156-614: The Order of the Solar Temple ( French : Ordre du Temple solaire , OTS ), or simply the Solar Temple , was a religious group, often described as a cult , notorious for the mass deaths of many of its members in several mass murders and suicides throughout the 1990s. The OTS was a neo-Templar movement, claiming to be a continuation of the Knights Templar , and incorporated a mix of Rosicrucianism , Theosophy , and New Age ideas. It
312-562: A de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share the official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and
468-452: A doomsday or suicide cult , a new magical movement, a magical-esoteric religion, or a secret society , among others. Stephen A. Kent and Melodie Campbell classified the group as a UFO religion . According to Henrik Bogdan, what the OTS is classified as depends on "how these labels are defined and what aspects of the OTS are emphasized." Shannon Clusel and Susan J. Palmer described the OTS as
624-661: A mystical and religious vision to the foundation. A room called the "Sanctuary" was set aside for meditation and rituals designed to "connect with the world of the invisible". Members wore white capes with symbols such as the Rose cross and the Templar cross. Michel Tabachnik held several conferences on esotericism. Di Mambro also set up the Amenta society to spread the ideas of the Golden Way Foundation and to recruit new members. Di Mambro
780-618: A neo-Templar movement, with influence from the philosophies of Rosicrucianism , Theosophy , and the New Age . Bogdan emphasized their status as a masonic initiatory society . Massimo Introvigne has classified them as one of many neo-Templar movements; organizations that claim, through adherence to a set of myths about the secret survival of the Knights Templar, to actually be a continuation of that movement. Such groups were often affiliated with masonic rites and freemasonry. The organization
936-436: A "cosmic marriage" to another woman, and she wanted money she had given to the organization returned; she sued the group, and attempted to get negative press coverage on the OTS. While her husband Bruno Klaus (later dead in the 1997 transit) had been getting increasingly involved in the OTS, Rose-Marie was growing less involved, but continued to live with him near the group's compound. One day, Bruno arrived home, and told her that
1092-720: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process
1248-514: A certain set of conditions were fulfilled, would reappear to herald a new age, which would coincide with the drawing of the Masters close to humanity. Some commentators have suggested influences from Eastern religions ; Emmanuelle was referred to as an avatar , though this term was not used in any philosophical sense, and Jouret believed the world to be in the kali yuga, as in Hinduism . Jouret's usage of
1404-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,
1560-632: A criminal complaint if he did not; in February 1994 a photocopied letter was mailed to about 100 members, revealing financial misuse, the reveal of which made both Di Mambro and Jouret furious. In March, the Canadian RCMP were helping the Australian Federal Police in an investigation over possible money laundering by the OTS, and the Swiss authorities also received Australian bulletins. Later on, there
1716-549: A family of ex-members in Quebec , before orchestrating mass suicide and mass murder on two communes in Switzerland. In the following years, there were two other mass suicides of former OTS members in France in 1995 and in Quebec in 1997 . In total, 74 people died in the course of these events; it is not known how many of the specific deaths were murder and how many were suicides. The OTS
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#17328513105681872-543: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
2028-560: A group of souls dedicated to surviving this apocalypse. The "Cosmic Child" Emmanuelle was the subject of worship by group members; though her specific role in the group is unclear it was unique in the group. She underwent a special baptism of water from the Jordan River and Jerusalem-sourced chrismal oil. The OTS believed Sirius to be the home of the "Ascended Masters" (also called the Great White Brotherhood). The OTS conceived of
2184-471: A helmet to protect her purity as the "cosmic child", who he considered the "messiah-avatar" of the planet's new age. In 1983, after the death of Julien Origas, leader of ORT, Di Mambro urged Jouret to take over the order, and he became its new grand master the same year. Within the year Origas's daughter forced him out of the group over a dispute involving leadership and funds, resulting in a schism with half of ORT going with Jouret. Jouret then formed and lead
2340-462: A member. Di Mambro suggested he take over the community and structure it. The following year, the two men created the Golden Way Foundation. In 1978, Di Mambro founded the Golden Way Foundation ( French : Fondation Golden Way ). Based in a villa in Saconnex-d'Arve , Switzerland, the foundation aimed to discuss issues of pollution , the environment and social ties. It aimed to develop knowledge about
2496-505: A messiah figure, by the age of 12 she had become uncooperative, rejecting her role in the group and taking an interest in typical teenage pop culture . He believed her to be under threat from the Antichrist , who, he believed, was born to Tony and Nicky Dutoit in summer 1994. Di Mambro had previously forbidden Nicky from giving birth, but after she left the group, they had a son, whom they named Christopher Emmanuel. Di Mambro, deeply offended by
