Thanks to the generosity of Mgr. de Laval and of the first directors of
the seminary, building and acquisition of land was begun. There was
erected in 1668 a large wooden dwelling, which was in some sort an
extension of the episcopal and parochial residence. It was destroyed in
1701, with the vicarage, in the conflagration which overwhelmed the
whole seminary. Subsequently, there was purchased a site of sixteen
acres adjoining the parochial church, upon which was erected the house
of Madame Couillard. This house, in which lodged in 1668 the first
pupils of the smaller seminary, was replaced in 1678 by a stone edifice,
large enough to shelter all the pupils of both the seminaries. The
seigniory of Beaupré was also acquired, which with remarkable foresight
the bishop exchanged for the Ile Jésus. "It was prudent," remarks the
Abbé Gosselin, "not to have all the property in the same place; when the
seasons are bad in one part of the country they may be prosperous
elsewhere; and having thus sources of revenue in different places, one
is more likely never to find them entirely lacking."

The smaller seminary dates only from the year 1668. Up to this time the
large seminary alone existed; of the five ecclesiastics who were its
inmates in 1663, Louis Joliet abandoned the priestly career. It was he
who, impelled by his adventurous instincts, sought out, together with
Father Marquette, the mouth of the Mississippi.

FOOTNOTES:

[3] The house was first the presbytery.