Antonin Gadal
Encyclopedia
Antonin Gadal was a French
mystic
and historian who dedicated his life to study of the Cathar
s in the south of France
, their spirituality, beliefs and ideology.
in the Ariege
region in the south of France
, which was one of the centres of the heretical gnostic Christian
movement known as the Cathars or the Albigensians in the 11th-12th Centuries. Another major Cathar centre, Montsegur
, the castle where their leaders made their last stand against the Crusaders
, is not far away to the north-east. Montaillou
, the village which continued as a secret community of Cathars until the 14th Century and the Inquisition
's records of which went up to make Leduries's book Montaillou: Promised Land of Error, is also nearby.
Gadal grew up in a house next to the Tarasconian historian Adolphe Garrigou who specialised in the history of the Cathars (along with his son he is honoured by a plaque on the building he lived in in one of the squares in Tarascon). Garrigou saw himself as a preserver of the memory of the Christian sect and, seeing a kindred spirit in the young man took him under his wing as an inheritor of his knowledge. As an adult, Gadal worked as a schoolteacher but his fascination with the Cathars lead him to work for the Tourist Board Of Ussat Ornolac. In doing so he was able to explore the Pyrenean caves himself, which he believed were hiding places and sites of worship for the Cathars. Through his investigations he developed a detailed picture of what he believed were the inner mysteries of their faith. Otto Rahn
, the Nazi historian and occultist, is believed to have approached him in his own quest for the secrets of the Cathars (Rahn believed that the Cathars were the trustees of the Holy Grail
). Although some have suggested that Gadal refused to assist Rahn, it seems likely that in fact Gadal personally took Rahn on a tour of the various Cathar Cave locations.
Gnosticism
) to the most ancient sources of the Western Mystery Tradition - the Essenes
, Hermeticism
, the Egyptian Mysteries and so on - but seen in a Christian context. He argued that in the Ariege basin, and particularly the Lombrives caves, Cathar Perfecti (the spiritual elite of the movement) underwent a three year period of initiation in which they experienced a transformation of the human soul, much like that experienced by Christ in the Gospels - Transfiguration
, Death
& Resurrection
. Transformed by the Holy Spirit
, the Perfecti then went out into the world, having 'died' to it, to spread the Cathar faith and minister to the Credentes, or Believers. Gadal's belief was that this process of Initiation was contained within the Christian message of the Gospels and the cycle of the Christ story and was the hidden meaning of the Grail Legend.
Through his interest in the Gnostic Christianity of the Cathars and his belief in its connection with an ancient tradition, in his later years Gadal made contact with the leaders of the neo-Gnostic, Christian
Rosicrucian
movement the Lectorium Rosicrucianum
- Jan van Rijckenborgh
and Catharose de Petri
. Gadal's theories and ideas subsequently became a very important element in the cosmology of the Lectorium and to this day members of the society embark on pilgrimages to the Ariege and the Lombrives caves every five years.
, both printed by the Rosycross Press, the printing arm of the Lectorium. He died in 1962.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
mystic
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
and historian who dedicated his life to study of the Cathar
Cathar
Catharism was a name given to a Christian religious sect with dualistic and gnostic elements that appeared in the Languedoc region of France and other parts of Europe in the 11th century and flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries...
s in the south of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, their spirituality, beliefs and ideology.
Life
Gadal was born in 1877 in the Pyrenean town of TarasconTarascon-sur-Ariège
Tarascon-sur-Ariège is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France.-Population:Inhabitants of Tarascon-sur-Ariège are called Tarasconnais.-External links:*...
in the Ariege
Ariège
Ariège is a department in southwestern France named after the Ariège River.- History :Ariège is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from the counties of Foix and Couserans....
region in the south of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, which was one of the centres of the heretical gnostic Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
movement known as the Cathars or the Albigensians in the 11th-12th Centuries. Another major Cathar centre, Montsegur
Montségur
The Château de Montségur is a former fortress near Montségur, a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France. Its ruins are the site of a razed stronghold of the Cathars. The present fortress on the site, though described as one of the "Cathar castles," is actually of a later period...
, the castle where their leaders made their last stand against the Crusaders
Crusaders
The Crusaders are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Christchurch that competes in the Super Rugby competition. They are the most successful team in Super Rugby history with seven titles...
, is not far away to the north-east. Montaillou
Montaillou
Montaillou is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France.-History:The town is best known for being the subject of Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's pioneering work of microhistory, Montaillou, village occitan. It analyzes the town in great detail over a thirty-year period from 1294 to 1324...
, the village which continued as a secret community of Cathars until the 14th Century and the Inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
's records of which went up to make Leduries's book Montaillou: Promised Land of Error, is also nearby.
Gadal grew up in a house next to the Tarasconian historian Adolphe Garrigou who specialised in the history of the Cathars (along with his son he is honoured by a plaque on the building he lived in in one of the squares in Tarascon). Garrigou saw himself as a preserver of the memory of the Christian sect and, seeing a kindred spirit in the young man took him under his wing as an inheritor of his knowledge. As an adult, Gadal worked as a schoolteacher but his fascination with the Cathars lead him to work for the Tourist Board Of Ussat Ornolac. In doing so he was able to explore the Pyrenean caves himself, which he believed were hiding places and sites of worship for the Cathars. Through his investigations he developed a detailed picture of what he believed were the inner mysteries of their faith. Otto Rahn
Otto Rahn
Otto Wilhelm Rahn was a German medievalist and a Obersturmführer of the SS, born in Michelstadt, Germany....
, the Nazi historian and occultist, is believed to have approached him in his own quest for the secrets of the Cathars (Rahn believed that the Cathars were the trustees of the Holy Grail
Holy Grail
The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...
