After graduating from Lycée la Providence, he entered the Society of Jesus at the college of Saint-Acheul in August 1875 and professed his first vows in September 1877.

[1] When the 1881 Jules Ferry laws led to the expulsion of the Jesuits in France,[2] Crimont continued his studies at Victoria College in St Helier, Jersey and Collège Saint-Servais in Liège, Belgium.

Taking ill and given only weeks to live, he traveled to Lille and there met the Italian priest John Bosco, whose prayers Crimont claimed restored him to health.

[3] In 1886 he volunteered for missionary work with fellow Jesuit Joseph Cataldo and came to the United States, where entered Woodstock College.

[5] After an excursion in severe weather left him in poor health,[2] he was sent to recover at Gonzaga College in Spokane, Washington, where he served as rector from 1901 to 1904.