Born at Lapaillette (?) (Drome), December 29, 1826.
Taking of the habit at Notre-Dame de l’Osier, July 25, 1852.
Oblation at Notre-Dame de l’Osier, July 26, 1853. (no. 345 bis)
Left the Congregation in 1855.
Auguste Abric was born at Lapaillette (?), diocese of Valence on December 29, 1826. He was living in Marseilles when he entered the novitiate of Notre-Dame de l’Osier on July 25, 1852. He made his oblation there on July 26, 1853 and was sent to join the community of scholastic brothers at the major seminary in Marseilles. In the Oblate report, Father Mouchette wrote in 1853: “Excellent health. He is a person of good will, but has a great deal to endure from his family. Little intellectual ability to judge from the review of philosophy that I have been giving him…” In 1854, the moderator mentions once again Brother Abric’s very good health, but adds: “Very imperfect, leaving a lot to be desired under almost all aspects. He sometimes fail in observance of the Rule, is distracted and sleepy during many religious exercises, bored at recreation. He exhibits a kind of dislike for three or four of the brothers, makes no bones about complaining about them…”
At the May 22, 1854 session of the General Council, it was judged that Brother Abric was incapable of doing the courses of philosophy and theology that were planned for him. If he chose to continue in his religious vocation in the Congregation he could remain “as and with the status of a simple lay brother. If he chose not to do so, Most Reverend Father General would grant him a dispensation from his vows.” June 21, Bishop de Mazenod communicated to Father Vincens that he was sending Brother Abric to l’Osier “with the status of lay brother” and he had taken this decision “with exemplary resignation.”
After a few months at l’Osier, Brother Abric was sent to Aix, but, unbeknownst to his superiors, traveled through Lyon, looking for work. From Aix, he was sent to the Oblate house at Notre-Dame de Lumières where he arrived in November. The superior, Father Telmon, planned to teach him the trade of carpentry, but Brother Abric who had been taken by “pneumonia on his way from Aix,” took to his bed and remained ill until February. Father Telmon judged he would be useless, even in the future. “His previous condition,” he wrote, exacerbates very much his present condition. He sent him back to Aix during the month of March, 1855.
Nothing more is heard about this brother from that time on. The only exception is a reference in the Register of the Personnel 1862-1863 where we read under his name: “This brother, endowed with little intellectual training and not very apt for study, was initially admitted as a scholastic brother and then accepted among the lay brothers. He subsequently asked to be dispensed from his vows. He married.”
Yvon Beaudoin, o.m.i.
