Emile-Henri Hoffet (1873-1946)

Renowned Occultist and Paleographist (someone who studies ancient manuscripts). Supposedly Hoffet was the expert that decoded the parchments Saunière brought to Paris and left there. According to Gérard de Sède, Hoffet was staying at St. Sulpice with his uncle Abbé Bieil (who was the director in 1892), when Saunière arrived with his legend in a suitcase. In actual fact, Hoffet was only a 20 year old novice at the time and (according to René Descadeillas of the Carcassonne library) and living in Holland. Member of the Oblati Mariae Immaculatae, he was nominated priest in Liège (Belgium) in 1898 and only moved to Paris in 1914 where he lived in the rue Blache and died at the age of 73 in 1946.