St. Julie Billiart
Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Julie was born during the year 1751 in Cuvilly, France. St. Julie’s family was a family who happened to be wealthy farmers. When St. Julie Billiart was young she showed a huge desire for helping the poor and vulnerable and St. Julie was also very interested in religion.
When St. Julie was young she enjoyed to play school and she enjoyed spending time with other children. When St. Julie’s family had lost their money, St. Julie had to start working so that she could support her family. Therefore at the young age of 16, St. Julie started to teach so that she could support her family. St. Julie would also spend her spare time teaching the catechism and she would tell parables to many young people including her students and to other farmers. St. Julie felt the calling to make teaching her mission for the rest of her life.
Growing up St. Julie was the fifth child of seven. St. Julie received her educated by attending a very tiny one room school in Cuvilly, France. St. Julie was a very hard worker. St. Julie enjoyed all of her studies, St. Julie’s favorite subject was religion which was taught to her by a priest. The priest always knew that St. Julie was a special person and at an early age which at the time was 9 years old, he gave St. Julie her first communion. St. Julie was able to receive her communion 4 years early. Over time St. Julie’s thirst and love for the Eucharist grew larger and this helped her to follow God’s calling for her.
When St. Julie was around the age of 30, she contracted a very mysterious illness. After St. Julie had witnessed an assassination attempt on her father she shocked her nervous system so bad, that she became paralyzed and severely ill. For the next two decades of her life she continued to offer up the pain so that other people could get better and she continued to teach catechism lessons from her bed. St. Julie would also give spiritual advice to other people and had many people would visit her after they heard about her holiness.
During the year 1789, the French Revolution had broken out. Therefore St. Julie offered her house as a place for loyal priest to hide in. However, revolutionary forces eventually heard about her allegiance to fugitive priests and for these reasons St. Julie became a target. Eventually with the help from her friends, St. Julie left Cuvilly, France in a haycart.
St. Julie was brought to Compiegne, France where she spent several years moving from house to house so that she could hide. St. Julie suffered greatly during this time and her physical pain kept growing stronger but she kept moving so that she could hide. St. Julie is also said to have lost her ability to speak for a bit of time during this period.
However this period may have been hard for St. Julie but it was also a very beautiful and fruitful time for her. During this time St. Julie had a vision of Calvary and she saw Jesus who had just been crucified surrounded by women in religious habits and she heard a voice say “Behold these spiritual daughters whom I give you in an institute marked by the cross.” This vision she had was a sign that she would create an institute for the Christian education for young girls. Eventually this did come true and St. Julie with the help from a young lady founded the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
After a couple of months, St. Julie met an aristocratic woman named Françoise Blin de Bourdon who had a similar interest in teaching the faith as St. Julie did. During the year 1803 the two woman began the Institute of Notre Dame which was dedicated to the education of poor young Christian girls. During the following year the first Sisters of Notre Dame made their first vows. During that year St. Julie had actually recovered from her illness. St. Julie was finally able to walk after being unable to for 22 years.
St. Julie was someone who always cared for the needs of the poor and vulnerable. St. Julie was also aware that other classes of society needed to learn about the Christian faith in a kind and loving manner. Since the exact day St. Julie founded the Sisters of Notre Dame up to her death, St. Julie was constantly on the road and she opened a variety of schools in France and Belgium that were able to serve the poor, the wealthy, vocational groups and teachers.
St. Julie eventually moved to the house in Namur, Belgium and died their peacefully on April 6, 1816 at the age of 64. St. Julie was canonized by Pope Paul Vl during the year 1969. St. Julie’s feast day is celebrated on April 8th.
Prayer to St. Julie:
St. Julie please help us to be able to know the will of the lord and give us the strength and wisdom we need to be able to complete his will regardless of all the trials and temptations we may encounter. St. Julie help us to lead more people to Christ through our actions and help us to have the patience we need to preach the faith to other people even if they may put us down for our beliefs.
We ask this through Christ Our Lord and Mary Our Mother in Heaven
Amen
St. Julie pray for us
St. Joseph pray for us
May we continue to strengthen our journey to sainthood and keep others in our prayers.
Works cited:
Information (read from, not taken):
Catholic Online. “St. Julie Billiart.” St. Julie Billiart - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online. Accessed 8 April 2021.
Images:
St. Julie Billiart. April 8, 2021.
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