2652-404: A number of other organizations. The group was active throughout several French-speaking countries . Following increasing legal and media scandal, including investigations over arms trafficking and pressure from an ex-member, as well as conflict within the group, the founders began to prepare for what they described as "transit" to the star Sirius . In 1994, Di Mambro first ordered the murder of
2808-558: A parallel investigation later in the year. A bulletin from Interpol alleged that Di Mambro and Odile Dancet had been involved in two banking transactions in Australia, each worth $ 93 million. In 1994, the French authorities delayed the reissue of Jocelyne Di Mambro (Di Mambro's wife)'s passport due to an investigation. At the same time, former member of the OTS, Thierry Huguenin, was calling Di Mambro and demanding his money back, threatening to file
2964-590: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on
3120-607: A profit by reselling his stakes in these purchases to members. Di Mambro, Jouret, Dominique Bellaton and Camille Pilet bought four semi-detached chalets on Chemin Belisle in Morin-Heights, Quebec and, with members' money, several other houses for OTS activities (including a farm in Cheiry, Canton of Fribourg ) managed by member Albert Giacobino. Di Mambro had asked Tabachnik to draw up a series of writings to inspire him to rise in ranks within
3276-726: A psychiatrist. In the late 1960s, he became a member and lodge leader of the AMORC organization in Nîmes , France. Di Mambro founded in 1973 the Centre for the Preparation of the New Age ( French : Centre de Préparation à l'Age Nouveau , CPAN) in Collonges-sous-Salève . Luc Jouret was a Belgian homeopath. He travelled widely studying various forms of alternative and spiritual healing. At the beginning of
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#17328513105683432-407: A quasi-Christian manner. Both the Masters and human beings were believed to be capable of reincarnation, a key aspect of OTS theology. OTS members believed themselves to be reincarnated versions of the original Templars who had been burned at the stake with grandmaster Jacques de Molay , and even further, members of a class of people who had been reborn since ancient times, whose purpose in the world
3588-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in
3744-650: A result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including the United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ,
3900-470: A revelation from the "masters" that Bellaton would produce a "cosmic child" through theogamy. About that time, Jouret founded the Amenta Club (later renamed simply Amenta, then Atlanta). In 1982, Di Mambro announced that a "great mission" awaited the foundation. He also announced that a "child-king" was to be born into the community. Di Mambro had actually impregnated Dominique Bellaton, a former manicurist, who
4056-472: A schismatic group of 30 ORT members, which opened branches in Martinique and Quebec. The same year, Michel Tabachnik was made president of the Golden Way Foundation. The precise definition or classification as to what kind of movement the Solar Temple was by academics is inconsistent; scholars have labeled it variously as an esoteric new religious movement , a neo-Templar group, a Rosicrucian organization,
4212-468: A strong sense of social cohesion, or group , and a weak clarity of group meanings system, or grid ), due to the immense pressure it placed on individual members in combination with its "vague and confusing classification system". These societies, according to Douglas, often exhibit a dualistic cosmology , in which the group does not view justice as winning over evil forces. The group used many names during its existence, sometimes multiple at once. Following
4368-536: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in
4524-417: A way similar to traditional Catholicism, through ritual the core messages of the group could be made available to those who were not well versed in the systems of thought used to understand it. One of these rituals was where ranking members could witness the Masters manifest in the underground chambers of the group, in what were actually holographic shows by Antonio Dutoit. Underground sanctuaries were built by
4680-453: A working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As
4836-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French
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4992-467: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English
5148-484: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given
5304-628: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in
5460-549: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English
5616-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from
5772-462: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in
5928-775: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for
6084-618: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,
6240-538: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure
6396-431: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in
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6552-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially
6708-655: Is the site of a historical crossing, hence its name. The Ardèche flows into the Rhône, just to the north of the bridge. The residents are called Spiripontains. The bridge was observed by the Irish pilgrim Symon Semeonis in 1323 on his way to the Holy Land : "Pont-Saint-Esprit where there is a famous stone bridge over the Rhône, half a mile in length, the height of which and the breadth of its arches are greatly admired by all those who cross over it." Italian canon Antonio de Beatis described
