near their sons and daughters during their education.

The Benedictine order was, in general, made up of very easy-going
men; they mixed with the world and entertained often, so they were
well liked; something that was very useful to those at Sorèze when
the revolution broke out.

The Principal at that time was Dom Despaulx, a man of the
highest integrity, but who, being unwilling to subscribe to the
"civic oath" then exacted from the clergy, retired and spent several
years in retreat, from where he was later called by the Emperor to
fill one of the highest positions in the university.

All the other Benedictines at Sorèze took the oath: Dom Ferlus
became Principal and Dom Abal Vice-Principal, and the college, in
spite of the revolutionary upheavals, continued to operate, following
the excellent start which it had been given by Dom Despaulx.

Later, however, a law having been passed requiring the
secularising of the monks and the sale of their property, the days of
the college seemed numbered; but many of the most important men in
the country had been educated there, and they wanted it to be there
for their children; the inhabitants of the town, even the labourers
and peasants, respected the good fathers and realised that the
destruction of the college would result in the ruin of the area. So
an arrangement was made whereby Dom Ferlus would become the owner of
the college and the immense property which belonged to it. Nobody
attended the auction, and the Principal became, at a very modest
price, the owner of the huge monastery and the land which it owned.
The administrators of the department gave him plenty of time to pay.