SABATIER, PIERRE. - Maurist theologian, born in 1682 at Poitiers, professed among the Benedictines on 30 June 1700, died on 22 (24?) March 1742.
His scientific training at St-Germain-des-Prés (Paris) was under Th. Ruinart (v.), always revered as a friend and teacher, with whom he collaborated from 1702 in the Annales bénédictines. With Ruinart’s successor R. Massuet (after 1709) there arose “une différence d’humeur et de caractère” (Tassin), which led his superiors to assign S. to his providential task: to gather the remains of the pre-Hieronymian biblical version (v. LATINE VERSIONI DELLA BIBBIA). This work, together with his office as librarian (the “life” in Bibliorum sacrorum..., III, Paris 1751, p. XXVIII ff. praises his scholarly catalogues), occupied the rest of his life in zeal and tenacity. Relegated to St-Nicaise (Reims) on suspicion of Jansenism (v.), since he had opposed the bull Unigenitus with most of his confreres, he did not cease his assiduous, erudite and sagacious researches. In 1735, with a subsidy from the Duke of Orléans, the printing of Bibliorum sacrorum Latinae versiones antiquae, seu Vetus Italica... could be begun (Reims 1743-49; Paris 1751); at S.’s death volume II was almost complete.
To the edition, C. Clémencet added the general introduction and other notices, all in the spirit of S. The edition remained classic for two centuries, though not without defects. Among other things, S. mistakenly believed in only one pre-Hieronymian version, the “Italic” (sic). Denk (v.) resumed the work on modern lines and left his vast Beuron (v.), where A. Dold and others set to work to perfect it, adding unpublished sources and checking the editions excerpted by Denk against the manuscripts. The “New S.”, entitled Vetus Latina. Die reste der altlateinischen Bibel, now proceeds regularly. Besides the fascicle of sigla (Freiburg in Br. 1949), two have appeared on Genesis, up to Gen 27:23. Thanks to a subsidy from the “Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft”, the last obstacle to its regular publication seems removed. It will be a monumental series of 27 volumes.