by Mary Alice Bennett
Posted: 14:00 April 22, 2009
 The parchment "Sot-Pêcheur" |
It was the gaze of Sauniere`s original statue by the church entrance that led Ben Hammott to his first message in a bottle. That find was followed by the discovery of several carved coded stones which pointed to other bottles containing more cryptic notes and diagrams written in red or black ink that had been buried by the priest during his hikes in the mountains. There is a link to these discoveries in a previously known word-grid written by Sauniere called the "Sot + Pecheur" cryptogram. This word-grid was written on red graph-paper as described by Gerard de Sede in his 1967 book "The Gold of Rennes-le-Chateau". The text is framed with a "crown of letters" around the edge of the graph-paper. Some of the notes that Ben found have frames drawn around them as well.
The frame or "crown of letters" around the cryptogram is made up of 22 characters each on the top and the bottom of the frame with 10 letters on either side. 22 is a very significant number in the Kabbalistic science of Gematria, for instance, there are 22 major arcane cards in the Tarot deck. The priest Sauniere was fascinated with Mary Magdalene whose initials "MM" also equal 22.
The "Sot + Pecheur" Pun
"When Bishop de Beausejour succeeded Billard in 1902, he asked Sauniere to explain his income. Sauniere must have known that question would come one day. His reply was that he could not answer it, because it was a "professional secret". Generous sums of money were given to him by "great sinners" - "par des grandes pecheurs". Was he joking with de Beausejour and suggesting it had been given to him by "des grands pecheurs" - "fisherman"? Was it an oblique reference to his famous pun, "Sot + Pecheur"? - quoted from Douzet and Coppens, "The Secret Vault".
Noel Corbu purchased the Villa Bethania from Marie Desnarnaud after the death of Sauniere. Corbu was in contact with a lady clairvoyant who said that a document would be found "in the tabernacle". A search of the church turned up nothing, but years later the "Sot + Pecheur" riddle was discovered in Sauniere`s private altar in the Villa Bethania on April 11, 1966. The document dates from the 1900s period and is based on an earlier one found at Notre Dame de Marceille by Abbe Meche around 1830. Combined with a 64 letter cipher, it turns out to be an invocation of five saints including the two St. Anthonys, St. Magdalene, and St. Sulpice.
The Sot-Pecheur was rolled up wrapped in a page of the Catholic newspaper "La Croix" from 1907 and placed in a hollow bamboo tube sealed with wax at both ends. It was placed behind a loose tile and was finally found by the new owner who had purchased the Villa from Corbu.
Here is the translation of the Sot-Pecheur poem:
"Silly (or stupid, funny, or drunk) fisherman at the mouth of the Rhone, he turned his fish on the grill twice. A devil popped up and tasted it 25 times. Cooked, all that remained was the bone. An angel watched and made a golden comb," signed B.S. Cur. This poem is linked to a local fable "La Legend du Paigne d` Or" - "The Legend of the Golden Comb".
One theory, #17 by Roger Boonart, deciphers the poem as containing references to "Native Roman gold - Hautpoul deposits - Visigothic treasure - Alaric royal Templars Bezu" - the numbers refer to paces as measurements leading to the location of the treasure.
The little document is 100 X 75 mm. On one side the poem is inscribed in black with the little poem on red graph-paper while the on the other side is written in black the title "Sot-Pecheur". The cryptogram contains the same amount of letters as the Rennes-le-Chateau tombstone of the Marchioness of Blanchfort, but it is not initialed with the PS analogous with the stele, the PS standing for "The Priory of Sion." However, the poem does contain the initials "AA" vertically in the lower left and "GL" on the top of the frame which stand for "AGLA" an organization which descended from the PS through the Compagnie du Saint Sacrement.
AGLA and the AA
According to Jean-Claude Meyer, in the Ecclesiastical Bulletin of Literature, "The study of the AA of Toulouse, founded into the 17th century, forms part of the understanding of the more general movement of spiritual and apostolic reform of the clergy of France at that time. Beyond rules which appear out of date today, the history of this AA reveals the spirit of a sacerdotal fraternity lived by the fellow-members…." - Douzet and Coppens.
The AA is a genuine organization, the very organization which was identified as the one to which Boudet and Billard belonged. It exists to this day in Toulouse as L`AA de Toulouse "Une Societe Secrete Emule de la Compagnie du Saint Sacrement".
The "GL" between the double AAs stands for the "Grand Lodge". By including the AA and the GL within the Sot-Pecheur, Sauniere references the secret society originally known as The Priory of Sion.
Ben Hammott`s Team and the Clues from Sauniere
Bill Kersey of the movie "Bloodline" states that when they were taking the measurements in front of the statue outside the church door a phrase came vividly to his recollection, "A genoux devant le monument en plein rue" which translates as, "On his knee before the monument…en plein rue: in the middle of the road." This reminded him of a section of the Sot-Pecheur YY UR which is in the middle on the top.
The notes and maps which Ben Hammott found buried in wine and apothecary bottles were also written in a rectangular format using the pattern of three rectangles drawn on the paper in red ink. They are cryptic and framed like the Sot-Pecheur and led to other buried artifacts including a wooden chest containing 1rst century artifacts which was buried in a cave. Ben and his team are used to thinking in terms of French cryptograms and it is Ben`s unique way of interpreting Sauniere`s clues within the décor of the church that has led to his discoveries.
The Sot-Pecheur
The solution of the Sot-Pecheur could contain a pun or it could be "for those who neither read nor write, but only spell". The words "sot-pecheur" might also refer to "ignorant sinners". Is this how Sauniere used the term when he was being questioned by his bishop about his mysterious income? Was he saying that the money had been given to him by "ignorant sinners"?
Looking at the text written on red graph-paper framed with letters, some of the words in the poem are broken to fit the format. Along with the frame of letters the broken syllables make new words as they combine with the letters around the edge. The first word that is obvious right away is "VOUCHURE" which is a bank check - an invention of the Templars who kept the funds of the pilgrims in the Holy Land. Their money was redeemable across national borders thanks to the unique system of coded checks used by the order. Also included in the text of the poem is the term "du Rhone" - "at the mouth of the Rhone" which is reminiscent of the secret vaults at Notre Dame de Marceille in Limoux. Notre Dame de Marceille has been defined as "not Marseille du Rhone", that is, "not he city of Marseilles at the mouth of the Rhone River" farther to the north. Is the Sot-Pecheur a model of some sort of early Templar coded check that would have been honored at the secret Templar vaults near Limoux?
Ben Hammott and his team continue their investigations into the mystery of Rennes-le-Chateau. They use their special code-cracking insights to decipher the messages left by Sauniere.