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Although the Sorbonne of the seventeenth century is mainly known and studied for the intellectual influence of its doctors or for its remarkable architecture, this article focuses on its original and sometimes forgotten nature as a community of students. Indeed, this contributed to establishing its preeminence in Paris in the seventeenth century, through the control of a network of colleges and the existence of a very particular community of theology students. Although entry into this community was selective, the students admitted then benefited from very favorable study conditions which certainly explain their high success rates in the licence in theology and their distinguished careers in the Church. Unsurprisingly, these students claimed this identity from “la maison et société de Sorbonne” throughout their lives.