PaulSmith wrote:
More spam from a couple of spambots.
Nicolas Mazet cannot show evidence that does not exist and he is the only one on this Planet who started the myth that charges against Sauniere were "dropped". Nobody in France has repeated that because everyone in France ignores Mazet, who is a kook and not a "researcher".
None of the charges against Sauniere were ever "dropped" and those who claim this nonsense are only using Mazet's fantasies as their source. The evidence for it does not exist.
Paul Smith
Bedu is speculating. He even admits it. That's another piece of written text that went straight over your head.
First of all let me state that Mass trafficking was NOT illegal
Saunière was allowed to do it and he did nothing wrong
BEWARE OF THE SLIGHT OF HAND BY BEDU
He says:
"‘Moreover, at certain periods, the curé of Rennes received a large number of postal orders each day - as many as 100 or 150 - for small amounts of cash ranging from 5 to 40 francs. Some of these were postal orders paid to him in Rennes; many others were addressed ‘poste restante’ to Couiza, where he went to convert them into cash. Others were in the name of Marie Dénarnaud. In fact, one of the postmistresses who cashed them was still alive in 1958. These postal orders were very diverse in origin. Many of them came from France, but there were also many from Belgium, the Rhineland, Switzerland and Northern Italy. A large number were from religious communities. These postal orders were intended to pay for ‘mass intentions’. Abbé Saunière was trafficking in masses.’ (René Descadeillas, ‘Mythologie du trésor de Rennes’, page 31)"
René Descadeillas is completely guessing that the postal orders Sauniere was receiving were ALL for Saunière to say Masses. He has absolutely and utterly NO evidence that postal orders came from all over Europe to this small backwoods priest at a small church in the foothills of the Pyrenees for the sole purpose of this priest saying Masses.
Bedu is completely relying on the data from ONE person: - René Descadeillas
WHAT MAKES SAUNIERE SO SPECIAL?
The donations were coming from esoteric groups as a direct result of the status of Saunière's church. If you wish to embrace the THEORY that all of Saunière's wealth came from trafficking in masses and Saunière having requests for them from all over Europe, you will have to explain precisely why Saunière was so special as to warrant such special attention.
Bedu actually agrees that Descadeillas' tables are inaccurate. As you can see
here Saunière's incomes and expenses come nowhere near Descadeillas' made up figures.
Bedu states that he has documents which says that Saunière had made 40,813 masses from 1892 to 1916 and because this figure still doesn't explain Saunière's wealth he then adds in some
'Must have dones'.
The figure of 110,313 masses is mysteriously conjured up from out of nowhere. He gets this apparantly from Saunière's failure to include some in his inventory from January 1896 and so therefore ASSUMES that Saunière
MUST HAVE DONE this all the time and this will therefore explain his wealth.
But lets look at this 40,813 masses figure. Sauniere may well have written to people for Mass requests but this doesn't mean he got them all back. Bedu ASSUMES he did. This 40,813 masses figure from 1892 through to 1916, amounts to just over 4 masses per day, Sauniere was allowed to do three. However if you look at the tables you will see that in 1892 to 1896 we suddenly have have a figure of:
9 July 92 to 30 Sept 1896 7,294 masses 9,188 f
10 Oct 96 to 30 Nov 1897 5,820 masses 7,275 f
Bedu doesn't explain this sudden burst of this apparant Mass Trafficking. These two entries are between four and five times the amount of any other entries of a similar period. These appear to be totally spurious.
the following period:
31 May 1907 to Sept 1907 104 masses and only 208 f
208 Francs despite him apparantly increasing his rates to two Francs per mass.
If we assume that even if Saunière did this amount of masses and even if we assume he charged two francs per mass, the amount he earned does not cover the amount we KNOW he spent in the period from 1897 up until 1910, which amounts to over 133,000 Francs. Notice the table also has him taking an income from masses from 1910 onwards. This is after his trial when we know he ceased trafficking and received nothing after 1910.
Bedu can only make the figures work by inventing them.
One thing that is never considered by the mass trafficking theorists is the sheer volume of small donations that need to be delivered and processed. If we take for example the period above from 9 July 92 to 30 Sept 1896. We're looking at 7,294 masses at an average of 1.26 f per mass. How did Saunière receive this money? By postal order? He probably would have needed his own postal delivery service and his own postal staff to handle all the postal orders and remember this was before a road was built to Rennes le Chateau.
What figures we have come from Sauniere himself, why is this guy keeping records that will get him suspended?
Why? He invented them, to cover up what he was really doing.
Saunière's wealth came from anonymous donors some of them Royalty.
His church was special.