Also protected by the Priory is the real True Faith that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were supposedly about: the celebration of the “sacred feminine – “ which, incidentally is what the “Holy Grail” really is, rather than the chalice of the Last Supper. Their child’s descendents are still alive, via the Merovingian royal line, anonymous and protected by the Priory. The Big Secret threatens to disrupt Life As We Know It, so, of course, the Catholic Church has spent the last thousand years making sure that the Big Secret doesn’t get out.Īnd what’s the Big Secret? That Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, and she was pregnant when he was crucified. Sauniere was part of an ancient secret society called the Priory of Sion that had for centuries been charged with the protection of this Big Secret.
The Big Secret involves Jesus, naturally. His cryptologist granddaughter, Sophie Neveu, and a visiting American academic Robert Langdon whose specialty is religious symbolism are drawn into the case and discern that Grandpere Sauniere was trying to leave a message – not about his killer – but about a Big Secret. A book this bad deserves to be spoiled, but if you don’t want to know what happens, stop reading now.)Ī curator at the Louvre is murdered in a gallery, but before he dies, he manages to leave clues and arrange his body in a significant way. (Be warned, there are “spoilers” – revelations of important plot details ahead. It’s a pretentious, bigoted, tendentious mess, and the uniformly positive coverage – including a rave in The New York Times and a fawning National Public Radio interview with author Dan Brown - – should give us serious pause.īut you know, if you think you might like a book whose ultimate effect is something like Umberto Eco proudly presented by the Fox (“Boston Public”) Network, go for it. Moreover, it’s not even really suspenseful and the writing is shockingly banal, even for genre fiction. The Da Vinci Code is neither learned nor challenging, except to the reader’s patience. The word on the book is that it’s an “intelligent thriller,” one that challenges the reader’s mind, not just with a suspenseful plot, but with lots of culture and learning, too. Since its release in early March, The Da Vinci Code has surprised many by its unexpected bestselling ways. Granted, the word is usually placed awfully close to other words like “repressive,” “patriarchal,” and “brutal,” but you know – you have to take what you can get.
Who says that Catholicism doesn’t influence American culture? Who says we’ve been pushed out and away in favor of the joys of secularism?Īfter all, the number one best selling fiction title in the nation – The Da Vinci Code – has “Catholic” on practically every page.