Original subtitles

[narrator] According to the stories in the Bible,

Mary Magdalene is at the heart of the Christian faith.

She was perhaps Jesus's most devoted disciple.

After Jesus, Mary Magdalene is arguably

the most important person in the New Testament.

Why? Because she is the witness

to the resurrection.

[narrator] Yet her role in the religion

has been debated for centuries.

Could she have been a prostitute,

Jesus's lover,

or even the brains behind Christianity?

She's feisty, she's articulate,

she's, dare I say, controlling.

Controlling Jesus.

[narrator] But what happened to Mary Magdalene

after Christ's death

is still one of the world's biggest enigmas,

with a number of theories and conspiracies

still very much alive today.

This could be the moment where we find Mary Magdalene.

We have got the equipment. We have got the right place.

[narrator] What is the truth?

Does Mary Magdalene's body still lay hidden somewhere,

waiting to be found?

If we find Mary Magdalene, we will re-write history.

[narrator] The Bible claims Mary Magdalene

was one of Jesus's most devoted followers.

But some suggest she was much more.

Mary Magdalene is one of the most fascinating,

kind of mysterious figures

in the whole of western civilization.

And that's true, whether you are a Christian or not.

[narrator] Yet in the 2,000 years since her death,

Mary's story has always been an unsolved mystery.

Scholars and armatures alike

are still trying to crack the code of who she really was

and the whereabouts of her tomb.

The Sea of Galilee, Israel.

If the Biblical story is accurate,

this is where Mary first met Jesus.

When Jesus began his mission,

he went from village to village,

doing kind of big, dramatic stuff first,

like casting out demons.

One of the people allegedly cast demons out of

was a woman that became to know as Mary Magdalene.

We don't know too much about

Mary's initial meeting with Jesus.

What we do know is that she was possessed by,

we are told, seven demons.

People who were demon-possessed

lived in the very margins of society.

[narrator] The Bible claims Jesus cast out

the seven demons from within Mary.

From that day, most agree,

she became a fanatical follower of Christ.

But perhaps Mary's most defining moment

occurs after the crucifixion.

Bena Mantel is exploring the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem,

investigating why Mary Magdalene's remains

are so highly coveted.

The Garden Tomb is sort of ground zero

for the Christians of the world

in terms of the most important events

in the life of Mary Magdalene.

[narrator] According to legend,

Jesus was placed here after his crucifixion.

Three days later, Mary Magdalene

and a group of disciples visit the crypt

and discover the stone door rolled open,

with the tomb empty.

[Bena] They started to wonder what happened to the body,

and when people leave, Mary is still there,

wondering what's happening next.

And then she sees a person,

and in fact, she realizes

and discovers that this is Jesus,

and she is the first one to see Jesus

after the crucifixion.

The fact that Jesus first revealed himself

in his resurrected state

to Mary Magdalene is hugely significant.

He chose a woman to reveal

this absolutely thunderous fact to.

There would be no Christian movement

but for the witnesses.

And the first of those witnesses,

according to all four of the gospels,

is Mary Magdalene.

[narrator] Yet despite playing such a pivotal role,

the story of Mary Magdalene

has become muddied over the millennia.

Mary's name has been tarnished by religious leaders

going back as far as the sixth century.

In fact, it was Pope Gregory the Great, who was the first

to claim that Mary was a prostitute.

I think Mary Magdalene's position

has been marginalized,

yet if you read the Bible,

it's perfectly obvious she is a central figure.

[Lynn] There's a very good reason

for a Pope wanting to declare Mary Magdalene a prostitute.

They didn't want women to find her as a role model.

So they had to demean her.

They had to basically turn her

into the worst thing they could imagine,

which was a prostitute.

[narrator] After centuries of slander,

attempting to determine facts from fiction is difficult.

Yet Mary's relationship with Jesus

might be the key to finding

her final resting place.

[Dominic] Through the ages,

Jesus' relationship with Mary Magdalene

has fascinated people.

There is the Gospel of Philip

which records how Jesus loved Mary

more than any other of the disciples,

and used to kiss her on the mouth.

[narrator] The Gospel of Philip

is one of many eye witness accounts

of the life of Jesus left out of the Bible.

