About the book: 2007 / The events to which this book is dedicated formed the basis of Dan Brown's famous bestseller "The Da Vinci Code". Rennes- Le Chateau, a small village in the south of France, became the focus of mysterious rumors in the 20th century: the local priest Bérenger Saunière caused a scandal with his defiant, unbecoming behavior for a priest. The modest minister of the Church spent colossal sums of money on building his own estate, held luxurious receptions, and openly quarreled with his bishop. What at first seemed like eccentric antics had a more serious background. Rumor stubbornly linked the curé's wealth with a mysterious treasure that Saunière allegedly found during the restoration of the parish church: a terrible secret that allowed the priest to almost blackmail the Vatican and the Pope himself. So what could a simple French curé find in a rural church on his deathbed his priest friend could not give him absolution? Treasure of the Visigoths or Cathars? Holy Grail? Ancient manuscripts containing an expose of the foundations of the Christian faith? The author of the book offers his own, in many ways shocking, version.