Dear Colleague,
For over four centuries the Société des Bollandistes has been at the forefront of scholarship in the vast field of Christian hagiography. Since the days of Jean Bolland and Daniel van Papenbroeck, through those of Hippolyte Delehaye, Paul Peeters and Baudouin de Gaiffier, its publications, including the Acta Sanctorum, the Subsidia Hagiographica, the Analecta Bollandiana, the Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina, Graeca, and Orientalis have been the essential tools of thousands of scholars around the world.
Its library, containing some 500,000 volumes and 1,000 periodicals, as well as its online
resources, serve critical scholarship in all areas of hagiography and religious and devotional history. Today’s Bollandists continue this great tradition with the same rigour and dedication. Now, however, they are obliged to depart from their usual discretion because their future is endangered. The Société has been since its inception supported by the Belgian Provinces of the Society of Jesus, but the Jesuits, although willing to maintain the work, are no longer able to provide the finances necessary to sustain this great enterprise. Thus we are launching an urgent appeal to scholars and colleagues around the world to help keep this great and historic tradition alive. I am inviting you to help continue the mission of the Société by becoming a member of the American Friends of the Société through an annual donation to support our work:
https://kbfus.networkforgood.com/projects/15364-b-kbfus-funds-bollandist-society-be
And of the Canadian Friends:
http://www.kbfcanada.ca/en/projects/the-canadian-friends-of-the-societe-bollandistes/
We offer membership at USD 100 (CAD 130) a year, but any contribution will help us continue our work. Your gift is fully tax exempt in the US and Canada. Friends will have the possibility of receiving periodic updates on the work of the Société, and will be assured of a warm welcome should they wish to work or simply visit the Bollandist library in Brussels. Further initiatives will be announced in the coming months. However, we emphasize that any level of support you can provide that will help keep this great historical enterprise flourishing in the twenty-first century will be most welcome.
Yours sincerely,
Robert Godding, S. J.
Director
