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BOLLANDISTS

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 178 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BOLLANDISTS , the Belgian See also:

Jesuits who publish the Acta Sanclorum, the See also:great collection of See also:biographies and legends of the See also:saints, arranged by days, in the See also:order of the See also:calendar. The See also:original See also:idea was conceived by a Jesuit See also:father, Heribert Rosweyde (see See also:HAGIOLOGY), and was explained by him in a sort of See also:prospectus, which he issued in 1607 under the See also:title of See also:Fasti sanctorum See also:quorum vitae in Belgicis Bibliothecis manuscriptae. His intention was to publish in eighteen volumes the lives of the saints compiled from the See also:MSS., at the same See also:time adding sober notes. At the time of his See also:death (1629) he had collected a large amount of material, but had not been able actually to begin the See also:work. A Jesuit father, See also:John Bolland, was appointed to carry on the project, and was sent to See also:Antwerp. He continued to amass material, and extended the See also:scope of the work. In 1643 the two volumes for See also:January appeared. The three volumes for See also:February appeared in 1658, the three for See also:March in 1668, the three for See also:April in 1675, and so on. In 1635 Henschenius (Godfried Henschen) was associated with Bolland, See also:ana collaborated in the work until 1681. From r659 to 1714 Papebroch (See also:Daniel See also:van Papenbroeck) collaborated. This was the most brilliant See also:period in the See also:history of the Acta Sanctorum. The freedom of Papebroch's See also:criticism made him many enemies, and he had often to defend himself against their attacks.

The work was continued—with some inequalities, but always in the same spirit—until the suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773. The last See also:

volume published was vol. iii. of See also:October, which appeared in 1770. On the See also:dispersion of the Jesuits the Bollandists were authorized to continue their work, and remained at Antwerp until 1778, when they were transferred to See also:Brussels, to the monastery of canons See also:regular of Coudenberg. Here they published vol. iv. of October in 178o, and vol. v. of October in 1786, when the monastery of Coudenberg was suppressed. In 1788 the work of the Bollandists ceased. The remains of their library were acquired by the See also:Premonstratensians of Tongerloo, who endeavoured to continue the work, and in their See also:abbey vol. vi. of October appeared in 1794• After the re-See also:establishment of the Society of Jesus in See also:Belgium the work was again taken up in 1837, at the See also:suggestion of the See also:Academic Royale of Belgium and with the support of the Belgian See also:government, and the Bollandists were installed at the See also:college of St See also:Michael in Brussels. In 1845 appeared vol. vii. of October, the first of the new See also:series, which reached vol. xiii. of October in 1883. In this series the Jesuit fathers See also:Joseph van der Moere, Joseph van Hecke, See also:Benjamin Bossue, See also:Victor and Remi de See also:Buck, See also:Ant. Tinnebroeck, Edu. Carpentier and Henr. Matagne collaborated. Father John Martinov of Theazan was entrusted with the editing of the Annus Graeco-Slavicus, which appeared in the beginning of vol. xi. of October in 1864.

In 1882 the activities of the Bollandists were exerted in a new direction, with a view to bringing the work more into See also:

line with the progress of See also:historical methods. A quarterly See also:review was established under the title of Analecta Bollandiana by the Jesuit fathers C. de Smedt, G. van Hooff and J. de Backer. This reached its 25th volume in 1906, and was edited by the Bollandists de Smedt, F. van Ontroy, H. Delehaye, A. Porcelet and P. Peeters. This review contains studies in preparation for the continuation and remoulding of the Acta Sanctorum, inedited texts, See also:dissertations, and, since 1892, a Bulletin See also:des publications hagiographiques, containing criticisms of See also:recent See also:works on hagiographic questions. In addition to this review, the Bollandists undertook the See also:analysis of the hagiographic MSS. in the See also:principal See also:libraries. Besides numerous library catalogues published in the Analecta (e.g. those of See also:Chartres, See also:Namur, See also:Ghent, See also:Messina, See also:Venice, etc.), See also:separate volumes were devoted to the Latin MSS. in the Bibliotheque Royale at Brussels (2 vols., 1886–1889), to the Latin and See also:Greek MSS. in the Bibliotheque Nationale at See also:Paris (5 vols., 1889–1896), to the Greek MSS. in the Vatican (1899), and to the Latin MSS. in the libraries of See also:Rome (1905 seq.). They also prepared inventories of the hagiographic texts hitherto published, and of these there have appeared the Bibliotheca hagiographica graeca (1895), the Bibliotheca hagiographica See also:latina (1899) and the Bibliotheca hagiographica Orientalis. These indispensable works delayed the publication of the principal collection, but tended to give it a more solid basis and a strictly scientific See also:stamp. In 1887 appeared vol. i. for See also:November; in 1894, vol. ii., preceded by the Martyrologium Hieronymianum by J.

B. de See also:

Rossi and the See also:abbe See also:Louis See also:Duchesne; in 1902, the Propylaeum ad Acta Sanctorum Novembris, comprising the See also:Synaxarium ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae. There are three See also:editions of the Acta Sanctorum: the original edition (Antwerp, Tongerloo and Brussels, 63 vols., 1643–1902); the Venice edition, stopping at vol. v. of See also:September (1734–1770) ; and the Paris edition, stopping at vol. xiii. of October (61 vols., 1863–1883). In addition to these, there is a volume of tables, edited by the abbe Rigollot. See Acta Sanctorum apologeticis libris . . . vindicata (Antwerp, 1755) ; L. P. See also:Gachard, Mimoire historique sur See also:les Bollandistes (Brussels, 1835) ; van Hecke, " De ratione operis Bollandiani " (See also:Arta Sanctorum Octobris, vii.) ; and See also:Cardinal J. B. Pitra, Etudes sur la collection des Actes des Saints (Paris, 1880). (H.

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