6864-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism
7020-738: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of
7176-579: The Ascended Masters gave a momentum to the contemporary revival of Rosicrucianism ; Di Mambro also utilized her Great Invocation to begin Temple ceremonies. Jacques Breyer, and the New Age movement generally, would also draw heavily from Bailey's ideas. Bailey also introduced the "reappearance of the Christ" concept, where Jesus had been a medium for the "Christ", who, towards the end of the 20th century, as long as
7332-587: The Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco; the Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to
7488-600: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of
7644-509: The Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only a second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and
7800-530: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains
7956-547: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,
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#17328513105688112-399: The French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as
8268-820: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It
8424-609: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It
8580-436: The World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin
8736-423: The anti-cult movement in the 1980s, other than two lines published in a French anti-cult booklet about Jouret in 1984. He and the group were left out of later 1980s editions. In 1991, a former member, Rose-Marie Klaus, contacted a Montreal cult-watching organization , Info-Secte , and following that the group produced a letter warning other organizations in Canada about the group. Klaus's husband had left her for
8892-435: The far-right to join ORT. Joseph Di Mambro was a French jeweler with an interest in esotericism. After scamming a business partner in the late 1960s, Di Mambro fled France, before returning to Pont-Saint-Esprit in 1972, believing that his past actions had been forgotten, and acted as a psychologist . Soon after, he was sentenced to six months in prison for writing bad checks, breaching patient trust, and for impersonating
9048-563: The 1980s he settled in Annemasse , France, not far from the Swiss border, and began to practice homeopathy there. In 1975, a Geneva-based community known as the Brotherhood of the Pyramid ( French : Fraternité de la pyramide ), or alternatively La Pyramide, founded by Di Mambro, began meeting regularly in a house in the Geneva countryside, for community, discussion and mutual support on topics such as diet and spirituality. In June 1977, Di Mambro met orchestral conductor Michel Tabachnik , who, having an interest in esotericism, attended and became
9204-455: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;
9360-474: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed
9516-449: The Amenta Club recruitment was done to the more secretive Archedia Clubs, which involved the ritual elements. The third, and apparently most secretive layer, was the International Order of Chivalry Solar Tradition, or the Order of the Solar Temple. The OTS had a strict hierarchy with three degrees, in the structure of an initiatory Masonic society : the Frères du Parvis, Chevaliers de l’Alliance, and Frères des Temps Anciens (the Brothers of
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#17328513105689672-445: The Ascended Masters as having arrived on earth, where they inhabited Agartha (an underground spiritual realm popular in esoteric thought). Their belief in the Ascended Masters was shared by the Theosophical Society . The Masters were, in the OTS's conception, effectively souls with the ability to manifest in physical form; both the Masters and human beings were perceived as souls who were merely temporarily occupying their bodies, and at
9828-510: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French
9984-614: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,
10140-449: The Catholic Church in the previous decades. The more odd beliefs of the OTS (e.g. reincarnation, or the Brotherhood) were hidden behind hermeneutics . The Order did not have one coherent method of syncretizing its system of eclectic beliefs. In a way similar to ancient gnostic systems of thought, the OTS did not have a "normative theology", instead utilizing allegory and symbolism in an interpretive manner to clarify their own beliefs in
10296-524: The Court, Knights of the Alliance, and Brothers of the Former Times). The three levels of membership corresponded to the three degrees of initiation: initiates, awakened souls, and immortals. For each degree, a rite of initiation was undergone by the member; specifics of each ceremony varied, but in one ritual ("The Dubbing of a Knight") the officiants were mentioned as: Priest, Deacon, Ritual Master, Matre, Chaplain, Sentinel, Master of Ceremonies, Guardian, and Escorts. The precise relation of these hierarchies to
10452-408: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of
10608-416: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained
10764-508: The Golden Way, where he quickly rose in the ranks. In 1981, Camille Pilet, later the treasurer of the OTS, suffered a heart attack and met Jouret. Following this he took an interest in the alternative medicines promoted by Jouret, and joined the group. The same year, Origas was invited by Di Mambro to visit the Golden Way commune; Origas, impressed with Jouret, invited him into ORT. In June 1981, Di Mambro, then 57, began an affair with then 21-year-old Dominique Bellaton. He later claimed to receive
