To insure their training and accomodation during their years of study, the Rue du Bac Seminary had to be expanded, and the Bièvres Seminary was acquired. Its Teachings and spirituality were basically the same as that of most Diocesan Seminaries at the time.

Nevertheless, the growing veneration for the Martyrs and the real dangers implied by the missionary vocation in Asia at the time helped develop a specific devotion towards the Virgin, a motherly and protective figure, the ultimate emotional haven for these young men, who, after having torn themselves away from their families, were heading towards a perilous and sometimes dramatic existence. The Oratory to the Virgin, in the garden, was, along with the Martyrs’ Room, one of the key locations of this double worship, which was particularly dear to Théophane Vénard’s sensitive soul:

« We gathered in this place every Saturday evening and before every Holiday, after supper (…) Then a voice adressed to Mary, in Latin, the invocations written above the various Entities of the Oratory: « Source of our Joy, Queen of Martyrs, Queen of Confessors, Queen of Apostles, O Queen conceived without sin, Mary, Star of the Seas! » And all the Candidates of the Seminary of Foreign Missions responded by chanting: Ora pro nobis. The Lord’s Prayer, Ave, Memorare, Sub tuum, were recited, and several Hymns to the Holy Virgin were sung, or a Canticle. Then recess followed, after which was a prayer at nine.

But upon leaving the Chapel to return to one’s room, noone forgot to pay a visit to the venerated remains of those about whom we had sung Queen Mary. Around a Room, the wooden floor of which was covered by a large and beautiful carpet, the walls of which were studded with golden stars and palms, the reliquaries were carefully lined up; they contained the remains of the Martyrs from China, some of them Missionnaries, others native, which we had managed to retrieve from their persecutors. Everyone knelt, prayed and retired in silence… » (Théophane Vénard writing to his sister, April 17, 1851).

The Ceremony which is most specific to the Foreign Missions is the Departure Ceremony indeed, attracting an enthusiastic audience, half-curious, half-fervent, and which has always greatly impressed all newcomers: « I’ve witnessed several Departures by Missionaries. The Ceremony which precedes them is very touching. A speech is given to the departing Missionaries by the Superior, after which all attendees go and kiss their feet and receive a brotherly embrace. Lay people are not excluded. Women may take part in the Ceremonies in the Chapels, but, as you can imagine, they are not merely acting. » (Th. Vénard to Mrs. Nepveu-Rousseau, August 25, 1851).