care to punish herself severely in after life, being remarkable for the
simplicity and modesty of her attire, even before she became a
religeuse. Her beautiful and well-concealed spirit of mortification made
her correspond faithfully to the motions of grace which Divine
Providence infused into her soul, and by which she was to become so
intimately united to God. As He always makes an instrument of His
Blessed Mother to bestow such graces on His elect, it was by devotion to
Mary that He attached Margaret Bourgeois irrevocably to His service. She
had always been a devoted client of the Blessed Virgin, and the singular
favor she received, that will now be related, was probably not the first
vouchsafed her by the Queen of Heaven. The circumstances under which she
received it prove that she was a member of the Rosary Society, which was
then effecting such wonders in the spiritual life of Christendom.

On the first Sunday of October, 1640--the Feast of the Holy Rosary--the
Dominicans held grand processions in honor of Mary, and celebrated the
feast with all possible splendor. Margaret Bourgeois, being then twenty
years old, came with many others to assist at the procession, which was
to take place within the monastery enclosure. The public were allowed on
such occasions to join in the ceremony, but by a particular dispensation
of Providence, the crowd was so great this year that the procession was
obliged to pass along a public route, and file off before the church of
Notre Dame-the cathedral of Troyes. There was a very fine marble statue
of the Blessed Virgin placed on a pedestal in the porch of the church,
and as Margaret turned reverently to gaze upon it, it shone brilliantly
with supernatural light--the face of the Virgin beaming with an
extraordinary life-like beauty. She had often seen the statue before,
but never as now, and, like St. Paul, was almost blinded by the dazzling
vision. To the last day of her life she felt her heart moved to its
inmost depths when she recalled this celestial favor.