10920-410: The Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as a second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as
11076-441: The Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to
11232-448: The OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as a second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
11388-473: The OTS masters had decided that he was to be with another woman; Rose-Marie, upset by this, asked Jouret to mediate between them. His solution to this issue followed the OTS practice of "cosmic coupling", which ignored "earthy marriage"; he set up Rose-Marie with another man, André Friedli, later one of the killers in the 1995 transit. Rose-Marie was not satisfied with this and it only briefly lasted. She stated that "I saw later that this man went with other women,
11544-463: The OTS did not intrude in their personal or family lives. The OTS was said to believe that souls had no gender, however Chryssides notes this is difficult to reconcile with the "cosmic marriage" doctrine, as well as the explicitly gendered nature of the Ascended Masters who were always consistent in gender throughout their incarnations. One former OTS member expressed the idea that the "inner self"
11700-533: The OTS never had more than a few American members. In 1985, Di Mambro decided to set up a survival center in Canada in the event of nuclear war . An estate, named Sacred Heart ( French : Sacré-Coeur ) was purchased in Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade , Quebec , to create an organic farm. The organization set up several subsidiaries, both official and hidden, to finance these real estate purchases; Di Mambro made
11856-532: The OTS were only elaborated upon to those advanced enough in the organization. Members progressed through several related movements – the Amenta Club, then the Archedia Club, then to the OICST. Most of the dead were the high ranking members, with those left surviving being the lower ranking who had less access to the ideas of the group; this has caused difficulties in investigating their beliefs by scholars. Many members of
12012-416: The OTS were wealthy and socially successful, in contrast to many other cults; members were often middle-aged professionals who were highly cultured. This drew from its approach, elitist and interested in aesthetics, with a religious view that was non- fundamentalist . Its members were almost exclusively cultural Catholics , to whom it offered a type of religious mysticism and ritual that had been minimized by
12168-471: The OTS, began lecturing on personal development at various companies, universities and banks, mainly in Quebec but also in Switzerland , France and Belgium . Di Mambro, who had a dim view of these lectures as "disseminating the ideas and principles of the OTS to the public", began sabotaging Jouret's lectures, who eventually abandoned his activities and became totally dependent on Di Mambro. The members of
12324-539: The Order of the Solar Temple. Jouret, a compelling speaker, was the "front man" for this organization, though Di Mambro was the actual leader. From then on, the group's most active locations were in French-speaking Europe and Quebec; from Quebec, the group intended to spread its influence to the United States, and began a translation project to make OTS ideas available to English speakers. This was mostly unsuccessful, as
12480-678: The Sacred Heart commune disliked Jouret, accusing him of a lack of financial transparency and sexual exploitation of women. He was viewed as a dictator by the Quebec members of the group, and was also not present often as he constantly traveled. There was a resulting power struggle between the Quebec and Swiss templars. As a result Jouret slowly become less prominent in the leadership role of the Solar Temple and quit its executive committee in January 1993. The OTS had largely escaped negative public attention from
12636-495: The US, and 10 in Spain, from which they gained more than $ 36,000 in monthly revenue overall. Most members of the OTS had little contact with the leadership, and little or no idea of their violent plans. Some financially successful members individually donated amounts ranging from the hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars to the group, to finance the "life centers"; however, some of the money
12792-515: The beginning of the fourteenth century. In 1310, fifty-four Templar knights were burned at the stake, and four years later the Grand Master and a local leader were as well. The idea of the Templars' continued existence has been criticized by scholars of Templar history, and was described by French historian Régine Pernoud as "totally insane." In 1968, French esotericist and author Jacques Breyer and
12948-512: The bridge in his 1517-1518 travel journal: "This has twenty tall, wide arches, is finely built in a pleasing stone and is still better paved." In the seventeenth century the Jewish immigrants from Spain were cast out of central Bayonne and settled in Saint Esprit. This quarter became known in popular parlance as Saint Esprit les Israélites because Jews constituted the majority of its population -which
13104-489: The child's mother being human had led to an imperfect Christ). Di Mambro claimed the child was an Avatar, a male soul trapped in a female body. She was then renamed Emmanuelle (the male version, Emmanuel, being Jesus 's messianic name), but was referred to with male pronouns. In January 1986 Di Mambro legally recognized the child as his biologically at the French Consulate in Quebec. He required Emmanuelle to wear gloves and
