Bollandists
- Book Title:
- The Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization
- Book Editor:
- Format:
- Book Chapter
- Year:
- 2012
- Publisher:
- Blackwell
- Place published:
- Malden, MA
- Language:
- Abstract:
The Société des Bollandistes, based sporadically in Belgium for over 350 years, is a collective of church historians who have sought to bring the historical–critical method to the study of hagiography. The group is responsible for the 68 folio volumes of the Acta Sanctorum, the most complete rendition of the lives of saints from antiquity to the middle ages. Its publication schedule spans three centuries, from the first volumes (saints' feasts for January) in 1643 to the 1940s. The organization's roots are closely associated with members of the Society of Jesus. Fr. Héribert Rosweyde, SJ (d. 1629), was the inspiration for bringing together the best learned hagiographical manuscripts in Belgian libraries and who, after assembling several studies such as the Vitae Patrum (1615), endeavored to collect in a multi-volume work all those vitae of the Servants of God before the year 1500. Rosweyde's death necessitated the transfer in 1630 of fellow Jesuit Jean van Bolland (d. 1665), for whom the society takes its name. Before he died, Bolland assigned confreres Godefroid Henskens (Henschen) and Daniel van Papebroech to search for and collect copies of manuscripts in Germany, Italy, and France, and the library soon rivaled those of Rome. Work proceeded haltingly on the Acta, particularly because of the suppression of the Jesuits in 1773, which also disbanded portions of the library. Bollandists formally reconstituted in 1837 in Brussels. With financial and material assistance from local abbots and scholars from across Europe, the Bollandists again amassed the most significant library on saints in the world. In the last century, Fr. Hippolyte Delehaye not only contributed extensively to the workings of the society, he broadened the scope of their work from Latin, Greek, and Oriental texts to the Slavic, Nordic, Asian, and African texts. Today Bollandists publish the prestigious journal Analecta Bollandiana (begun 1882) that updates the Acta Sanctorum and a series of books, Subsidia Hagiographica (begun 1886). The Bollandists today are directed from offices located at the College St. Michel in Brussels.
- Who (Jesuits):
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- Publisher URL:
- ISBN:
- 9780470670606
- DOI: