Enciclopedia Cattolica Vol. VIII, 1952 Church Fathers

Migne, Jacques-Paul

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Also known as: French: Abbé Migne

MIGNE, JACQUES-PAUL. - Priest, b. at St-Flour (Auvergne) on 25 Oct. 1800, d. at Paris on 24 Oct. 1875. Ordained in 1824, he was first a parish priest, then a very active journalist and publisher, and he knew how to surround himself with capable collaborators, such as, for example, the future Cardinal G. B. Pitra. At his death he left the memory of one of the most industrious and enterprising priests of the French Church in the 19th century.

Of the many publications he edited, the most important are: Theologiae cursus completus (25 vols., with 3 more of supplement, Paris 1840-45); Scripturae Sacrae cursus completus (25 vols., and 3 more of supplement, ibid. 1840-45); Encyclopédie théologique ou série de Dictionnaires sur toutes les parties de la science religieuse (52 vols., ibid. 1844-59); Nouvelle Encyclopédie théologique (53 vols., ibid. 1881-59); Troisième et dernière Encyclopédie théologique (66 vols., ibid. 1855-66); but the work that durably established his fame consists of the two patristic series: Patrologia latina, which contains the writings of 261 authors, including the anonymous ones, and runs from the end of the 2nd century to the death of Innocent III in 1216 (217 vols., with 4 more of indexes, ibid. 1844-55); Patrologia greca, in two series, one with the Greek-Latin text (161 vols., ibid. 1857-66), which is the one ordinarily cited, the other with only the Latin text (81 vols.), and it runs from St. Barnabas to the Council of Florence (1439). As an index of this Greek series, F. Cavallera, Indices (Paris 1912), can serve as an essential orientation; more particularly Th. Hopfner, Patrologiae cursus completus; Series graeca, Index locupletissimus, 2 vols., Paris 1934-45.

A fire, in 1868, destroyed all the equipment of M.'s printing house and cut short his work forever.

Bibliography6 works

BIBL.: H. Barbier, Biographie du tiercé contemporain, III, Paris 1841, pp. 289-423; H. Leclercq, s. v. in DACL, XI, coll. 941-57; L. Marchal, s. v. in DThC, X, coll. 1722-40; F. Cabrol, Hist. du card. Pitra, Paris 1893, pp. 107-13; P. de Labriolle, Quelques documents sur J. P. M., in Bulletin d'anc. littérat. et d'arch. chrét., 1913, III, p. 202 ff.; F. de Mély, L'abbé M., l'homme et l'oeuvre, in Rev. archéol., 2 (1915), pp. 203-58. An appreciation of M.'s work: see in J. de Ghellinck, Patristique et moyen âge, II, Brussels 1947, p. 23-25.

Cirillo Vogel

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By Cirillo Vogel

How we know signed in print

Translated from the Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VIII (1952), coll. 984–985.

More by Cirillo Vogel: Mario Mercatore · Honoratus of Lérins · Paulinus, Bishop of Béziers · Penitentials, Books of · Peratè, Joseph André

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Chicago

Vogel, Cirillo. “Migne, jacques-paul.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VIII, coll. 984–985. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952. https://azioneromana.com/article/migne-jacques-paul.

MLA

Vogel, Cirillo. “Migne, jacques-paul.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VIII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952, coll. 984–985. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/migne-jacques-paul.

BibTeX

@incollection{ec8_migne_jacques_paul,
  author    = {Vogel, Cirillo},
  title     = {Migne, jacques-paul},
  booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
  volume    = {VIII},
  pages     = {984--985},
  note      = {Cited by column},
  publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
  address   = {Città del Vaticano},
  year      = {1952},
  url       = {https://azioneromana.com/article/migne-jacques-paul}
}

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