Hippolyte Delehaye facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Hippolyte Delehaye
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| Born | 19 August 1859 Antwerp, Belgium
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| Died | 1 April 1941 (aged 81) Etterbeek, Belgium
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| Education | University of Louvain |
| Occupation | Scholar |
Hippolyte Delehaye (born August 19, 1859 – died April 1, 1941) was a Belgian Jesuit priest. He was a very important scholar who studied the lives of saints. He was a leading member of a group called the Bollandists.
Contents
About Hippolyte Delehaye
Hippolyte Delehaye was born in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1859. In 1876, he joined the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits. This is a religious order of priests and brothers in the Catholic Church.
After joining, he studied philosophy at the University of Louvain. This was from 1879 to 1882. Then, he taught math at a school in Ghent until 1886. He became a priest in 1890.
His Work with the Bollandists
In 1892, Father Delehaye joined the Society of Bollandists. This group was named after Jean Bolland, a Jesuit scholar from the 1600s. The Bollandists were formed to study the lives of Christian saints. This field of study is called hagiography. They carefully researched old documents about saints.
Father Delehaye quickly became very skilled in this area. He helped edit important books and journals. One was the Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca, a list of Greek writings about saints. He also worked on the journal Analecta Bollandiana. In 1912, he became the president of the Bollandist Society.
Challenges and Recognition
In the early 1900s, some new ways of studying history caused concern in the Catholic Church. This included how scholars looked at the Bible and old texts. The Bollandists used a "critical method" to study saint stories. This meant they checked historical facts very carefully.
For a while, some people worried about these new methods. But Father Delehaye continued his important research. He was always a respected priest and scholar. He was known around the world for his work. He became a member of the Austrian Archaeological Institute. He also received an award called the Knight of the Order of Leopold. Father Delehaye also wrote many articles for the Catholic Encyclopedia.
Books by Hippolyte Delehaye
Father Delehaye wrote several important books. These books helped historians understand how saint stories were written and collected.
- Les Légendes hagiographiques (1905): This book is about how saint legends are formed. It was translated into English as The Legends of the Saints.
- Les Origines du culte des martyrs (1912): This book explores how the worship of martyrs began.
- Les Passions des martyrs et les genres littéraires (1921): This work looks at the stories of martyrs and their different writing styles.
- Sanctus. Essai sur le culte des saints dans l'antiquité (1927): This book is an essay on how saints were honored in ancient times.
He also wrote other important works:
- Les versions grecques des Actes des martyrs persans sous Sapor II (1905)
- Les Légendes grecques des saints militaires (1909)
- A travers trois siècles: L'Oeuvre des Bollandistes 1615 à 1915 (1920): This book tells the story of the Bollandists' work over 300 years.
- Les saints Stylites (1923): This book is about the "pillar saints" who lived on top of pillars.
- Martyrologium Romanum ... (1940): Father Delehaye was the main editor of this book, which is a list of saints and their feast days.
- Cinq leçons sur la méthode hagiographique (1934): This book contains five lessons on how to study saint stories.
After he passed away, some of his other writings were published. These included Mélanges d'hagiographie grecque et latine (1966) and L'ancienne hagiographie byzantine: les sources, les premiers modèles, la formation des genres (1991).
