In 1890, the French writer Joris-Karl Huysmans wrote to a young Dutch novelist he was searching for "a demoniac sodomite priest" who performed the black mass. Joris-Karl - "J.K." for the friends - needed this man for a new book about satanism which would become "Là-bas" (translated as "Down There" or "The Damned"). J.K. did find the priest... It was the Chaplain of the Holy Blood Chapel of Bruges, Louis Van Haecke. Now this "Super Satanist" also wrote a book... about the Precious Blood of Bruges!

In 1900, the Chaplain of the Holy Blood Chapel of Bruges, published - in French - the fourth edition of his book "The Precious Blood of Bruges". This really is a strange piece of writing, not only because of what has been written down, but also because of what the Chaplain does not mention. For instance, Van Haecke starts his book on the Holy Blood with some pages on the topic where the name "Belgium" comes from: the Belgae were the most "belligerent", Caesar said. This reminds us of another priest, the friend of abbé Saunière of Rennes-le-Château, Henri Boudet and the strange etymology of "La Vraie Langue Celtique". But what has the etymology of "Belgium" to do with the Holy Blood? Nothing...

In this book about the Precious Blood of Bruges, Van Haecke doesn't say a word of the Cathars or the Grail, and the Templars are only mentioned once. Regarding the Holy Blood of Bruges, both the Grail and the Templars are significant: the Holy Blood was brought to Bruges by the Templars and the Count of Flanders, Thierry of Alsace - and it was his son, Philip, who commissioned Chrétien de Troyes with the first Grail story. Both the Templars and the Grail also are important in the context of "the bloodline", as revealed by Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln in their international bestseller "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" (1982). The Cathars and the Templars both were "arch-heretics", but who does Van Haecke mention as "heretical" influences? The Orphist Cults and the Bogomils!

In his book on the Holy Blood of Bruges, Van Haecke writes extensively about the Holy Blood ... of Mantua. I think there definitely is something like a "Da Vinci Code" in this book: his use of footnotes is rather idiotic and van Haecke ends his story with this poem:

Van Haecke ends his book with a chronogram, making us aware there is probably more to be found on this pages than we thought at first sight... More information on the chronogram code: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronogram (And oh yeah, the chronogram gives us a number, or a date: 1900.) - With thanks to Seshat and the forum of Sacerdotibis.nl

Last but not least, I've found a number of well hidden references to Nostradamus and his quatrains... and all these quatrains can be interpreted as pointing to the secrets of the abbey of Orval, in Belgium. This famous monastery also plays a part in the Rennes-le-Château Saga. Nostradamus has written there some of his "prophecies", which maybe are no prophecies at all, but coded information which leads to a "secret" or "a Templar treasure".

The references to Nostradamus start with Van Haecke publishing, out of the blue, this quatrain:

Saint Yves était un Breton,

Avocat mais pas larron.

Le prodige serait plus grand,

Si Saint Yves était normand.

The use of a quatrain, and the difference between a Breton and a Normand, reminded me of the Nostradamus quatrain C9, Q7:

Qui ouurira le monument trouué,

Et ne viendra le serrer promptement,

Mal luy viendra, & ne pourra prouué

Si mieux doit estre Roy Breton ou Normand.

He who will open the tomb found,

And will come to close it promptly,

Evil will come to him, and one will be unable to prove,

If it would be better to be a Breton or Norman King.

Suddenly and on two pages only, Van Haecke now starts writing about Christ as "le Verbe éternel", "le Verbe incarné", "le Verbe" or "le Verbe de Dieu". Of course, "le Verbe de Dieu" is the same thing as "le Verbe Divin": "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). This is all about the question if Jesus can be God and a man at the same time. Theology states that He is fully a man, just as he is fully God (He is the God-man).

Nostradamus has written more than one quatrain with "le Divin Verbe" in it. Sometimes, they seem to be related to his predictions of the Coming of the Great Monarch. This is C 2, Q 12:

Eyes closed, opened by antique fantasy,

The garb of the monks they will be put to naught:

The great monarch will chastise their frenzy

Ravishing the treasure in front of the temples.

And this is C 2, Q 13:

The body without soul no longer to be sacrificed:

Day of death put for birthday:

The divine spirit will make the soul happy,

Seeing the word in its eternity.

C 4, Q 5:

Cross, peace, under one divine word accomplished,

Spain and Gaul will be united together:

Great disaster near, and combat very bitter:

No heart will be so hardy as not to tremble.

C 2, Q 13:

The body without soul no longer to be sacrificed:

Day of death put for birthday:

The divine spirit will make the soul happy,

Seeing the word in its eternity.

In this quatrain, Nostradamus can be speaking about the rite of bread and wine (Transsubstantiation), but also about alchemy:

C 3, Q 2:

Le divin Verbe donrra a la substance,

Comprins ciel, terre, or occult au laict mystique:

Corps, ame esprit ayant toute puissance,

Tant soubs ses pieds comme au siege Celique.

The Divine Word shall become flesh

Including heaven, earth, gold hidden in the mystic milk:

Body, soul, spirit having all power,

As much under its feet as the Heavenly see.

And here's the one that - in my opinion - points straight to Orval and the tomb of Bernard de Montgaillard:

C 2, Q 27:

Le divin verbe sera du ciel frappé,

Qui ne pourra proceder plus avant:

Du reservant le secret estoup,

Qu'on marchera par dessus & devant.

The divine word will be struck from the sky

and he who cannot proceed any further will be confronted

with the secret closed up with the revelation,

such as one will march over and ahead.

In the article "Nostradamus and the Lost Templar Treasure" I have explained there is an oak tree in the abbey of Orval, where Nostradamus once used to sit, near the botanical garden which is mentioned in another quatrain of his and only a few steps away from a tomb with the inscription D.M. (which is in still another quatrain) and where you will march over and ahead a Secret closed up with the Revelation...