Bérenger Saunière’s replacement 1887 Main Altar includes a bas-relief depiction of Mary Magdalene bearing the following Latin inscription (stolen in 1976 and recently replaced):

That is also included amongst the prayers, hymns, missals etc allotted to St Mary Magdalene on her Feast Date of 22 July, found in the Breviarium Romanum:

From Marie Pellechet, Notes Sur Les Livres Liturgiques des Dioceses d'Autun, Chalon et Macon (Paris: H. Champion, 1883), page 370

A more literal translation of the Latin text would read:

Only Son of God most high,

Look down upon us with your pious face,

While calling us to the cradle of glory

Is the penitent heart of Mary Magdalen.

 

The coin once lost shall lie

Hidden in the royal treasury,

And the jewel, washed clean of its stain,

Shall conquer the stars with its heavenly lustre.

 

Jesus, remedy against all our pains,

The only hope for the penitent,

Through the tears of Magdalen

Thou washest away our sins.

 

Most pious mother of God,

Us, the weeping descendants of Eve

From the stormy waters of life

Thou bringest to a safe haven.

 

Glory to the One True God,

For his manifold graces

Who the offences of the penitent

Remits and gives them their just reward.

Noël Corbu (1912-1968) pointing to the Latin inscription on Saunière’s Main Altar (Tout Savoir, Number 58, page 28, January 1958).

Detail to part of background on the Magdalene bas-relief, as it was published in Gérard de Sède’s book L’Or de Rennes in 1967. The bas-relief has been retouched and restored several times over the decades, both officially and unofficially

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