He belonged to the convent of St-Germain-des-Prés in Paris, a centre of studies of the Congregation of St. Maur, where he died on 21 December 1741 and was buried beside his great confrere Mabillon.
He published: *Analecta graeca sive varia opuscula graeca hactenus edita* (Paris 1688); *La verité de l'histoire de Judith* (ibid. 1690); *Athanasii opera omnia* (2 vols. in 3 folios, ibid. 1698; on this edition V. H. G. Opitz, *Untersuchungen zur Überlieferung der Schriften des Athanasius*, Berlin 1935, pp. 2-8, 143, n. 1). To broaden his knowledge of Greek manuscripts M. travelled to Italy (1698-1701), and in 1699 he also took on the role of procurator general of the Congregation of St. Maur in Rome. In that capacity he wrote under another name the apology for the Maurist edition of the works of St. Augustine: *Vindiciae editionis s. Augustini a Benedectini adnotata* (Rome 1699). The journey to Italy gave a new direction to M.’s studies: palaeography and archaeology were added to his patristic researches (v. the *Diarium italicum sive monumentorum veterum, bibliothecarum, musearum etc. notitiae singulares in itinerario italico collectae* [Paris 1702]). In the year 1708 he published the *Paleographia graeca, sive de ortu et progressu litterarum graecarum*, a masterpiece that laid the foundations for the new science of palaeography (v. V. Gardthausen, *Griechische Palaeographie*, II, 2nd ed., Leipzig 1911, p. 5 sq). The principles developed in the *Paleographia graeca* were put into practice by M. in his *Bibliotheca Coisliniana olim Segueria, sive manuscriptorum omnium Graecorum, quae in ea continentur accurata descriptio* (Paris 1715). In the field of his library studies he also produced his *Bibliotheca bibliothecarum manuscriptorum nova* (2 vols. in fol., ibid. 1739). Unpublished texts were issued in the *Collectio nova patrum et scriptorum graecorum* (2 vols., ibid. 1706). Important was his edition of Origen’s Hexapla (*Hexaplorum quae supersunt*, 2 vols. in fol., ibid. 1713). From 1718 to 1738 there appeared his edition of the works of St. John Chrysostom (13 vols.). On this edition V. Chr. Baur, *St Chrysostome* (Louvain 1907, pp. 83-88). M.’s archaeological interests are revealed in his vast publication: *L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures* (10 vols. in fol., Paris 1719; 2nd ed., ibid. 1722, and 3 supplementary vols., ibid. 1724) and in the *Monumenta de la monarchie française* (5 vols. in fol., ibid. 1720-33).