| Message from our DirectorSince 1882, the Bollandists have communicated with the academic world via the Analecta Bollandiana. Though the review is still our flagship publication, it does not report on all our projects and developments. The Newsletter we are launching, which we hope to issue biannually, is intended to fill that gap. In the world of saints there are no borders. Similarly, hagiographers and researchers whose work at some stage involves the saints, their cults, relics or iconography, are part of an increasingly large and diverse circle. We know that we have many friends among them: those who send us their work for publication in our review or in our collections; authors who send us their books and articles; users of our library; readers of our publications; users of our online database; correspondents consulting us on a particular point of hagiography; benefactors who with their donations, however modest, show their concrete support for work they deem important in a world which increasingly prioritises immediate impact and benefits. Friends of the Bollandists, this newsletter is for you. Don’t hesitate to send us your comments and suggestions.Robert Godding SJ |
A peerless collection now accessible thanks to the Baillet Latour Fund
Our stock of ancient printed works (pre-1800) is the stand-out jewel of the Bollandist library. Pride of place goes to hagiography, with many extremely rare volumes. Patristics, liturgy, Church history, monastic orders, the Society of Jesus, theology and spirituality are also well represented. But so too are the history of our states, regions, towns and cities, and the classical authors. Thanks to a generous subsidy from the Baillet Latour Fund, this unique collection, which to date was accessible only via a card catalogue, is currently being computer catalogued. It will be directly accessible via the catalogue of the library of the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) which hosts the Bollandists’ library catalogue.
Greek hagiography manuscripts indexed in cooperation with IRHT (Paris)
For over a century and a half, the Bollandists have maintained a hand-entry index of Greek hagiographic manuscripts held in libraries around the world. In order to make this treasure available to all researchers, the Bollandist Society, represented by its Byzantine scholar, Xavier Lequeux, has concluded an agreement with l’Institut de Recherche et d’histoire des Textes in Paris to incorporate this Bibliotheca hagiographica graeca manuscripta in thePinakes – Textes et manuscrits grecsdatabase created by the IRHT and directly accessible online.
Most of the data can already be accessed.
The Bollandists on Facebook
Judging by the content of the Acta Sanctorum or the Analecta Bollandiana, the general public might rightly feel they were far from the Bollandists’ thoughts. But this criticism can no longer be levied, because the Bollandists now regularly engage via their Facebook page
Posting regularly, and always with an original illustration, our page features current events, saints’ feastdays, (re)discoveries and day-to-day life in the Bollandist Society.