For those hunting for Mary's tomb,

these less conventional gospels provide

an unparalleled insight into who the saint really was.

In these alternative gospels,

the one thing that comes over is that she is the star.

She's feisty, she's articulate,

she's, dare I say, controlling.

She seems to be controlling Jesus,

almost like the Yoko Ono character.

[narrator] Intriguingly, the idea

of Mary Magdalene controlling Jesus

could suggest a very unique relationship,

providing clues on why her remains have disappeared.

You see a very special relationship

that Jesus has with Mary Magdalene.

Something that could in fact even lead us to think

that Mary Magdalene was in a relationship with Jesus,

perhaps his wife.

There is a small army of biblical scholars

and theologians that will

snort at the idea that Mary Magdalene

was the wife of Jesus.

They will tell you there is no evidence whatsoever.

But it is a rumor, a story,

an angle that refuses to go away.

[narrator] Whether she was a devout follower or lover,

to find Mary Magdalene's remains,

scholars must unravel

what happened to her after Christ's death.

But records of her life after the ascension

are shrouded in mystery.

Mary Magdalene effectively disappears

from the gospel record

after the resurrection and the ascension,

and all sorts of legends build up.

[Bena] The real question of what happens to Mary

after the crucifixion, it's really anyone's guess.

And there are a lot of people who, throughout the ages,

actually said that Mary

somehow found her way to France.

We even have certain popes

who actually say that Mary actually ended up in France.

[narrator] Southern France.

History enthusiasts, Pat Jokl and Ronnie Endler,

have spent the last 20 years

trying to uncover Mary Magdalene's tomb.

In 2013, they thought they'd tracked her down

to a cave near Carcassonne.

That looks pretty amazing. It looks man-made.

[narrator] But they hit a wall.

It doesn't go further. See. It's solid rock.

So, it's definitely the end of this cave.

[narrator] Despite failing once,

they are back on the hunt for the Saint's remains.

With research, we think now we pinpointed exactly

the last resting place of Mary Magdalene.

During our quest,

we had, of course, lots of dead ends.

But this time, we are absolutely sure

this is the place to be.

[narrator] Pat's research has unearthed

a set of 13th century documents

found in church archives,

which he believes leads to Mary Magdalene's burial place

in Southern France.

According to many documents we saw,

all of those documents are telling the same story

that Mary Magdalene came to France.

[narrator] With this new evidence,

Pat thinks he is one step closer

to solving one of the Bible's greatest mysteries -

What happened to Mary Magdalene

after the crucifixion?

According to the Bible,

Mary Magdalene is one of the most important

of Christ's followers.

Yet the holy book is silent on what happened to the Saint

after the resurrection.

Could she really have made her way to France

as some legends proclaim?

Mary Magdalene's fate after the resurrection is uncertain,

and there is a story of Mary Magdalene

rocking up in a boat

on the coast of Southern France.

[narrator] Many historians believe that

after the crucifixion,

Mary, like all of Christ's followers,

were persecuted by their pagan Roman overlords.

Fearing for their lives, many fled the holy land.

[Tony] So, in the aftermath of the crucifixion,

followers of Jesus were being rounded up by the Romans.

So, Mary Magdalene and two or three other women

flee on a boat.

[narrator] Known as the Tale of the Three Maries,

believers claim Mary Magdalene boarded a boat in Israel

with two other women, also named Mary.

They travelled the entire length of the Mediterranean Sea,

landing at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

in the south of France.

[Tony] Now, curiously, this boat has no oars, no sails,

but somehow manages to go

practically the entire length of Mediterranean.

It washes up on the southern coast of France

where Mary Magdalene makes it to shore

and begins her Christian mission among the French.

If Mary Magdalene did arrive on the shores

of what became known as Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer,

well, that would have been a pretty important catalyst

for the spread of Christianity in Europe,

because she was one of the most energetic proponents

of spreading the Good News.

[Peggy] If Mary Magdalene did land on the beaches,

what it signifies is

the extension of what is to become Christianity,

but led by a woman.

[narrator] Though the story of Mary Magdalene

travelling to France

has little grounding in historical texts,

scholars point to how the Saint is still revered

in the country as evidence.

[Dominic] Mary Magdalene has always been

a very popular figure in France.

