Jean Bolland

Jean Bolland (Latinized: Johannes Bollandus ) (born August 13, 1596 in Julémont ; † September 13, 1665 in Antwerp ) was a Jesuit , historian and hagiographer . He was the founder of the Acta Sanctorum . His successors, who continue the work with interruptions until today, are called Bollandists after him .

Jean Bolland, portrait from Acta Sanctorum, March, t. 1, Antwerp 1688, before p. I

Life

Bolland entered the Jesuit order in 1612. He studied in Leuven and Antwerp. He worked as a teacher in the colleges in Roermond , Mechelen , Brussels and Antwerp and, after he was ordained a priest in 1625, became director of studies in Mechelen.

Because he had shown himself to be a particularly good historian, he was given the task of editing the Acta Sanctorum. This work should collect the sources on all saints in a historical-critical form. The idea for this came from Heribert Rosweyde . The work soon proved to be too extensive for one author to be able to handle. Therefore he gathered more employees around him. The volumes for January were published during his lifetime. The work was sponsored by Ferdinand von Fürstenberg, among others . After his death in 1658, Bolland's collaborators published the volumes for the saints of the month of February. The work continued with interruptions until today.

Société des Bollandistes

The Brussels-based Société des Bollandistes is the publisher of two hagiographic series: Subsidia Hagiographica (Volume 89 was published in 2009) and Tabularium Hagiographicum .

literature

• Carl Ruland:  Bolland, Jean . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 109.
• Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz :  Bolland, Jean. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975. 2nd, unchanged edition Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-013-1 , Sp. 675-676.
• Donald Sullivan: Jean Bolland (1596–1665) and the Earl Bollandist , in: Helen Damico, Joseph B. Zavadil (eds.): Medieval Scholarship. Biographical Studies on the Formation of a Discipline, Volume 1: History (= Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, Vol. 1350), Garland Publishing, New York 1995, ISBN 0-8240-6894-7 , pp. 3-14.
• Acta Sanctorum, Quotquot toto orbe coluntur, vel a Catholicis Scriptoribus celebrantur, Acta Sanctorum Martii, t. 1: Cui praemittitur tractatus de vita, virtutibus et operibus Joannis Bollandi, arduo labori gloriose immortui […]. Meursius, Antwerp 1668, pp. I-XLVII (before the portrait).