Introduction
From its inception in 1942, the “Sources Chrétiennes” series (based in Lyon and published by Éditions du Cerf in Paris) has provided critical editions of texts from the first 1400 years of the Church, accompanied by a French translation as well as an introduction and notes. More precisely, the series consists of editions-with-translations of Christian texts in Greek and Latin, but also in oriental languages, such as Syriac, Armenian and Georgian.
Whereas it has always been the series’ mission to make the texts at hand easily accessible for consultation and (linguistic, historical, philosophical and theological) study, Sources Chrétiennes Online even expands the possibilities in this regard. Reserving the introduction, apparatus and notes for the printed series, the online database makes it possible to select texts along various criteria and to perform targeted searches both on the source texts and on the French translations that over the years have been published in the series.
Key Features
- Online version of the Sources Chrétiennes series
- Texts in Greek, Latin, Syriac, Armenian and Georgian
- French translations
- 523 of the c. 630 printed volumes already available
- 100 volumes added per year
- Both the source texts and the translations are searchable
- Multiple filters allow for targeted searches
- ‘Instrumenta‘, a tool implemented in the database, provides you with suggestions of translation (drawn from the Lewis & Short and the Gaffiot) and morphological analysis in a pop-up, for the Latin words encountered in the texts of the database.
- Option to click on to the corresponding headwords in the Database of Latin Dictionaries through the short definitions for Latin words in the Instrumenta pop-up
- Marc records and authority files available for each text
Coverage
- List of volumes available in May 2023
- By 2025, the SCO database will cover all volumes by then published in print in the long-running Sources Chrétiennes edition project.
Recent Updates
Notable additions are Richard Rolle’s Melos amoris, the monastic works of Hildegard of Bingen, and Cyprian of Carthage’s work on the Unity of the Church. Furthermore, for two volumes that originally offered only a translation (SC 6 and 9), the Greek source text has now been added to the database.
Leaflets
English version (PDF)
French version (PDF)
Flyer
English version (PDF)
Videos
English version
French version
Related Databases
For patristic texts, see also the full-text databases Library of Latin Texts and Patrologia Orientalis Database
Linked databases
‘Live links’ to the Database of Latin Dictionaries
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