The Mystery Stone

THE MYSTERIOUS STONE OF STENAY
Saint-Dagobert II crypt of Stenay shows us a mysterious stone, restored by Gino Frua, member of the Cercle. Here's what says Abbé Vigneron in his "histoire de Stenay":

THE MYSTERIOUS STONE:
The SATOR square Documents taken from "Histoire de Stenay" by the Abbé Vigneron .

CLANDESTINE CHRISTIANS AT STENAY
It seems us this mysterious rock can be explained as a Christian's gesture at a time when there was only a small number of Christians at Stenay.

For explaining it, it must be recalled all the carved stones found at Stenay were found in the foundations of St-Rémi basilica, prior to St-Dagobert church that replaced it in the 9th century.

These stones, reemployed in the foundations, were funerary stelae: the one of which we talk is also a stela but of a particular kind. Mr Plantard, working on the history of Stenay, studied this stela: he considers the letters engraved left and the herringbone pattern traced right of these letters were a "key" able to allow the initiates to refer to the famous `Sator Square'.

That's why opposite we reproduce this well known Sator square. Our drawing of the square has voluntarily increased some letters to help the explanation of M. Plantard to be understood: these letters SRNPR, put back to their place in the square, exactly describe the herringbone pattern engraved on our stone. M. Plantard so has well found the key explaining the mysterious letters of the stela of Stenay.

MEANING OF THE SQUARE

The sator square contains 5 words that can be read in all directions: SATOR, AREPO, TENET, OPERA, ROTAS. The pagans who used the square before the Christians, placed the word ROTAS in the beginning, in lieu of the word SATOR (so at Pompeii). This inversion of two words doesn't change the meaning :

The creator (SATOR), past AREPO, that only makes sense the other way, holds (TENET) with care (OPERA) the wheels (ROTAS). Otherwise said: Who has made, who has `sown' (life, the man, the world) oversees, carefully directs its proceeding. And for the Christians: the Creator of the man has also created Providence.

MEANING OF THE STONE OF STENAY

The occultism of this stela presumes it has been engraved at a time when Christians couldn't show themselves openly: we would readily date it to the late 5th century or the early 6th, era when an upsurge of pagan zeal is expressed, as reaction, after the conversion of Clovis in 496.

Unfortunately the said stone of Stenay is no more at Stenay. It would have been deposited about 1910 by M. Rivart at Mgr Mangin, curate of Stenay, then dwelling at the Market square. M Mangin, died in 1914, didn't witness the removal of this stone in 1917 by the famous Kronprinz who would have it broken declaring (curiously) he was the "Master of the Cross). So it has disappeared (once an interesting monument for History).

C.Vigneron