Arcadia Discussion Zone

Marian Traditions in the Pyrenees

Throughout the Pyrenees and southern France, there is a long, perhaps even timeless tradition of Marian appearances. In the immediate area surrounding Lourdes, there were at least forty shrines dedicated to her, and most of them had been inspired by either previous apparitions, or by the mysterious finding of her ancient statues. The medieval pilgrimage roads that led the faithful into Spain and on to Santiago de Campostella ran right through the Bigorre region. Wherever the zealous pilgrims wandered, miracles followed, spilling over on both sides of the road. Many of the shrines in the area surrounding Lourdes eventually took on the function of mini-pilgrimage sites, serving those who couldn’t undertake the full trek into Spain.

From the thirteenth through the seventeenth centuries, in particular, comes evidence of local Marian apparitions that could be said to have set the “pattern” for the public perception of Bernadette’s story. At the fountain in nearby Garaison, the Virgin appeared in the early sixteenth century to a twelve-year-old shepherdess named Angleze de Sagazon. There are distinct parallels between this story in the local lore, and the details of Bernadette’s experiences.4 Like Bernadette, Angleze was also poor and uneducated, and only she could see and hear the Lady during her appearances. Just as at Lourdes, the Virgin requested that a chapel be built outside of town, at the site of the apparitions near the fountain. The chapel at Garaison became a popular pilgrimage site and, like Bernadette, Angleze eventually retired to a convent.

In the nearby grottoes of Medous, a popular pilgrimage destination until at least the end of the eighteenth century, a shrine commemorated a much earlier apparition of the Virgin to a little shepherd girl named Liloye. The faithful can still, with a little imagination, make out the image of Virgin and child in the tangled rock formations hidden within the mysterious caves.5

The local shrine of Betharram has an intriguing history. According to the legend, young shepherds, out grazing their flocks, saw a mysterious light that looked like flames coming from between the rocks at the foot of the mountain. As they came closer to investigate, they found a marvelous statue of the Virgin hidden in the bushes. The locals decided to place the statue in a niche on a bridge over the river Gave, but after installing it there, come the morning, the statue was gone. It had fled back to its rocky home. They tried to move it again, this time securing the statue in a nearby church, but it refused to stay there as well. The image escaped and re-appeared again where it had been found. Thus it was decided to build a chapel on the wilderness site, which soon became a popular pilgrimage center. It is said that Bernadette got her own rosary at Betharram.6

Another story from Betharram explains the origin of the site’s name. A young girl had fallen into the Gave, and was in danger of drowning, when she prayed to the Virgin for help. Mary appeared on the bank of the river, holding out a flowering branch, which she used to pull the girl to safety; hence the name, Betharram, which means “beautiful branch” in the local Bernaise dialect. This name raises another interesting parallel, for in 1931, a series of approved Marian apparitions took place in a Belgian town called Beauraing. The Virgin repeatedly appeared to a group of children from the branches of a hawthorn tree. We will be examining these apparitions in detail in a later chapter, but it is worth mentioning here that the name Beauraing also means “beautiful branch” in their local dialect.

As Ruth Harris points out in her excellent book, Lourdes: Body and Spirit in the Secular Age, in the Pyrenees, the Virgin had a particular affinity for both the hawthorn and the wild rose. Harris mentions twenty-eight shrines to the Virgin in the region surrounding Lourdes that involve either a hawthorn or wild rose (pg. 68). Bernadette’s aquero always appeared standing on the wild rose branches draped above the entrance to the grotto. These thorny plants played a role in the traditional medicine of the area, and were considered to have some unique healing virtues, but their special connection to the Virgin Mary and her miraculous statues may lead us much further back into pre-Christian traditions.

In the nearby town of Sarrance, due west of Lourdes, is a splendid and treasured Marian shrine. Legend has it that a beautiful bull suddenly began to appear in town each day, only to disappear at night. Everyone tried to catch him but it was impossible. No rope could hold him. One fellow decided to follow the bull at night, and it led him to a mysterious spring, deep in the woods. There, the bull bowed down and prayed to an image of the Virgin Mary, which stood on a stone at the spring’s source. Word spread, and soon everyone wanted to worship at the miraculous statue. The bishop of the nearby town of Oloron came to see it, and decided to move the marvelous image to the cathedral, but come the morning, the statue was gone! Like the Marian image at Betharram, it had made its way miraculously back to the spring. That was where the statue wanted to be worshiped.
A shrine was built on the site and the statue stayed put. Meanwhile, the stone at the source of the spring, where the statue had originally been revealed, gained a special reputation for helping pregnant women. They would actually eat tiny pieces of the rock to ensure an easy delivery.7

