Bollandus was summoned to his life's work in 1629. He at once entered
upon a vigorous pursuit of fresh manuscripts in every quarter of the
globe, wherein he was mightily assisted by the organization of the
Jesuit Society, and by the liberal assistance bestowed upon his
undertaking by successive abbots of the great Benedictine Monastery of
Liessies, near Cambray, specially by Antonius Winghius, the friend and
patron, first of Rosweid, and then of Bollandus. Indeed, it was the
existence and rich endowments of those great monasteries which explains
the publication of such immense works as those of Bollandus, Mabillon,
and Tillemont, quite surpassing any now issued even by the wealthiest
publishers among ourselves, and only approached, and that at a distance,
by Pertz's "Monumenta" in Germany.