Acta Sanctorum is a principal source for research into the societies and cultures of early Christian and medieval Europe. Our knowledge of this period relies heavily on hagiographical literature, and specifically on this monumental collection of texts, published over a period of 300 years by the Société des Bollandistes. The Acta Sanctorum database makes this vast body of literature available in electronic form, providing a unique level of access to these texts and enabling them to be searched quickly and efficiently for names, topics, and themes.

The Acta Sanctorum database contains the complete texts of the 68 printed volumes, from the two January volumes published in 1643 to the Propylaeum to December published in 1940. It has been prepared with the help and cooperation of the Société des Bollandistes and includes the Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina reference numbers widely used by scholars to identify hagiographical texts. Acta Sanctorum brings together materials on the lives of the saints in critical editions with commentaries on the source documents. These include Vitae, Passiones, Miracula, Translationes, Gloria Posthuma, inscriptions, etc. Acta Sanctorum contains the full text of the printed volumes, the majority in Latin. The source for the database is the original edition, published in Antwerp and Brussels, and not the later incomplete editions published in Venice in 1734 -1760 and by Palme in Paris in 1863 -1870 (Source)