Born at Thourout, Belgium, November 15, 1823.
Taking of the habit at Notre-Dame de l’Osier, October 31, 1847.
Oblation at Notre-Dame de l’Osier, November 1, 1848. (no. 219)
Left with dispensation of his vows on August 12, 1849.
Louis Pollet was born at Thourout in the diocese of Bruges on November 15, 1823. He entered the novitiate of Notre-Dame de l’Osier on October 31, 1847 and made his oblation on November 1, 1848. In their August 2 session, the General Council admitted him to vows with the following observation: Admission of Brother Pollet “good with regard to virtues, has character and ability, but is excessively simple, something we hope will disappear with time.”
At the end of his first year as a scholastic brother in the major seminary at Marseilles on August 12, 1849, the General Council decided to send him back to his family while relieving him of his vows. The reasons for this were stated as follows: “After adequate testing, we have come to learn that he was simple to such a degree, not to say any more about it, that he was incapable of doing any work whatever in the Congregation. This wretched young man, a good hearted fellow, regular in his observance, obedient, is so simpleminded that one could persuade him that midnight was midday and his right hand was his left hand. In the course of his novitiate, we thought we saw in him adequate talent and, since his conduct was completely regular, he was presented for admission to oblation. But the experience of one year of theology at the major seminary of Marseilles has sufficiently demonstrated that the poor child could not and should not in any way be presented for sacred orders…”
Yvon Beaudoin, o.m.i.
