The sour apples of January 17

 

The anniversary of a non-phenomenon

January 17 has reached almost mythical proportions in the story of Rennes-le-Château. There is, indeed, a dimension to January 17 that is part and parcel of the mystery: it was the date when Saunière had his stroke (some sources say heart attack), from which he would not recover; it is equally the date when several other protagonists, such as Marie de Nègre d’Ables, died. But such facts have been superseded by a modern invention – a flight of fancy – which is the so-called “Blue Apples”. Indeed, each year, on January 17, dozens of researchers and enthusiasts gather inside the church, hoping that there will be sunshine that day – not a given for a winter month like January – and especially around noon, to have the so-called “Blue Apples at Noon”.

“Blue Apples at Noon” originates from the decodation of the last line of parchment two, claimed as one of the coded manuscripts found by Saunière in his church, but in truth, they are fabrications by de Chérisey in his effort to find… the real manuscripts Saunière had recovered. So, if the sun is benign on those that seemed rule by the moon, the “Blue Apples” appear on the wall of the church: some rather ill-formed somewhat circular reflections of a bluish light.

Tomfoolery

What is on display in the church at noon, on January 17, is unimpressive in the extreme. In truth, what happens is that the sun hits a stained glass window, and projects the light on the opposite wall. That is it. And it is not just blue light, nor is the light thrown on the wall specifically that of a blue apple, nor is the light thrown anywhere interesting on that wall. It is a phenomenon that occurs on other days of the year in Rennes-le-Château… it occurs in every church where there are stained glass windows, in France, and elsewhere. It truly is the biggest non-event ever created by mystery afficienados, who seem to have preferred this “fake revelation” over more substantive ingredients that might reveal more – but is perhaps less equipped to be followed by lunch – a blue apple no doubt goes well as an appetizer? But each mystery needs its gimmick, and “Blue Apples at noon” seems to be that of Rennes-le-Château.
To break down our criticism further: the phenomenon in Rennes-le-Château is visible in roughly the same format ten days before and after the 17th. It is therefore hardly unique, nor specific, to January 17, nor noon. It underlines the non-phenomenal nature of the phenomenon.

Let there be light

The display at noon of January 17 is indeed nothing more than the projection of coloured light on a wall. Blue is amongst the colours, but there are others. There is blue, yellow, red, violet, and hence the composition is not that of mere “blue apples”, but an entire fruit salad, incorporating tomatoes, if not giant strawberries, oranges, lemons, grapes, etc. Indeed, with the shapes being so non-specific, why would anyone suggest a blue circle is a blue apple – a variety that does not exist – and why not opt for the much more “enchanting” possibility that they are blue grapes – the origins of wine, the vital ingredient for this drink of the gods, which enables Man to drift into other dimensions too.

Still, the principle of a ray of light being thrown onto a specific location, to reveal some information in itself is sound, and was used and practiced in certain churches elsewhere, where a gnomon was often present. In churches across Europe, for example St Sulpice in Paris, an opening was made in a window, through which the light would fall on a metal line, indicating the date. Because the likes of Philippe de Chérisey, responsible for the creation of the coded parchments in the 1960s, were set to create a link between St Sulpice and Saunière – Saunière was said to have come there to have his parchments decoded – the “blue apples at noon” became the Rennes-le-Château equivalent of the scientific gnomons. Alas, it is only so in the imagination of the most uncritical of thinkers.

The role of Saunière

It is a known fact that Saunière had all stained glass windows of his church replaced. He said that the raison for this was that all had been damaged during a tempest, which had struck the region before his arrival in the village. There is no need to doubt the veracity of his claim, and it is known that he indeed ordered a series of stained glassed windows from a “Henri Feur – painter glassmaker in Bordeaux”. The name of Feur can still be seen written on some of the stained glasses inside the church.

Based upon this fact, certain conclusions can and have to be drawn:
1. the phenomenon of the “blue apples” – if there was one – did not exist before Saunière placed these windows.
2. the phenomenon is therefore a total accident – which all the evidence suggests – or is part of a plan whereby Saunière wanted to give certain hidden information to visitors to his church, to those with “eyes that saw”. Though it is clear that Saunière did play with certain imagery in his church, some for fun, some as hints to what had happened to him, in each case, these references are extremely specific.
Take, for example, the fresco on the back wall. There, we see the presence of a person, walking in the landscape, leaning on an umbrella; the man is either a woman – or dressed as a priest. And when we know that Saunière was notorious for always appearing with his umbrella, no matter what weather, it is clear that the priest, in good artistic fashion, had painted himself into the fresco. This fresco also contains a depiction of the baluster, where Saunière is known to have recovered something from; as evidence, we have the baluster itself, and the evidence of Antoine Captier, Saunière’s bell ringer, who was the person who actually saw that something was hidden inside. But in the case of the blue apples, the hint is totally non-specific, and neither insightful or comical.
3. if Saunière wanted to shine “light” on this specific location, on this date, at that hour, Saunière would have needed to calculate the solar path and have installed a system whereby through the course of at least one year, he installed a “provisional window” and mapped how it threw light around the church, before then ordering the stained glass window, and demanding of Feur that a specific section of the stained glass window was done in blue – as otherwise, the blue apples effect would have a different colour. This is an enormous amount, for nothing specific, and nothing “hard”. If the location where the light throws itself was indeed to be important, Saunière had the intelligence and wit to create a far more ingenious, and decodable, cipher… just like he was able to place the confessional on top of a hollow void, thus guaranteeing that no-one would realise a hollow void existed – as the confessional came with its own flooring.
4. though the church hides several interesting secrets, none of these are located in walls, and definitely not that wall; they are more to do with the floor – and what is underneath.

