PAPEBROCH (PAPENBROECK), DANIEL von. - Bollandist, born in Antwerp on 17 March 1628, died there on 28 June 1714. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1646 and, from 1659 until his death, collaborated on the *Acta Sanctorum*, contributing to the publication of volumes from March I (Antwerp 1668) to June V (ibid. 1709); in all, 18 volumes, to which he contributed the best part.
In 1660–1662, together with Fr. Godfried Henschen, he undertook his first research journey (about which he kept a detailed diary), traveling through Germany, Italy, and France, returning with a rich haul of material. A second journey was made in 1668, visiting the monasteries of the Moselle region, and a third in 1680 with Fr. C. Jerninck to Paderborn. He endured a harsh ordeal with the Spanish Inquisition. His opposition, in the prolegomena to the life of St. Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem (cf. *Acta SS. Aprilis*, I, ibid. 1675, pp. 776–802), to the tradition that the Carmelites derived from the prophet Elijah, provoked from 1681 to 1693 a whole series of works and pamphlets overflowing with accusations, invective, and puerilities. He was also denounced for heresy to the Spanish Inquisition, which in 1695 placed the 14 volumes of the *Acta* on the Index. He responded and defended himself in the three volumes of *Responsio ad Exhibitionem errorum per adm. R. P. Sebastianum a s. Paulo vulgatam a. 1693 Coloniae* (Antwerp 1696–99). When the case was brought to Rome, Innocent XII in 1698 imposed silence on both parties. The calm proved beneficial; the defense of the Bollandists, conducted with tact and prudence for nine years by Fr. G. Cassani, led in 1700 to the lifting of the condemnation of 1695. However, the volume *Propylaeum Maii* (ibid. 1668) was placed on the Index (and remained there until 1900), in which the Father had set out a *Conatus chronologico-historicus ad catalogum Romanorum pontificum*, where to the data on some popes he had added not always edifying accounts of the conclaves («Conclavium historumculas»). The Father also made, with his *Propylaeum antiquarium circa veri et falsi discrimen in vetustis membranis* (*Acta SS. Aprilis*, II, ibid. 1675, pp. 1–11), the first attempt to establish the rules of diplomatic criticism; but he went too far in suspecting the authenticity of most ancient monastic charters, which gave Mabillon the occasion to set out definitively the doctrine on the subject in his masterpiece: *De re diplomatica*, to which the Father yielded, with the serene humility of a scholar. After the publication of the June V volume, he ceased his work as an hagiographer and devoted his final years to writing the *Annales Antverpienses* (published posthumously by F. H. Mertens and E. Buschmann, 5 vols., ibid. 1845–48).
The work of Papebroch, remarkable not only for its scope but even more for its variety and value, demonstrates in him a great erudition, a full mastery of his subject, and a fine intuition for detail; which does not, of course, prevent him from having, in such a thorny and unexplored field, allowed himself to make premature or hasty observations and anticipations.