The Bollandist Society (Latin: Societas Bollandistarum; French: Société des Bollandistes) is an association of scholars, philologists, and historians (originally all Jesuits, but now including non-Jesuits) who since the early seventeenth century have studied hagiography and the cult of the saints in Christianity. Their most important publication has been the Acta Sanctorum (The Acts of the Saints).[1] They are named after the Flemish Jesuit Jean Bollandus (1596–1665).