Nul, si ce n'est le saint.

[piguy3]

Hi and Happy New Year,

This sentence comes from a quote from Le saint et le pécheur by Charles Péguy. «Nul n'est aussi compétent que le pécheur en matière de chrétienté. Nul, si ce n'est le saint. Et en principe, c'est le même homme... »

Does it mean "No one except the saint?", "No one, even if they are a saint?", or something else?

Thanks

 

[Monsieur Hoole]

Hi and Happy New Year,

This sentence comes from a quote from Le saint et le pécheur by Charles Péguy. «Nul n'est aussi compétent que le pécheur en matière de chrétienté. Nul, si ce n'est le saint.Et en principe, c'est le même homme... »

Does it mean "No one except the saint?", "No one, even if they are a saint?", or something else?

Thanks

No one except perhaps a saint....

 

[piguy3]

Thanks so much!

Out of curiosity, could someone explain how "Nul, si ce n'est le saint." comes to mean what it does?

 

[timpeac]

"Nul" is rather literary language for "nobody", "si ce n'est" is kind of a set phrase for "if not" (literally if he isn't) and "le saint" is "the architypal saint" so the meaning is literally "nobody, if not the saint". I would translate it as "nobody but a saint".