There are a very significant number

of ecclesiastical buildings, churches,

abbeys named after her,

a huge number of villages and towns.

Even after the decline of Catholicism in France,

she remains a very popular figure.

Mary Magdalene is revered

in some parts of the south of France,

and still exerts a very strong cultural influence.

And many, particularly from the Catholic tradition,

still very much treat those sites

where it is believed she went to

as holy sites and as places of pilgrimage and veneration.

[narrator] Pat Jokl and fellow amateur archeologist, Ronnie Endler,

are on a quest to find the Saint's remains,

driven by 13th century documents

written by a local aristocrat to the pope

claiming that Mary travelled to France.

The pair has tracked down the point

where they believe she landed.

We are now in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer,

and according to legend,

Mary Magdalene set foot exactly...

on land here.

This is the starting point

of all our research we are doing for so long.

According to all the stuff we found so far,

it is just more than a legend.

This is the place where the Christianization of Europe began.

[narrator] Today, many in the church consider it fact

that Mary Magdalene travelled to France.

Yet for some, the crux of the story

is who travelled with her.

In the account of the journey across the Mediterranean,

we are told that the women were accompanied

by another woman called Sarah.

Now, this woman,

according to some people, was a servant

and according to others, she was the daughter

of Mary Magdalene and Jesus Christ.

In recent years,

thanks to two best-selling books,

one in the 1980s, Holy Blood Holy Grail,

and one more recently, The Da Vinci Code,

many, many more people think

Jesus and Mary Magdalene had children,

and basically kicked off this sacred bloodline

that mysteriously continues to this day.

[narrator] But perhaps Mary and her supposed daughter

weren't the only people in the boat.

Some believe Christ himself

was smuggled out of the holy land, too.

[Pat] I believe Jesus came here with Mary.

It's amazing. Can you imagine how it feels

to be in the exact same spot,

2,000 years ago, the holy family landed.

So, maybe we would find one day

this particular spot where Jesus is buried as well.

There is a whole series of narratives

about Mary and Jesus eloping to France with a baby.

It raises also the fascinating ideas,

which is kind of enticing and it fuels legends,

it fuels dramas, it fuels films.

[narrator] As tantalizing as it is

to contemplate the bloodline of Christ,

for Pat, the first step

in locating Mary Magdalene's remains

is to find out where the Saint travelled

after she landed.

Since the turn of the 20th century,

one seemingly inconsequential French village

has become entwined

with the legend of Mary Magdalene

and a mysterious modern-day priest.

You can't really talk about the whole story

of Mary Magdalene in the South of France

without touching on Rennes-le-Chateau.

[Lynn] In the late 19th century

in a tiny hilltop village, Rennes-le-Chateau,

there was a priest called Berenger Sauniere,

who was renovating the church.

And it is said that he found a document

in a pillar in the church

connected with Mary Magdalene.

For some people, he discovered proof

that Jesus and Mary had been married

and they had a bloodline.

[narrator] According to legend,

the priest blackmailed the Vatican

with the secret he had found.

Then almost overnight, he became inexplicably rich.

We can't completely rule out

that Sauniere found the remains of Mary Magdalene

and maybe sold it to the church,

or sold it to some wealthy person

who wanted the body of that biblical figure,

but we have no evidence of course.

And certainly it's true that

there is a genuine mystery

connected with Rennes-le-Chateau,

connected with the 19th-century priest,

and he was certainly utterly devoted to Mary Magdalene.

[narrator] Over the last 100 years,

the village has become a magnet

for treasure hunters and tourists alike.

Yet to this day,

no trace of the priest's treasure

or the source of this wealth have been found.

Which is why for Pat,

Rennes-le-Chateau is a dead end.

In the past, we were looking for Mary Magdalene

in Rennes-le-Chateau.

But now, according to our new clues,

we think we were looking in the wrong place.

[narrator] According to the 13th century letter

that Pat uncovered, there is the suggestion

that the Saint's remains may lay hidden in a place

where no one has looked before.

In Southern France,

Pat Jokl is on the hunt

for the tomb of Mary Magdalene.

He's uncovered new evidence

about the Saint's final resting place,

which has led him to Saint Maximin,

home of the basilica of Saint Mary Magdalene.

