Jean Bolland

Jean Bolland (Latin Bollandus ) (* 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 after him Bollandists.

Life

Bolland joined in 1612 the Society of Jesus. He studied in Louvain and Antwerp. He worked in colleges in Roermond, Mechelen, Brussels and Antwerp as a teacher and eventually became after he was ordained a priest in 1625 Director of Studies in Mechelen.

Because he had proven to be particularly good historian, his publication of the Acta Sanctorum was transferred. This work should collect the sources of all the saints in a historical-critical form. The idea stemmed from Heribert Rosweyde. The work soon proved to be too extensive to be dealt with by an author can. So he collected more staff around. During his lifetime, the volumes for the month of January appeared. Was funded the work, among others, by Ferdinand von Furstenberg. The staff Bollands gave in 1658 after his death, the volumes for the Saints of February out. The work was afterwards continued intermittently until today.

Société des Bollandistes

The Brussels-based Société des Bollandistes is the editor of two series of hagiographic: Subsidia Hagiographica ( in 2009 came out volume 89 ) and tabularium Hagiographicum.