.

  • His more famous paintings are "Ils ne l'auront pas"(1887) and "Salut à la victoire"(1888).

The politician

He was elected at the general council for the district of Limoux in 1887 and was elected as the president of the district assembly three times. On September 22 1889, he became the deputy for Aude. He was reelected in 1893, 1898, 1902, 1906 and 1910. He was highly regarded in the Palais Bourbon. He was a member of the Gauche Democratique (democratic left wing)and he said he loved justice and humanity. He voted for :

-the reduction of the length of military service
-the law against congregations
-the separation of the Church from the State

  • In 1896, he was the president of the Radical Left, then he was the vice-president of the budget commission.

  • In 1899 he was a reporter for the Beaux Arts budget.

  • In 1900 he was the president of the agriculture commission.

  • In 1905 he was appointed as the secretary of Beaux Arts under Rouvier's government. He was appointed again to this charge under Sarrien's, Clémenceau's, Briand's, Monis',and Cailhaux's government.

  • In 1907, he sided with the wine growers who were revolting instead of preparing his electoral campaign.

  • In 1911, he is criticized by chansonniers when the MonaLisa disappears.

  • On January 7th 1912, he is elected senator for Aude

Marie Petiet and Etienne Dujardin-Beaumetz in La Bézole. He loved his wife and he decided that his recumbent statue would watch over her last sleep.