So, this is the basilica of Saint Maximin.

Some say it contains the skull of Mary Magdalene.

[narrator] Pat has discovered a letter

written to a medieval pope in a church archive.

Dating from 1295,

it claims that the body of Mary Magdalene

was found here in a secret crypt.

Father Florian Racine is the rector of the basilica.

[Florian] We have here the skull of Mary Magdalene.

[narrator] The church believes this skull

is from the body described in Pat's letter.

We know that it's a little strange

to expose like that the part of a dead person,

but when people pray here,

they have some kind of facial access to Mary Magdalene.

[narrator] According to local folklore,

after arriving in France,

Mary Magdalene travelled 100 miles east.

There is a story that when Mary Magdalene did land

in South-eastern France,

she went further inland

and ended up in what is known as St Maximin.

She continued with the teachings of Jesus Christ,

and the last of her years were spent in a grotto.

[Tony] Nearby to St Maximin is a grotto

that's still revered as a place

where Mary Magdalene prayed and maybe even lived.

And it's still a focus point for the prayerful,

for the pious, to go and share their love for Mary Magdalene.

[Florian] We knew Mary Magdalene lived

in the penance and contemplation of Jesus

in the grotto,

but we did not know where she was buried.

[narrator] At the time Pat's letter was written,

legend has it that Charles II

was visited by the Saint in a dream,

where she instructed him to hunt for her remains.

After the ghostly vision, Charles instructed his men

to search the area for a secret crypt.

So, finally after a few years of searching,

they were digging like that, and boom.

They dig, you know, they felt the sarcophagus.

[Tony] In the year 1279,

there were excavations conducted in St. Maximin,

by orders of Charles II, the Count of Provence.

They found a marble sarcophagus

dating back to the first century AD.

And when they opened the sarcophagus ,

a sweet smell came out of it. What was that sweet smell?

It was the oil, of course,

that Mary Magdalene poured onto the feet of Jesus.

What more proof did you need

that Mary Magdalene was buried there?

[narrator] The church is adamant

that this is the skull of Mary Magdalene.

They claim that when the skull was found in the Middle Ages,

a piece of skin was still attached to it,

miraculously preserved

from the moment Jesus touched Mary's forehead.

In many painting, we see

Jesus pushing little bit Mary Magdalene like that.

Touching this piece of skin.

And so, this piece of skin was touched by the Risen Lord,

So, it's a sign, just a sign,

but it's a sign of the resurrection.

[Florian] I truly believe that we have here

the relics of Mary Magdalene.

And I cannot prove it historically,

but I can experience in this place,

there is a special blessing,

grace, presence of Mary Magdalene.

[narrator] Today, the basilica of Saint Maximin

has been built on the spot

where Mary Magdalene was apparently found.

Many claim it was funded by the sale

of some of her body parts as relics.

[Florian] In Europe, most big cathedrals of the big cities,

they have different relics of Mary Magdalene.

Probably, I say probably, given by the monks here

for some money to build this beautiful basilica.

[narrator] While the church doesn't question

the veracity of the skull,

some scholars have their doubts.

[Lynn] Call me an old cynic,

but I don't think that's Mary Magdalene.

Um, but, in a way it doesn't matter.

It's what people believe,

and it's a focus for their great love of her.

They see her as somebody worth revering.

Not just a pathologically sobbing prostitute.

[Karen] The skull found in St. Maximin

is clearly something of great importance

to those who venerate religious relics.

But as to whether it could be tied to any individual,

much less Mary Magdalene, I'm pretty skeptical.

[narrator] Could the skull of Mary Magdalene

really be in this crypt?

Or does other evidence point to

her final resting place being elsewhere?

Some suggest an ulterior motive

behind the supposed discovery of the saint.

We mustn't forget that the time that, um,

Charles II of Provence, um,

allegedly found Mary Magdalene's relics,

that was a huge time

for the relic industry in general.

And Mary Magdalene being big

in the south of France anyway,

she was the ultimate Christian saint

to find the relic of.

What you have to remember is that if you are an abbey,

if you are a monastery,

and you just happen to chance upon the relics of an apostle,

or a saint, that is big business.

