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Community portal Antonin Gadal (1877–1962) was a French mystic and historian who dedicated his life to study
Recent changes of the Cathars in the south of France, their spirituality, beliefs and ideology.
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1 Life
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Related changes 2 Gadal and Cathar spirituality
Upload file 3 Later life and work
Special pages 4 See also
Permanent link 5 References
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Print/export Life [edit]

Create a book Gadal was born in 1877 in the Pyrenean town of Tarascon in the Ariège region in the south of
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France,[1] which was one of the centres of the heretical gnostic Christian movement known as
Printable version
the Cathars or the Albigensians in the 11th-12th Centuries. Another major Cathar centre,
Languages Montségur, the castle where their leaders made their last stand against the Crusaders, is not
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far away to the north-east. Montaillou, the village which continued as a secret community of
Français
Cathars until the 14th Century and the Inquisition's records of which went up to make
Nederlands
Polski
Leduries's book Montaillou: Promised Land of Error, is also nearby.
Edit links 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 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

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Antonin Gadal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

Gadal and Cathar spirituality [edit]

Gadal's belief was that the spirituality of the Cathars traced back through various Gnostic beliefs
(such as Manicheanism, Christian 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 Ariège 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.[2] 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 Ariège and the Lombrives caves every five years.

Later life and work [edit]

As well as his work in the Ariège 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 Path to the Holy Grail (ISBN 9067322857), both printed by the Rosycross Press, the
printing arm of the Lectorium. He died in 1962.

See also [edit]

Ariège
Catharose de Petri
Cathars/Catharism, Cathar Perfect, Credentes
Christian mysticism
Gnosticism
Holy Grail
Jan van Rijckenborgh
Lectorium Rosicrucianum

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Antonin Gadal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Manicheanism
Rosicrucianism, Rosicrucian Manifestos

References [edit]

1. ^ "Antonin Gadal biography at GoldenRosycross.org" . Archived from the original on 19 July

2011. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
2. ^ Gadal, Antonin (2006). Der Triumph der Universellen Gnosis. Amsterdam: In de Pelikaan.
p. 46. ISBN 90 71608 19 0.

Rosicrucians Through the Ages Rozekruis Pers/ Rosycross Press ISBN 90-6732-323-3
www.gadal-catharisme.org

External links [edit]

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

Authority control VIAF: 101861271 · BNF: cb11471070v (data)

Categories: Christian mystics Esotericists French historians Catharism 1877 births

1962 deaths French male writers

This page was last modified on 3 March 2015, at 17:47.

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