HENSCKENS (Henschenius), GODEFROID. - Jesuit hagiographer and Bollandist, b. at Venray (Limburg) on 21 Jan. 1601, d. at Antwerp on 12 Sept. 1681. Appointed in 1635 as the first assistant to Fr J. Bolland for the composition of the Acta Sanctorum, he soon proved to be an innovating critic.
His first work, a commentary on the life of St Vedastus and St Amandus, based on firsthand historical and chronological research, helped to give the entire collection of the Acta a strictly scientific character, so that he may be called the second founder of the work. The work was taken as a model by Bolland. With him he published in 1643 the first two volumes for January, and in 1658 the three volumes for February of the Acta. With Fr D. Papebroch he brought out the three volumes for March, the three for April, and the first six for May. He also devoted himself to other historical researches, among which the foremost are Diatribae de episcopatu et episcopis Trajectensibus (1653), De tribus Dagobertis regibus (1655). He also undertook long journeys, visiting the finest libraries and bringing back from them a rich harvest of texts and observations (cf. Peeters, pp. 24-25).