13260-413: The context of existing practices. Though it contained tenets of gnosticism, its approach to this was experimental, and its members also partook in a variety of occult subjects, with occultists of varying systems of beliefs being invited to do workshops for the OTS. In OTS theology, the star Sirius was a focal point, as the "Blue Star" that had appeared roughly 26,000 years ago. Following the appearance of
13416-538: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Pont-Saint-Esprit Pont-Saint-Esprit ( French pronunciation: [pɔ̃ sɛ̃.t‿ɛspʁi] , literally "Holy Spirit Bridge"; Occitan : Lo Pònt Sant Esperit ) is a commune in the Gard département in southern France . It is situated on the river Rhône and
13572-411: The crime (one year of unsupervised probation and a $ 1000 fine intended to be paid to the Red Cross ), but in the aftermath the media took interest in the group. The Canadian press began to report, using information gained from police wiretaps , conversations between members of the OTS, which they described as a " doomsday cult ". Though Jouret had encouraged some members of the OTS to learn to shoot, at
13728-538: The deaths, "Solar Temple" has been used as the overall common term. Many aspects of the group's organizational structure were in flux, as is the case in many NRMs. The "Order of the Solar Temple" formally was only a part of the larger organization; many members of the "core" of the organization were never actual members of the "OTS" proper. The most public face of the organization was the Amenta Club (later Atlanta), which had Luc Jouret lecture on New Age -related issues, including ecology , homeopathy , and naturopathy ; from
13884-508: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French
14040-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French
14196-585: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as
14352-448: The events resulted. The OTS was one of numerous Neo-Templar organizations active in France and Switzerland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These organizations followed a tradition of claiming unbroken descent from a lineage of Grand Masters that claimed to go back to the original medieval Knights Templar ; the original Knights Templar had been dissolved by Pope Clement V following accusations of witchcraft and heresy at
14508-493: The evolution of future quality of life, such as healthy living, organic farming and alternative healthcare techniques. Through conferences (with guests such as Iannis Xenakis , Alexis Weissenberg , Nikita Magaloff , Hubert Reeves and Michel Jonasz ), research and television interviews, the foundation opened up to public and political life. In the early 1980s, Joseph Di Mambro and Michel Tabachnik, both interested in philosophy , esotericism and spirituality , decided to bring
14664-506: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of
14820-858: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,
14976-582: The former grandmaster of AMORC Raymond Bernard , established the Renewed Order of the Temple ( French : Ordre rénové du Temple , ORT), viewed by some as a predecessor to the OTS. Breyer had previously initiated a resurgence of Templar groups in France in 1952. The ORT's main headquarters were located in Auty , where its grand master, Julien Origas , a former member of the Gestapo , was stationed. Origas led members of
15132-818: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being
15288-464: The group in a letter, following several Martinicans leaving the island to join them. In 1992, after an invitation from a French cult-watching organization , Klaus visited Martinique, where she denounced the group. Her statements were picked up on by the local media. The next year the group encountered further trouble. The police of Canada, which was then investigating Q-37 (a mysterious group that threatened to assassinate Canadian public officials, which
15444-502: The group tried to convince the press that the OTS was harmless and mostly dedicated to moral improvement and gardening, and denied allegations of being a cult. Folowing the arrests, other countries and agencies began investigating as well. Two days after the men were arrested, the Sûreté du Québec announced an inquiry into the financial aspects of the group, with the Australian police launching
15600-574: The group, and denying information claiming the group had planned to commit terrorist attacks in Canada. The leadership believed the increasing legal and media attention to be both a conspiracy against the OTS and a sign of the Kali Yuga , and the group's ideas became increasingly focused on environmental destruction and ecological collapse . Compounding the difficulties, Di Mambro also began having issues with Emmanuelle. Though she had been raised from birth to be
15756-411: The group, hidden behind false walls and only accessible through secret passageways: to enter them, a member would have to take a ritual number of 22 steps. In one ceremony attended by cult researcher Jean-François Mayer in the summer of 1987, in order to commemorate the summer solstice , the Templars held a bonfire in the French countryside. Following their lighting of the fire, there were instructions and
