24 Facts About Julie Billiart

Julie Billiart, SNDdeN was a French Catholic nun, educator, and cofounder of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.

Julie Billiart was born in Cuvilly, a village in Picardy, in northern France.

Julie Billiart was paralyzed and bedridden for 22 years, but was well known for her prayer, her embroidery skills, and her education of both the poor and the nobility, especially her work with young girls.

Julie Billiart had to flee Cuvilly after the start of the French Revolution and escaped to Compiegne, where the stress she experienced resulted in another illness that took away her ability to speak, and where she received a vision foretelling that she would found a new religious congregation that would eventually become the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.

Julie Billiart was beatified on 13 May 1906 by Pope Pius X and canonized on 22 June 1969 by Pope Paul VI.

Julie Billiart's childhood was "remarkable;" she knew the catechism by heart by the age of seven, when she began teaching it to her friends.

Julie Billiart received a rudimentary education at the village school run by her uncle and received her First Communion, was confirmed, and took a vow of chastity when she was nine years old.

Julie Billiart knew that she wanted to enter the religious life by the time she was 14.

Julie Billiart was admired for her "beautiful embroidery and lace", which she sold in her family's store and donated to local churches and to the nearby Carmelite convent.

Julie Billiart found work as a farm worker and would teach her co-workers hymns, lecture about faith and virtue, and share Bible stories.

Julie Billiart was "held in such high esteem for her virtue and piety as to be commonly called, 'the saint of Cuvilly'".

In 1774, Julie Billiart witnessed the shooting of her father as they worked in the family store; the traumatic experience resulted in a "mysterious illness".

Julie Billiart spent her time making linens and laces for the altar, teaching both poor peasants from Cuvilly and noblewomen from Picardy, and preparing village children for their First Communion.

Julie Billiart had to hide from revolutionaries by hiding under a mound of straw in the bed of a wagon; a farmhand helped Billiart, her niece, and caregiver escape to Compiegne.

At first, de Bourdon was "repelled by Julie's disabilities and her garbled speech", but Billiart "immediately admired and enjoyed Francoise, who came with a character that was genuine, spiritual and strong".

Julie Billiart emphasized the spiritual formation and education of the sisters who taught in their schools and was "ably assisted" by de Bourdon, who was called "Sister St Joseph".

Between 1804 and 1816, Julie Billiart founded 15 convents, made 120 "long and toilsome" journeys, and "carried on a close correspondence with her spiritual daughters", hundreds of which were preserved in Namur.

In January 1816, Julie Billiart became ill, "and after three months of pain borne in silence and patience, she died with the Magnificat on her lips".

St Julie Billiart's predominating trait in the spiritual order was her ardent charity, springing from a lively faith and manifesting itself in her thirst for suffering and her zeal for souls.

The first miracle that supported Julie Billiart's rise to sainthood occurred on 20 November 1919, in Namur, when a man named Homer Rhodius was healed of renal disease after prayers to Julie Billiart and the use of a relic, provided by his daughter and a nun of the Namur branch of the Sisters of Notre Dame, Sister Marie-Ludovica.

The cause for Julie Billiart's canonization was formally opened on 23 July 1924.

In 1952, Mary Verona, an assistant mother general of the Coesfeld Sisters of Notre Dame, who was residing in Rome, was "well connected with the Church hierarchy", and involved in the decades-long effort to canonize Julie Billiart, read the account of the da Silva miracle in her congregation's newsletter.

The 1919 miracle had to be re-examined in 1967, but Julie Billiart was finally canonized by Pope Paul VI on 22 June 1969.

Julie Billiart is the patron saint of educators and teachers.