08 April - Born on 12 July 1751, in Cuvilly, a village north of Compiègne (France), Julie is the sixth of Jean-François Billiart and Marie Debraine's seven children. At the age of seven, she knew her catechism by heart and took pleasure in gathering other children around her to have them recite it.
For the rest, her education was limited to basic literacy skills acquired at the village school run by her uncle, Thibault Guilbert. But in spiritual matters she shows such devotion and maturity that the parish priest, Father Dangicourt, does not hesitate to allow her to make her first communion and receive confirmation at the age of 9. She made a private vow of chastity five years later.
At the age of twenty-three (1774) Julie Billiart suffered a severe nervous shock, caused by a pistol shot at her father by an unknown enemy. This resulted in a serious illness that she bravely endured. Eight years later (1782), another physical ordeal. Julie is the victim of an epidemic. Badly treated by the village doctor, she remains paralysed in her lower limbs.
In the years that followed, she remained confined to her bed and was partially incapacitated for 22 years. She received Holy Communion every day and was able to give free rein to her inclination for prayer: she spent several hours a day there. However, never closed in on herself, she served the parish church by making altar linens. Above all, she continues the catechism of the children of the village at home, which she gathers around her bed, paying particular attention to those who are preparing for their First Communion.
In Amiens, where she took refuge with Countess Baudoin during the revolutionary period, a small group formed around her, including Françoise de Gizaincourt and Françoise Blin de Bourdon (38 years old) who had narrowly escaped the Terror as well as others. They met in the room of the disabled 'saint' who formed them into a deeper interior life in the service of God and the poor. Some religious exercises of community life are also practiced. But this group will not come together. Only Françoise Blin de Bourdon will remain with Julie Billiart.
In 1803, following the indications of her spiritual guide Father Joseph Varin, superior of the "Fathers of the Faith", she proposed to the bishop of Amiens the foundation of an institute which would be called "Sisters of Notre-Dame", having as its main object the salvation of poor children. The statutes were drawn up with the help of Father Varin. Several young people with the same ideal offered themselves to assist the two foundresses Julie and Françoise. In addition, eight orphans were received.
On the feast of the Sacred Heart, June 1, 1804, following a novena made in obedience to her confessor Father Varin, Julie Billiart was cured of her infirmity. A few months later, on October 15, 1804, four of them took their first vows of religion in the new religious institute: Julie Billiart, Françoise Blin de Bourdon, Justine Garson and Victoire Leleu. Their work will be the education of young girls, and the training of Christian teachers.
A provisional rule (for a trial period) is provided to them by Father Joseph Varin. It is so clear-sighted and open-minded that for the most part it has not undergone any major modification during the two centuries of the Institute's existence. It is inspired by the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus. The government is assured by a Superior General who regularly visits each house and appoints the local leaders, while corresponding directly, when necessary, with the dispersed members. There is no age-old distinction (very 'Ancien Régime') between 'choir sisters' and 'converse sisters'. This equality of rank allows each religious to receive work adapted to her formation and abilities. Great importance is given to the formation of sisters destined for schools, which is greatly helped by Françoise Blin de Bourdon (now 'Mother Saint Joseph') who herself had received an excellent education.
When the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre-Dame received official imperial approval (June 19, 1806) it had about thirty members. Foundations were made in several cities in France, as well as in Ghent and Namur, Belgium. Mother Saint Joseph was the first superior of the house in Namur.
The last seven years of her life were spent consolidating the young congregation, forming her daughters in solid piety and an intense interior life, of which she herself was the model. Maurice de Broglie, Bishop of Ghent, will say of Julie Billiart that she saved more souls through her interior life of intense union with God than through her apostolic activity.
In the space of twelve years (from 1804 to 1816) Mother Julie Billiart founded 15 convents and, as Superior General, made more than a hundred trips to visit them regularly - often under difficult conditions of transport - and maintained a regular correspondence with her spiritual daughters. Hundreds of these letters are kept in the archives of the Mother House.
In 1815, Belgium was the battlefield of the Napoleonic Wars, which gave the Superior General a great deal of anxiety because several of her convents were on the army's roads, but they emerged from the turmoil without major damage.
In January 1816, Julie Billiart fell ill. Three months later, on April 8, 1816, she died in the convent of Namur, which she had founded several years earlier. Her body rests there in the chapel. She was 65 years old.
