MARY MAGDALENE AT LIMOUX
We know that many researchers think that the historical Mary Magdalene might possibly be entombed in the area of Rennes-le-Chateau or Rennes-les-Bains. First and foremost among the 'modern' researchers propounding this theory are those such as Christian Doumergue (see HERE). However, let us not forget that the wave of earlier researchers before the 'moderns' included one Philippe de Chérisey. He had famously written in a letter [dated 6 November 1964] the following;
"PS Sainte Magdalene was brought to France in very ancient times. Ancient traditions, more or less legendary, talk about a pilgrimage to her tomb... which no-one has ever found. [...] There can be no confusion about the person, because only two saints have ever borne the name of Magdalene. (The second one is out of the question, since she lived in the seventeenth century and took the religious name of Sister Catherine.) It must be she who poured perfume of amber on the Christ, crying at Calvary. [...] What do you believe I am going to look for at Rennes-le-Château? Pray for me. If I succeed, I would not have the right to talk about it."
When Chérisey refers to the ancient traditions [which ones? Most only go back to the early Middle Ages] which 'talk about a pilgrimage to her tomb' what did he mean? Did he himself undertake his own pilgrimage to search for the tomb of Mary Magdalene? Did he later write Le Serpent Rouge, the poem which seems to reflect elements of this pilgrimage in the environs of Rennes-le-Chateau? In the poem he tells us that he is searching for nothing less than the tomb of La Belle au Bois dormant, "The Beauty asleep in the wood". Doesn't a literal reading indicate to you that a ''beauty', presumably a female, a woman, lies asleep in the woods? And that this wood, thick with vegetation, is what he is clearing with a sword? A sword which may also represent a particular Meridian? Therefore we have a pilgrimage to the sacred shrine of a woman, a tomb of a woman associated with sacredness and spirituality. Cherisey makes it clearer. Again, from the letter he wrote of 6/11/1964:
"Some claim that it [the sepulchre of Mary Magdalene] is in a cave in a mountainside, near a road and even the dimensions of this cave (29 X 24 X 4) are given. Good king Rene of Anjou made some excavations in Provence in 1448; there is no proof that he succeeded."
So Chérisey's question in his 1964 letter - What do you believe I am going to look for at Rennes-le-Château? - makes us wonder, was he indeed looking for the tomb of Mary Magdalene in the local area, because it had not been found in Provence?
Before him - we must remember Henri Boudet. Boudet was that enigmatic priest of Rennes-les-Bains who talked of a tomb located within a central circle of stones, his Cromlech - a tomb that he said was and is 'associated with the Resurrection'. In religious terms only three people are associated with the Resurrection - the first is Jesus Christ himself, the second is Mary Magdalene and the third is Lazarus, a figure associated with a Resurrection - but his own - not that of Jesus.
Researchers think there are vague hints throughout the Languedoc referring to Mary Magdalene being entombed somewhere in the area. And of course the most popular area where this tomb will be located eventually is that of the environs of Rennes-le-Château. Some of the 'evidence' is said to be coded in various paintings. For example there is the famous altar painting in the church at Rennes-le-Château. It shows Mary Magdalene in a 'grotto' - and outside that grotto one can see local landmarks said to represent the area around Rennes-le-Château.
"PS Sainte Magdalene was brought to France in very ancient times. Ancient traditions, more or less legendary, talk about a pilgrimage to her tomb... which no-one has ever found. [...] There can be no confusion about the person, because only two saints have ever borne the name of Magdalene. (The second one is out of the question, since she lived in the seventeenth century and took the religious name of Sister Catherine.) It must be she who poured perfume of amber on the Christ, crying at Calvary. [...] What do you believe I am going to look for at Rennes-le-Château? Pray for me. If I succeed, I would not have the right to talk about it."
When Chérisey refers to the ancient traditions [which ones? Most only go back to the early Middle Ages] which 'talk about a pilgrimage to her tomb' what did he mean? Did he himself undertake his own pilgrimage to search for the tomb of Mary Magdalene? Did he later write Le Serpent Rouge, the poem which seems to reflect elements of this pilgrimage in the environs of Rennes-le-Chateau? In the poem he tells us that he is searching for nothing less than the tomb of La Belle au Bois dormant, "The Beauty asleep in the wood". Doesn't a literal reading indicate to you that a ''beauty', presumably a female, a woman, lies asleep in the woods? And that this wood, thick with vegetation, is what he is clearing with a sword? A sword which may also represent a particular Meridian? Therefore we have a pilgrimage to the sacred shrine of a woman, a tomb of a woman associated with sacredness and spirituality. Cherisey makes it clearer. Again, from the letter he wrote of 6/11/1964:
"Some claim that it [the sepulchre of Mary Magdalene] is in a cave in a mountainside, near a road and even the dimensions of this cave (29 X 24 X 4) are given. Good king Rene of Anjou made some excavations in Provence in 1448; there is no proof that he succeeded."
