Saint Julie Billiart

"The good God will give you the grace and light to know what is right at the time."
- Saint Julie Billiart (1751 - 1816)

Today is the feast day of Saint Julie Billiart. Julie was born in Cuvilly, France, in 1751 to a well-to-do farming family. Julie was the fifth of seven children. As a little girl, Julie loved going to school and teaching others, and especially liked the religion lessons given by the parish priest. At the age of nine, she was secretly allowed to make her First Communion (most children received their First Communion at the age of thirteen back then). Around the age of thirty, Julie witnessed a murder attempt on her father which shocked her nerves and hurt her health. For thirty years, she had extremely poor health, and for twenty-two of these years she was paralyzed. Despite the fact that she was paralyzed, Julie continued to teach catechism lessons from her bed and give spiritual advice to those who came to see her. Many visitors also came because they had heard of her reputation for holiness. During the French Revolution, Julie allowed fugitive priests to hide in her house, but soon the government figured out what she was doing. Because of this, Julie had to be secretly smuggled out in a haycart by her friends and moved to Compeigne, where she spent several years of her life. This time was a rich spiritual period for Julie. It was during this time that she had a vision of Cavalry surrounded by women religious in habits that were different than she had ever seen and it was revealed to her that these would be her spiritual daughters. In 1803, Julie and a rich young woman, Françoise Blin de Bourdon, began the Sisters of Notre Dame, which was dedicated to the education of the poor as well as young Christian girls and the training of catechists. In 1804, the first Sisters of Notre Dame made their vows. Julie recovered from her illness this same year, and was able to walk for the first time in twenty-two years. For the rest of her life, Julie founded numerous schools in both France and Belgium that educated the poor, wealthy, vocational groups, and teachers. Julie died in 1816, and was canonized in 1969. 

Saint Julie Billiart, pray for us!

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Quote From, Picture Of, And Information About Saint Julie Taken From:

http://www.saintjulies.org/2010/08/saint-julie-billiart/

http://sfodan.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/

http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1347

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=297