Thierry Ruinart

After completing his classical studies he entered (October 2, 1674) the Maurist Congregation of the Benedictine Order at the Abbey of Saint-Remy at Reims which, in that era, produced in France a brilliant company of distinguished scholars.

His seriousness, deep piety, and fine intellectual gifts soon made him known throughout his order, and Mabillon requested the superiors to give him Ruinart as a fellow-worker.

Thus in 1682 he came to the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, near Paris, where Mabillon was staying and, under the guidance of this great investigator, became one of the most eminent church historians and critics of his time.

The first large, important work that Thierry Ruinart undertook was the publication of the Acts of the martyrs that he regarded as genuine: Acta primorum martyrum sincera et selecta (many editions; first ed.

After the Acta he published the Historia persecutionis Vandalicae of Victor Vitensis, to which he added an exhaustive discussion of the persecution of the Catholics in Africa at the hands of the Vandals (Paris, 1694; Venice, 1732).

He published the treatise Ecclesia Parisiensis vindicata (Paris, 1706), in defense of Mabillon's work, De re diplomatica, which had been attacked by Barthélémy Germon.