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 BOLLANDISTS

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BOLLANDISTS

rion called "de Sirmond", with the variants of sixty manuscripts scattered through the various public libraries of Europe.

The author of this article does not consider him- self qualified to give an estimate of the work of these later Bollandists, having himself been a mem- ber of the body for too long a time. He is able, however, to cite the appreciations of the most dis- tinguished and capable scholars in this field, who testify that the volumes published by the later Bol- landists are in no wise inferior to those of their pre- decessors of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Tl;e reservations made by certain eminent critics in their commendation are generally due to the prolix- ity of the commentaries, which they think is often excessive, and to the timidity of certain conclusions, which do not seem to them to correspond with what the discussions had led them to expect. Another class of censors reproach the Bollandists for quite the reverse, accusing them of not showing sufficient respect towards what they call tradition, and of being too often hj'percritical. The present members of the body are firmly resolved to be on their guard against these contrary excesses, something, indeed, which becomes easier for them as time passes, owing to the constant progress of good scientific methods. We may be permitted one word, in conclusion, as to what has been done during these latter years towards keep- ing the work up to the high level of contemporary historical erudition. It has been judged opportune, in the first place, to publish, besides the great volumes of the principal collection itself, which appear at un- determined intervals, a periodical review intended chiefly to make known to the learned public materials recently discovered by the BoUandists or their friends, which go towards completing either the Acts published in the volumes already printed or the entire mass of material to be employed in the future volumes of the work. This review was begun under the title of "Analecta BoUandiana" in the early part of 1882. At the rate of one volume in octavo a year, it has reached in the present year (1907) the twentj'-sixth volume. In volumes subsequent to the sixth there have been inserted, besides unedited documents, va- rious notes bearing on hagiographical matters. Since the publication of the tenth \'olume, each quarterly issue has contained a "Bulletin des publications hagiographiques" in which are announcements and summary appreciations of recent works and articles in reviews which concern matters of hagiography. Other auxiliary works have exacted long years of laborious preparation. They are the "Bibliotheca Hagiographica Grseca" and the "Bibliotheca Hagio- graphica Latina", in which are enumerated under the name of each saint, following the alphabetical order of their names, all documents relating to his or her life and cult ^\Titten in Greek or in I^atin before the beginning of the sixteenth centun,', together with the indication of all collections and books where they can be found. The first of these collections, which appeared in 1895, numbers 143 pages. (There is now in preparation a new edition notably enlarged.) The second, issued 1898-99, has 1.387 pages. It is hoped that a " Bibliotheca Hagiographica Orientalis" will soon be printed. Moreover, there is a third class of auxiliary works to which the Bollandists of the present generation are directing their activity, and that is the careful preparation of catalogues contain- ing a systematic detailed description of the Greek and Latin hagiographical manuscripts of various great libraries. A great many of these catalogues have been incorporated in the " Analecta". Such are the catalogues of the Greek manuscripts in the Ro- man libraries of the Barberini. the Chigi. and the Vati- can; the National Library of Naples; the librarj' of the University of Messina, and that of St. Mark's, in Venice; catalogues of the Latin manuscripts in the

Royal Library of Bnissels (2 vols, in octavo), in the libraries of the cities, or of the universities, of Bruges, Ghent, Liege, and Namur. in Belgium; of the munici- pal libraries of Chartres. Le Mans. Uouai, and Rouen, in France; those of The Hague in Holland, and, in Italy, of Milan (the Ambrosian), as well as the vari- ous libraries of Rome; also in the private librarj^ of His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, at Vienna, and that of Alphonsus Wins at Nivelles; and lastly, of

Library, College of S.unt-.Michel, Brussels

the Bollandist Library. Besides the "Analecta", there have appeared the catalogue of the old (before 1500) Latin manuscripts in the National Librarj- of Paris (tliree octavo volumes, also the tables) and a list of the Greek manuscripts in the same library (compiled in collaboration with M. H. Omont). Ail these publications, although certainly delaying some- what the appearance of succeeding volumes of the Acta Sanctormn, have gained for the Bollandists warm words of encouragement and commendation from the greatest scholars. In view of the impossi- bility of qiioting at length these flattering testi- monies, we shall confine ourselves to mentioning, as- they come to mind, the articles of Mgr. Duchesne (Billletin critique, 1 April, 1890); Leopold Delisle (Bibliotheque de lecole des Chartres, LI, 1890, 532);. M. Solomon Reinacli (Re\'ue Arch&)logique, 1895, II, 228); Krieg (Litterarische Rimdschau, 1 December, 1900); a passage in the Belgian Archives (1901), III,. 31. There is a final detail which may not be without interest. The Bollandists had found themselves greatly hampered in the arrangement of their library at their residence in the Rue des Ursulines at Brussels which they had occupied since the resumption of the work in 1837. During the latter part of 1905 they were transferred to the new College of Saint-Michel on the Boulevard Militaire. where ample and con- venient quarters for the library were assigned in the lofty buildings of the vast establishment. The 150,000 volumes contained in their literary museum are most suitably arranged here. A large space was also set apart for historical and philological reviews (about 600), nearly all of which are sent regularly by learned societies, either gratuitously or in ex- change for the "Analecta BoUandiana". To class these according to the place of publication and the language chiefly emplo3'ed in their preparation: 22S