SOMMERVOGEL, CHARLES. - Jesuit, bibliographer, b. in Strasbourg on 8 Jan. 1834, d. in Paris on 11 May 1902.
Having entered the Order in 1853 and been ordained a priest in 1866, from 1867 he collaborated with the periodical Etudes, of which he was director from 1871 to 1879. But already from the time of his studies, following his strong inclination, he had always occupied himself with bibliographical research, with which he had greatly assisted the two brothers Augustin and Louis de Backer in the first two editions of their Bibliothèque des Ecrivains de la Compagnie de Jésus (7 vols., Liège 1853-61; 4 vols., ibid. 1869-76), so that on the death of the last of the two brothers, Augustin, he was appointed their successor. He then set about preparing, on a new plan and with greater completeness, the 3rd edition of the Bibliothèque; he spent a decade at Louvain, gathering the greatest possible quantity of material, and already in 1890 he began the new publication in 9 vols.: Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus (Brussels-Paris 1890-1900). Vol. X, already prepared, comprising the analytical index by subject, appeared posthumously under the care of Fr. P. Bliard (Paris 1900), who then also composed vol. XI (ibid. 1932), comprising the index by authors and the list of works on the Society of Jesus. The work is continued by Fr. I. Juambelz under the title Index bibliographicus S. J. (4 vols., Rome 1938, 40, 41, 53). Other bibliographical works of S., always very useful, are: Tables méthodiques des mémoires de Trévoux (2 vols., Paris 1864-65); Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes et pseudonymes publiés de la Compagnie de Jésus (2 vols., ibid. 1884); Moniteur bibliographique de la C. d. J., vols. XIII-XXIII (ibid. 1894-1901).
Bibliography
Celestino Testore