Rennes-le-Chateau was long thought to be ancient Reddis. "Regis Cellis" translates as "Storehouse of the King - the Royal Vault or Keep". Arcis is the name of a near-by town said to be named for the Ark of the Covenant which is rumored to have been hidden in the area. As a phrase, these engraved words refer to the hiding place of the Ark in southern France. It was actually Limoux that was called Reddis or Reddas anciently. The church there was originally a "fortified keep" used by the Soldiers of the Temple, the Templars. Limoux is in an area once used by the Romans and built up by the Visigoths who settled in the district of the Aude after the sack of Rome. It was the Visigoths who captured the Hebrew Temple treasures looted by the Romans at the fall of Jerusalem. These treasures including the sacred Ark and gold Menorah came under the protection of the Templars and are the great secret kept by their secret society down through the ages.

Cardinal Rospigliosi was the inspiration behind "The Shepherds of Arcadia II" painting by Poussin which figures so prominently in the mystery of Rennes-le-Chateau. It was his idea to include the motto: "Et in Arcadia ego…" engraved on the tomb in the painting. Some wonder if it is the motto itself that is the "key to the secret." Twelve years after Poussin was given this commission, Rospigliosi became Pope. It is significant that a Roman Catholic cardinal would order a landscape of Rennes-le-Chateau containing the phrase which was the motto of the Plantard family - they of Priory of Sion fame. The Merovingian Plantards and the Magdalenian mystery of the Languedoc terrain portrayed in the picture were not subjects that Rome condoned.

The other painter mentioned in the parchments discovered by Beranger Sauniere, the priest, was Teniers. Teniers was famous for his St. Anthony paintings and the subject of St. Anthony's cave was considered to be a clue to the mystery. There is a Teniers in Limoux at Notre Dame de Marceille which was commissioned by Fouquet in 1670. It was a St. Antoine (St. Anthony) painted by David Teniers the Younger. This original painting was painted over by Ambrose Fredeau and changed into a St. Augustine. St. Augustine was known to have been in Rome when it was sacked by Alaric the king of the Visigoths. Could this painting located in Limoux be a reference to the Ark of the Covenant taken by Alaric which he hid somewhere in southern France? Does it indicate that the Limoux vaults are the location of the Temple treasures? In 1870 the painting was changed back to St. Anthony. Certain identifying artifacts were removed and St. Anthony's torch was replaced. Is this the Teniers painting which holds the key to the location of the Ark? Limoux is also home to the beautiful Jesus and Mary Magdalene stained glass window which shows them seated and facing one another clothed in matching robes of indigo blue covered with silver stars.

Sauniere's mentor, Henri Boudet, wrote a book about the origins of the Celtic language in 1886 in which he makes a specific reference to Notre Dame de Marceille. Lasserre quotes Boudet frequently in his own book "History of the Pilgrimage of Notre Dame de Marceille". On page 11, Lasserre mentions works performed by the first bishop of Narbonne, Sergius (589), who sent his priests "to engrave Greek crosses that can still be seen on the standing stones, which form part of the stone circle of Rennes-le-Baines." It is a megalithic site as well as a Roman ruin. A farmer named Ilepes hit some marble stones in his field which had ancient words beautifully engraved upon them. He took these to an archaeologist teacher in Narbonne who determined them to be funerary texts dated 118 A.D. dedicated to the gods which were called the Lares. Some pottery and bronze ornaments were also found as well as images of the Lares and an incense burner with the head of Tanit dated 300 B.C. The Lares were Roman household gods and could also be found at shrines built at crossroads. Some were images of agricultural field spirits.

Both Boudet and Lasserre were one-time owners of Notre Dame de Marceille, as was Fouquet centuries before. Holding the deed to the place was of utmost importance to their priestly secret society. It is a place of mystery, intrigue, and an underground complex. Sauniere was the protégé of Boudet who supplied Lassere with much information on Limoux and Notre Dame de Marceille. Surely Sauniere was another member of the society that kept this location a secret.

The notes of Maillot mention that he found a network of underground constructions close to the River Aude at the foot of the sanctuary. In a government document technical administrator Pennaud wrote of seeing these "underground bases" below the water level of the river at the foot of the hill of Notre Dame de Marceille. He said that rising water would seal the system. There is a question as to the original builders of the complex, were they the Romans, the Visigoths, or the Medieval Templars? It is a system of tunnels with a vaulted room which has a ceiling entrance now covered by a metal door. The walls are rough and the ceiling is made of smooth marble slabs. Triangular-shaped pointed steps descend to a low passage-way where there is a 5 meter sheer drop to the next level by means of a climbing rope which leads to a man-made cavern where the sky-window was used to lower the treasure into the keep. The stonework of the arched room looks ancient and there is an entrance at the bottom and a small wall-window at the top. Perhaps these were used to drain out floodwaters in case of heavy rains.

Inside of the tunnel, it branches to the right and to the left. One meter into the right-hand tunnel is a steel-enforced cement wall. The steel is sunk in and anchored from the surface. The wall was constructed by 17th century workmen imported from Rome called "Penitents" who worked for 21 days without a break. They "sealed the undergrounds of the sanctuary" and were allowed no wine because their work was a secret. Any discovery of these "cavities under the river" has been obscured by the church over the centuries.

It is very unusual for a Catholic church not to have any tombs within its walls, yet there are no burials inside of Notre Dame de Marceille so that there is no reason for anyone to want to enter the lower level of the structure to pay their respects. For many years there was a resident hermit on the grounds to insure that none of the pilgrims stumbled upon the underground tunnels. Visitors would tend to respect the privacy of a hermit and keep their distance from that area. Saint Vincent de Paul organized the group of Lazarist priests who reside at the complex; he was a contemporary of Fouquet and Poussin. These priests were invited to the rededication of Rennes-le-Chateau by Abbe Sauniere.

Over the centuries there was a "hands off" policy when it came to this church near Limoux. This was true in the 14th c., the 16th c., and in the 18th c. as well. During the 14th c. persecution of the Templars, the Templar guards of the underground storehouse were spared. Limoux looks like a fortress, it was built in the style of the soldier monks of the Temple, the nave was added later to make it look like a church. In 1912 Notre Dame de Marceille was dedicated as a Basilica by Pope Pius X which was a rare honor. Bishop Beausejour was present. It was Beausejour who finally defeated Sauniere in court over the mysterious source of Sauniere's income.

In the early days when Sauniere was posted to Le Clat in 1884, Pope Leo XII granted certain favors to Notre Dame de Marceille, specifically exceptional privileges in connection with the five festivals of the Holy Virgin. In 1793 during the time of the French Revolution an attempt was made to suppress the Limoux Carnaval without success. It lasts for two entire months in midwinter and is the origin of the Pierrot tradition. These white-masked elegant clowns dress as departed royalty of the French court gilded in gold singing in Occitan, the language of the region. Their costumes change every year.

The Templars of Roussillon and Razes sought to form an independent state. A map of Visigothic Spain shows the department of the Aude to be a part of northern Spain. It was included within the Visigothic territory; it was not a part of France. The counts of Toulouse were Visigoths. There is an inscription at Palau in Roussillon which reads, "In another form we continue." It was written by the Templars during the war against them by the king of France. Their legacy lives on to this day, the society continues.

This mystery began with the famous Hautpoul tombstone with its reference to the secret royal storehouse. Engraved on that stone was the insignia of the Priory of Sion, the Minoan octopus - their reference to their longevity and their antediluvian pre-Noah origins. The recently discovered chest containing valuable first century artifacts bears the same symbol, the octopus of that same secret society.