Marguerin de la Bigne was a French theologian and

patrologist Patristics or patrology is the study of the early Christian writers who are designated Church Fathers. The names derive from the combined forms of Latin ''pater'' and Greek ''patḗr'' (father). The period is generally considered to run from ...

and first publisher of the complete works of

Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville ( la, Isidorus Hispalensis; c. 560 – 4 April 636) was a Spanish scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of ...

. He studied at the College of Caen, and at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

in Paris where he received the doctorate. He was named canon of his native Diocese of Bayeux and, later, dean of the church of Mans. At the Provincial Council of Rouen, in 1581, he sustained the rights of his cathedral chapter against Bernadin de St. François, Bishop of Bayeux, and provoked an unfortunate conflict with the latter which ended in de la Bigne's resignation from his canonry. He resumed, then, at the Sorbonne the patristic studies in which he had been long engaged. He had early perceived that Protestant misquotation and misinterpretation of patristic texts was a menace to Catholic interests and resolved to collect and edit the available documents of the Fathers. He published in 1575 his "Sacra Bibliotheca Sanctorum Patrum" (Paris, 8 vols.; additional volume in 1579; later editions, Paris, 1589; Lyons, 27 vols., 1677; Cologne, 1694). It contains the writing, some complete, some fragmentary, of our two hundred Fathers, many published for the first time. Particular care was given to the elucidation of texts corrupted by heretics. This work was the pioneer in the field of critical patristics. He published, also "Statuta Synodalia Parisiensium Episcoporum, Galonis Adonis et Willilmi; item Decreta Petri et Galteri, Senonensium Episcoporum" (Paris, 1578); and an edition of St. Isidore of Seville (Paris, 1580), in which for the first time the latter's works were gathered in one work.

External links

Catholic Encyclopedia Article at newadvent.org

References

16th-century French Catholic theologians 1546 births 1595 deaths {{RC-bio-stub