Dear Friends of the Bollandists
It is our birthday this month! On June 1607, a small book titled Fasti Sanctorum was published in Antwerp. It showcased the ambitious project of its author, Heribert Rosweyde SJ: to collect, critically study, and publish the Lives of Saints across centuries and nations. We consider this little booklet the foundation stone of our research institute, the Société des Bollandistes, one of the oldest scientific societies in the world. Both Rosweyde and his successor Jean Bolland thought their ambitious project would have been completed in their lifetimes.
But little did they know, and 416 years later, our research continues unabated and to the 67 monumental volumes of the Acta Sanctorum we can add 141 volumes of Analecta Bollandiana, 99 volumes of Subsidia Hagiographica and 10 volumes of Tabularium Hagiographicum.
As the quote goes: you know you are getting old when the candles cost more than the cake! This would be exactly the case for us but we know we can count on you, dear Friends, so that this unique research centre with its precious library may pursue its mission in the years to come.
We thank you wholeheartedly for that.
Irini de Saint Sernin
The 430 miniatures it contains, each more beautiful than the last, illustrate the history of the saints celebrated between September and February and will certainly be of use to those who frequent our library. As far as we know, this is the only copy of this facsimile kept in Belgium.
By entrusting us with this magnificent facsimile, Mgr Athanase has given us a gift worthy of the friendship he has always shown towards the Bollandists. May he be infinitely thanked for it! It also reminds us of the extent to which the saints constitute a spiritual, literary, and historical heritage common to the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
Find out what is in the next issue of Analecta Bollandiana 141, I June 2023:
Christa MÜLLER-KESSLER. A Palimpsest with the Martyrdom of Proklos and Hilarios (BHG 2374) in Christian Palestinian Aramaic Translation from the Monastery Library of Saint Catherine (Sin., CPA NF Frg. 7, fol. 5/6)
Thomas GRANIER. Le moi de l’hagiographe. La conscience d’auteur de Jean diacre de Naples vers 900
Pietro D’AGOSTINO. L’épitomé des Actes de Thomas (BHG 1836e) et l’Évergétinon. À propos d’une contribution récente
Vadim B. KRYSKO. The Passio Erasmi in Latin, Greek, and Slavonic Versions
Dimosthenis A. KAKLAMANOS. L’Office de saint Barbaros le myroblyte. Editio princeps
Renaud ADAM. Imprimerie et littérature hagiographique dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux (1473-1520)
Bernard JOASSART. Lettres de Wilhelm Arndt au bollandiste Remi De Buck
François DOLBEAU. Catalogues de manuscrits latins. Inventaire hagiographique (trente-neuvième série)
A splendid gift to the Bollandist Library: the facsimile of the Menologion of Basil II
Before returning to Athens, after 22 years in Brussels, Mgr Athanasius, Metropolitan of Achaia, made a superb gift to the Bollandist Society on behalf of the Apostolic Diaconia of the Church of Greece. On 16 February, he presented the Society with a luxurious facsimile of the Menologion of Basil II, produced in 2005. This famous manuscript, copied in the 11th century and now kept in the Vatican Library (Vat. Graec. 1613), is considered the most beautiful manuscript of the Byzantine civilisation that has come down to us.
We keep training!
Our Society welcomed and coached two new interns in the last few months as Mr Meher Ben Mosbah from the Free University of Brussels was followed by Mr Federico Giulietti from the University of Bologna. Under the guidance of our research team, both had ample opportunities to apply the theories and concepts learned in their respective academic institutions.
They honed their skills in finding and encoding information relevant to our manuscript collections as well as to our index of Latin hagiographic texts (Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina) and, in parallel, were introduced to the rigours of life in a specialised research library.
Digitization project
Will you help the Bollandist Society in preserving its rare manuscripts and copper plate collection by making them accessible to all through digitization?
Would you like to see your name associated with a digitized manuscript or copper plate?
For naming opportunities and for more information about the items to be digitized, please do not hesitate to contact us at: saintsernin@bollandistes.be
You can join the Friends of the Bollandists here:
https://www.bollandistes.org/support-us/