Even though Fr. George Auger, CSV, officially began his life as a religious of the Clerics of St. Viator sixty years ago, his anniversary of being part of the Viatorian Community goes back well before then. He was born in Detroit to a French speaking family and while a child, the local pastor advised George’s widowed mother to send her young son to a boarding school directed by the French speaking Clerics of St. Viator in Canada. He began as a student and later entered the novitiate of the Viatorian Province of Joliette, Canada, in 1948.
 
While in Canada, Fr. Auger received his Bilingual Teaching Certificate from Ecole Normale, at Rigaud in Canada, in 1954. Fr. Auger later transferred to the Province of Chicago and pursued many educational opportunities. Between 1957 and 1961, Fr. Auger studied theology at the Viatorian Seminary and was ordained a priest in 1961.While studying theology, he completed his work for a Master of Arts degree in English literature from DePaul University. Always the perpetual student, he also earned a diploma from Lumen Vitae in Brussels, Belgium, in Theologie de la Vie Religious, and a Master of Arts degree in religious education from Loyola University in Chicago. His expertise in spirituality and religious life is apparent in the many retreats he has led for religious communities, and in the articles he has published in many periodicals, including Review for Religious.

Fr. Auger taught at Saint Viator High School in Arlington Heights and Spalding Institute in Peoria from 1961 to 1971. During the 1970s, he served as associate pastor at Maternity BVM Parish in Bourbonnais, and St. Joseph Parish in Springfield, IL. From 1983 until 1988 and later from 2004 to 2007, he was pastor at St. Patrick Parish in Kankakee. From 1988 until 1994 he lived in Rome and served as a general councilor for the Viatorian Community.

 Fr. Auger has served the community in many other ways, including being master of novices, spiritual director to the formation house, director of archives, and director of the residence wing at the Province Center.