You know, you are gonna attract pilgrims

from all over Europe and the world.

Goodness me, if you've got Mary Magdalene,

well, you know, ka-ching, you're in the big time.

If you look at Saint Maximin today,

it is a relatively small place,

dominated by its basilica,

and dominated by the legend of Mary Magdalene, and...

You know, you don't have to be cynical to think, "Ooh."

There was this big pilgrimage trade,

which generated money.

It was all a kind of generating industry.

[narrator] Pat believes the letter he has

backs up the legend

that Mary's body was found in this town.

However, he thinks the skull

in the golden sarcophagus is a fake,

and her real remains lie hidden elsewhere.

For me, there's no question

that they found the body of Mary Magdalene

on this place.

But it could be that this skull

was replaced by someone,

um, who took it to another secret location.

[narrator] According to Pat,

the 13th-century document he discovered

refers to someone who had access to the treasured relics,

and could have moved them without raising any suspicion.

This is the original document of Pope Boniface VII.

On this Latin document you see Bugoni de Vicinis,

which is the Latin name of Hugues de Voisins.

I think he took the body to his hometown.

[narrator] With this new evidence,

Pat is hoping he can finally unlock

the 2000 year old mystery,

and find Mary Magdalene's remains.

If we find Mary Magdalene, we will rewrite history.

[narrator] Since the Biblical era,

people have been searching

for the remains of Mary Magdalene.

Despite a 2,000 year hunt,

no one has found and verified the elusive saint's remains.

It's always possible

that we're just looking in the wrong place

for the remains of Mary Magdalene.

We don't really know what happened to her

after the resurrection of Jesus.

[narrator] Believing she travelled to France,

Pat Jokl and fellow amateur archaeologist, Ronnie Endler,

are following leads other may have missed.

They have found a medieval letter

to the Pope in an archive,

which they believe sheds some new light

on what happened to Mary Magdalene's body.

[Pat] So, this is the copy.

And you can see,

[translating] "We are in possession of Mary Magdalene,

in the church of the priori of Saint Maximin."

[narrator] For Pat, this document proves

Mary Magdalene was found by the Count of this Provence,

Charles II in Saint Maximin.

But it also mentions a second name,

someone who had access to the body

and could have moved it.

So, according to the document, Charles II,

he ordered his senechal de Provence, Hugues de Voisins,

to protect the excavation site of Mary Magdalene

and keep away the unbelievers and uh,

not to steal anything from the excavation site.

[narrator] Acting as Charles II's enforcer,

Hugues de Voisins was a wealthy landowner and knight.

He would have understood the power

the relics of Mary Magdalene commanded.

Hugues de Voisins was such a tiny character in history.

There's no pictures of him.

There's very little writing about him or about his life.

But what we do know

could suggest that he played a pivotal role

in one of the greatest Christian mysteries.

[narrator] For Pat, the French nobleman

did far more than just protect the body of Mary Magdalene.

Pat believes that fearing either theft

or destruction of the holy relics,

Hugues de Voisins hid the body.

So, we think Hugues de Voisins took the body,

because um, once someone

came in possession of a holy relic,

he would have more power in this region.

We think he brought bits and pieces,

if not the whole body, to his hometown,

and hid it in a small church,

which is dedicated to Mary Magdalene today.

[narrator] If Pat's correct,

Hugues de Voisins moved Mary Magdalene's relics

over 200 miles, to a small church

in a village today known as Pezens.

The chapel of Pezens dates to about the 10th century.

But archaeological digs nearby show the possibility

of over 2,000 years of religious activity in this site.

[narrator] According to Pat's research,

back in medieval times, this town was called Voisins,

after its patriarch, Hugues de Voisins.

But the real smoking gun

is the name etched into the wall

of the crypt at Saint Maximin,

where Mary Magdalene was supposedly found.

We found, surprisingly, in the crypt of Saint Maximin,

a writing which says "Voisin".

[narrator] To Pat, this graffiti tells him

both who took the relics,

and the village where they're hidden.

But that's not all.

Connected by a line is another secret symbol,

which he thinks is a medieval trail of breadcrumbs,

leading to the saint's secret tomb.

We are tracking down an arched cross.

The Christians always used it to pinpoint,

look, here is buried a holy person.

