Paul Sabatier (theologian)

Charles Paul Marie Sabatier (3 or 9 August 1858 – 5 March 1928),[n 1] was a French clergyman and historian who produced the first modern biography of St. Francis of Assisi.[4] He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times.[5]

For the Nobel Prize-winning chemist, see Paul Sabatier (chemist).
Paul Sabatier
Paul Sabatier in 1905
Born3 or 9 August 1858
Saint-Michel-de-Chabrillanoux, France
Died5 March 1928(1928-03-05) (aged 69)
Strasbourg, France
Alma materProtestant Faculty of Theology in Paris
Occupation(s)theologian, professor, historian
Employer(s)Protestant Faculty of Theology, University of Strasbourg

Life

Sabatier was born at Saint-Michel-de-Chabrillanoux in Ardèche,[6] and was educated at the Protestant Faculty of Theology in Paris.[4] In 1885 he became vicar of St Nicolas, Strasbourg, but in 1889, declining an offer of preferment which was conditional on his becoming a German subject, he was expelled.[4]

For four years he was pastor of Saint-Cierge in Ardèche, but had to retire in 1893 due to health concerns.[6] He then devoted himself entirely to historical research, spending much of his time in Italy.[6] He had already produced an edition of the Didache, and in November 1893 published his important Life of Francis of Assisi.[4] This book gave a great stimulus to the study of medieval literary and religious documents, especially of such as are connected with the history of the Franciscan Order.[4] In 1908 he delivered the Jowett Lectures on Modernism at the Passmore Edwards Settlement, London.[4]

Sabatier's 1893 book La vie de St. François d'Assise (translated as Life of St. Francis of Assisi in 1894) was placed upon the Index of Forbidden Books by the Catholic Church in 1894.[6] Emily Marshall obtained a copy of his book and she came to meet him in the 1890s. He agreed that her ideas for reviving the Third Order were in line with the ideas of St Francis. As a result she wrote "The dawn breaking, and some thoughts on the third order of St. Francis, with translation from the French" in 1896. Her ideas took root in the Anglican church in Guyana.[7]

In 2003, Catholic independent scholar Jon M. Sweeney re-edited and published a new version of Sabatier's biography, and it became an alternate selection of the History Book Club and Book-of-the-Month Club.[8] Sabatier also published in 1905 A propos de la séparation des églises et de l'État, in 1909 Les modernistes, notes d'histoire religieuse contemporaine, and in 1911 L'orientation religieuse de la France actuelle.

In 1919, Sabatier became professor of Church history at the Protestant Faculty of Theology of the University of Strasbourg.[3] He died in Strasbourg in 1928.[6]

Works

Notes
  1. Sources differ on Sabatier's date of birth: some give 3 August 1858,[1][2] others 9 August.[3]

References
  1. Little, A. G. (1943). Franciscan Papers. Manchester University Press. p. 179.
  2. "Paul Sabatier". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  3. "Paul Sabatier (1858-1928)". Bibliothèque nationale de France. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  4. "Sabatier, Louis Auguste" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 958.
  5. "Nomination Database". www.nobelprize.org. Retrieved 2017-04-19.
  6. Hillerbrand, Hans J. (2004). "Sabatier, Paul (1858-1928)". Encyclopedia of Protestantism. Routledge. ISBN 9781135960278.
  7. Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (2004-09-23), "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. ref:odnb/42195, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/42195, retrieved 2023-01-11
  8. "Road to Assisi by Paul Sabatier".

Sources
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