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THE RISE OF THE FOURTH REICH
to several different locations. Some went to Scotland, where Robert the Bruce provided the Templars sanctuary, some went to pre-Columbus America, and some returned to the caverns of Languedoc. Centuries passed while the devout in southern France kept the secret of the hidden treasure from both church and state authorities. This secret briefly broke into public view in the late 1890s, when the young priest of the small village of Rennes-le-Château discovered some documents hidden in the alter of his church, which had been consecrated to Mary Magdalene in 1059 and stood on Visigoth ruins dating to the sixth century. In 1891, Father Francois Berenger Sauniere discovered two genealogies dating from 1244 and 1644, along with two texts written in the 1780s by a former parish priest, Abbot Antoine Bigou. The Bigou texts were unusual and appeared to be written in different and indecipherable codes. Sauniere took his discovery to his superior, the bishop of nearby Carcassonne, who sent him on to Paris to meet with the director general of the Saint-Sulpice Seminary, reportedly a center for an unorthodox society called the Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement, reputed to be a front for the Priory of Sion. This priory is thought to include members committed to keeping secret the Templar treasure and knowledge. Whatever was in the documents changed Sauniere’s life. He journeyed to Paris, where he mingled with the Parisian cultural elite and soon came into great wealth. Before his sudden death in 1917, researchers estimated he had spent several million dollars on construction and renovations in the town. He also had the town’s road and water supply upgraded, assembled a massive library, and built a zoological garden, a lavish country house named Villa Bethania, and a round tower named Tour Magdala, or Tower of Magdalene. Within the renovated church, Sauniere erected a strange statue of the demon Asmodeus—“custodian of secrets, guardian of hidden treasures, and, according to ancient Judaic legend, builder of Solomon’s temple.” Sauniere began to exhibit a defiant independence toward his Church superiors, refusing to disclose the source of his newfound wealth or accept a transfer from Rennes-le-Château, where he and his housekeeper were seen digging incessantly in the graveyard around the church. Yet, when