The Bollandists are an association of scholars who have studied hagiography and the cult of the saints since the early seventeenth century. They publish the Acta Sanctorum, an encyclopedic critical edition of the lives of saints. Also, they publish the Analecta Bollandiana, a journal on critical hagiography, twice a year. On their website, they link to their electronic publications/databases: BHGms (Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca manuscripta), the Acta Sanctorum database and the BHGms (Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca manuscripta). They also provide a list of useful links and have a newsletter.
Archiv des Autors: HSB
ARC Humanities Hagiography Bibliography
The website of the academic-led ARC Humanities Press provides useful bibliographies on medieval history. While the bibliography “Hagiography” is currently not available, there are several other extensive bibliographies on themes which are related to hagiography like “Theology and Spirituality”, “Medieval Liturgy”, “Sermons and Homilies” etc. The bibliographies are up-to-date (2020). Additionally, the ARC has a blog, twitter and Facebook page where their new publications are discussed.
Peregrinations
Peregrinations. Journal of Medieval Art & Architecture is a journal focusing on the art and architecture of the Middle Ages. The journal was founded in 2002, is published periodically and is especially concerned with medieval visual culture. Many articles explore the works of art created for the cults of saints who were venerated in various regional centers. Conveniently, the journal is open-access and available online.
Last Updated: 2021
Arbeitskreis für hagiographische Fragen
The Arbeitskreis für hagiographische Fragen was founded in 1994 and since then has been dedicated to interdisciplinary and international exchange on hagiographic research. While the focus of the working group lies on hagiographic texts and hagiographic discourse, it also deals with questions of religiosity, piety and sacredness. The website of the working group provides information on current events and programmes, reports and information on the publication of past conferences.
Mirabile Web
The Italian website MIRABILE provides a database of hagiographical source material in Latin, Italian and German languages in cooperation with some other projects. The website itself is available in Italian and English. The search query offers several options to refine the search, especially in terms of manuscripts. Additionally, there are search proposals to guide and help your research.
Digitisation of the Vitae Sanctorum Danorum (Kiel University)
Digitised and machine readable version of Gertz‘ 1908-12 Vitae Sanctorum Danorum.
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Thesaurus der Heiligen
The Thesaurus der Heiligen is part of the “Geschichtsquellen des deutschen Mittelalters“, which provides central information on medieval sources from the German territory. Thus, its focus lies on German saints and lists 296 entries. The entries include information on the opus in which the respective saint is mentioned and – if the author is known – on the author of these opuses. The site provides a useful overview of the handwritten tradition of the works and does also provide links to digitised manuscripts (if available), information on editions, translations and studies of author and/or opus.
Dictionary of Catholic Theology
A French website concerning saints linking to digitised editions and entries of the „Dictionnaire de Théologie Catholique“ (grouped by type: doctors of the church, church fathers, mystics, century).
Hagiographie et Histoire (Haghis)
HagHis: Hagiographie et Histoire: atelier français de recherches sur l’hagiographie médiévale is a French blog and research group on hagiography in the Middle Ages. The blog no longer seems to be active (last post as of march 2019). However, it still is a useful resource as it aims to inform on conferences and colloquiums concerned with hagiography. Furthermore, it provides other resources (such as bibliographies, useful links and online resources). The research group used to meet periodically.
Himanis
This project is not immediately connected to saints. Nevertheless, it is an excellent digital resource for hagiographic research because the actual manuscripts are searchable, for example for the term “saint”. The goal of Himanis is to digitise, transcribe and index medieval manuscripts and thus make them accessible to scholars. Currently, they are indexing the Trésor des Chartes registers. The registers “keep record of the charters, grants and privileges given by the king of France and were produced directly by the French royal chancery. Dating from 1302 to 1483, they contain ca. 68,000 charters and documents”. Make sure to read the instructions on search options before beginning your research.