Saint Julie Billiart,
the Spiritual Mother of
the Sisters of Notre Dame
her niece Felicitè. She also helped the
chased priests. In a safe situation, St. Ju-
lie still taught people who come to her
room to get to know God’s goodness.
She finally got acquainted with a noble
lady named Francoise Blin de Bourdon.
St. Jullie Billiart
1751-1816
One of the saints who became an
important part in the history and
spirituality of the Sisters of Notre
Dame is St. Julie Billiart. She was
a saint in the 18th century who
founded the Congregation of the
Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
As a smiling saint, St. Julie is gifted
with a unique talent that always
sees God’s goodness in all situa-
tions of her life. Therefore the slo-
gan, “How good is the good God”
or in French “Ah, qui lest bon Lieu
Bon Dieu” always flows from her
mouth. The spirit saint Julie is also
lived by the Sisters of SND by
seeing, experiencing and sharing
God’s goodness in life and ministry.
How is the history of Santa Julie
Billiart in the lives of the Sisters of
Notre Dame? Here is the story.
Santa Julie Billiart was born in Cuvilly,
France on July 12, 1751. Since childhood
St. Julie has enjoyed teaching catechisms
or about Catholic faith and always
invites the children to her teaching on
the good God. She always sees God’s
goodness in the joys and sorrows of
her life. The most obvious thing was her
paralysis for 22 years because of the
traumatic event of the attack to her
father by robbers who were about to
pick up merchandise in their little shop.
During her paralysis, St. Julie was still
eager to teach catechisms to people
and even do heroic things. At the time
of French revolution there was a lot
of pursuit of priests who opposed
the government so they had to find a
hiding place. St. Julie was being chased
and must be rushed in a hay cart by
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Notre Dame | Juli-September 2017
Later St. Julie got a vision that she will
set up a congregation marked with a
cross. In 1804 she founded the Con-
gregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame
de Namur. She was still paralyzed when
she founded the congregation. Through-
out her life she remained crucified in
the difficulties of both physical suffering,
misunderstandings of the aut hority
of the church which made her to be
expelled from the diocese, unsafe
circumstances and other sufferings. Yet
it is remarkable that St. Julie always says
God is good in every suffering. St. Julie
also experienced the greatest miracle in
her life that she could walk again after
doing the novena to the Sacred Heart
of Jesus. With her recovery she became
more eager to spread the goodness of
God.
St. Julie founded 15 branches of the
convents during her lifetime and has
now grown and spread throughout the
world. She inherited her spirit to the
sisters who minister mostly in educa-
tion, especially for women. It is record-
ed in the heritage center of SNDN in
Namur that she traveled more than 120
The tombstone of St.Julie’s reliquary in
Namur, Bellgium
times. She died in Namur on April 8,
1816 and her mission was continued by
her friend Francoise who became Sister
St. Josep. In the subsequent journey of
this congregation, another Congrega-
tion was formed named Sisters of No-
tre Dame de Amersfoort in the Neth-
erlands which in Ind