The travels and pre-prepared letters (1892).
Perhaps not all the wealth found under the church floor was made up of cash: valuable objects and jewellery could be converted into current money if sold discreetly in some city far enough from Rennes-le-Château. This is perhaps the reason why Saunière moves away from the area on several occasions to go to Perpignan and Carcassonne.
In order not to be too eye-catching, especially with the highest ecclesiastical offices, he elaborates a small stratagem with which to hide his movements: he prepares, in fact, a series of pre-written letters to be sent to those who write to him when he is out of the country. The letters are as follows:
Rennes-le-Château, Aude
Forced to leave to visit a brother of mine, I limit myself, for now, to inform you that I have received your letter and thank you.
Respectful greetings,
Bérenger Saunière, priest.
For the various ecclesiastical offices (the bishop, the bishop's chancellor, the vicar general) the curate prepares many letters with a different style: it is Marie who sends them to the writer when Saunière is on the road. The only ones to notice the actual absence of the parish priest are the inhabitants of Rennes-le-Château, who begin to make assumptions about the destinations of such trips: the name of neighbouring Spain, but also of remote Paris. However, there is no evidence that he really went that far: the most likely destinations are Carcassonne and Perpignan.
The first may have been reached to carry out some studies in the large city library1. The second "to attempt to sell any of his finds [...] Although relatively close, it was a city that could offer him some anonymity"2. Several years later, on May 3, 1911, in a letter to Marie the priest will explicitly cite the stratagem of the pre-printed letters3:
"I am also very satisfied with the other letters you received and to which, as an awnowledgment of receipt, you replied with one of the letters prepared before my departure. All you have to do is continue like this."
1. Claire Corbu, Antoine Captier, L'héritage de l'Abbé Saunière; Bélisane, Nizza 1995, p. 86.
2. Bedu, 2002, p. 54.
3. Patrick Mensior, L'Extraordinaire Secret des Prètres de Rennes-le-Château, Les 3 Spirales, 2003, p. 46.