The Sulpicians served as missionaries, judges, explorers, schoolteachers, social workers, supervisors of convents, almsmen, canal builders, urban planners, colonization agents, and entrepreneurs. Despite their large role in society and their influencing in shaping early Montreal, each night they would all return to the Saint-Sulpice Seminary. The administration of the seminary in Montreal was modeled on that of Paris, in which the company was run by the superior, the four-man Consulting Council, and the Assembly of Twelve Assistants. According to the rules of the seminary in 1764, the superior, during his five-year renewable term, was to act like a father and was to be respected. The seminary kept careful records of all employees including birthday, place of birth, marital status, and salary. Female employees posed a particular problem since although a cheap source of labour, their presence in a male religious community was problematic. As land proprietors and Indian advisers, the Sulpicians were actively interested in military affairs. The first significant fortifications in Montreal, at the Mountain mission, were built at their expense.