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Home History & Aims CCBK Contact Author Information News History & Aims History  |  Aims Today Corpus Christianorum has grown to become the comprehensive and excellent collection of critical editions, studies and reference works with which we are all very familiar. But lest we forget how it all started, let us recap. In 1947 Dom Eligius Dekkers osb, of the Sint-Pietersabdij in Steenbrugge, drew up a plan for editing afresh early Christian texts. His intention was to produce in a short timespan a "Corpus Christianorum", comprising new editions of the writings of Christian authors from Tertullian through to the Venerable Bede. Although some critics thought the project to be impracticable, Dom Eligius found support from the outset in Brepols Publishers from Turnhout. Collaboration started in 1951 with the publication of a highly valued and essential tool, the Clavis Patrum Latinorum, which paved the way for the future success of the series. New editions followed from 1953 on and ever since Corpus Christianorum has continued to flourish. New series within Corpus Christianorum have been established and new volumes were ever more regularly published. Although in the early years the modus laborandi relied on updating existing editions, this was soon replaced by the preparation of entirely new critical editions. This demanding ambition required increasing supervision and, together with the establishment of new Corpus-related initiatives, it has been necessary to establish new academic partnerships, comprising leading scholars and academic centres, to supervise every single Corpus series. Some notable dates and events: 1947 Dom Eligius Dekkers draws up his initial plans and finds support from Brepols Publishers 1948 The first volume of the journal Sacris Erudiri is published 1951 The Clavis Patrum Latinorum (or CPL) by Dom Dekkers is published 1953 The first volumes in the Series Latina are published: Corpus Christianorum is born 1966 The first volumes in the Continuatio Mediaevalis are published The first studies and dictionaries of A. Blaise appear 1969 Celebration of the 50th volume 1974 The Clavis Patrum Graecorum (pars 2) by M. Geerard is published 1976 The Centre for "Hellenisme & Christendom" at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (hereafter KUL) undertakes the academic oversight of the Series Graeca 1979 The "Thesaurus Patrum Latinorum" and "Instrumenta Lexicologica Latina" series are developed in collaboration with the Cetedoc department at the Université catholique de Louvain (at Louvain-la-Neuve) (hereafter UCL), a collaboration which continued since 2001 with its successor body, CTLO 1981 The "Association pour l'étude de la littérature apocryphe chrétienne" undertakes the academic oversight of the Series Apocryphorum 1989 The first monograph is published in the Lingua Patrum series 1990 The Institut Orientaliste (UCL) begins work on the Thesaurus Patrum Graecorum The Clavis patristica pseudepigraphorum Medii Aevi is begun by J. Machielsen 1991 The Clavis Apocryphorum Novi Testamenti by M. Geerard is published An agreement to publish the electronic Library of Latin Texts (CLCLT) is reached with Cetedoc (UCL), the work for which has been continued since 2001 by CTLO 1993 P.J. Fedwick starts a monograph series on the works of Basil of Caesarea 1994 G. Philippart starts a monograph series on the history of hagiographical literature B. Merrilees and J. Monfrin start a series on Latin-vernacular dictionaries (LLF) The IRHT in Paris (through the work of M.-H. Jullien & F. Perelman) starts a Clavis on French authors writing in Latin 1997 Establishment of the Academic Board for Latin Editions within Corpus Christianorum. First Director was F. Bossier (†2006) 1998 Dom Eligius Dekkers, founder of Corpus Christianorum, dies at the age of 83 2003 The 50th anniversary of Corpus Christianorum is celebrated by the publication of Corpus Christianorum 1953 - 2003, Xenium Natalicium" launching the "scholars version" series, and by launching this website 2006-2007 Corpus Christianorum leaves the Sint-Pietersabdij in Steenbrugge and is transferred to the Sint-Annaconvent in the Turnhout beguinage 2006 Rita Beyers has been elected Director of Corpus Christianorum for the period 2007 through till 2011