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 BOLLANDISTS

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BOLLANDISTS

moreover, it was necessary for one of the editors to remain in Antwerp, the centre of correspondence, he easily obtained permission from the Father General to send in his place Henschen, who was already so favourably known through his collaboration in the volumes published.

At this time, the hagiographers were joined by a new companion, who was to accompany Henschen on his journey, and who later was to shed as great glorj" on the work as had his two predecessors. This was Father Daniel von Papenbroeck, better known under the slightly altered form of Papebroch (b. at Antwerp, 1628; d. 28 June, 1714). He entered the Society in 1646, after having been, like Henschen. a brilliant pupil of Bolland's in the course of the humanities. He had just completed his thirty-first year when he was called on, in 1659, to give himself entirely to the work of hagiography, in which he was to have a remarkably long and fruitful career, for it lasted till his death, which occurred in the eighty- seventh year of his age, and the fifty-fifth of his work in this field. At the same time that they ap- pointed Papebroch a collaborator to Bolland and Henschen, the superiors of the order, at the instance of important persons who wished the publication of the "Acta Sanctorum'' hastened as much as possible, relieved the Fathers in charge of the work of every other regular occupation, in order that they might thenceforth devote their entire time to the hagio- graphical work. They were not obliged to fulfil any duties of the sacred ministry except for the distrac- tion and rest that men of such great intellectual ac- tivity might find in a change of occupation. About the same time they were granted another favour. We have seen that Bolland. in accepting the succes- sion to Rosweyde's post, had obtained that a special place should be set apart for the manuscript copies and books collected by Rosweyde, which had hitherto been scattered among the books belonging to the general librarj- of the Professed House. This embrj'o of the BoUandist Museum consisted of two small mansard rooms, lighted by dormer windows so narrow that in the corners it was impossible to see clearly enough to read the titles of the books, even at noonday. Moreover, the walls were not fitted with shelves where the books could be arranged. They were merely piled one above the other without any attempt at order. It required Bolland's wonder- ful local memorj- to find anything in this chaos. About 1660, he had the satisfaction of having a spacious hall on the first floor placed at his disposal, where books and manuscripts could be placed on shelves in methodical order. The library, or the " Hagiographical Museum", as it became customarj- to call it, had already received, and continued to re- ■ceive daily, thanks to the gifts of generous bene- factors and judicious purchases, many acquisitions, ■so that Henschen during the course of his literary- journey was able to say that he found very few historical libraries, public or private, that could compare with the "Hagiographical Museum" of Ant- werp. This librarj- was greatly enriched some years later when Papebroch, through the death of his father, a rich merchant of Antwerp, was enabled to apply to the work on which he was engaged his large inheritance.

Bolland's two companions began their journey on the feast of St. Marj- Magdalen, 22 July, 1660. Their •old master accompanied them as far as Cologne, where they left him after a week's stay. An almost daily correspondence kept up with him, and preserved nearly entire at Brussels, partly at the Royal Library and partly at the Library of the Bollandists, allows us to follow each step of their learned pilgrimage through Germany, Italy, and France. In Germany, ■they visited successively Coblenz, Mainz, Worms, 'Speyer, Frankfort, Aschaffenburg, Wurzburg, Bam-

berg, Nuremberg, Eichstadt, Ingolstadt, Augsburg, Munich, and Innsbruck. Everywhere the name of Bolland ensured them an enthusiastic welcome and opened even,- librarj- to them; everywhere they found precious material to take with them for use in the succeeding volumes of the "Acta". A reception no less friendly and a harvest even more abundant awaited the travellers in Italy, at Verona, Vicenza. Padua, Venice, Ferrara, Imola, Florence, Ravenna, Forli, Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Sinigaglia, Ancona, Osimo, Loreto, .\ssisi, Perugia, Foligno, and Spoleto. They arrived in Rome the day before the Vigil of Christmas, and remained there until 3 October of the following year, 1661. During all this time they were overwhelmed with attentions and favours by Alexander VII, who in person did the honours of his rich Chigi librarj- and commanded bj- special Briefs that all libraries should be opened to them, and especially that they should be aDowed access to the manuscripts of the Vatican. They were received ■with no less courtesj' bj- the cardinals, the heads of the various orders, the savants Allatius, Aringhi, Ughelli, Ciampini, and others, then shining lights in the capital of the Christian world. The five or six copj'ists placed at their disposal were kept con- stantlj' busj' during the nine months they were in Rome in transcribing manuscripts according to their directions, and this occupation ■was continued by them a long time after the BoUandists' departure. As for the Bollandists themselves, their time was principallj' emploj-ed in collecting Greek manu- scripts, in which thej' were dQigentlj' assisted by the celebrated Hellenist, Laurentius Porcius, and the abbot Francesco Albani, later cardinal, and pope under the name of Clement XI. The learned Maronite, Abraham of Eckel, who had just brought to Rome a great number of Sj-riac manuscripts, was willing to make extracts and translate for them the Acts of the Saints found therein. Ughelli gave them two volumes in folio of notes which he had collected for the completion of his "Italia Sacra". The Oratorians put them in touch with the manuscripts of Baronius, and a large collection of lives of the saints which thej- had intended to publish themselves. On leaving Rome thej- visited Naples, Grotta-Ferrata. and Monte Cassino, then Florence, where thej' remained for four months, and lastly Milan. Everj-where, as at Rome, thej' left behind them copj-ists who continued for j-ears the work of transcribing which had been marked out for them. Thej- then spent more than six months in traveUing through France, where thej- halted successivelj* at the Grande Chartreuse of Grenoble, at Lj-ons, at the monasteries of Clunj- and Citeaux, at Dijon, Auxerre, vSens, and lastlj' at Paris. Thej' arrived in the great capital, 11 August, 1662, and were immediateh' put in touch with whatever distinguished savants Paris could then boast of. Thej' found at their command, with unrestricted leave to copj- whatever served their purpose, the wealth of hagiographical matter con- tained in the rich libraries of Saint-Germain-des-Pr6s and St. Victor, as well as those of the Celestines and FeuiUants, of Wion d'H^rouval, de Thou, de Siguier, and lastly the Mazarine an the Royal Librarj'. Their stay at Paris extended over three months, every moment of which time thej' spent in transcribing and collating, besides enlisting the serv- ices of several copj'ists during the entire time.

Thej' left Paris 9 November and turned their steps toward Rouen, then went through Eu, Abbe- ville, and Arras, omitting, to their great regret, the city of Amiens, because of the impassable roads, washed out bj- rains, and the impossibilitj' of secur- ing means of transportation. They reached Ant- werp 21 December. 1662. after an absence of twenty- nine months. They not only brought back with them an enormous mass of documents transcribed