Leonard Eugene Boyle, OP, (13 November 1923 – 25 October 1999), was an

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and

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scholar in

medieval studies Medieval studies is the academic interdisciplinary study of the Middle Ages. Institutional development The term 'medieval studies' began to be adopted by academics in the opening decades of the twentieth century, initially in the titles of books ...

and

palaeography Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...

. He was the first Irish and North American Prefect of the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...

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from 1984 to 1997. He was born in Ballintra,

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, Ireland. Boyle entered the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of ...

in 1943. He was ordained a priest in 1949, receiving his doctorate at

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. He served as Professor of Latin Paleography and History of Medieval Theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome from 1956 to 1961. He taught at the

Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies The Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies (PIMS) is a research institute in the University of Toronto that is dedicated to advanced studies in the culture of the Middle Ages. Governance The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Toronto, currently Th ...

and the Centre for Medieval Studies at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

from 1961 to 1984. In 1984 he was appointed

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of the Vatican Library by Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

. Boyle set about the digitization of the library's many manuscripts. Boyle employed women for the first time as part of the library's staff. In 1987, he was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

. In 1997, he was ousted as Prefect after his dealings with some American fund-raising associates resulted in lawsuits involving the Vatican.

References

* Duggan, Anne J., Joan Greatrex, and Brenda Bolton, eds. ''Omnia disce: medieval studies in memory of Leonard Boyle, O.P.'' Aldershot, Hants, England ; Burlington, VT : Ashgate, c2005. * Raftis, J. Ambrose. "Leonard Boyle, O.P. (1923-1999)," ''Mediaeval Studies'' 62 (2000): vii-xxvi. * ''Roma, Magistra Mundi: Itineraria Culturae Medievalis. Mélanges offerts à Père L.E. Boyle à l'occasion de son 75e anniversaire'', edited by Jacqueline HAMESSE (Fédération Internationale des Instituts d'Etudes Médiévales, 10/1-3). Louvain-la-Neuve: Fédération Internationale des Instituts d'Etudes Médiévales, 1998. * Stille, Alexander. ''Letter from Vatican City, Library Privileges,'' The New Yorker, 28 September 1998, p. 43 {{DEFAULTSORT:Boyle, Leonard 1923 births 1999 deaths 20th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests People from County Donegal Canadian Dominicans Canadian medievalists Canadian palaeographers 20th-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests Irish Dominicans Irish medievalists Irish palaeographers Officers of the Order of Canada Irish emigrants to Canada Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom

References

Further reading