Under the French Regime 45 
     
    
   
   
    
     to found a seminary that would serve the Maritime region. They soon 
     
     realized, however, that such a project was hardly feasible at this stage 
     
     in the colonization, especially given the fact that the Compagnie de 
     
     V'Isle Saint Jean, on which they depended financially, did not appear 
     
     to be having much success in its commercial ventures”. 
     
    

    
     After the two Sulpician priests left, the Island mission was handed 
     
     over to the Recollects, mendicant friars who came over to found a 
     
     convent in Louisbourg. Supporting these priests promised to be much 
     
     less of a burden for the Compagnie de l'Isle Saint Jean. Thus, for almost 
     
     thirty years the Recollects alone attended to the spiritual needs of 
     
     the settlers on the Island. The priests replaced each other at fairly 
     
     regular intervals, given that about twenty different Recollects minis- 
     
     tered on the Island between 1723 and 1754”. 
     
    

    
     The priests served the inhabitants on the Island from Port LaJoie 
     
     where the Compagnie de l’'Isle Saint Jean built a small chapel dedicated 
     
     to Saint John the Evangelist. Like most of the buildings in Port LaJoie 
     
     this structure was very poorly maintained after the departure of the 
     
     company in 1725. Commandant de Pensens complained in 1733 that 
     
     ‘there was no chapel. 
     
    
   
   
    
     There is a chaplain with a few adornments for a chapel, but no chapel; we are 
     
     using a wretched house which is the only remaining part of the old company. 
     
     As many things are lacking for the daily celebration of the divine service, 
     
     particularly candles, | have the honour to address to Monseigneur a memoran- 
     
     dum which the former chaplain sent me when he left the chapel. (TR)” 
     
    
   
   
    
     The priest in Port LaJoie, whose expenses were paid for by the 
     
     State, served as chaplain for the King’s garrison. He also ministered 
     
     to the settlers in the vicinity of the fort and in the other communities 
     
     on the Island. The missionary’s work consisted of administering the 
     
     Sacraments to the colonists, teaching religion to the young people, 
     
     evangelizing the Micmac, and sometimes fulfilling the role of notary 
     
     or judge to settle differences between settlers or to write official 
     
     documents”. The priest exercised these functions under very difficult 
     
     circumstances: in order to reach his parishioners, he had to travel by 
     
     foot, canoe or boat. 
     
    

    
     According to certain evidence of the time, the settlers on fle 
     
     Saint Jean were strongly attached to their religion. As we have seen, 
     
     the engineer Franquet made an inspection tour of the Island in 1751.