The Life of Blessed Julie Billiard, Foundress of the Institute of Sisters of Notre Dame

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In view of the extension of the institute, he would have it governed by a superior-general, charged with visiting the houses, nominating the local superiors, corresponding with the members dispersed in the different convents , and assigning the revenues of the society.

Institute of Notre-Dame de Namur

The characteristic devotions of the Sisters of Notre Dame were established by the foundress from the beginning. She was original in doing away with the time-honored distinction between religious sisters and lay sisters , but this perfect equality of rank did not 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, and in this she was ably assisted by Mother St. When the congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame was approved by an imperial decree dated 19 July , it numbered 30 members, In that and the following years, foundations were made in various towns of France and Belgium , the most important being those at Ghent and Namur ; Mother St. Joseph was the first superior of the latter house. He so far influenced the Bishop, Msgr. Demandolx, that Mother Julie had soon no alternative but to leave the Diocese of Amiens, relying upon the goodwill of Msgr.

Pisani de la Gaude, bishop of Namur , who had invited her to make his episcopal city the center of her congregation, should a change become necessary. 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 , the convent of Namur became the motherhouse of the institute and is so still.

Demandolx, soon undeceived, made all the amends in his power, entreating Mother Julie to return to Amiens and rebuild her institute. She returned, but after a vain struggle to find subjects or revenues, went back to Namur. The ten years of life that remained to her were spent in forming her daughters to solid piety and the interior spirit, of which she was herself the model. De Broglie, the bishop of Ghent , said of her that she saved more souls by her inner life of union with God than by her outward apostolate.

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In the space of twelve years — Mother Julie founded fifteen convents, made one hundred and twenty journeys, many of them long and toilsome, and carried on a close correspondence with her spiritual daughters. Hundreds of these letters are preserved in the motherhouse.

Her whole soul was echoed in the simple and naove formula which was continually on her lips and pen: She possessed all the qualities of a perfect superior, and inspired her subjects with filial confidence and tender affection. Tuesday, April 8, St. Foundress, and first superior-general of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame of Namur, born 12 July, , at Cuvilly, a village of Picardy, in the Diocese of Beauvais and the Department of Oise, France; died 8 April, , at the motherhouse of her institute, Namur, Belgium.

The childhood of Julie was remarkable; 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. Her education was confined to the rudiments obtained at the village school which was kept by her uncle, Thibault Guilbert. In spiritual things her progress was so rapid that the parish priest, M.

Dangicourt, allowed her to make her First Communion and to be confirmed at the age of nine years. At this time she made a vow of chastity. Misfortunes overtook the Billiart family when Julie was sixteen, and she gave herself generously to the aid of her parents, working in the fields with the reapers. 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, and thus she remained for twenty-two years.

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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 alter and in catechizing the village children whom she gathered around her bed, giving special attention to those who were preparing for their First Communion. Posted by Robert Ritchie at Newer Post Older Post Home. John joined the institute this year and with the foundresses, made their vows of religion 15 October, The Fathers of the Faith who were giving missions in Amiens sent to the five sisters women and girls to be prepared for the sacraments.

Julie was successful and on the invitation of the missioners continued to assist them in the neighboring towns. Returning to Amiens , the foundress devoted herself to the formation of her little community. She taught the young sisters the ways of the spiritual life. To attain the double end of the institute, the foundress first secured teachers, among whom were Fathers Varin, Enfantin and Thomas, the last-named a former professor in the Sorbonne , and Mother St.

Joseph Blin, to train the novices and sisters.

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The first regular schools of the Sisters of Notre-Dame were opened in August, Pupils flocked into the class-rooms at once. The urgent need of Christian education among all classes of society in France at that time, led the foundresses to modify their original plan of teaching only the poor and to open schools for the children of the rich also. Simplicity, largeness of mind, and freedom from little feminine weaknesses, marked the training given to the higher classes. But the poorest and most forsaken were ever to remain the cherished portion of the institute, and the unwritten law that there may be in every mission free schools without pay schools , but not pay schools without free schools , still remains in force.

Mother Julie did not require her postulants to bring a dowry, but a modest pension for the years of probation; a sound judgment, good health, aptitude for the work of the congregation, a fair education ; these, with unblemished reputation, good morals , and an inclination to piety , were the qualifications she deemed indispensable. Within two years forty postulants were received.

Billiart, Julie Saint 1751-1816

The community lived under a provisional rule, based upon that of St. The necessary recognition was accorded on 10 March Though time and experience brought additions to those first constitutions, none of the fundamental articles have been changed: It was for these points that the Blessed Foundress labored and suffered, as the substance of the constitutions, solemnly approved by Gregory XVI in , shows.

The first branch house was established at St. At the departure of these five missionaries, 15 December, , the religious habit was assumed by the congregation, a private, religious ceremony , still unchanged. The taking of vows is also private, but takes place during Mass. Nicholas as well as Mother Julie's five other foundations in France , were all temporary.

Sister Jean

Later and permanent foundations were made in Belgium: Namur, , which became the mother-house in ; Jumet, ; St. Joseph Blin de Bourdon, the co-foundress, was elected superior-general in succession to Blessed Mother Julie.

During her generalate the institute passed through the most critical period of its existence, owing to the persecutions of religious orders by William of Orange-Nassau, King of the Netherlands. To compel them to remain in statu quo, to hold diplomas obtained only after rigid examinations in Dutch and French by state officials, to furnish almost endless accounts and writings regarding convents , schools , finances, and subjects, were some of the measures adopted to harass and destroy all teaching orders; but Mother St. Joseph's tact, clear-sightedness, and zeal for souls saved the institute.

During his tour in , King William visited the establishment at Namur and was so pleased that he created the mother-general a Dutch subject. The Revolution of and the assumption of the crown of Belgium by Leopold of Saxe-Gotha put an end to the petty persecutions of religious.

Jacques, ; Verviers, ; Hospital d'Harscamp and Bastogne, , the latter having been for the past thirty years a state normal school ; Philippeville, The most important work of her generalate was the compiling and collating of the present Rules and Constitution of the Sisters of Notre Dame. She has left an explanation of the rule; the particular rule of each office; the Directory and Customs. She had preserved a faithful record of all that Mother Julie had said or written on these points; hence the will of the foundress is carried out in the smallest details of daily life, and the communities are alike everywhere.

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