Detailed analysis of his records has taught he received 110,000 requests to say mass, which is a lot more than he ever could have said when you think a priest could say 3 masses in one day (and didn’t hold sermons every day of course).

However, the amounts of money he spent are in no relation to his illegal income from this practice. There’s clear evidence that he was guilty of this practice like so many of his colleagues at the time. It’s often said Saunière got his fortune by committing simony or mass trafficking: requesting money for masses he never said. Saunière’s financial difficulties coincide largely with the World War I, an indication he couldn’t reach his funds abroad? Towards the end of his life he seems to have had some difficulty paying his bills but weeks before his death he appears to have been making plans once again. His salary as a priest was 900 francs per annum. He would spend up to 50,000 francs in one month in some periods. From that time on his surviving papers and accounts record a total expenditure of some 660,000 francs, equivalent to EUR 2,500,000 today. According to his meticulously kept accounting books, in February 1892 he had a debt of 105 francs and 80,65 francs in his ‘fonds secrets’ (savings). He had been assigned to this tiny village in the south of France at the age of 33 and had spent his first few years there in piety and poverty. Rennes-le-Château Research and Resource All there is to know about the mystery of Rennes-le-Château Search MenuĪt the end of the 19th century, Bérenger Saunière, the poor parish priest of Rennes-le-Château, all of a sudden started spending a lot more money then he could ever have earned performing his normal duties.

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