With these dispositions it was natural she should seek admission into a religious community, which in effect she did. There existed at Troyes a Carmelite Convent, of the reform of St. Teresa. Every one knows that the Carmelites are in a special manner devoted to Mary, under the title of "Our Lady of Mt. Carmel," and that their congregation is the origin and centre of the Confraternities of the Scapular. There is not a community of women in the Church whose discipline and manner of life is so austere, if we except the "Poor Clares." During all seasons of the year they dress in a heavy coarse habit, wear sandals on their feet, never make use of linen, are seldom seen in the parlor, sleep on a hard mattress, rise simultaneously, to chant the Divine Office, spend at least two hours each night at prayer, and are familiar with the use of the discipline, hair-shirt, etc. In a word, their mortifications are continual and rigorous. Now these extraordinary penances were what especially attracted Margaret Bourgeois to join them. But in order to act prudently, and learn the will of God clearly regarding her vocation, she addressed herself to M. Antoine Jandret, a virtuous and enlightened priest, who was confessor to the Carmelites. Having heard her attentively, he was struck with admiration at the manner in which God was working in her soul. She continued for some time to be his penitent, and after he had made trial of her virtue, he no longer hesitated to propose her as a subject to the Carmelites. The chapter met to discuss the matter, but some changes in her exterior manner of living (the motives of which they did not know) led them to suppose that her disposition was frivolous and volatile; and they refused to admit her. But it was not there Almighty God intended her to become a religieuse, and their refusal did not lessen her esteem for the austerities practised by them, and on which she modelled her own penances for the remainder of her life. Neither did a _first refusal_ discourage her; on the contrary, she redoubled her prayers to learn the will of God, and it pleased His divine Majesty to unfold to the eyes of her soul, gradually but clearly, his designs regarding her. Being rejected by the Carmelites, she next sought admission into the extern congregation of young girls, at Troyes. It will be necessary to give some explanation of this society, as the singular graces accorded to Sister Bourgeois while she was one of its members influenced her very much in the formation of the congregation she afterwards founded.