In the will he made in that same year, he left all his goods to Marie Dénarnaud – his possessions came to a total of 4,000 francs at that time, since the land and the buildings were in Marie’s name. To further ensure that none of Saunière’s wealth would ever fall into the hands of his family, Marie’s will left the entire domain to Saunière’s bishop.

The extravagant life

Saunière and his housekeeper continued to live in the presbytery, in spite of the Villa being ready for occupancy. The reason for this is unknown, although it may be that Saunière was attempting to keep up the fiction that the Villa was not for his own benefit, but truly a place of retreat for elderly clergymen. At any rate, the fiction did not prohibit him from entertaining in the Villa. Important and titled visitors were invited regularly to Rennes-le-Château, and existing receipts for the food and drink provided reveal that the entertainment and provisions were lavish indeed. Saunière was certainly in contact through his correspondence with many people, and there is no doubt that donations had often been given by the noble and the wealthy. It is very likely that these people visited Saunière at the Villa, and were royally entertained.

Saunière also hired Henri Barret of Castelnaudry as a librarian for three months, his task to set in order the vast new library within the Tour Magdala. The cost was roughly 500 francs.

Rumours were now running rife concerning Saunière’s extravagant lifestyle. Monseigneur de Beauséjour, the Bishop, could not ignore the rumours, and asked Saunière to explain. Saunière’s reply was unsatisfactory – he claimed the villa was just a retreat for elderly clergymen, and did not give any specific information about the source of the money he had spent. It was vaguely referred to as gifts by donors who wished to remain anonymous, money that he himself had saved from his poor salary, and so on.

Conflict with the Bishop

The problem was two-fold. Firstly, the Bishop had the intention of claiming Saunière’s domain in the name of the Church, to be used as the Church saw fit. (Saunière thought he had prevented any such possibility by ensuring the domain was in Marie’s name, not his, but if donations raised in the name of the Church had been used to purchase the land and build the villa, it was, in the opinion of the Bishop, Church property, not private property.) Secondly, the Bishop was aware that Saunière was saying Masses for people outside his own parish. That was impossible to hide. But was he actually trafficking in Masses? That is, was he advertising to solicit Masses which he could not possibly say?

Saunière had been taking advantage of the separation in France of Church and State. This created an increase in demand for the saying of Masses, and with Saunière’s well-planned solicitations to influential people and to institutions which required bulk Masses, it truly became an industry on a grand scale. The amount of money coming in was, quite simply, phenomenal. In a little over one month alone, from 3rd June 1909 to 22nd July 1909, Saunière received 1,146 francs for saying Masses which he never said.