BOLLANDISTS, the Belgian Jesuits who publish the Acta Sanctorum, the great collection of biographies and legends of the saints, arranged by days, in the order of the calendar. The original idea was conceived by a Jesuit father, Heribert Rosweyde (see HAGIOLOGY) . His intention was to publish in 18 volumes the lives of the saints compiled from the mss., at the same time adding sober notes. At the time of his death (1629) he had collected a large amount of material, but had not been able actually to begin the work. A Jesuit father, John Bolland, was appointed to carry on the project. In 1635 Henschenius (Godfried Henschen) was associated with Bolland, and publication began in 1643. From 1659 Papebroch (Daniel van Papenbroeck) collaborated. This was the most brilliant period in the history of the Acta Sanctorum. The freedom of Papebroch's criticism made him many enemies, and he had often to defend himself against their attacks. The work was continued—with some inequalities, but always in the same spirit—until the suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773. The last volume published was vol. iii. of October which appeared in 177o.
On the dispersion of the Jesuits the Bollandists were authorized to continue their work, and remained at Antwerp until 1778, when they were transferred to Brussels, to the monastery of canons regular of Coudenberg. Here they published vol. iv. of October in 178o, and vol. v. of October in 1786, when the monastery of Coudenberg was suppressed. In 1788 the work of the Bollandists ceased. The remains of their library were acquired by the Pre monstratensians of Tongerloo, who endeavoured to continue the work, and in their abbey vol. vi. of October appeared in After the re-establishment of the Society of Jesus in Belgium the work was again taken up in 1837, at the suggestion of the Academie Royale of Belgium and with the support of the Belgian Government, and the Bollandists were installed at the college of St. Michael in Brussels. In 1845 appeared vol. vii. of October, the first of the new series, which reached vol. xiii. of October in 1883.
In 1882 the activities of the Bollandists were exerted in a new direction with a view to bringing the work more into line with the progress of historical methods. A quarterly review was established under the title of Analecta Bollandiana by the Jesuit fathers C. de Smedt, G. van Hooff and J. de Backer. This reached its 25th volume in 1906, and was edited by the Bollandists de Smedt, F.
van Ontroy, H. Delehaye, A. Porcelet and P. Peeters. This review contains studies in preparation for the continuation and remould ing of the Acta Sanctorum, inedited texts, dissertations, and, since 1892, a Bulletin des publications hagiographiques, containing crit icisms of recent works on hagiographic questions. In addition to this review, the Bollandists undertook the analysis of the hagio graphic mss. in the principal libraries. Besides numerous library catalogues published in the Analecta (e.g. those of Chartres, Namur, Ghent, Messina, Venice, etc.), separate volumes were devoted to the Latin mss. in the Bibliotheque Royale at Brussels (2 vols., 1886-89), to the Latin and Greek mss. in the Biblio theque Nationale at Paris (5 vols., 1889-96), to the Greek mss. in the Vatican (1899), and to the Latin mss. in the libraries of Rome (1905 seq.). They also prepared inventories of the hagio graphic texts hitherto published, and of these there have appeared the Bibliotheca hagiographica graeca (1895), the Bibliotheca hagiographica latina (1899) and the Bibliotheca hagiographica Orientalis. These indispensable works delayed the publication of the principal collection, but tended to give it a more solid basis and a strictly scientific stamp. In 1887 appeared vol. i. for November; in 1894, vol. ii., preceded by the Martyrologium Hieronymianum by J. B. de Rossi and the abbe Louis Duchesne ; in 1902, the Propylaeum ad Acta Sanctorum Novembris; and in 19i o vol. iii. of November was published.
There are three editions of the Acta Sanctorum: the original edition (Antwerp, Tongerloo and Brussels, 65 vols., 1643-191o; the Venice edition, stopping at vol. v. of September (I734-7o) and the Paris edition, stopping at vol. xiii. of October (61 vols., 1863-83).
See H. Delehaye, The work of the Bollandists (Princeton, U.S.A., and London, 1922), an excellent compendium of information ; de Smedt, Art., "Bollandists," Catholic Encyclopaedia, vol. ii.; J. B. Petra, Etudes sur la collection des Actes des Saintes (188o).