Séminaire de Québec

The first role of the Séminaire de Québec was to prepare young men for ordination and ministry in parishes and missions as far away as Louisiana.

In 1668, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV's top minister, initiated an attempt to impose French language and culture on local aboriginal people.

Bishop de Laval therefore opened the Seminary to local aboriginal people as well as children of settlers with studious dispositions and a desire to enter the priesthood.

In 1852, the high quality of teaching was recognized in a royal charter from Queen Victoria, leading to the founding of Université Laval, the first Catholic French-language university in North America.

The institution was the subject of Léonard Forest's 1964 documentary film Walls of Memory (Mémoire en fête).

Many French-Canadian clergy of the 18th and 19th century, as well as a number of academics, went through the Petit Séminaire before higher education became widely accessible.