[narrator] Pat believes this graffiti is a secret code

left by Hugues de Voisins,

telling future generations

where he hid Mary Magdalene's remains.

And to our surprise, we went to Pezens,

and we found exactly this arched cross.

Exactly. It's like a copy of the one in the crypt.

We don't think this is just ancient graffiti.

We think this is a map.

We think those arched crosses will lead

to the final resting place of Mary Magdalene.

[Karen] The theory that French nobleman, Hugues de Voisins,

in the 13th century, removed these remains

from Saint Maximin

and re-interred them in the chapel of Pezens.

Now, this is actually not at all far-fetched,

as strange as it might sound.

I mean, there's a really well-established tradition

in the medieval period of moving remains,

if they were particularly valued.

For example, the remains of a saint.

Treasure hunters who are out there

looking for Mary Magdalene,

could well be onto something.

In the South of France,

there are lots of clues about the real Mary Magdalene.

[narrator] Pat is sure the arched crosses

are a secret medieval code,

marking the tomb of Jesus's most devoted follower.

Armed with this evidence and modern technology,

Pat is hoping he can reveal

the final resting place of Mary Magdalene.

[narrator] Pat Jokl is with fellow amateur archaeologist, Ronnie Endler,

in Southern France.

They've spent the last 20 years

searching for the final resting place

of Mary Magdalene.

[Pat] We are now at Pezens.

And this is the Chapel Mary Magdalene.

And we think Mary Magdalene is buried inside here.

[narrator] Today, they will try to verify their theory

that medieval aristocrat, Hugues de Voisins,

moved the saint's remains

from where they were originally discovered,

and secretly hid them under this chapel.

To have that opportunity to finally

put boots on the ground,

and do some survey on a site

that you have spent years researching,

it's so exciting.

Ah. Ronnie.

The coat of arms of the family, de Voisins.

See? This church belonged to Hugues de Voisins.

You can see it, right?

It's all right. This is the coat of arms

-of de Voisins. -Yeah.

[narrator] Pat and Ronnie have been tracking a symbol

known as the arched cross.

Look, Ronnie. This is exactly...

the same sign. This is the arched cross, like,

exactly like in Saint Maximin.

Look at that. Do you see the resemblance?

This is fantastic.

[narrator] The chapel appears to be covered

in the secret symbols.

[Pat] Wow. Look.

Look. One, two, three, four.

So, what Hugues de Voisins was doing

with these crude symbols etched into the walls,

was essentially leaving clues to future generations

so they could find her body.

[narrator] If Pat's hunch is correct,

beneath the chapel's floor is a secret burial chamber.

When you see this very small chapel today,

hundreds of people drive by every single day.

It's almost insignificant.

But imagine if it actually holds the bones

of Mary Magdalene.

This chapel is called Chapel of the Magdalene.

Could that be a clue?

[narrator] To prove his theory,

Pat is planning a non-invasive survey,

using a magnetometer.

[Pat] So, what this machine is doing

is to measure the density of the soil.

So, it can see if the soil was once disturbed,

or if someone buried something,

or if there is a void underneath.

A magnetometer is one of the most useful devices

that archaeologists use to basically look underground

without digging and see what's there.

Archaeological tools such as this

are non-destructive, geo-physical methods

to understand what's underground,

to locate voids that may have been used

for burial sites.

[narrator] After 20 years of research,

armed with his technology,

today Pat has gained special access

from the local authorities

to carry out a survey of the chapel's floor.

Okay. She might be buried here.

-[laughs] -Yeah.

[indistinct chatter]

All right, Ronnie. The moment of truth.

-So, let's start scanning. -Let's start scanning.

All right. Go.

[narrator] The machine detects how the ground below

reacts to a magnetic field.

Once processed, it will create an image of what's underneath.

[Pat] After all those years of research,

we are finally here. This is the moment of truth.

[Tony] I mean, can you imagine the excitement

that there is in that chapel

as they are scanning the floor of this medieval building,

to finally find out

if the body of Mary Magdalene is deep down below?

Look.

This is another arched cross.

This is an old grave stone.

And it's exactly where we think

Mary Magdalene is buried. Coincidence?

