Paul Sabatier

Paul Sabatier ( born August 3, 1858 in Saint -Michel -de- Chabrillanoux ( Ardèche ), the son of a Protestant pastor, † March 4, 1928 in Strasbourg ) was a French theologian and historian.

He was a student of Ernest Renan, who persuaded him to become scientifically to focus on Francis of Assisi. As a result of this suggestion researched and Sabatier wrote mostly about the history of the Middle Ages and even especially to Francis of Assisi and emanating from him Franciscan movement. Here, his interests met with those of the historian Walter Goetz, with whom he was in the decades-long correspondence. Sabatier's Vie de S. Francois D' Assise is regarded by many as the most influential Francis biography of the modern era ( German editions under the title Life of St. Francis of Assisi ). In 1894 this book was entered by the Curia in the list of banned books, but appeared only in France in 42 editions and was successfully worldwide in several languages. The Società Internazionale di Studi Franciscan he founded in 1902 in Assisi, in London with Andrew George Little in 1908 the British Society of Franciscan Studies. In 1919 he was appointed professor at the Chair of Church History at the Protestant Theological Faculty of the University of Strasbourg.

Sabatier were received honorary doctorates from the universities of Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Oxford, and he was admitted to the Royal Accademia dei Lincei. Since May 7, 1898, he is an honorary citizen of the Italian city of Assisi.