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| After 700 Years, the Laurel Will Blossom Again |
 'After 700 Years, the laurel will blossom again on the ashes of the martyrs!'
The prophecy has become real!
Several decades ago, a few men tried to revive old memories of Occitania, of Occitan Catharism, buried in the meanders of history and the collective unconscious.
We saw the slow but ineluctable awakening of consciousness. Sometimes as a trumpet blow, sometimes more discretely, more scholarly. Some of the ideals linked with Catharism were emerging. It was a time of resurgence.
Towards the end of the 19th century, bending under the weight of materialism, men aroused awakening forces from the depths of their beings. The past was resurfacing with its vestiges and ruins, its famous places and its emblematic characters, with all its unanswered questions and unassimilated lessons.
On the one hand, the Church of Rome strengthened its grasp over the consciousness and, on the other hand, the French crown was increased by several rich provinces.
We can understand perfectly the discomfort of historians, whether lay or religious, having to admit that the unity and the glory of the Church and of France were obtained thanks to massacres and burnings at stakes. |
 Nor is it by chance, in our days of deep questioning and the collapse of
religious and ethical norms, that many, in their quest of new values and solutions to the fundamental problems of our times, are now interested – in this particularly crucial moment of history – in the life of those spiritual Cathar communities who disappeared so tragically.
And some, moved down to their souls by the Cathars' extraordinary destiny, try to penetrate the truth and dare ask the question, at last :
'Could there be another Christianity?'
Why are there so few traces left of such a powerful spiritual current
which spread from the Balkans to the Atlantic Ocean, from the
Mediterranean shores to Northern Germany, from humble village to opulent city and had followers in all the social strata of that time, from the
mere craftsman to the lord, from the man of the church to the knight? What
did we want to hide and annihilate?
Antonin Gadal dared ask those burning questions, and he provided
illuminating answers to them.
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