BUCK, Victor de. - Jesuit, born in Audenarde (Belgium) on 24 April 1817, died in Brussels on 23 May 1876; he entered the Society of Jesus in 1835. After completing his course in philosophy, from 1840 to 1845 he was assigned to the reconstituted Bollandist college. Having completed his theology at Louvain, in 1850 he returned to the Bollandists, to whom he dedicated the whole force of his acute and profound intellect and his remarkable memory throughout his life. His hagiographical work began in 1845 in vol. VII of October of the Acta Sanctorum with 16 learned commentaries; it continued during his theological studies with a substantial work in defence of religious orders attacked by a professor at Louvain; it was pursued in vols. IX-XIII of the Acta for October and in numerous scholarly publications on various subjects, including the reunion of Churches (Anglican and Russian) and other debated topics. His relations with Anglicans and liberal Catholics brought him serious troubles due to strong accusations, which he was able to dispel. He encountered no lesser difficulties over his valuable work De phialis rubricatis quibus martyrum romanorum sepulcra dignosci dicuntur observationes (Brussels 1855), i.e. ampoules containing a reddish sediment said to indicate in the catacombs the tomb of a martyr (v. AMPOLLA DI SANGUE). While admitting that ampoules containing true blood could be signs of martyrdom, he demonstrated that many did not contain blood but another liquid, such as remains of Eucharistic blood or of ablution. The various accusations of which he was a victim did not shake the confidence of his superiors, who called him to Rome as a theologian for the Vatican Council.