Blue apples everywhere

The angle of light, from the window to the wall, is not unique within the church itself. In the second transept, above the statue of St Rochus, is where we can observe that there is nothing at all special or specific about the stained glass window that is so central in the creation of the blue apples elsewhere in the church. Furthermore, it also means that this window too is able to create “Blue Apples” – the Blue Apples of Saint Rochus – but no-one has ever mentioned anything about this luminous phenomenon. It is indeed the domino that has the effect of throwing all other dominoes onto the floor, shattering the illusion in front of our very eyes.

Arise

Let us nevertheless note that the stained glass window in question is that showing the resurrection of Lazarus, where the dead body arises from his tomb. When looking at this window, we note that the freezes that encapsulate the scenes are identical in three of the church’s windows:
- in the choir, on the left, we see Jesus visiting the house of Martha and Mary in Bethany;
- in the final transept, on the right, before the choir, is the mission of the apostles;
- and finally the Resurrection of Lazarus, in the choir, on the right.

All three windows are clearly largely identical in execution and style, including the motifs used to illuminate them: three roses laid out as two blue roses at the bottom, and one pink above. If the phenomenon of January 17th is anything, it would be these “blue roses”, numbering four in total per window, that are responsible for the phenomenon. Hence, so far, we have found more reasons to speak of the mystery of blue grapes or blue roses, rather than blue apples.

Similarities?

If the phenomenon is to hold any meaning, it is clear that there were no less than three possible windows through which the phenomenon could be created. The rather haphazard way in which “researchers” have thus excluded two windows and retained one, is further evidence of the bizarre logic that has gone into the January 17 mystery. There is nothing specific about the one window that has been selected – on non-existent criteria – above all others.
But whereas there is nothing specific about this phenomenon in Rennes-le-Château itself, the village itself offers nothing that is not elsewhere on display either. Some have said that this phenomenon is very rare and only occurs in certain churches in France. That is a great error.
Indeed, there are certain churches, such as St Sulpice, Chartres and others, where an opening is left in a window so that a clear ray of light can fall onto a specific location in the church. In Chartres, it is linked with the summer solstice, when a ray of light is allowed to throw itself into the labyrinth on the floor. But this is not at all what is on display in Rennes-le-Château. Here, we have an everyday occurrence, which is visible in hundreds of churches – thousands of churches – across the world.

Even less remarkable

The final evidence for this non-phenomenon is visible when we scan churches in the region and come up with far more spectacular luminous displays there than in Rennes-le-Château. Recently, Notre-Dame de Marceille has been equipped with a new lighting system, but until some months ago, the interior of the church was dark – on par with the darkness of, say, Chartres. It meant that as soon as the sunlight did penetrate into the church, it created spectacular visual displays. One of these is that one stained glass window is projected on the painting of Saint Anthony – and on that painting alone. It is even more remarkable – though a pure coincidence – as this painting is of interest to the local mystery and seems to throw “light” on the puzzle. Compare this wonderful display with the total non-phenomenon of Rennes-le-Château, where the light is thrown against… a plain wall.
Another example is equally far less notorious than Rennes-le-Château’s, but actually somewhat bizarre. It is visible in the church of nearby Sougraigne and here, the phenomenon is remarkable as blue light is projected… even though the glass that creates it, is not blue in colour, but normal glass. Indeed, there is nothing to spectacular in that, but it is already much more spectacular than the event in Rennes-le-Château.

A list of saints

To this non-phenomenon, most have ventured into directions that are once again far removed from the possible clues left in the dates when certain notables of the enigma died – or at least seem to have died, according to their sometimes erroneous gravestones. Most have ventured into the realm of saints, and made links between one saint or another and the phenomenon. Indeed, we refer to the so-called Roseline, after Saint Roseline, whose feast day is January 17 – from which minds have wondered towards the “Rose line”, which has spurned the minds of the likes of Dan Brown… and many others, who mistook fiction for non-fiction.

Let us note that amongst those saints that are currently linked with January 17, only a few have been retained and many more have been wiped from the pages. We will give them their due attention here:

The luminous phenomenon at Sougraigne

Achille de Scète
Anthony of Bérée
Anthony of Krasnyi-Kolm
Anthony "the great"
Gamalbert
Genou
Georges of Joannina
Julien Sabas
Marcel
Méleusippus
Roseline of Villeneuve
Sabin of Plaisance and Savin
Sulpicius the Pious
Theodosius I
Yolaine

From this long list, only St Anthony, Roseline and Sulpicius have been singled out for any attention – no doubt because they fit the mythical framework better than others.

From legend to oblivion?

Most of these saints have been forgotten, but the non-event of January 17 is artificially kept alive by a body of researchers who seem not to realise that by doing so, they are largely shooting themselves in the foot. They are confabulating on non-events, holding wild speculation above genuine ingredients of the mystery, and often pretend that genuine ingredients are, in truth, more doubtful than the wild speculation that has been constructed on top of something that should become a forbidden fruit. After all, who would want to eat a blue apple if it was offered to you?

André Douzet & Filip Coppens