postulant

noun

1. A person seeking admission to a religious order.

   “After their six-month postulancies are over and they have mastered all the chants and books of monastic regulations, the postulants are finally ready to ordain as novice monks […]”

2. A person who submits a petition for something; a petitioner.

   “But when the three postulants returned with Sabine it was clear that the results had been far from satisfactory, perhaps because of the massive potations of the old lady.”