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He very quickly formed a circle of friends in the Ariège, around Tarascon and Ussat, ready to help him in his historical and esoteric research about Catharism. He established deep links of sympathy with Isabelle Sandy, a local writer, with Countess Pujol-Murat, with P.A. Ladame, a Swiss writer who had a great veneration for the Cathars, with Christian Bernadac, a writer, and his family, with Fauré-Lacaussade, a local historian. He was also helped in his historical work by Catholic priests such as Father Glory, whom the persecutions inflicted on the Cathars by the religious authorities of the Middle Ages made deeply indignant.
Thanks to these priests, and even to bishops who were willing to help him, Gadal had the records of the Inquisition in the Sabarthes wide open to him.
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It is difficult to name all his research companions, from the shepherd to the learned. All of them thought highly of him and praised his kindness, his availability, his open mind and his great modesty.
Before the war, he met a young and gifted German writer named Otto Rahn, eager for high ideals and mysteries. With Gadal, Otto Rahn visited the Ariège castles and caves. One day, Otto Rahn, deeply moved, exclaimed: ‘How lucky you are to live in a world apart. Everything looks frozen in history and, in this valley cut by giants, it is enough just to look around to be transformed, and above all, to understand what happened. Everything is written here. The Sabarthes is a great book, the most beautiful book in the world.’
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