This theme of cattle finding a miraculous image of Our Lady in the wild is very popular in the area around Lourdes. At the shrine of Notre-Dame de Bourisp, the Marian image was revealed when a shepherd followed a steer into the forest and found it licking the statue with its tongue. At Notre-Dame de Nestes, a calf had revealed the statue in a bush, necessitating the building of yet another wilderness shrine.8

This was the spiritual and psychological atmosphere in which Bernadette lived and learned, where a respectable Roman Catholic veneer overlaid thousands of years of Basque traditions. Inspired livestock and the worship of miraculous statues in the wild intertwined freely with a passionate devotion to the Mother of God. Her ancient images, possibly older than Christianity itself, were buried and forgotten, but not gone. Sleeping just below the surface, like the old beliefs that originally inspired them, these statues resurfaced unexpectedly, calling worshipers out of their towns and back to the wilderness, for this heavenly Mother did not want to be worshipped in the proper places, in churches or Christian sanctuaries. She wanted the faithful to come out to the mountains, to the caves and rivers, to springs and hawthorn bushes to pay her their proper respects. In return, she granted grace and healing, and the protection of a good Mother goddess.9

She is in white and he is in black

he didn't wear much else did he

Guillaume Denarnaud, son of Etienne Denarnaud and Elisabeth Olive was born at Sougraigne 21 avril 1840 and died at Rennes le Château 28 janvier 1930.
His wife Alexandrine Marre, born in 1844, died at Rennes le Château 19 juin 1928 .
They lived at Espéraza and had two children. Two other children died a few days after birth.

Marie, born 12 août 1868 at Espéraza, died at Rennes le Château 29 janvier 1953
Barthélémy ,born 1872 at Espéraza and died at Rennes le Château 23 décembre 1944.

In 1878 the Denarnauds left Espéraza for Rennes le Château.
Guillaume and Barthélémy his son, work at the chapellerie hat makers, at Couiza.



It was in 1891 that l'abbé Saunière, welcomed the Dénarnaud family to the presbytère to work for him, probably after the death of his Aunt Rose with whom he lived....so the Dénarnaud's moved in en-masse to serve the curé, all under the same roof.
The wife, Alexandrine Denarnaud was his servant, but quickly Marie took over most of the duties.


So...if you look at the date of death of Marie's parents...are we to assume that Bérengere and Marie didn't live alone at all ?
And are we to assume that the members of the family lived here until their death's...(including Barthélémy's wife & children) ?

Lorsque l'abbé Saunière prit possession de la cure de Rennes le Château en I885, le presbytère étant inhabitable, il prit pension, comme son prédécesseur, chez la famille Dénarnaud qui habitait depuis 1878 la maison aujourd'hui démolie qui se trouve à l' angle du jardin de l'abbé en face de la villa Béthanie. C'est la mère de Marie, Alexandrine qui était alors la servante attitrée du prêtre desservant la paroisse. Ce n'est que vers 1891 que Melle Marie, qui travaillait jusqu'alors à l'usine de Chapeaux d' Espéraza avec son frère et son père, commença à seconder sa mère dans sa fonction auprès de l'abbé. C'est également dans cette période que la famille Dénarnaud s'installa avec l'abbé au presbytère qui fut définitivement restauré en I897.

he didn't wear much else did he

They are all ancient routes.

We had discussed before that Marie had controlled the books and there were references to an organised military type organisation.

If you look at the entries they are in fact "legs" or branches on the ancient pilgrimage routes. *There are references to old dispute involving paying taxes on the Toulousian leg in reference to wine involving these routes.

who knows what we view in the picture is Marie in her wedding dress



A Bride

When Saunière was appointed curé in 1885, the presbytère was uninhabitable, and he took lodgings, just like his predecessor, with the Dénarnaud family who lived in a village house that has since been demolished that stood at the angle of the garden opposite the villa Bethania....so there is the connection. As i said before, it was the mother, Alexandrine who worked for the curé of the parish and it was only in 1891 that the young Marie started to help her mother out. It was round about this time that Saunière & the Dénarnauds installed themselves together in the presbytère that would eventually be restored by 1897.

As to his Aunt Rose that lived with him...?
But i do notice he was godparent to his younger sibling Rose Marie Adeline who was born 1867.

La famille Denarnaud a longtemps contribue aux finances de l'Abbe Sauniere avec des sommes parfois assez considerables, pour des ouvriers chapeliers.

