Dear Rev. Peters,
As others have said, in many cases Migne is the only edition that
exists (and in many more, it's the only one at hand). If you want to
devote a major study (e.g. a Ph.D) on an individual author and work,
then it is indeed necessary to go back to the manuscripts. For
identifying citations etc., I Migne is quite enough. He did the
best he could (and he could a lot) with the manuscripts (and
sometimes earlier printed editions) he had at hand in Paris.
As far as patristics are concerned, the relevant edition is to be
found in
Eligius DEKKERS, Clavis Patrum Latinorum (Turnhout, 3rd edn, 1995)
Alas, no such one-volume repertory is as yet on the market for later
writers. There is a work in progress by SISMEL, the "Compendium
Auctorum Operumque" (see their website at
http://sismel.meri.unifi.it/). For a list of corrections to Migne's
many wrong ascriptions of works to authors, see
Palemon GLORIEUX, Pour revaloriser Migne. Tables rectificatives,
(Melanges de science religieuse, 9e annee, Cahier supplementaire;
Lille, 1952)
This little helpful book probably also needs an update.
Cheers,
Christoph
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Dr. Christoph Cluse, FB III - Institut fuer Geschichte der Juden
DM-Gebaeude, Postf. 12, Universitaet, 54286 Trier, Germany
http://www.uni-trier.de/uni/fb3/geschichte/haverkamp/amigj/start.htm
tel. ++49-651-201-3303 / fax 3293
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