LE MAISTRE, ISAAC, called DE SACY (DE SACI), which is the anagrammatic name. — B. in Paris on 29 March 1613, d. at Pomponne on 4 Jan. 1684. Having entered Port-Royal and been ordained priest (1649), he distinguished himself there in the spiritual direction of the nuns gathered there. At the time of the persecutions against the Jansenists, he was imprisoned in the Bastille (1666–68), where he translated the Old Testament. Having returned to Port-Royal and been expelled again, he withdrew (1679) to the home of his cousin, the marquis of Pomponne.
He published the Traduction du Nouveau Testament, called the Testament de Mons (2 vols., Amsterdam 1667), condemned by Clement IX on 20 Apr. 1668, and La Ste Bible en latin et en français avec des explications (32 vols., Paris 1687–1702; many reprints; the best is in 12 vols., ibid. 1789–1804), on which his brother Antoine collaborated. These biblical translations, of no interest from the exegetical point of view, are highly noteworthy for their style. Also famous is his version of the L'Imitation de Jésus-Christ (ibid. 1650; more than 150 eds.).