[narrator] To Pat, this stone is another breadcrumb,

suggesting that Hugues de Voisins

could have hidden Mary Magdalene's body here.

This could be Mary Magdalene's grave stone.

[narrator] After years of research,

Pat has finally managed to scan

beneath the floor of this church.

[Ronnie] Pat, we have finished the scan.

Right. Okay.

[Pat] Well done.

-Hopefully we will find something. -[laughs] Yes.

[Pat] Okay, great.

[narrator] If Pat's correct,

the results will show a large void

under the chapel's floor,

where Mary Magdalene may have laid hidden for centuries.

[narrator] Pat Jokl and fellow amateur archaeologist, Ronnie Endler,

are in Southern France,

searching for the grave of Mary Magdalene.

Following a trail of clues,

they have tracked her down to a village in Pezens,

where they have performed the magnetometer survey,

to see beneath the chapel's floor.

We just transferred the data

from the device to the computer.

[narrator] Pat's hoping the results show

a secret crypt below the chapel.

-[Ronnie] We've done it. -[Pat] We've done it. [laughs]

[Pat sighs] Great.

[narrator] For Pat, the results are conclusive.

After 20 years of research,

this reading shows we are right.

There is something underneath.

Clearly, you can see on this image,

the color blue.

And blue, blue reading always shows, uh,

low density of the ground.

So that shows clearly that there is a void,

exactly where it should be. In front of the altar.

It's very, very likely that...

in this church, in this void, whatever it is,

the remains of Mary Magdalene are buried, yes.

[narrator] Could Pat really have found the grave

of Jesus's most devoted follower?

The results to me look like the detection of spaces

in between rock or solid ground.

So, that could have been either a space

intentionally carved out, or natural cave.

It definitely means that there is a void

underneath the chapel.

[narrator] Yet some believe

the results are far from certain.

[Karen] These results indicate some sort of magnetic anomaly

in this chapel.

But it does not, to my eye,

suggest the presence of a grave of any kind.

[narrator] While some agree

the results support Pat's theory,

further work is needed before he can finally uncover

the remains of Mary Magdalene.

Pat would need to obtain permits to dig beneath the church,

which could take years.

Yeah, next step would be, uh, we need to dig,

and we need to confirm what the machine picked up.

It could be natural, of course,

it could be a natural cave.

Uh, but it could be also the crypt.

But for now, this is the best result we could get.

[narrator] If the Biblical story is correct,

some 2,000 years ago,

Mary Magdalene walked the Earth with Christ.

Whether a prostitute, wife, or just devout follower,

she has left behind a legacy

that many would argue is second to none.

Mary Magdalene is certainly the most important woman

in the New Testament.

She is also, arguably,

one of the most important women in history.

Largely because of the way she has reacted against,

and that informed the way, certainly the Catholic church,

behaved towards women for two millennium.

If we were able to prove

that the remains of a human body

were those of Mary Magdalene,

that would prove the veracity of the Bible.

If Mary Magdalene's remains were found and verified,

this would be a momentous occasion.

I do find an interest in people

who are still searching

for the remains of Mary Magdalene.

I think for many of them, it will be a concrete fact

of what has been based in faith for so long.

[narrator] Sceptics doubt if we will ever know for sure

if we've found the saint's remains.

Honestly, it's entirely possible

that somebody somewhere, someday,

will find the remains

of the woman who was Mary Magdalene.

Will we be able to identify her as such?

Almost certainly not.

[narrator] Regardless, intrigue lingers to this day.

It's fascinating that in the 20th century,

where we have conspiracy theories

that cover everything,

from microchips and vaccines to vapor trails,

probably the most widely known

conspiracy theory in the world

centers on Mary Magdalene.

If you wanna know my opinion, as to where exactly

Mary Magdalene is buried,

I think the most likely answer would be

she's probably buried in the Holy Land.

So, to all those treasure hunters,

let's just first make sure

that we are not missing something

directly below our noses here in the Holy Land.

[narrator] But for some, the search continues.

It's great. It's amazing.

But we need to take another step.

Now, this will be a hard piece of work,

but, um, yeah, we came so far.

I feel great. I will go with Pat,

even if it takes another 20 years.

As long as I am alive, I will never give up

looking for Mary Magdalene's remains.