The previous year also she had a very severe attack of illness, from which she recovered as if by miracle. During her convalescence, she complained in a loving manner to the Sisters, that by their attentions and prayers they were prolonging the days of her exile, assuring them that she longed to be dissolved and be with Christ. Whether sick or well, she was a constant model of the most heroic and simple virtues. The great Apostle says: "That virtue is made perfect in infirmity." And if the Foundress of the Congregation did not entirely overcome the weakness of human nature, she constantly advanced in the holy paths of mortification, obedience, sacrifice of self, and submission to the will of God. She suffered the most intense bodily pains, which were at times so sharp and violent that she cried out in agony, but she never uttered a murmur or complaint. The attendant physician prescribed according to his skill, and she took his medicines regularly, although she felt convinced that neither human science, nor the affectionate care of the Sisters would be of any avail. She had a distinct presentiment that the hour of her dissolution was at hand, and oh, what exultant joy that knowledge gave her. She blessed God unceasingly in the greatest pain, and sang triumphant canticles on her death-bed, requesting the Sisters to sing them with her, and telling them that the divine harmonies of the city of God were audible to her at last. She literally burned with desire to go there, and be at rest forever, and the last twelve days she spent on earth in a seemingly unbroken agony, were the most jubilant of her life. The dark clouds of life were disappearing, and the silver lining of the other side was brightening the death-chamber of the dying saint. Yes, Margaret Bourgeois, the great and the lowly, the victor and the victim, literally thrilled with joy at the summons of the Eternal, and answered, "I come." On the morning of the twelfth day of her last illness, she received the holy Viaticum with unspeakable devotion, and immediately fell into a gentle agony, which lasted exactly three hours, corresponding to her Divine Redeemer's agony on the cross, then having modestly folded her hands on her bosom, she calmly surrendered her beautiful soul into the hands of its Creator, in the eightieth year of her age, January 12, 1700. She had no sooner breathed her last sigh, than her face, which had long appeared care-worn and harrowed, as much by the mental sorrows she so long and bravely endured, as by the excessive pains of her last illness, began to beam with a celestial brightness, which undoubtedly announced the beatitude her soul was enjoying. Sister St. Ange, for whom the Foundress had offered her life, and who was then in perfect health, on witnessing the extraordinary prodigy, took the name of Sister of the Blessed Sacrament, which had been the community appellation of Sister Bourgeois during life.