Duco Vollebregt is a doctoral researcher of the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven (link). He is a member of the Research Unit Pastoral and Empirical Theology and of the Liturgical Institute. He studied history at Leiden University, medieval studies at Utrecht University and theology and religious studies at the KU Leuven.

His research focuses on the symbolism of the night and of light (during the night) as it appears in the texts and ceremonies of the earliest liturgical texts and ordines of the Paschal Vigil in a variety of Latin liturgical traditions of the early Middle Ages. These traditions include the Gallican, the Hispanic (or “Mozarabic”), the Milanese (or “Ambrosian”) and the “Roman” or “Suburbicarian” traditions of the “Gelasian” and “Gregorian” sacramentaries (ultimately originating in Rome and surroundings but later spreading throughout much of the Latin West) as well as the Beneventan plenary missals from Southern Italy. His research is supervised by Prof. Dr. Joris Geldhof (KU Leuven) and co-supervised by Prof. Dr. Els Rose (Utrecht University).

He is the author of: Hac nocte in aeternum diem renascentes populi procreantur: Christian initiation and the Easter vigil in the Missale Gothicum (Spicilegium sacrum Lovaniense. Études et documents 58. Studia breviora 3), Peeters, Leuven 2021. Description here. He gave the tenth annual St Bede Liturgy Lecture on 10 July 2021 in which he presented the above work. His lecture was titled: “The Breadth of Sound Tradition: Recovering for our day early images of Easter night”.

Duco Vollebregt was one of our first students to complete our programme of studies in liturgy in conjunction with his master’s degree at KU Leuven where he is now completing his doctoral research. As such, we are proud to welcome him to our faculty to teach Liturgies of the Early Church.