St. Julie Billiart
The foundress and first superior-general of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, was born in 1751, at Cuvilly, a village of Picardy in France; she died on the 8th of April, 1816, at the motherhouse of her institute, Namur, Belgium.
She was the sixth of seven children. Her childhood was remarkable. Although her education was confined to the rudiments obtained at the village school, which was kept by her uncle, at the age of seven, she knew the catechism by heart, and used to gather her little companions around her to hear them recite it and to explain it to them. In spiritual things her progress was so rapid that the parish priest allowed her to make her First Communion and to be confirmed at the age of nine. At this time she made a vow of chastity.
When twenty-two years old, a nervous shock, occasioned by a pistol-shot fired at her father by some unknown enemy, brought on a paralysis of the lower limbs, which in a few years confined her to her bed a helpless cripple; thus she remained for twenty-two years. During this time, when she received Holy Communion daily, Julie exercised an uncommon gift of prayer, spending four or five hours a day in contemplation. The rest of her time was occupied in making linens and laces for the altar and in catechizing the village children whom she gathered around her bed, giving special attention to those who were preparing for their First Communion.
At Amiens, where Julie Billiart had been compelled to take refuge during the French Revolution, she met Françoise Blin de Bourdon, Viscountess of Gizaincourt, who was destined to be her co-laborer. The Viscountess was thirty-eight years old at the time of their meeting and had spent her youth in piety and good works. She had been imprisoned with all of her family during the Reign of Terror, and had escaped death only by the fall of Robespierre. A little company of young, high-born ladies, friends of the Viscountess, formed around the couch of "the saint". Julie taught them how to lead the interior life, while they devoted themselves generously to the cause of God and His poor. However, these first disciples dropped off until none was left but Françoise Blin.
Under the auspices of the Bishop of Amiens, the foundation was laid of the Institute of the Sisters of Notre Dame, a society which had for its primary object the salvation of poor children. Several young persons offered themselves to assist the two superiors. The first pupils were eight orphans.
On the feast of the Sacred Heart, 1 June, 1804, Mother Julie was cured of paralysis. The first vows of religion were made on 15 October, 1804 by Julie Billiart, Françoise Blin de Bourdon, Victoire Leleu, and Justine Garson. The foundress was original in doing away with the time-honored distinction between choir sisters and lay sisters, but this perfect equality of rank did not in any way prevent her from putting each sister to the work for which her capacity and education fitted her. She attached great importance to the formation of the sisters destined for the schools.
When the congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame was approved by an imperial decree dated 19 June, 1806, it numbered thirty members. In the following years, foundations were made in various towns of France and Belgium, the most important being those at Ghent and Namur. This spread of the institute beyond the Diocese of Amiens caused Julie the greatest sorrow of her life. The Abbé de Sambucy de St. Estève endeavored to change the rule and constitutions of the new congregation so as to bring it into harmony with the ancient monastic orders. He influenced the bishop so that Mother Julie had no alternative but to leave the Diocese of Amiens, relying upon the goodwill of the bishop of Namur, who had invited her to make his episcopal city the center of her congregation.
In leaving Amiens, Mother Julie laid the case before all her subjects and told them they were perfectly free to remain or to follow her. All but two chose to go with her, and thus, in the mid-winter of 1809, the convent of Namur became the motherhouse of the institute and is so still. In the space of twelve years (1804 - 1816) Mother Julie founded fifteen convents, made one hundred and twenty journeys, and carried on a close correspondence with her spiritual daughters. Hundreds of these letters are preserved in the motherhouse.
In January, 1816, she was taken ill, and after three months of pain borne in silence and patience, she died with the Magnificat on her lips. The fame of her sanctity spread abroad and was confirmed by several miracles. She was canonized in 1969 by Pope Paul VI. St. Julie's predominating trait in the spiritual order was her ardent charity, springing from a lively faith. Her whole soul was echoed in the simple formula, which was continually on her lips and pen: "Oh, qu'il est bon, le bon Dieu" (How good God is).