Gildard , or Gildardus , is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church . He was a priest in the seventh century of Lurcy-le-Bourg , in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nevers . His name was in the convent of St. Gildard, which has now become Espace Bernadette , operated by the a small number of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers , and the final resting place of Bernadette Soubirous .
26-476: The Bollandists have little to say on Gildard—he was a priest in the seventh century who "edified with his virtues the parish of Lurcy-le-Bourg." Local historians agree that little is known of Gildard and repeat what was written in Les Petits Bollandistes . The date of his death was 24 August, but because that day was already dedicated to Saint Bartholomew Gildard's feast day was moved to 31 August, and
52-578: A Propylaeum antiquarium , an attempt to formulate rules for the discernment of spurious from genuine documents, to the second volume (1675) of the Acta Sanctorum . He instanced in it as spurious some charters of the Abbey of St-Denis . Dom Jean Mabillon was appointed to draw up a defense of these documents, and was provoked into another statement of the principles of documentary criticism, his De re diplomatica (1681). Around 1681 Papebroch found himself in
78-582: A Catholic, takes a deep interest in saints and their lives, and his scholarly efforts are welcomed by the Bollandists. Daniel van Papenbroeck Daniel Papebroch , S.J., (17 March 1628 – 28 June 1714) was a Flemish Jesuit hagiographer , one of the Bollandists . He was a leading revisionist figure, bringing historical criticism to bear on traditions of saints of the Catholic Church . Papebroch
104-452: A Saint Loup (known by the Latinised name of Saint Lupus), outside the city walls of Nevers. In the course of time, after miracles had occurred, the church came to be called after both saints, and later again the name of Lupus was forgotten. Less is known of Lupus than of Gildard, though at least some historians believe that a Lupus had lived in the area and that some miracles were performed at
130-584: A lengthy dispute with the Carmelites. In writing a commentary on Albert of Vercelli , credited with the Carmelite Rule, Papebroch said that the tradition that the origin of the order dated back to the prophet Elias, as its founder, was insufficiently grounded. The Carmelites took exception. There followed a long pamphlet campaign, during which Papebroch's orthodoxy was challenged. Papebroch was defended by his colleague, Conrad Janninck . The Carmelites appealed to
156-530: A new Society of Bollandists was formed in the second quarter of the nineteenth century under the patronage of the Belgian government. The first volume of the new series appeared in 1845. A collection of 61 volumes was published in Paris between 1863 and 1867. By the end of the 19th century the work was re-oriented, bringing it more in line with the new philological methods. In 1882, a quarterly review on critical hagiography
182-468: A series of letters, pamphlets and other documents was issued by each side. The Carmelites were supported by a Spanish tribunal, while the Bollandists had the support of Jean de Launoy and the Sorbonne. In November 1698, Pope Innocent XII ordered an end to the controversy. By the time of the death of Father Papebrochius in 1714, the first six months of the year were practically completed. Work continued in
208-646: Is the only institution dedicated exclusively to the critical study of hagiography. "There is a lot of ‘fake news’" about saints, said Bollandist Marc Lindeijer, S.J. "We can spend a lifetime correcting Misplaced Pages." Nonetheless, legends of the saints provide important information for historians and linguistic scholars. Patrick J. Geary says that the tales serve as "a window into the world of people of that time and place". The Bollandist Society has an important role in The Deptford Trilogy by Canadian novelist Robertson Davies . The series' protagonist, though not
234-530: The Acta . From July 1660 until December 1662, Henschenius and Papebrochius travelled through Germany, Italy and France in order to collect copies of hagiographic manuscripts. Another Bollandist of this period was Jean Gamans . With publication in 1675 of the first volume of April, the Bollandists became embroiled in a lengthy controversy with the Carmelites . In writing of St. Albert , Patriarch of Jerusalem and author of
260-574: The novitiate of the Society of Jesus . He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1658. In 1659 Papebroch began his work with Bolland, in the scholarly study of the hagiography of the Catholic saints. About this time, the Jesuit superiors of the order relieved those involved with the work of every other regular occupation, in order that they might thenceforth devote their entire time to the hagiographical work. He
286-466: The Carmelite rule, Papebrochius had stated in his preliminary commentary that the tradition universally received by the Carmelites that the origin of the order dated back to the prophet Elijah , who was regarded as its founder, was insufficiently grounded. But learning that the attacks could jeopardize the work of the group, he and his companions decided that the time for silence had passed. From 1681 to 1698
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#1733115815201312-568: The Low Countries. Their library was acquired by the Premonstratensians of Tongerlo Abbey , who endeavored to carry on the work. The fifty-third volume was published by the abbot of Tongerloo in 1794. The 53 volumes of the first series covered the saints from January 1 to October 14. Four former Bollandists supervised the work. After the re-establishment of the Society of Jesus in Belgium ,
338-553: The church that came to bear his name, which he later shared with Gildard. In the time of Charles the Bald and Charles the Fat , it was an abbey , and in the eleventh century became a parish church ; by the end of that century it was left to the monastery of Saint-Laurent-l'Abbaye . The church suffered greatly during the Hundred Years' War , and the parish became so depopulated that the church
