It would certainly appear then that Father de Quen's powers had never been revoked, that Abbé de Queylus had forced the sense of his letters patent accorded April 22, 1657, since in giving him an extended jurisdiction he did not revoke previous powers given. There were to be two independent parallel vicariates under Rouen. In a later letter of September 3, 1658, of Father de Quen to the general of his order, he interprets the above as a _confirmation_ of his previous powers, and not a _new concession_.
"The Most Eminent Archbishop of Rouen has sent me letters in which he _confirms_ the power conceded by him to us _now since many years_, of vicar general of Quebec and in other adjacent places. He has written also to the Abbé de Queylus a letter which has constituted him vicar general in the Island of Montreal only." (Arch. Gen., S. J.)
In spite of the storm clouds gathered over them, the arrival of the Sulpicians at Montreal was welcomed. They represented to the colonists, the Company of Notre-Dame de Montreal that had brought them out. M. de Queylus was wealthy and a member of the Company of Montreal, and the others were self supporting members of a body, to whom it had already been proposed by the Company to hand over the seigneury of the whole island, as indeed happened in 1663. This meant material advancement for the church and progress for the settlement. Although the Jesuits were very much loved by the people, their number was small, they had no settled income and frequently they were called to absent themselves from Montreal. The permanent presence of four Sulpicians, with the prospects of an assured continuity, was indeed gratifying also from a spiritual point of view. The honour of receiving them fell to Jeanne Mance, and they were allotted the large room in the hospital, which was at once the refectory, recreation, study, and bedroom, all in one. There they remained till the stone house named the Seminary was built for them. M. Souart being a doctor could also be on hand for assistance to the hospital sick.
Meanwhile, the peaceful situation at Ville Marie, during the above negotiations, claims our attention.
The advent of the Sulpicians marks the growth of organized progress in the development of the religious and civic life of Montreal. It was due to them that the church began to take on parish proportions, one of their first acts being the foundation of the "Oeuvre de Fabrique" soon to be chronicled. It was the mission of the Jesuits to be the hardy pioneers to succour the spiritual needs during their early days of the handful of struggling settlers; that of the Sulpicians to develop the sense of civic administration and to guide it for many generations. A modern historian[78] writing in 1887, pays the following tribute to the Sulpicians: