Daniel Papebroch, , (17 March 1628 – 28 June 1714) was a

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

hagiographer A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an wiktionary:adulatory, adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religi ...

, one of the

Bollandists The Bollandist Society (; ) is an association of scholars, philologists, and historians (originally all Jesuits, but now including non-Jesuits) who since the early seventeenth century have studied hagiography and the cult of the saints in Christia ...

. He was a leading revisionist figure, bringing historical criticism to bear on traditions of saints of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Life

Papebroch was born in 1628, the son of a wealthy merchant of

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, then in the

Duchy of Brabant The Duchy of Brabant, a Imperial State, state of the Holy Roman Empire, was established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant of 1085–1183, and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries. The Duchy comprised part of the Bu ...

, part of the

Spanish Netherlands The Spanish Netherlands (; ; ; ) (historically in Spanish: , the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the Habsburg Netherlands ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs from 1556 to 1714. They were a collection of States of t ...

. He attended the

Jesuit college The Jesuits (Society of Jesus) in the Catholic Church have founded and managed a number of educational institutions, including the notable secondary schools, colleges, and university, universities listed here. Some of these universities are in t ...

in his hometown. He came from a pious family that had chosen Jesuit

Jean Bolland Jean Bolland, SJ () (13 August 1596 – 12 September 1665) was a Flemish Jesuit priest, theologian, and prominent hagiographer. Bolland's main achievement is the compilation of the first five volumes of the ''Lives of the Saints'' in Latin ...

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 the

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

of the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' refe ...

in 1658. In 1659 Papebroch began his work with Bolland, in the scholarly study of the

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...

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 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

. He continued this work until his death in 1714.

Scholarship

Herbert Thurston Herbert Henry Charles Thurston (15 November 1856 – 3 November 1939) was an English priest of the Roman Catholic Church, a member of the Jesuit order, and a prolific scholar on liturgical, literary, historical, and spiritual matters. In ...

considered Pabenbroch "the ablest of all the early Bollandists." According to

Friedrich Heer Friedrich Heer (10 April 191618 September 1983) was an Austrian historian born in Vienna. Early life Heer received a PhD at the University of Vienna in 1938. Even as a student, he came into conflict with pan-German historians as a staunch oppon ...

, 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 Hippolyte Delehaye, S.J., (19 August 1859 – 1 April 1941) was a Belgian Jesuit who was a hagiographical scholar and an outstanding member of the Society of Bollandists. Biography Born in 1859 in Antwerp, Delehaye joined the Society of Jesu ...

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.""Bollandists", ''Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science''
Volume 38 - Supplement 3, (Allen Kent, ed.) CRC Press, 1985, p. 41

Controversies

Papebroch prefixed 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 ''Acta Sanctorum'' (''Acts of the Saints'') is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints, in essence a critical hagiography, organised by the saints' feast days. The project was conceived and ...

''. He instanced in it as spurious some charters of the

Abbey of St-Denis The Basilica of Saint-Denis (, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building is of singular importance historically and archite ...

. Dom

Jean Mabillon Dom Jean Mabillon , (; 23 November 1632 – 27 December 1707) was a French Benedictine monk and scholar of the Congregation of Saint Maur. He is considered the founder of the disciplines of palaeography and diplomatics. Early life Mabillon w ...

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 a lengthy dispute with the Carmelites. In writing a commentary on

Albert of Vercelli Albert of Jerusalem, OSC (114914 September 1214), also Albertus Hierosolymitanus, Albertus Vercelensis, Saint Albert, Albert of Vercelli or Alberto Avogadro, was a canon lawyer and saint. He was Bishop of Bobbio and Bishop of Vercelli, and served ...

, 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 The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

appealed to 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 Pope Innocent XII (; ; 13 March 1615 – 27 September 1700), born Antonio Pignatelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 July 1691 to his death in September 1700. He took a hard stance against nepotism ...

issued a brief that ended the controversy by imposing silence on both parties. Another controversy Papebroch had was with the Dominican

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

, Jean-Antoine d'Aubermont, over some major

liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

texts traditionally attributed to St.

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

References

Sources

* * Ian Bradley, ''Celtic Christianity'', Edinburgh University Press, 1999 page 65 * Christopher Walter, 2003, ''The Warrior Saints in Byzantine Art and Tradition'' Ashgate Publishing, page 110

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Papenbroch, Daniel 1628 births 1714 deaths Clergy from Antwerp Christian hagiographers Flemish Jesuits Jesuits from the Spanish Netherlands Jesuit historiography Biblical criticism Roman Catholic biblical scholars