Lalemant entered the Jesuit novitiate in Paris on 20 October 1610,[1] after which he studied philosophy at Pont-à-Mousson (1612–15) and theology at the Collège de Clermont (1619–23).
In the following interval, while he fulfilled his period of regency, he served as a prefect of the Jesuit boarding school at Verdun (1615–16) and teacher at the Collège in Amiens (1616–19).
Few Jesuits had had as wide experience as Lalemant before he was allowed to go to Canada, an evidence of the high esteem in which he was held by his superiors.
[2] Lalement was almost immediately made Superior for the mission to the Hurons,[1] succeeding Jean de Brébeuf, and in 1639 founded Sainte-Marie-des-Hurons which was the central residence of the missionaries in the field.
On his return to Canada the following year, he served under Ragueneau until 1656, when he was recalled to France to be rector of the Royal College of La Flèche.