Born at Tourette (Alpes-Maritimes), January 19, 1817
Taking of the habit at Marseilles, September 28, 1840
Oblation at Notre-Dame de l’Osier, October 2, 1841 (no. 89)
Expelled from the Congregation, July 1, 1842.
Alexandre Augier was born at Tourette-du-Château, diocese of Nice, January 19, 1817. He began his novitiate at Marseilles, September 28, 1840 where he made his oblation on October 2, 1841. He spent one school year in theology at the major seminary in Marseilles, then was sent to Notre-Dame de Lumières, then to Le Calvaire before being expelled from the Congregation July1, 1842.
Already at the novitiate, he took it into his head to grumble and to look out for “his own precious self.” At the seminary, he betrayed “a certain idiosyncratic spirit mixed with criticism and insubordination.” He was so convinced that he was right that “it was necessary to recognize in the poor young man a disturbed spirit and mental illness.” Nothing changed at Notre-Dame de Lumières. That is why, in the General Council session of July 1, 1842, the decision was taken to expel him.
Alexander wrote some letters to Father Tempier in 1846 and 1849, telling him that he had always found in him “that genuine language of justice and of fatherly goodness that was his hallmark.” After having wanted to enter the seminary of the Holy Spirit in Paris, he remained for some time with the Assumptionists at Nîmes and then with the Marists and asked to be readmitted to the Congregation in 1846 and 1849.
Yvon Beaudoin, o.m.i.
