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The Reformation · begun 1643; still in progress
Acts of the Saints
Acta Sanctorum
Jean Bolland and the Bollandists
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What it is
A critical edition of the lives of the saints arranged by feast day, with the sources weighed and the legendary material identified as such.
Why it lasted
The longest-running scholarly project in European history, and the beginning of critical hagiography — Catholic scholars demolishing Catholic legends.
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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