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The first study of the history of seminaries in France. Marcel Launay recounts the evolution of training priests, from just after the French Revolution to Cardinal Lustiger's Maison Saint Augustin, taking in the Catholic Church's periods of crisis and strength (concordat, Gallicanism, modernism). The author shows how successive governments have always taken an interest in the ideology diffused in seminaries. Presenting testimonies gathered over two centuries, he reveals the problems and the fervour of future priests, and situates today's dilemma of sacerdotal vocation.