From 1901 to 1914, roughly 10.000 French religious fled to Belgium in order to avoid the antireligious laws. A third of these were men, and some of them bound to conscription and military service in France. Even if they were in exile, many of them – the novices – did serve in the army as conscripts and had to go back to their country. Their superiors feared to lose these young men submitted to the barracks life and its promiscuity. Moreover, two religious institutes (the Jesuits and the Lasallians) kept on receiving officers. These officers came to support them, they attended ceremonies or they decorated veterans of the FrancoPrussian war. Some of them were nationalists, like Émile Driant, or admired by the nationalists as general Chanoine. In fact, these two institutes were patriots, especially the Jesuits, and linked to the army and its sphere of influence. Yet, the beginning of World War One concerned all the religious, men and women. Their buildings became field hospitals, were commandeered by the Germans, their schools had to close. The majority tried to came back to France, not only because of self-preservation, but also to serve as chaplains or nurses, and more than one died while doing so.