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 der Kategorie: Finding Source Material!
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.
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.
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.
Digitisation of the Vitae Sanctorum Danorum (Kiel University)
Digitised and machine readable version of Gertz‘ 1908-12 Vitae Sanctorum Danorum.
Weiterlesen
Hagiografía Hispánica
This is the virtual library Miguel de Cervantes. They have a section on Spanish hagiography and include free access to sources, editions, bibliographies and research and also offer a collection of interesting links. Additionally, all the catalogues can be searched. They also provide access to two other catalogues: The Hagiografia castellana and the Hagiografia catalana. The catalogues follow the same structure as the Spanish hagiography catalogue. They are also active on various social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Youtube (links below).
Franciscan Authors (13th -18th century)
A continually growing catalogue listing Franciscan authors who lived between the 13th and 18th century. In addition to biographical information on the life and work of the respective authors, the entries comprise information on manuscripts and editions of the author’s works as well as literature on the author and/or their works. The site is structured rather conveniently: you will be able to either research a particular author by the help of an alphabetical list or to browse via the categories “Vitae Miracula” and “Order Provinces”. Moreover, the authors of the website, namely Bert Roest and Maarten van der Heijden, also provide a small compilation of virtual publications and bibliographies on medieval and Franciscan preaching, medieval exegesis, Franciscan historiography and Franciscan travel and missionary works, all of which were last updated between 2017 and 2019. Additionally, the site lists a wide range of handy research resources, which are arranged bibliographically and can therefore be easily accessed for your own advanced research.
Make sure that you use the current website as the old version is still online, but is no longer updated.
Internet Medieval Sourcebook: Saints‘ Lives
The Internet Medieval Sourcebook (IMS) is part of the Internet History Sourcebook project, which aims at providing digital versions of public domain original source texts and can be used as an online textbook. The sub-catalogue for hagiography lists the sources by era and geographical origin (for example “Celtic Saints”, “Byzantine Saints” etc.). Additionally, they provide sources for pilgrimage in Western Europe and about the contemporary critical handling of the cult of saints. While most of the sources are dedicated to one saint, the IMS also gives access to important hagiographical collections like the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine or the work of Symeon Metaphrastes. The user – and that’s of the greatest benefit – can search the catalogue as well as the full text. However, the search procedure is split into different search engines. Reading the introduction to the search procedure is recommended. Not all of the links are still working but it still is an excellent resource for students and scholars! Paul Halsall and the large number of contributors included Latin and vernacular hagiographic texts and even some translations which makes the IMS a truly valuable source!
Pinakes – Textes et manuscrits grecs
The French website Pinakes – Textes et manuscrits grecs aims at compiling information on all Greek texts up to the 16th century based on archive and library catalogues. Pinakes has about 200000 entries based on 13000 texts of which there are a total of 40000 manuscripts. There are two search options: you can either search for a specific manuscript or conduct a more general research (author, work, century, country). Also, you can search for specific saints as Pinakes also provides the digitised manuscripts of the Greek hagiographic manuscripts of the Société des Bollandistes (BHGms, Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca manuscripta). They also link to useful resources and further catalogues. The website is updated regularly.
Documenta Catholica Omnia
The website Documenta Catholica Omnia. Omnium paparum, conciliorum, ss. Partum, doctorum scriptorumque ecclesiae qui ab aevo apostolico ad usque Benedicti XVI tempora floruerunt is concerned with making Latin editions of Christian documents available online. The website is also in Latin. It provides a multitude of PDF-files and links to online versions of the respective editions. They include liturgy, papal documents, patristic texts, and much more.