Saint Julie Billiart
| Saint Julie Billiart | |
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Saint Julie Billiart painted in 1830, by an unknown artist
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| Born |
12 July 1751 Cuvilly, Picardy, France |
| Died | 8 April 1816 (aged 64) Namur, Belgium |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 13 May 1906 by Pope Pius X |
| Canonized | 22 June 1969 by Pope Paul VI |
| Feast | 8 April |
| Patronage | against poverty; bodily ills; disease |
Saint Julie Billiart (12 July 1751 — 8 April 1816) was a French religious leader and Christian Saint, who founded, and was the first Superior General of, the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
She was born on 12 July 1751, at Cuvilly, Picardy, Beauvais, Oise, France, the sixth of seven children of Jean-François Billiart ` and Marie-Louise-Antoinette (née Debraine). By the age of seven, she knew the catechism by heart, and used to gather her companions around her to hear her recite it and to explain it to them. Her education was confined to the rudiments obtained at the village school kept by her uncle, Thibault Guilbiert. In spiritual things her progress was so rapid that the parish priest, Father Dangicourt, allowed her to make her First Communion and to be confirmed aged 9. She took a vow of chastity five years later.
She was held in very high esteem for her virtue and piety, and was commonly called, "the saint of Cuvilly". When twenty-two years old, a nervous shock, brought about by a pistol-shot fired at her father by an unknown enemy, brought on a paralysis of the lower limbs. Within a few years she was confined to her bed, and remained incapacitated for 22 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 Billiart took refuge with Countess Baudoin during the French Revolution, she met Françoise, Viscountess of Gizaincourt, who became her co-laborer in the work as yet unknown to either of them. The Viscountess Blin de Bourdon was 38 years old when she met Julie, 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 small company of friends of the viscountess (young and high-born ladies) was formed around the couch of "the saint". Billiart taught them how to lead an interior life, while they devoted themselves generously to the causes of God and the poor. Though they attempted all the exercises of an active community life, some of the elements of stability were wanting, and these first disciples dropped off until only the Viscountess remained.
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