Bollandistes saints et légendes: Quatre siècles de recherche (review)

Four hundred years ago, the Belgian Jesuit Heribert Rosweyde undertook one of the greatest feats of theological and historical scholarship since the Middle Ages. He planned a systematic investigation of the saints to provide the definitive account of their lives. His work would not merely be insipid hagiographies of clichéd supernatural feats and divine interventions, complete with angels' arias and golden, dinner-plate aureolae. Rather, he would research each saint in the manuscript collections of monastic libraries and provide a thorough account of the saint's life, deeds—both documented and legendary—feast-day celebrations, iconography, and controversies. At the time of his death, he had published little, but his idea did not die with him. Another Jesuit, Jean Bolland, assumed work on the project and founded the Bollandists, who would dedicate themselves to fulfilling Rosweyde's goal and serve as members of the oldest scientific society in Belgium. This album, written in honor of the 400th anniversary of Rosweyde's initial undertaking, commemorates the contributions of the Jesuit founders and their successors to history and the historiography of the saints.

In the wake of the Reformation, the Tridentine Church sought to answer the criticisms of Protestants who accused Catholics of excess and idolatry in their devotion to the saints. Rosweyde and later Bolland wanted to defend the saints by demonstrating that documentary evidence and tradition supported the cults of these exemplary men and women. As members of the new priestly order dedicated to intellectual rigor, they applied historical methodology and critical analysis to their work, collecting manuscripts, deciphering differing accounts, and dealing at times with a lack of information, even about revered saints. In the process, the Bollandists traveled throughout Europe collecting data and corresponding with the members of other orders, their fellow ecclesiastics, and the laity.

This book provides not just the history of the Bollandists and their work but also some description of the interference and controversies that accompanied this project. From the beginning it had its critics. Because of the intensely personal devotion that some saints inspired, an academic analysis of their lives might not be welcomed. There also were the external events—such as the Napoleonic occupation of the Low Countries and the two world wars—that interrupted their work, but despite these events, a small number of individuals (only between two and five at any given period) continued the work of Rosweyde and Bolland, making the society one of the most prestigious scholarly organizations within the Church.

This quadricentennial book briefly recounts the history of the Bollandists and also addresses the history of devotion to the saints in general. It highlights some of the chief accomplishments of this group of scholars and reproduces images from the Bollandists' extensive manuscript collection. Although this may not be the definitive work on the Bollandists or even the most academic, it provides a serviceable general overview and basic bibliography of the subject. As an illustrated commemorative volume, it succeeds in presenting a memorial and a history of the historians of the saints.