666 = Satan’s Song? Part 6: Heading towards Rennes-le-Château

 

The end of the quest

Once a CIA agent, Tom R. was walking in the footsteps of Koehn. Hammer argues that Koehn, after trying to rediscover The Just Judges in Ghent, left for France, to Carcassonne; hence, Tom R. had to go there too, leaving for Carcassonne in the spring of 1949, where he learned, during a museum visit, that there had indeed been a German officer who had shown a remarkable interest in a small village south of Carcassonne: Rennes-le-Château.
As the book is reaching its apotheosis, it is here too that details of the book go out of synch with known history. Tom R. is said to have been given a ride by a truck to Couiza, and then climbed on foot to Rennes-le-Château. Once there, he booked a room in the hotel operated by Corbu. However, though Corbu had already bought the estate by 1949, it wasn’t a hotel until the late 1950s. Hammer, in the interview with Radio Rennessence, argued that he had used the name “hotel” to identify what he had been told was a “gasthuis”, which translates as a “guesthouse” or B&B. Though the Villa was indeed capable of lodging people at the time, Klaas van Urk received confirmation from Antoine Captier and Claire Corbu that only friends of the family or friends of friends were able to lodge there. This would make it highly unlikely that Tom R. – a total stranger – was staying there, as the book argues – unless (and this should not be discounted) Tom R. somehow did have the required “credits” that would allow him to stay there as a friend of a friend.

The birth of a myth

One of the "Capitelles", above Coustaussa, opposite Rennes-le-Château

While there, Tom R. met up with one “Gabriella” – a woman he had previous encounters with on his travels in search of the Arma Christi. It is she who informed Tom about the link between the CIA, the Vatican and the Ratlines. She told him that if he ever discovered the truth, he had to go to an address she had given him.

Hammer argues that the story of the treasure of Rennes-le-Château was invented by the Desposyni (Ebionites or penitents), to put people on the wrong track. Interestingly, this allegation, that the treasure story was a welcome diversion from the truth, is also noted in Patrice Chaplin’s “City of Secret”, where the Girona (penitential) group are fearful that with the death of Marie Denarnaud, certain home truths will be circulated. When they hear that everyone is focusing on a treasure story, they are pleased.
It is Gabriella who asked Tom R. whether he was willing to help them in spreading disinformation about the story (i.e. make it a treasure story), so that those who will redo the quest of Koehn and others, will not arrive too easily at the truth. This involved falsely reporting into his CIA paymasters, with which he had no problems. Having made this decision, he was nevertheless forced to fake is death (and that of his wife), which occurred during a boating accident on the Mediterranean Sea.

Finally, around Christmas 1949, Tom is shown the Arma Christi, before he fakes his own death and begins a new life, in hiding, in Paris, where apparently he met with Gérard de Sède and helped him to define the disinformation. The rest is known…
Eventually, Tom R. would make contact with Hammer – who is family – who would write the account up.

Inconsistencies

A cell in the convent St Cecile, Perillos

The section on Rennes-le-Château contains several worrying inconsistencies and details, some of which have already been highlighted. For example, Hammer writes that Asmodeus had once a spear in his hand, whereas the statue once had a trident. He writes about the parchments as if they were genuine. He states that Saunière’s confessor died the same day. He has Corbu state that the church had always been dedicated to Mary Magdalene, which is incorrect. Finally, he argues that the secret room/annex to the church was once a hermitage, and apparently the refuge of Mary Magdalene, with the capitelles in the fields above Coustaussa other hermit cells of those who had followed her and/or lived in her tradition.

Though most unlikely and impossible that the secret room was Mary Magdalene’s cell, the identification of the capitelles as hermit cells is interesting – if not plausible. It is in Perillos, in the Couvent St Cecile – i.e. a convent – that there are similar “capitelles”, which in this case are known to have been used by nuns. As in Perillos, these structures near Rennes-le-Château can be found in small groups of three to five – forming yet another connection between Rennes-le-Château and Perillos. Despite the many impossibilities and errors, Hammer’s identification of these capitelles as hermit cells should thus not be taken lightly. The question, of course, is whether their presence is as Hammer alleges, or is altogether different in origin.

Satan’s Song

In the book, Hammer argues that the Arma Christi were in Notre-Dame de Marceille in the late 1940s, but that they are now somewhere else. In the interview with Radio Rennessence, he added that Notre-Dame de Marceille was the location of the Arma Christi twice.
This fits well with the known power struggles that involved this site, once at the time of the Fouquet brothers in the 17th century, the other in Saunière’s time, with Billard trying to acquire the site. Hammer argues that Billard was actually an Ebionite himself and this also fits with the research results of Isaac ben Jacob. It is furthermore well accepted that without Billard’s protection, Saunière and several other priests in the bishopric would have had to answer rather embarrassing questions – and in the case of Saunière, he faced those after Billard’s death.

After the interview with Radio Rennessence, Hammer noted that out of 400 emails received since the publication of the book, only two had tackled the religious implications of his book and felt it interesting that the interview hadn’t ventured into that domain either. In the book, however, Hammer does point out the “reason” why these Arma Christi are so protected and their location is kept secret. He argues that the Antichrist would like to hold them and call for leadership of the world. But that, it seems, is a different song altogether.

Filip Coppens