Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur

The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur are a Roman Catholic religious institute of religious sisters, dedicated to providing education to the poor.

The institute was founded in Amiens, France in 1804, but the opposition of the local bishop to missions outside his diocese led to the moving of headquarters to Namur, Belgium in 1809 (then occupied by Napoleon), from which it spread to become a worldwide organization. The Sisters now have foundations in five continents and in 20 countries.

Members of the order are identified by the post-nominal letters SNDdeN and is not to be confused with the School Sisters of Notre Dame (S.S.N.D.) of Bavarian origins.

Founded in 1804 by St. Julie Billiart and Marie-Louise-Françoise Blin de Bourdon, Countess of Gézaincourt, whose name as a Sister was Mother St. Joseph. Mlle Blin de Bourdon, who had received spiritual guidance from Julie for many years, offered to defray the immediate expenses of founding the Congregation.

At Amiens, August 5, 1803, they took a house in Rue Neuve. In the chapel of this house, at Mass on February 2, 1804, the two foundresses and their postulant, Catherine Duchatel of Reims, made or renewed their vow of chastity, to which they added that of devoting themselves to the Christian education of girls, further proposing to train religious teachers who should go wherever their services were requested. Victoire Leleu (Sister Anastasie) and Justine Garçon (Sister St. John) joined the institute this year and with the foundresses, made their vows of religion October 15, 1804. 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. St. Julie was successful and on the invitation of the missioners continued to assist them in the neighboring towns.

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