15912-435: The group. Elie, who also realized that the "masters" his father presented did not exist, then revealed this to other members. Some members explained the falsification away as necessary to keep "weaker souls" in the group, but numerous other members, whose faith in the group had been previously damaged by the silencer scandal, left the group and demanded a reimbursement of money they had donated. Joseph Di Mambro promised to return
16068-422: The idea of being picked up by a flying saucer or passing across a mirror. OTS members were familiar with similar ideas prior: in 1987, Jouret had for sale at one of his lectures a comic strip ( Voyage Intemporel by Sergio Macedo ) that tells of a group of UFO believers who are picked up before a great cataclysm. Following the gun scandal, Jouret began speaking of the transit concept as well. Palmer argued that
16224-401: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French
16380-474: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon
16536-602: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,
16692-475: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what
16848-423: The members turned around the fire only clockwise. Mayer said during the event that it was ritual, whereupon a member corrected him and said it was not merely ritual but "something much more". The "transit" terminology is derived from AMORC, which uses "transit" as a term meaning death, among other vocabulary the OTS borrowed from the organization. The concept had first been brought up by Di Mambro in 1990 or 1991. It
17004-493: The name similarity, the disobeying of his instructions, and that he had not been consulted in the naming of the infant, ordered the family be murdered later in 1994. Given the scale of the issues facing the group leaders, it was decided they would "transit" to Sirius. The OTS termed the acts a "transit", which they described as "in no way a suicide in the human sense of the term". In their view, traitors would be simply murdered, while "weaker" members would be "helped" to transit, and
17160-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by
17316-631: The order, called the Archées. Many of the Order's concepts and principles were inspired by these writings, third degree initiatory texts. Written between 1984 and 1989, they were made up of 21 articles, each ranging from 15 to 20 pages. They were considered difficult to understand even by members of the OTS. At its peak, the OTS had 300–400 core members. The group reached its membership height in January 1989, with 442 members: 187 in Metropolitan France, 90 in Switzerland, 86 in Canada, 53 in Martinique, 16 in
17472-548: The organization at large is unclear, with the degrees possibly constituting an even more selective group, which some sources call the Synarchy of the Temple. Outside of this framework was the fourth organization, the Golden Way Foundation (previously La Pyramide), which was the parent structure of both the Archedia and Amenta clubs. Members of the OTS paid a monthly membership fee and lived communally. As an esoteric movement, teachings of
17628-528: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of
17784-462: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French
17940-405: The process giving them new spiritual identities. In doing this, according to Susan J. Palmer, both drama and the illusion of spiritual progress were applied to the member's time in the group. In order to achieve the community of souls that would survive the apocalypse, the OTS invoked sex magic , in which sexual activities are performed in order to acquire spiritual gain. One important OTS practice
18096-403: The remaining members considered strong enough would kill themselves. Members believed that, upon death, they would acquire "solar bodies" in a faraway location in space (typically given as the star Sirius , but alternatively Jupiter or Venus ). The group's leaders wrote four letters expressing these views, known as The Testament , which contained messages of the order's beliefs. Patrick Vuarnet
18252-464: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in
18408-582: The star, the universe 's history could be divided into several "ages", viewing the present moment as being one in which the world was moving from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius ; this belief in the astrological ages was shared with several other New Age and occult groups. In the OTS's view, the arrival of the Age of Aquarius would result in the apocalypse , with the Earth being consumed by fire. The OTS then aimed to create
18564-438: The sums requested, but several OTS members resigned in quick succession in 1990, leaving only the core group of OTS members. The leaders began to monitor members who said they wanted to leave the OTS. Some were spied on, others had their phones tapped. Many members, including Di Mambro's own son and many high-ranking members, left. In the 1990s, Luc Jouret, having given up his profession as a homeopath to devote himself fully to
18720-405: The term was not in line with Hindu usage, being a much shorter period (6,000 instead of 432,000 years), more similar to Western astrological ideas. These and related concepts are widespread within New Age and Theosophical movements, and any further inspiration is contested. According to Chyrissides, Di Mambro's contrasting of Emmanuelle as the avatar with the antichrist showed that he still thought in
18876-401: The time of death would move on to another. The OTS believed that advanced or elite members could, at will, "de-corporealize", in accordance with their degree of initiation into the OTS. Chryssides cited esotericist Alice Bailey 's influence on the OTS, writing that it is "hard to overestimate". In particular, the preoccupation with the star Sirius and her emphasis on the theosophical concept of
