RELIGION / HISTORY The Church of Mary Magdalene The small Church of Mary Magdalene in the remote village of Rennes-le-Chateau in southern France may well hold the key to the proof of Mary Magdalene's marriage to Jesus and the bloodline they founded. In 1885 the village of Rennes-le-Chateau welcomed a new priest, Abbe Sauniere. During his time there he ordered and oversaw a substantial--and expensive--restoration of the church. But where did this modest priest get the funds for this work? It is thought that he discovered something during the initial renovations that made him a very rich man and brought him to the attention of various power brokers of the time both from within the Church and from esoteric circles in Paris. Theories of what this discovery was have ranged from the gold pillaged from Delphi in Roman times and the treasure brought from Jerusalem by the Templars to the Cathar treasure said to have been spirited away from Montsegur days before that fortress fell. Even more curious and compelling, however, are the church renovations themselves and their ambiguous portrayal of Mary Magdalene. This depiction could shake the very foundations of the Church with its suggestion that Mary's role was that of the priestess who anoints the priest-king in preparation for his spiritual duties. Poet, philosopher, historian, and storyteller, JEAN MARKALE has spent a lifetime researching pre-Christian and medieval culture and spirituality. He is the author of more than forty books, including Montsegur and the Mystery of the Cathars, The Templar Treasure at Gisor, The Celts, and Women of the Celts. He was a specialist in Celtic studies at the Sorbonne and lives in the Brittany region of France.