Torch, Summer 2006

T he conspiracy does seem a bit far-fetched. So, what is true and what is not? What is true is this: • There really is a Priory of Sion. • There really is an Opus Dei. • Documents describing the marriage of Jesus to Mary Magdalene and other information about the early church were discovered in the National Library of France in 1975. Sounds like the makings of a good book! In fact, it was. The book, Holy Blood, Holy Grail , was published in 1982 purporting to tell the true story of Jesus Christ and the early church using those documents discovered in 1975. The Da Vinci Code follows the major themes and plots of Holy Blood, Holy Grail ; so much so, that the authors and Dan Brown were involved in a lawsuit over copyright issues. So how do we sort all of this out? The Priory of Sion was not a secret society founded in 1099. Rather, it was a social group put together by Pierre Plantard in 1954 with a group of friends. Outrageous claims were made about past societies of the same name, but Plantard admits it was merely a group he founded and soon thereafter disbanded. He admitted under oath he constructed the so- called secret documents and placed them in the National Library to be “discovered.” They received a great deal of attention before his forgeries were revealed. The authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail considered them to be authentic, not knowing that Plantard had admitted the hoax. Opus Dei is portrayed in The Da Vinci Code as a sect whose members include monks and assassins (and monks who are assassins). The book describes Opus Dei as a powerful organization that once bailed out the Catholic Church and the Vatican bank, thus receiving special favors from the Pope. The truth is, Opus Dei was founded in Spain in 1928 by a Catholic priest, Josemaría Escrivá. Currently there are 83,000 lay members in Catholic churches around the world. Three thousand members are in the United States. Millions participate in their programs in 60 countries. The mission of the organization is to help the average person integrate Catholic faith into daily life. Opus Dei is not a sect or church, has no monks, and assuredly, no assassins. Needless to say, the conspiracy, cover-up, and intrigue make for an exciting story, even if the organizations have no resemblance to what they really are. It is a novel. Summer 2006 / TORCH 7