So Chérisey's question in his 1964 letter - What do you believe I am going to look for at Rennes-le-Château? - makes us wonder, was he indeed looking for the tomb of Mary Magdalene in the local area, because it had not been found in Provence?
Before him - we must remember Henri Boudet. Boudet was that enigmatic priest of Rennes-les-Bains who talked of a tomb located within a central circle of stones, his Cromlech - a tomb that he said was and is 'associated with the Resurrection'. In religious terms only three people are associated with the Resurrection - the first is Jesus Christ himself, the second is Mary Magdalene and the third is Lazarus, a figure associated with a Resurrection - but his own - not that of Jesus.
Researchers think there are vague hints throughout the Languedoc referring to Mary Magdalene being entombed somewhere in the area. And of course the most popular area where this tomb will be located eventually is that of the environs of Rennes-le-Château. Some of the 'evidence' is said to be coded in various paintings. For example there is the famous altar painting in the church at Rennes-le-Château. It shows Mary Magdalene in a 'grotto' - and outside that grotto one can see local landmarks said to represent the area around Rennes-le-Château.
Another significant painting for researchers is the one found at Rennes-les-Bains. According to Gérard de Sède, Paul-François-Vincent de Fleury donated in 1800 to the church of Rennes-les-Bains a painting locally referred to as "Christ with a hare" - which Canon Henri Gasc, chaplain of Our Lady of Marceille from 1838 to 1872 seems to have been the designer and painter of [see HERE]. To some researchers this painting suggests Mary Magdalene with the 'body of Christ' in a grotto - and outside the grotto, once again, landmark rock formations suggest the Rennes-le-Chateau & Rennes-les-Bains environs.
The Paul-François-Vincent de Fleury painting may have some links with the drawing/painting shown below. It was sent to me by a researcher and is explained by reference to the removal of the body of Jesus to the Rennes-le-Chateau area.
Another interesting assertion is a painting of the Magdalene - this time found at a private chateau/hotel residence in Limoux. Some researchers assert that the painting actually carries the depiction of an urn - and on the urn is a representation of the historical Jesus Christ [see HERE]. Funerary urns have been used by many civilizations. After a person died, survivors cremated the body and collected the ashes in an urn. And in fact the Romans placed urns in a niche in a collective tomb called a columbarium. This columbarium was a place for the respectful and usually public storage of urns. Roman columbaria were often built partly or completely underground. [This reminds me of the so called Round Temple hinted at by the Priory of Sion which is alleged to be underground in the area of Rennes-les-Bains].
Some researchers have blotted out a detail in the painting of Magdalene at Limoux. The researchers said they did this because otherwise we would all know instantly the landmark it depicts. However - other researchers do have photos of the painting - shown below - with nothing 'blotted out':
Some researchers have blotted out a detail in the painting of Magdalene at Limoux. The researchers said they did this because otherwise we would all know instantly the landmark it depicts. However - other researchers do have photos of the painting - shown below - with nothing 'blotted out':
We must acknowledge that as bystanders we do not know what all these 'mysterious' paintings are supposed to convey. The painters and perhaps the patrons who ordered them were more often than not local noble families or else priests. Superficially however - the paintings seem to hint at the same idea - whether heresy or not. That is, that some of the families and priests of the area, believed a secret pertaining to either the historical Mary Magdalene or the historical person we know as Jesus Christ, usually involving one or other of their burials, are to be found in the environs of Rennes-le-Château or Rennes-les-Bains.
There are, if you will, little clues every where. The stations of the Cross at Rennes-les-Bains seem to show, in the 14th Station of the Cross, possibly the burial of Lazarus of the Gospel of John and the very different burial that Jesus had.
There are, if you will, little clues every where. The stations of the Cross at Rennes-les-Bains seem to show, in the 14th Station of the Cross, possibly the burial of Lazarus of the Gospel of John and the very different burial that Jesus had.
Should this be seen quite definitely as a statement? At the death of Lazarus, or more precisely at his 'resurrection' - the Gospel of John has Jesus say in a loud voice:
"Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face". Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
For the descriptions of the burial of Jesus - these are the following:
And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth [Mathew]
And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre. [Mark]
This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. [Luke]
Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. [John]
So what are the little clues from this simple station XIV of the Cross at Rennes-les-Bains?
1] That the historical Jesus did not die, but came back to life in the same way as Lazarus [hence the same burial clothes etc] i.e someone was able to rescue him.
