SABATIER, PIERRE. – Maurist theologian, born in 1682 at Poitiers, he professed among the Benedictines on 30 June 1700 and died on 22 (24?) March 1742.
His scientific training at St-Germain-des-Prés (Paris) was acquired under Th. Ruinart (v.), ever revered as his friend and master, with whom from 1702 he collaborated on Annales bénédictines. With his successor R. Massuet (after 1700), there arose a “différence d'humeur et de caractère” (Tassin), which led the superiors to assign S. his providential work: collecting the remains of the pre-Jerome biblical version (v. LATINE VERSIONI DELLA BIBBIA). This work, together with his position as librarian (the “life” in Bibliorum sacrorum..., III, Paris 1751, p. xxviii ff., praises his scholarly catalogues), occupied his zeal and perseverance for the rest of his life. Confined to St-Nicaisse (Reims) because he was suspected of Jansenism (v.), having opposed the bull Unigenitus together with the majority of his confrères, he did not cease his assiduous, erudite, and astute research. In 1735, with a subsidy from the Duke of Orléans, the printing of Bibliorum sacrorum Latinae versiones antiquae, seu Vetus Italica... (Reims 1743–49; Paris 1751) was begun; at S.’s death, vol. II was nearly finished.
To the edition, C. Clémencet added the general introduction and other information, all in S.’s spirit. The edition remained authoritative for two centuries, although it was not without defects. Among other things, S. mistakenly believed in a single pre-Jerome version, the “italica” (sic). Denk (v.) resumed the work on modern foundations and left his vast card Beuron (v.), where the scholar of palimpsests A. Dold, together with others, devoted himself to perfecting it, adding unpublished sources and checking the editions excerpted by Denk against the manuscripts.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, is now proceeding regularly. In addition to the fascicle of sigla (Freiburg im Br. 1949), two fascicles on Genesis, extending to Gen. 27:23, have appeared. Thanks to a subsidy from the “Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft,” the last obstacle to its regular publication appears to have been removed. It will be a monumental series of 27 volumes.