Death in Collioure

 

The mystery

The central storyline of “the mystery” goes that Antoine Bigou, priest of Rennes-le-Château, upon the death of Marie de Blanchefort in 1781, was given a secret. What this secret was, remains, of course, a mystery, but it has been traditionally tied to the Church, and specifically a “heresy” to do with Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
Whatever its nature, Bigou is said to have “encoded” this secret somehow into the fabric of the village of Rennes-le-Château, either as part of the parish papers, or through other means, and that this was later picked up and unravelled by Saunière. This, it is believed, became the mystery of Saunière’s wealth.

Clues

Some have pointed towards the parish registry, which has an enigmatic reference to how “Jesus of Galilee was not here”, while others look to discoveries made by Saunière during renovations to his church. André Douzet has pointed out that the anomalous tomb of Marie itself is likely an important clue: not its inscriptions, which the Priory of Sion documents have linked with so many things, but primarily its location. First of all, as a Lady of Hautpoul, she would not have to be put in an ordinary grave in the cemetery, but in the family vault. If this was somehow inaccessible, that in itself was interesting. But the location of her “ordinary grave” – outside of the family vault – also just happens to sit on top of one of the likely entrances into the crypt underneath the church. And it is this crypt that is generally regarded as the treasure trove from which the enigma of Saunière evolved. So did her “fake tomb” – in the cemetery – merely mask the entrance to a crypt? That would have indeed been a clue, left by Bigou, which Saunière would have been quick to decipher, and which could easily explain his extensive “work” in the cemetery, which got him into trouble with the local people, as he was known to be disturbing the graves of the dead.

Timeline

Antoine Bigou became parish priest of Rennes-le-Château in 1774, succeeding his uncle Jean Bigou. Bigou left Rennes-le-Château as a consequence of the French Revolution, in March 1793. He was one of many and some local colleagues, like François-Pierre Caneuille, the priest of Rennes-les-Bains, ended up in Spain. It was assumed that Bigou travelled with them, to end up in Sabadell, near Barcelona, though despite decades of research, no evidence was uncovered that he had died there.

According to the Priory of Sion documents, the secret of Rennes was transmitted via Spain: from Bigou, to Caneuille, to Cayron, to Boudet, who then told Saunière. It is a different type of transmission, one that goes from priest to priest, rather than a “code” left behind by Bigou, to whomever his successor would one day be. And it are these documents that placed Bigou in Spain and Sabadell, as well as some of his notebooks, which turned up in Spain and which have since been providing new insights into some aspects of the mystery. Indeed, the notebooks are one of the more intriguing, yet ill-known and hardly researched aspects of this story.

A discovery

In May 2009, French researcher Jean-Claude Debrou discovered the death certificate of Antoine Bigou, which shows that the priest died on March 20, 1794, in Collioure, today a popular tourist attraction near Perpignan, along the Mediterranean coastline, a mere 26 kilometres from the Spanish border.
In itself, it is hardly an important find. After all, we know that Bigou died. We also know that he didn’t die in Rennes. And though he might have fled to Sabadell or other parts of Spain, with all the others, no-one ever said he stayed there. The discovery “merely” shows that he died in Collioure, near the Spanish border. Perhaps he never got as far as Spain, perhaps he was constantly shuttling back and forth between towns and countries. A death certificate does not shed any light on this.

From fact to speculation

As with everything to do with Rennes-le-Château, the discovery has nevertheless been used to make various claims. For example, that it destroys the credibility of Patrice Chaplin, who in “City of Secrets”, argued that the priest stayed near Gerona, after quitting Rennes, and was buried somewhere nearby. Things, however, are seldom that straightforward, and let us therefore ponder the facts, and the implications.
First of all, it is known that Bigou made a trip to Spain before the Revolution. Second, though his death certificate is in Collioure, it doesn’t exclude that he was in Spain at one point, but decided to return to France, or travelled between both countries.
The thesis of “City of Secrets” is this: that the story of Rennes is connected with Gerona, with a secret society that is resident there, as well as in Perpignan, and that Saunière and Bigou were connected to this group. Well, Bigou is found to have died in Collioure, but this does not mean he never went to Spain, or that some of his documents ended up in Spain.
If anything, “Spain” is a bit of a misnomer anyway; Collioure and Gerona are all Catalan, a state within two states, and that is the important fact – so far not highlighted by any. Where we see this imaginary border line, in reality, in the hearts of its inhabitants, there is none. The secret society – La Sanch – is known to have moved back and forth between Perpignan and Gerona, and this is a matter of historical fact. Seeing Bigou ends up in Collioure, which is core Sanch country, therefore lends credence to the thesis proposed by Patrice Chaplin… even though one detail – where he was buried – is now apparently at odds with the facts. But that hardly discredits an entire thesis…

Facts, and truth

But is it so remarkable or weird to forget where someone was buried two centuries before? When we asked near Besalu for records about people that were buried there, the authorities highlighted that the political turmoil of the 1930s had done away with most records, though they were adamant that French priests had lived there, and had been buried there. It seems that Bigou was not… but so what? And people often die in places where they don’t live.
Also, the story of Rennes has focused great attention on Saunière and his closest – presumed – allies. But it should be clear that Saunière was part of a much larger movement. The likes of Louis de Coma, whom he might never have met, built a similar oeuvre at Carol, near Foix, and when you look at all the interactions of these and other men, one thing becomes clear: Saunière was one clog in a larger operation, and it is likely that the same applied to Bigou. Spain hence sees hundreds of French priests coming in, and likely several with “interesting material” that needs to be preserved. They need to be debriefed, and hence why some of them write notes, like Bigou, which are then preserved by their organisation.
Yet, two centuries later, the world seems to think it’s only Saunière and Bigou that had a secret, and hence sources linked with this society have to field very specific information, even though, for them, where and when and how Bigou died was quite unimportant. He was, all will agree, at best the messenger and transporter of a knowledge – nothing more. The secret society would surely want to make sure that it is the Secret, the message itself, that is preserved, rather than boring factual details as to where and how one of the operatives lived? And it is within this context, that the new find needs to be interpreted.

Filip Coppens