Bollandist
The Bollandist Society (
Acta Sanctorum
The idea of the Acta Sanctorum was first conceived by the Dutch Jesuit Heribert Rosweyde (1569–1629), who was a lecturer at the Jesuit college of Douai. Rosweyde used his leisure time to collect information about the lives of the saints.[2] His principal work, the 1615 Vitae Patrum, became the foundation of the Acta Sanctorum. Rosweyde contracted a contagious disease while ministering to a dying man, and died himself on October 5, 1629, at the age of sixty.[3]
Father Jean Bollandus was prefect of studies in the Jesuit college of Mechelen. Upon the death of Rosweyde, Bollandus was asked to review Rosweyde's papers. Bollandus then continued the work from Antwerp.[2]
The task was to search out and classify materials, to print what seemed to be the most reliable sources of information concerning the saints venerated by the Church and to illustrate points of difficulty.[4] Underestimating the magnitude of the undertaking, Bollandus initially thought he could finish the work on his own, but after a few years he had to admit that the undertaking was beyond his individual strength. He was then assigned an assistant, Godfrey Henschenius (1601–81). The first two volumes of the Acta, by Bollandus and Henschenius, were published in Antwerp in 1643.[5]
Unlike Rosweyde and Bollandus, Henschenius was allowed to devote himself exclusively to the writing of the Acta. He solved many problems relating to chronology, geography and the philological interpretation of the sources. February, March, and April (that is, the collected hagiographies of saints whose feast days occur in each month) took up three volumes each, May covered eight, and June seven volumes. By the time of his death, 24 volumes had appeared; moreover, Henschenius left many notes and commentaries for the following volumes. It can therefore be said that the Acta owe their final form to Henschenius.[5]
In 1659, Bollandus and Henschenius were joined by
Carmelite controversy
With publication in 1675 of the first volume of April, the Bollandists became embroiled in a lengthy controversy with the
By the time of the death of Father Papebrochius in 1714, the first six months of the year were practically completed.[4] Work continued in the following years, led by Conrad Janninck among others.
Suppression and relocation (18th century)
By the time the
Refoundation
After the re-establishment of the
The Bollandists' studies led to the texts of the
The Bollandist Society is the only institution dedicated exclusively to the critical study of hagiography. "There is a lot of ‘fake news’" about saints, said Bollandist Marc Lindeijer, S.J. "We can spend a lifetime correcting Wikipedia."[10] Nonetheless, legends of the saints provide important information for historians and linguistic scholars. Patrick J. Geary says that the tales serve as "a window into the world of people of that time and place.[10]
In fiction
The Bollandist Society has an important role in The Deptford Trilogy by Canadian novelist Robertson Davies. The series' protagonist, though not a Catholic, takes a deep interest in saints and their lives, and his scholarly efforts are welcomed by the Bollandists.
Notable Bollandists
- Jean Bolland (1596–1665)
- Godfrey Henschen (1601–1681)
- Jean Gamans (1606–1684)
- Daniel Papebroch (1628–1714)
- Peter van der Bosch (1686–1736)
- Charles De Smedt (1833–1911)
- Joseph Van den Gheyn (1854–1913)
- Hippolyte Delehaye (1859–1941)
- Paul Grosjean (1900–1964)
See also
- List of Jesuit sites in Belgium
- Archdiocese of Mechelen–Brussels
Notes
- JSTOR 3678913.
- ^ a b De Smedt, Charles. "The Bollandists", The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. March 15, 2013
- ^ Delehaye, Hippolyte (1922). The work of the Bollandists through three centuries, 1615–1915. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Retrieved 2018-02-12.
- ^ a b c "Thurston, Herbert. "The Bollandists and Their Work", The Tablet, July 27, 1907". Archived from the original on March 31, 2016. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
- ^ a b ""Foundation", Société des Bollandistes". Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-03-26.
- ^ "Controversies with Other Orders". The Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Archived from the original on 12 December 2010.
- ^ "The Bollandist Acta Sanctorum", Catholic World, Volume 28, Issue 163, Oct 1878; p. 81
- ^ ""Jan 29 - 1837 Bollandist Reform after the Suppression", Jesuit Restoration 1814, January 29, 2014". Archived from the original on July 5, 2019. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
- ^ "Mary Magdalene, 'Apostle to the Apostles,' Given Equal Dignity in Feast", Aleteia, June 10, 2016
- ^ a b Vida, Melissa. "The Jesuit institution uncovering the truth (and fake news) about saints", America, February 05, 2019
References
- De Smedt, Charles (1907), "The Bollandists", The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. II, New York: Robert Appleton Co.
- Baynes, T. S., ed. (1878), Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 4 (9th ed.), New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, pp. 18–19 ,
- Delehaye, Hippolyte (1911), , in Chisholm, Hugh (ed.), Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 4 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 177–178