19032-405: The time of the mass suicides, there were only five cosmic children. In splitting up a couple, Di Mambro explained to them that their "karmic cycle" had been fulfilled; they were reassigned to a new partner, whereupon they were sent off on a mission together. These pairings often had large age gaps: Dominique Bellaton (in her 30s) was paired with Patrick Vuarnet who was 14 years younger, Gerry Genoud
19188-465: The time, members of Info-Secte believed the group to be of a survivalist nature, and that they intended to use the weapons to defend themselves after an apocalypse; a representative of Info-Secte publicly expressed his confusion as to why they needed silencers for this purpose. Even tabloid newspapers that covered the OTS, which ran lurid stories about the organization, did not indicate they believed them capable of violence. In March 1993, some members of
19344-462: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In
19500-523: The town of origin of Michel Bouvier, a cabinetmaker, who was the ancestor of John Vernou Bouvier III , father of Jacqueline Kennedy . On 15 August 1951, an outbreak of poisoning, marked by acute psychotic episodes and various physical symptoms, occurred in Pont-Saint-Esprit. More than 250 people were involved, including 50 persons interned in asylums and four deaths. Most academic sources accept naturally occurring ergot poisoning in rye flour as
19656-696: The transit being that the group would simply move to another geographical location or leave Geneva . According to Mayer, the transit concept was perhaps not a break with the OTS's earlier survivalist ideas, but instead a continuation, a survival in other dimensions where this one was irreversibly doomed. In 1984, Jouret and Di Mambro formed the International Chivalric Order of the Solar Tradition ( French : ordre international chevaleresque de Tradition solaire , OICTS) in Geneva, which would later become
19812-432: The transit could have been viewed as a solution for many of the problems the OTS faced. It prevented the "loss of charisma" that Di Mambro would have to deal with given his old age and illness, as well as his suffering personal relationships with others. The problems of succession that the group faced, with conflict between Jouret and Di Mambro and Jouret's leadership problems in Canada, would also be solved. One interpretation
19968-619: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French
20124-562: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by
20280-479: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of
20436-446: The wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around 23.9 °C (75.0 °F), and lowest in January, at around 5.5 °C (41.9 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded in Pont-Saint-Esprit was 42.2 °C (108.0 °F) on 6 August 2003; the coldest temperature ever recorded was −12.7 °C (9.1 °F) on 7 January 1985. Pont-Saint-Esprit is famous as
20592-567: The women had other men. It was very mixed up." For several years after this, she repeatedly tried to get Bruno back, having a "foot inside, but always one outside" the OTS community, but eventually gave up, and began contacting anti-cult groups. On 10 September 1991, the president of Martinique's branch of the Association for the Defense of Families and Individuals (the leading French anti-cult group), asked various Canadian associations for information on
20748-531: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of
20904-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as
21060-403: Was "cosmic coupling" or "cosmic marriage". Following Di Mambro's reveal of a member's past lives, either Di Mambro or Jouret — though Jouret himself was forced by Di Mambro to separate from his wife due to "cosmic incompatibility" — forced apart married couples and put them with other members. A ceremony was performed bonding the "discarnate archetypal forms" of the paired members. Di Mambro himself
21216-546: Was a decade younger than his cosmic wife, Thierry Huguenin's marriage was broken apart and his wife (in her 30s) was matched with Di Mambro's 14 year old son. Another cosmic couple had a 30-year age gap. Bruno Klaus, upon leaving his wife at Di Mambro's order, declared: "The Masters have decided. I am going to live with another woman". While marriage was idealized in the OTS, the leaders encouraged defamilialization through this practice. Ex-members often complained they were forced into these cosmic unions, though other ex-members said
21372-508: Was a major factor that led to the strengthening of the anti-cult movement in Europe, particularly in Francophone Europe. Due to the death of nearly all high ranking members of the organization, there was no one to convict, except a lone member, composer Michel Tabachnik ; he was tried in France, but was acquitted twice in two separate trials , found to be innocent on all counts. In the aftermath many conspiracy theories revolving around
21528-449: Was bonded with Bellaton in a ceremony (viewed as the reincarnation of Hatshepsut ). Di Mambro claimed he did this as the will of the "Cosmic Masters". The goal of these cosmic couples was to birth seven or nine elite "cosmic children", one of whom was his daughter Emmanuelle (another included Tabachnik's son). According to Di Mambro, these seven children would form "the conscience of the new humanity" and were raised to fulfill this role. At