). Although some have suggested that Gadal refused to assist Rahn, it seems likely that in fact Gadal personally took Rahn on a tour of the various Cathar Cave locations.
Gadal and Cathar spirituality
Gadal's belief was that the spirituality of the Cathars traced back through various Gnostic beliefs (such as Manicheanism, ChristianChristian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
Gnosticism
Gnosticism
Gnosticism is a scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism , and Neoplatonism.A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis...
) to the most ancient sources of the Western Mystery Tradition - the Essenes
Essenes
The Essenes were a Jewish sect that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE which some scholars claim seceded from the Zadokite priests...
, Hermeticism
Hermeticism
Hermeticism or the Western Hermetic Tradition is a set of philosophical and religious beliefs based primarily upon the pseudepigraphical writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus...
, the Egyptian Mysteries and so on - but seen in a Christian context. He argued that in the Ariege basin, and particularly the Lombrives caves, Cathar Perfecti (the spiritual elite of the movement) underwent a three year period of initiation in which they experienced a transformation of the human soul, much like that experienced by Christ in the Gospels - Transfiguration
Transfiguration of Jesus
The Transfiguration of Jesus is an event reported in the New Testament in which Jesus is transfigured and becomes radiant upon a mountain. The Synoptic Gospels describe it, and 2 Peter 1:16-18 refers to it....
, Death
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
& Resurrection
Resurrection
Resurrection refers to the literal coming back to life of the biologically dead. It is used both with respect to particular individuals or the belief in a General Resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. The General Resurrection is featured prominently in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim...
. Transformed by the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
, the Perfecti then went out into the world, having 'died' to it, to spread the Cathar faith and minister to the Credentes, or Believers. Gadal's belief was that this process of Initiation was contained within the Christian message of the Gospels and the cycle of the Christ story and was the hidden meaning of the Grail Legend.
Through his interest in the Gnostic Christianity of the Cathars and his belief in its connection with an ancient tradition, in his later years Gadal made contact with the leaders of the neo-Gnostic, Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
Rosicrucian
Rosicrucian
Rosicrucianism is a philosophical secret society, said to have been founded in late medieval Germany by Christian Rosenkreuz. It holds a doctrine or theology "built on esoteric truths of the ancient past", which, "concealed from the average man, provide insight into nature, the physical universe...
movement the Lectorium Rosicrucianum
Lectorium Rosicrucianum
The Lectorium Rosicrucianum is a worldwide school of Esoteric Christianity founded in 1935 by Dutch mystics Jan van Rijckenborgh, his brother Zwier Willem Leene and Catharose de Petri...
- Jan van Rijckenborgh
Jan van Rijckenborgh
Jan van Rijckenborgh was a Dutch born mystic and founder of the Lectorium Rosicrucianum, a worldwide esoteric Rosicrucian movement....
and Catharose de Petri
Catharose de Petri
Catharose de Petri was a Dutch born mystic and co-founder of the Lectorium Rosicrucianum, an international esoteric school based on Gnostic ideas of Christianity....
. Gadal's theories and ideas subsequently became a very important element in the cosmology of the Lectorium and to this day members of the society embark on pilgrimages to the Ariege and the Lombrives caves every five years.
Later life and work
As well as his work in the Ariege region, Gadal travelled widely through Europe and the world lecturing on the Cathars, his findings and theories, many of which were rejected by academics as being too mystical or speculative. His books include The Inheritance Of The Cathars and On The Trail Of The Holy GrailHoly Grail
The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...
, both printed by the Rosycross Press, the printing arm of the Lectorium. He died in 1962.
See also
- AriegeAriègeAriège is a department in southwestern France named after the Ariège River.- History :Ariège is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from the counties of Foix and Couserans....
- Catharose de PetriCatharose de PetriCatharose de Petri was a Dutch born mystic and co-founder of the Lectorium Rosicrucianum, an international esoteric school based on Gnostic ideas of Christianity....
- Cathars/Catharism, Cathar PerfectCathar PerfectPerfect was the name given to a monk of the medieval French Christian religious movement commonly referred to as the Cathars. The term reflects that such a person was seen by the Catholic Church as the "perfect heretic"...
, CredentesCredentesCredentes or Believers, were the ordinary followers of what became known as the Cathar or Albigensian movement, a Christian sect which flourished in western Europe during the 11th, 12th and 13th Centuries. Credentes constituted up the main part of the Cathar community in the region... - Christian mysticismChristian mysticismChristian mysticism refers to the development of mystical practices and theory within Christianity. It has often been connected to mystical theology, especially in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions...
- GnosticismGnosticismGnosticism is a scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism , and Neoplatonism.A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis...
- Holy GrailHoly GrailThe Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...
- Jan van RijckenborghJan van RijckenborghJan van Rijckenborgh was a Dutch born mystic and founder of the Lectorium Rosicrucianum, a worldwide esoteric Rosicrucian movement....
- Lectorium RosicrucianumLectorium RosicrucianumThe Lectorium Rosicrucianum is a worldwide school of Esoteric Christianity founded in 1935 by Dutch mystics Jan van Rijckenborgh, his brother Zwier Willem Leene and Catharose de Petri...
- Manicheanism
- Rosicrucianism, Rosicrucian ManifestosRosicrucian ManifestosThe Rosicrucian Manifestos were two documents of unknown authorship written in the early 17th century in Europe. They purported to announce the existence of a hitherto unknown esoteric order, the Brotherhood of the Rose Cross, to the world...
External links
- Antonin Gadal: L'Oeuvre d'un homme inspiré par l'Esprit
- Antonin Gadal: Profile
- Lectorium Rosicrucianum Official site of the organisation Gadal became involved with towards the end of his life