It has an unfortunate notoriety in consequence of the long dispute between the Jesuits and the secular clergy which centred around it in later times.

At the time of the English Civil War, the Scots Colleges tended to support the crown.

For this reason, the Jesuits afterwards claimed the property as their own, although it was admitted that in its early years secular clergy had been educated there.

The French Government, however, recognized the claims of the Scottish secular clergy and allowed them to continue the work of the college under a rector chosen from their own body.

As well as clerical students, a number of the exiled Scottish catholic nobility studied at the College.