2] That the historical Jesus was 'mummified' - just like the Egyptian manner of burial. There are legends which talk of the mummified body of Jesus being entombed in the area. One can see this clearly illustrated by an interview i had with Christian Doumergue. He referred to a reliquary that had been commissioned in the south of France. "The reliquary represents Magdalene and her close relations in the boat which drove them the from East to the South of France. At the front of the boat, a mummified body is stretched out. A woman sits over this body. She has the mother of Jesus' attributes. Now, no tradition says that the Virgin Mary came to the South of France. She is thus there only to identify the mummified body! The reliquary was ordered by Mgr Terris and was made by a jeweller who lived in the city of Lyon: Armand Caillat. It was shown at the “Exposition Universelle” (World Fair) of Paris in 1889. It was given to the sanctuary of Sainte Baume by Paul Terris, the nephew of Mgr Terris... Officially (for the Catholics), the reliquary represents the displacement of the body of Saint Anna (the grandmother of Christ) by Mary Magdalene. Indeed, some legends affirm that the body of Saint Anna was brought back to Gaul by Mary Magdalene. It would rest in the crypt of a church of the city of Apt (in the French's departement named Vaucluse, in the South of France...) But, in my opinion, these legends concerning Saint Anna’s body were manufactured to hide the memory of the repatriation of the body of Jesus in Gaul. Indeed, these legends appear tardily. And, mysteriously, no text relative to Mary Magdalene speaks about the repatriation of the body of Saint Anna. These legends are present only at Apt. As if one had erased in the texts anything relating to Mary Magdalene’s repatriation of a body of a member of Jesus's family from the East to the West."
"Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face". Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
For the descriptions of the burial of Jesus - these are the following:
And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth [Mathew]
And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre. [Mark]
This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. [Luke]
Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. [John]
So what are the little clues from this simple station XIV of the Cross at Rennes-les-Bains?
1] That the historical Jesus did not die, but came back to life in the same way as Lazarus [hence the same burial clothes etc] i.e someone was able to rescue him.
2] That the historical Jesus was 'mummified' - just like the Egyptian manner of burial. There are legends which talk of the mummified body of Jesus being entombed in the area. One can see this clearly illustrated by an interview i had with Christian Doumergue. He referred to a reliquary that had been commissioned in the south of France. "The reliquary represents Magdalene and her close relations in the boat which drove them the from East to the South of France. At the front of the boat, a mummified body is stretched out. A woman sits over this body. She has the mother of Jesus' attributes. Now, no tradition says that the Virgin Mary came to the South of France. She is thus there only to identify the mummified body! The reliquary was ordered by Mgr Terris and was made by a jeweller who lived in the city of Lyon: Armand Caillat. It was shown at the “Exposition Universelle” (World Fair) of Paris in 1889. It was given to the sanctuary of Sainte Baume by Paul Terris, the nephew of Mgr Terris... Officially (for the Catholics), the reliquary represents the displacement of the body of Saint Anna (the grandmother of Christ) by Mary Magdalene. Indeed, some legends affirm that the body of Saint Anna was brought back to Gaul by Mary Magdalene. It would rest in the crypt of a church of the city of Apt (in the French's departement named Vaucluse, in the South of France...) But, in my opinion, these legends concerning Saint Anna’s body were manufactured to hide the memory of the repatriation of the body of Jesus in Gaul. Indeed, these legends appear tardily. And, mysteriously, no text relative to Mary Magdalene speaks about the repatriation of the body of Saint Anna. These legends are present only at Apt. As if one had erased in the texts anything relating to Mary Magdalene’s repatriation of a body of a member of Jesus's family from the East to the West."
The above photo of the reliquary that Doumergue thinks represents Magdalene and her close relations in a boat which brought them from East to the South of France. At the front of the boat, a mummified body is stretched out. A woman sits over this body. She has the mother of Jesus' attributes. No tradition says that the Virgin Mary came to the South of France. She is thus [only] there only to identify who the mummified body is!
3] Or perhaps, even rather wildly, that Lazarus was the one crucified?
4] Or if we take into account the above, that Boudet referred to a Cromlech, marked by a Menhir [a menhir being a tomb marker] it becomes quite clear that the burial of the important person associated with 'resurrection' might be that of Lazarus? This might be interesting in view of the fact that the Priory of Sion suggested Boudet had written a book called 'Lazarus Come Forth' which angered the diocese and other religious authorities of the area.
As the English saying goes 'You pays your money - you makes a choice!!'
4] Or if we take into account the above, that Boudet referred to a Cromlech, marked by a Menhir [a menhir being a tomb marker] it becomes quite clear that the burial of the important person associated with 'resurrection' might be that of Lazarus? This might be interesting in view of the fact that the Priory of Sion suggested Boudet had written a book called 'Lazarus Come Forth' which angered the diocese and other religious authorities of the area.
As the English saying goes 'You pays your money - you makes a choice!!'