In the highlighted part we see the references to a Bull or is it really refering to the Mithraic underground worship meeting up with places of worship of the Marian tradition. By offering donations to "Lourdes" Sauniere may have been paying a commission for use of the area whenever it was needed.

sorry Rain, i dont get it?
I prefer to look at what he spent rather than received, you get a better inkling of his life and the times in which they lived. For instance I chuckled when I read he bought 2 watches, 2 umbrellas or Marie a hat and had her teeth repaired . The bills for the butcher, baker and candle stick maker also give a good insight into daily life along with his rum and tailoring.

Yes they made considerable contributions but also received large amounts as well!
Do you know why? Can you tell us anything about this family?

Perhaps they made money from the railway construction or had good positions in one of the many felt hat factories, maybe even owned one as father and son!

How about the guilds penitence and profit......hmmmmm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari_(goddess)

Mari lives underground, normally in a cave in a high mountain, where she and her consort Sugaar meet every Friday (the night of the Akelarre or witch-meeting) to conceive then the storms that will bring fertility (and sometimes disgrace) to the land and the people. Mari is served by a court of sorginak (witches), and is said to feed on the negation and affirmation (that is on falsehood).

[...]


There is much confusion over the origin of the name Mari. For some it is just the transposition of the Christian name of the mother of Jesus, Mary, but others prefer to believe that it is a modification of Emari (gift) or Amari (mother + the suffix of profession) by losing the first vowel. The closeness in names may have helped turn the Pagan worship of the goddess Mari into a Christian veneration of the Virgin Mary. The first known written citation of the Dame of Amboto was made by Charles V's chronicler Esteban de Garibay Zamalloa in his Memorial histórico español.

[...]

Occasionally the figure of Mari is linked to the kidnapping or theft of cows, but the presence of Christian priests in those myths may indicate that they are actually Christian fabrications or distortions. In fact it doesn't seem that any kind of sacrifices were offered, at least normally, to Mari, in contrast to what happened with lesser spirits (lamiak, jentilak, etc.), who were given food as payment for their work in the fields.

[...]

In various legends Mari is said to have sons or daughters, but their number and character fluctuates. Maybe the most famous were her two sons, Atxular and Mikelatz. Atxular represents largely the Christianized Basque soul, becoming a priest after having learned from the Devil himself in a church in Salamanca and then having escaped. Mikelatz instead seems to have a more negative or wild character and is sometimes assimilated into the spirit of storms, Hodei or embodied as young red bull.

[...]

Mari is the main character of Basque mythology, having, unlike other creatures that share the same spiritual environment, a god-like nature. Mari is often witnessed as a woman dressed in red. She is also seen as woman of fire, woman-tree and as thunderbolt. Additionally she is identified with red animals (cow, ram, horse) and with the black he-goat.

[...]

According to some anthropologists, Santa Marina, a saint revered in the Basque Country, is in actuality a Christianized version of Mari. Basque women still invoke Santa Marina's protection against curses and for aid in childbirth.

Nevertheless the most accepted synchretism is that with Virgin Mary, which is widely venerated by modern Christian Basques.

TCP

La famille Denarnaud a longtemps contribue aux finances de l'Abbe Sauniere avec des sommes parfois assez considerables, pour des ouvriers chapeliers.

I understand what you mean by the synchretism with Mary and I wasn't suggesting Mari evolved into Mithraism what I meant was the roman trade roads linked up the ancient temples.

Think about it

Ancient temples to whom, Mithras?

TCP

There is no evidence that Marie Denarnaud was ever anything more than a devout employee. She spent her entire adult life working for Berenger Saunier as her mother had done before her for him and his predecessor. These people lived in a small village where everyone knew everyone's business, any hint of scandal concerning the local priest or his employees and friends would have been a significant event for the local inhabitants, the letters concerning the graveyard is a good example. If there was any evidence of any inappropriate behaviour by any of them we would know by now, letters exist, in the early days when the village became famous there were still locals alive from there generation.

Perhaps they did have a little side line in the textile business, there are few entries in those accounts for the purchase of costumes and the first thing that sprang to my mind (sad I know) was la Sanch/Sang, who made those cagoules? Is the cone head wear made from felt material? Nothing illegal or unethical in doing that, it was and still is a catholic organisation.

She was a devout employee of Sauniere and to top it off this was a fairly wide scandal. The Billionaire cure et al... The accusations of grave desecration etc... not to mention small villages are insular.

The textile business was legitimate, there is no proof otherwise but the books, postcards and selling of masses have never been fully explained and most certainly weren't acceptable to the Catholic church.