SABATIER, Paul. - French Calvinist pastor, professor, and historian, b. at Saint-Michel-de-Chabrillanoux (Ardèche province) on 3 Aug. 1858, d. at Strasbourg on 4 March 1928.
After completing literary studies at Besançon and Lille, he studied medicine at Montpellier. In 1880 he enrolled in the Faculty of Protestant Theology in Paris, where A. Sabatier (q.v.) taught, and attended lectures by Renan at the Collège de France. He went to Germany in 1884 and completed his theological studies in Paris in 1885 with a bachelor’s thesis on the recently discovered text of the *Didaché*. He served as vicar at St. Nicolai in Strasbourg from 1885 to 1889, then as pastor at St-Cierge-la-Serre. In 1890 he began work on a biography of St. Francis, a project he later said had been inspired by Renan (*Etudes inédites*, Paris 1932, pp. 69–70). His delicate health forced him to interrupt his ministry several times, and in 1894 he left it entirely. From that point onward, he devoted himself entirely to historical research, spending the next twenty years, in particular, in Italy and especially in Assisi.
In 1894 he published in Paris *Vie de st. François*, which went through 46 subsequent editions up to the posthumous “revised and definitive” edition of 1931, as well as numerous translations. The work’s merits lie in the author’s narrative skill, his thorough knowledge of sources and historical context, and his engaging portrayal of the hero, defining both the saint’s personality and his mission of Church renewal according to the “pure” Gospel. The book reveals the liberal theological outlook of the biographer and his prejudices against Rome when it recounts Francis’s relations with the Curia as legislator of his own Order, accusing the Curia of obstructing the saint’s ideas and diverting the Franciscan movement from its original course. The work was placed on the Index on 8 June 1894. Various theories regarding the origin and value of the sources have given rise to discussions (see FRANCISCAN QUESTION). Sabatier always preferred the writings he attributed to Brother Leo and the first companions: the *Speculum perfectionis*, which he dated to 1227, and the *Legenda trium sociorum*, both of which he considered faithful witnesses to the facts and spirit of the founder, whereas he believed the official biographers, Thomas of Celano and St. Bonaventure, had distorted them. It is now acknowledged that the writings attributed to Brother Leo are later compilations.
Sabatier’s contribution to Franciscan studies is outstanding: he uncovered ancient texts in manuscript collections in libraries, such as the *Speculum perfectionis*, the *Tractatus de Indulgentia S. M. de Portiuncula* by Fra Bartoli of Assisi, the *Regula antiqua* of the Franciscan Third Order, and the *Actus Romani*—all valuable documents that enriched the scholarly studies of the *Collection d’études et de documents sur l’histoire religieuse et littéraire du moyen âge* and the *Opuscules de critique historique*, founded in 1898 and 1901 respectively. Under his influence, the “International Society for Franciscan Studies” was founded in Assisi in 1902, and the “British Society of Franciscan Studies” in London in 1908. His theological formation, derived from the liberal Protestantism of Auguste Sabatier, and his familiarity with certain French, Italian, and English ecclesiastical circles explain his active participation in the Modernist movement, which he greeted as the “spiritual springtime” of the Catholic Church. He became a promoter and supporter of the movement both in word and in print (Les modernistes, Paris 1909), to the point that he was jokingly called the “pope of Modernism.” His optimism regarding the outcome of the crisis was undiminished by the Roman condemnations of the innovators and their doctrines (*L’orientation religieuse de la France actuelle*, Paris 1912). With equal vigor, he defended the French laws on the separation of Church and State, judging them capable of regenerating the Church (*A propos de la séparation des Églises et de l’État*, Paris 1906). His *Lettres d’un Français à un Italien* (1914–15) brought him further renown: in them he justified French and Allied intervention by seeking to clarify the spiritual character of the world conflict. The English (*The Times*, 22 Jan. 1915) and Italian press (*Giornale d’Italia* and other dailies) contributed greatly to their dissemination. During the war years, Sabatier resumed his ministry in his native region; in 1919 he was appointed professor of church history at the Faculty of Protestant Theology in Strasbourg. He was buried in the cemetery of St-Michel-de-Chabrillanoux.