The period of postulancy (derived from the Latin meaning "to ask") is a time for the postulant to become familiar with and to assimilate as her own the way of life and customs of our community. The young Sister is given the opportunity to learn the life and customs by sharing in the assignments and duties of the community. Under the guidance of those more experienced in the life, she is trained in the work of the sacristy and care of the chapel, the preparation and serving of community meals, the care and maintenance of the convent common spaces and grounds, and is lightly involved in the various external apostolates of the community, learning to do each for Jesus alone in the spirit of a Marian Sister.

 She also joins in the studies common to the house of formation - courses in philosophy, theology, various aspects of religious life and consecration, the spiritual life, prayer, the charism of the community, and St. Louis de Montfort's True Devotion, as well as courses in human formation. These studies combined with the living of the life allow the postulant to integrate the life practically as well as intellectually and to further discern God's will for her life.

We commend our postulant Sisters to the care of our Immaculate Mother, begging her to form in them a perfect image of her Divine Son and to obtain for them the grace of final perseverance in our way of life.

August 22, the octave day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, marks the Extraordinary Form feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. ​Speaking at Fatima in 1982, St. John Paul II makes these profound remarks concerning the love of Mary's Immaculate Heart:

In the Ordinary Form, the Queenship of Our Lady is celebrated on this day. Of this privilege of Mary, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes, 

On Entrance Day, after bidding farewell to their families, the Candidates approach the convent and knock on the door, asking to be admitted as aspirants to our way of life. They have walked a long journey of discernment, first the hearkening in their soul to Christ's call and then the mutual discernment with the community which seeks to determine God's will. The community has seen in the Candidate signs of the communal charism - the gift from God given for the service of the Church to both the Community and to the individual members for His glory and the salvation of souls - and indications of the ability to live the life. The Candidate has in turn seen that the life of the consecrated bride of Christ is beautiful and that our charism and way of life may be the place in which He wishes to fulfill the desires that He has placed in her heart, desires of belonging more fully to Him and of giving her whole self in His service.

Now is the opportunity to see how the well the aspirant and the life match: does she have the physical stamina necessary to live a life fully given? The intellectual maturity to join our '"pursuit of Truth by learning"? The emotional maturity to flourish in community life? 

We pray that each young woman who knocks on our door as an aspirant grows in her love of Christ Jesus and in her ability to perceive and receive His love in all the aspects of her life. We welcome each "little Sister" into our religious family with open hearts and loving prayers, recognizing that she may be our sister for life, according to God's Holy Will.

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