The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-01-10
THE BOLLAN D|STS
AN ASSOCIATION OF FLEMISH
JEsUITS WHO COMPILE 1.-THE
LIVES OF THE TS"-SIxTY-
FIVE LARGE FOLIO VOLUMES
ALREADY PUBLISHED-KNOWN
AS THE ACTA SANCToRUM.

From time to time, in the great
quarterlies or other channels of
learning and criticism, we see appre-
carried on in Belgium by the Bolland-
lists, says the London Record. The
Bollandists, it may be explained, are
an association of Flemish Jesuits, de-
irving their name from John Van
Bolland, who, about 1880, began the
colossal work with which their name
has ever since been associated, and
which has made them familiar to
scholars all over the world. That work
was to write the Acts, or the lives of
the Saints, in series of great folio
volumes which should contain prac-
tically all that is known or can be
known of those great servants of God
who are immortalized in the Church's
calendar. The latest volume published
was in the spring of last year, and
this treats of the Saints honored on
the 5th-8th November, being the third
volume devoted to that month. The
last was published sixteen years ago,
so it may be seen on what an i'm
mense scale the project of John Van
Bolland is being carried on, and what
an enormous amount of time, labor
and patience is being bestowed upon
it.
The total number of volumes al
ready published is sixty-fve, but as
time goes on and new material be-
comes available, the scope of the
work broadens, and the two months
of the calendar yet to be covered will
run into a proportionately greater
number of volumes. The work has
had many Interruptions owing to wars
and political upheavals, and, longest
Of all, during the period intervening
between the suppression and restora-
ton of the Society of Jesus. But the
continuity has been maintained never
theless, a fact which could scarcely
have been possible under any other
auspices than the Catholic Church, or
by any other than one Of her religious
orders. This has been testified to by
scholars of every persuasion, who also
have paid tribute to the thoroughly
scientific manner and devotion to
truth which has characterized it
throughout.
The Jesuit Fathers who carry on the
enterprise are chosen from among
their brethren for their learning and
scientific ability They occupy large
work-room adjoining the library in the
College st. Michel. Their late presi-
dent, Father Charles de Smedt, who
died in March at the age of eighty,
had been associated with the work for
forty years, for tWenty-eight Of which
he had been its chief. The best known
of the present staff is unquestionably
Father Hippolyte Delehaye, a savant
of European reputation, who, accord
ing to the Church Times (Anglican)
knows how to combine strictest
scientific probity with devout Catho-
lie piety. No one could be bet
ter equipped for the work, combining,
as he does, the most delicate histori-
cal sense with vast reading and wide
knowledge of modern languages.
Continuing the quotation from the
Church Times: Praise must be given
where praise is due, and it must be
admitted that the credit for this adj
mirable enterprise rests with the So
ciety of Jesus. In the Bollandist pub
LEGATIONS they have made real con-
tribution to science; they have re-
duced an apparently impossible con-
fusion to something like order, and
they have produced series of vol
umes that for historical value, scien-
tific exactness, and devotional temper
are second to none in Christendom.
The Acta Sanctorum will remain as
one of the lasting glories Of Catholic