The smaller seminary, founded by the Bishop of Petræa in 1668, for
youths destined to the ecclesiastical life, justified the expectations
of its founder, and witnessed an ever increasing influx of students. On
the day of its inauguration, October 9th, there were only as yet eight
French pupils and six Huron children. For lack of teachers the young
neophytes, placed under the guidance of directors connected with the
seminary, attended during the first years the classes of the Jesuit
Fathers. Their special costume was a blue cloak, confined by a belt. At
this period the College of the Jesuits contained already some sixty
resident scholars, and what proves to us that serious studies were here
pursued is that several scholars are quoted in the memoirs as having
successfully defended in the presence of the highest authorities of the
colony theses on physics and philosophy.

If the first bishop of New France had confined himself to creating one
large seminary, it is certain that his chosen work, which was the
preparation for the Church of a nursery of scholars and priests, the
apostles of the future, would not have been complete.

For many young people, indeed, who lead a worldly existence, and find
themselves all at once transferred to the serious, religious life of the
seminary, the surprise, and sometimes the discomfort, may be great. One
must adapt oneself to this atmosphere of prayer, meditation and study.
The rules of prayer are certainly not beyond the limits of an ordinary
mind, but the practice is more difficult than the theory. Not without
effort can a youthful imagination, a mind ardent and consumed by its own
fervour, relinquish all the memories of family and social occupations,
in order to withdraw into silence, inward peace, and the mortification
of the senses. To the devoutly-minded our worldly life may well seem