21684-410: Was described by the Quebec coroner investigating the case as incorporating a variety of traditions, but as primarily inspired by occultism , due to its belief in pseudoscientific practices, and practices unrecognized by other religions, which required special initiation. Palmer viewed the Solar Temple as fitting within anthropologist Mary Douglas 's conception of a "strong group, weak grid" society (with
21840-791: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but
21996-424: Was eventually determined to have never existed), believed the OTS may have been involved. Soon after, the group's locations in Quebec were raided and two members were arrested on grounds of possession of illegal weapons. Jouret had asked the men to buy three semi-automatic guns with silencers , illegal in Canada, resulting in the three being arrested. Jouret and the other two men were given only light sentences after
22152-426: Was extremely rare in France. It was a Jew of Spanish origin, Gaspar Dacosta, who introduced the art of chocolate-making to Saint Esprit, and indeed in France. Pont-Saint-Esprit has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate ( Köppen climate classification Csa ). The average annual temperature in Pont-Saint-Esprit is 14.2 °C (57.6 °F). The average annual rainfall is 829.8 mm (32.67 in) with November as
22308-456: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul
22464-421: Was instead used to fund the leader's own travel expenses, and cost of living expenses for OTS members who did not have other support. The group began to have financial problems. Beginning in the late 1980s, several members began to doubt Di Mambro. In 1990, Di Mambro's son Elie discovered that the apparitions that appeared during OTS ceremonies were faked, operated by Tony Dutoit, who confirmed this, before leaving
22620-569: Was instructed by Di Mambro to mail the Testament letters to several people. French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance ,
22776-633: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates
22932-525: Was led by Joseph Di Mambro , with Luc Jouret as a spokesman and second in command. It was founded in 1984, in Geneva , Switzerland. Di Mambro was a French jeweler, esotericist, and serial fraudster, while Jouret was a Belgian homeopath who lectured on alternative medicine and related spirituality. After meeting at one of these lectures they became close, and the OTS was formed. Di Mambro had founded several past esoteric groups, and had previous affiliation with
23088-401: Was no evidence found of money anywhere close to that amount, or money laundering, but this lead to conspiracies. The OTS viewed itself as increasingly persecuted, though according to Jean-François Mayer , there was little actual opposition to the group, with Canadian Public Security Minister Claude Ryan explicitly stating the government would not surveil cult members in the wake of reports on
23244-403: Was perceived by Foundation members as a medium and as a "walk-in" being (a being who takes on the body of another with their consent). Jouret gave a number of lectures in which he defended the existence of a link between a spiritual approach and homeopathy. Having noticed Luc Jouret's good elocution and communication skills, Di Mambro decided to meet him, and was charmed. He invited Jouret to join
23400-419: Was sexless, with there being no difference between the souls of the sexes. The "Cosmic Child" was always referred to as a he, despite being a girl. Ritual was an important aspect of the OTS's beliefs, described as its "core activity" by scholar Hendrik Bogdan. According to George D. Chryssides , what the OTS offered was a "mystical mood" that was available to all, not just those who were "spiritually gifted"; in
23556-575: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of
23712-547: Was that it may have been a funeral intended for a Pharaoh (as Di Mambro was interested in Egyptian mythology ), intended to bring Di Mambro's "retinue" with him into the afterlife and keep his power. According to the later testimony of members, they did not interpret it as mass suicide, with one stating that they believed the transit was instead the idea of being saved from disaster. Members otherwise interpreted it innocuously or as an ephemeral concept, such as one interpretation of
23868-554: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,
24024-429: Was to fulfill a "cosmic mission". Di Mambro personally claimed he was a reincarnation of, among others, an Egyptian pharaoh, one of the 12 Disciples , Longinus (the Roman soldier who pierced Jesus's side during the crucifixion) and an Ascended Master, Manatanus. Jouret claimed he was a reincarnation of Bernard of Clairvaux , founder of the original Knights Templar. Di Mambro often revealed these past lives to members, in
24180-500: Was to mean a voluntary departure of the members to another dimension in space, or an act of consent to bring the "germ of life" to another planet. He told the members that they would be summoned on short notice, and would need to be ready as this could occur any day. They conceptualized the transit as a ritual involving magic fire, where they would undergo a spiritual voyage to the star Sirius . According to Di Mambro, he did not know yet how they would transit, though he metaphorically evoked
24336-418: Was well known in Geneva and had previously had several affairs with businessmen. Di Mambro claimed that this child's conception was created from the power of his mind and Immaculate Conception . Their child, initially named Anne Bellaton, was born on 22 March 1982. The child was viewed as "the Christ of the new generation", but was born female, something attributed by Di Mambro to human imperfection (believing
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