364-546: The early Bollandists." According to Friedrich Heer , Pabenbroch "...by dint of hard work established the laws of historical criticism, the methodology of the study of sources and of the historical auxiliary sciences. Hippolyte Delehaye called Papebroch "the Bollandist par excellence ". Janninck said of his colleague, "What Rosweyde had laid the groundwork for, what Bolland had initiated, what Henschenius had given shape to, Papebroch brought to completion." Papebroch prefixed
390-734: The early seventeenth century have studied hagiography and the cult of the saints in Christianity. Their most important publication has been the Acta Sanctorum (The Acts of the Saints). They are named after the Flemish Jesuit Jean Bollandus (1596–1665). The idea of the Acta Sanctorum was first conceived by the Dutch Jesuit Heribert Rosweyde (1569–1629), who was a lecturer at the Jesuit college of Douai . Rosweyde used his leisure time to collect information about
416-566: The following years, led by Conrad Janninck among others. By the time the Society of Jesus was suppressed by Pope Clement XIV in 1773, the Bollandists had produced 50 volumes in 130 years. They had also moved from Antwerp to Brussels , where they continued their work in the monastery of the Coudenberg until 1788, when the Bollandist Society was suppressed by the Austrian government of
442-493: The lives of the saints. His principal work, the 1615 Vitae Patrum , became the foundation of the Acta Sanctorum . Rosweyde contracted a contagious disease while ministering to a dying man, and died himself on October 5, 1629, at the age of sixty. Father Jean Bollandus was prefect of studies in the Jesuit college of Mechelen . Upon the death of Rosweyde, Bollandus was asked to review Rosweyde's papers. Bollandus then continued
468-539: The sources. February, March, and April (that is, the collected hagiographies of saints whose feast days occur in each month) took up three volumes each, May covered eight, and June seven volumes. By the time of his death, 24 volumes had appeared; moreover, Henschenius left many notes and commentaries for the following volumes. It can therefore be said that the Acta owe their final form to Henschenius. In 1659, Bollandus and Henschenius were joined by Daniel Papebrochius (1628–1714), who devoted fifty-five years of his life to
494-562: The tribunal of the Spanish Inquisition, which in November, 1695, issued a decree condemning the fourteen volumes of the Acta Sanctorum published up to that time and branding it heretical. Rome did not confirm the condemnation in Spain. In November 1698, Pope Innocent XII issued a brief that ended the controversy by imposing silence on both parties. Another controversy Papebroch had was with
520-456: The work from Antwerp . The task was to search out and classify materials, to print what seemed to be the most reliable sources of information concerning the saints venerated by the Church and to illustrate points of difficulty. Underestimating the magnitude of the undertaking, Bollandus initially thought he could finish the work on his own, but after a few years he had to admit that the undertaking
546-466: Was assigned to work on the records of those saints celebrated in the month of March. In July of that year, Bolland sent the 32-year-old Papebroch to Italy, along with Godfrey Henschen , to collect documents, but by the time he returned Bolland had died. Paperbroch, together with Henschen, then continued the work in the tradition of the Bollandists . He continued this work until his death in 1714. Herbert Thurston considered Pabenbroch "the ablest of all
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#1733115815201572-471: Was beyond his individual strength. He was then assigned an assistant, Godfrey Henschenius (1601–81). The first two volumes of the Acta , by Bollandus and Henschenius, were published in Antwerp in 1643. Unlike Rosweyde and Bollandus, Henschenius was allowed to devote himself exclusively to the writing of the Acta . He solved many problems relating to chronology, geography and the philological interpretation of
598-698: Was born in 1628, the son of a wealthy merchant of Antwerp , then in the Duchy of Brabant , part of the Spanish Netherlands . He attended the Jesuit college in his hometown. He came from a pious family that had chosen Jesuit Jean Bolland as its spiritual director. Bolland took a great interest in Daniel's education and encouraged him to learn Greek and other languages and to study literary composition. From 1644 to 1646 Papebroch studied philosophy at Douai, after which he entered
624-500: Was celebrated on that day for three centuries, until in the Nevers area it was moved back to 24 August, according to Augustin-Joseph Crosnier, vicar-general of the Diocese of Nevers in the mid-nineteenth century. Crosnies also reports that an ancient ceremony directs that the celebration is to be accompanied with wine and warm bread rolls. Gildard's body was buried in a small church dedicated to
650-464: Was empty; in 1784 it was closed at the request of the local population. By the mid-nineteenth century, a wine press was in operation in two of the church bays , while the grounds were overgrown with vines. Bollandist The Bollandist Society ( Latin : Societas Bollandistarum ; French : Société des Bollandistes ) is an association of scholars, philologists, and historians (originally all Jesuits , but now including non-Jesuits) who since
676-653: Was established under the title of Analecta Bollandiana , which still exists today and publishes supplements to the Acta . The Bollandists' studies led to the texts of the Missale Romanum , the Liturgia Horarum and the Martyrologium referring to Mary of Magdala . These studies were positively cited in Pope Francis ' elevation of the saint's feast day to the status of a liturgical Feast. The Bollandist Society
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