Sainte Julie Billiart
Fondatrice de l'Institut
des Sœurs de Notre-Dame (+ 1816)
A 7 ans, elle
transmettait déjà le catéchisme à ses camarades.
A 16 ans, elle
travaillait aux champs pour venir en aide à ses parents.
Paralysée à 22 ans, elle
fonda, malgré cela, la Congrégation des Sœurs de Notre-Dame pour l'enseignement
et l'éducation des jeunes filles pauvres. Des difficultés avec les autorités
diocésaines l'obligèrent à transférer sa communauté d'Amiens à Namur.
"Julie Billiart est
née le 12 juillet 1751 au bourg de Cuvilly près de Compiègne dans le diocèse de
Beauvais, de parents modestes. Très pieuse dès son plus jeune âge, elle est
admise à la première communion à l'âge de neuf ans.
Miraculeusement guérie
d'une paralysie l'ayant clouée au lit durant de longues années, elle fonde la
congrégation des Sœurs de Notre-Dame en 1804, dont le but principal est
l'enseignement et l'éducation chrétienne des jeunes filles pauvres.
En 1809, des difficultés
l'obligent à transférer sa communauté d'Amiens à Namur où elle décède au milieu
des sœurs le 8 avril 1816."
Site
de l'Église catholique en Oise.
À Namur en Belgique, l’an
1816, sainte Julie Billiart, vierge, qui suscita l’Institut des Sœurs de
Notre-Dame, pour l’éducation chrétienne des jeunes filles et propagea beaucoup
la dévotion au Sacré-Cœur de Jésus.
Martyrologe romain
Sa devise:
"Une grande foi,
vivre un amour sans borne, une simplicité d'enfant".
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/934/Sainte-Julie-Billiart.html
Sainte Julie Billiart
s’adresse au 21e siècle
par Soeur. Anne
Stevenson, SNDdeN et text traduit par Soeur Marie-Rose Lepers, SNDdeN
Qui est sainte Julie
Billiart?
Les Sœurs de Notre Dame
de Namur considèrent leur fondatrice, sainte Julie Billiart, comme «une sainte
pour notre temps» et en tous temps! Elle vit aujourd’hui dans l’esprit et le
cœur de nombre de femmes, d’hommes et d’enfants du monde entier! C’est sûrement
une femme de notre époque moderne qui a fait preuve de courage par l’action, en
transformant les différences et les inégalités de son temps grâce au ministère
de l’éducation!
Quelle est son histoire?
Dans le petit village de
Cuvilly, au nord de Paris, en France, Marie-Rose Julie Billiart, née le 12
juillet 1751, est la septième des neuf enfants de Jean-François Billiart et
Marie-Louise Antoinette Debraine. La plupart de ses frères et sœurs décèderont
dans la petite enfance et l’adolescence. Élevée par de solides parents
chrétiens, sa sœur aînée, Madeleine et son frère cadet, Louis-François, se
marieront et nourriront de bonnes familles chrétiennes. Marie-Rose Julie, même
enfant, entend un appel dans les chuchotements de Dieu en elle, et elle partage
ses croyances et son profond amour de Dieu en enseignant à d’autres enfants du
village. Bien qu’elle soit une enfant ordinaire à bien des égards, la marque de
la croix est un signe distinctif de sa grandeur spirituelle intérieure. La
souffrance l’accompagne souvent : dans les deuils familiaux, avec le vol
dans la boutique de son père et sa maladie nerveuse provoquée par un attentat
contre son père (1774). Un traitement médical inadéquat en 1782 entraîne la
paralysie de ses jambes.
Amies de Julie
Au début de son âge
adulte, de nombreuses femmes de la région de Picardie reconnaissent les dons
spirituels de Julie et viennent souvent chercher ses idées et son inspiration,
autour de son lit! Elles deviennent ses amies en ces temps révolutionnaires troublés.
Plus tard, Julie reconnaîtra l’appel de Dieu dans ses souffrances et ses
amitiés, ainsi que dans les signes de son temps, dans son pays dévasté par les
bouleversements politiques et religieux, la violence et l’ignorance. Quand la
Révolution française éclate en 1789, des restrictions sont imposées par la
Constitution civile du clergé, obligeant les prêtres à prêter serment au
gouvernement et non à l’Église. Les prêtres refusant de le faire sont
considérés comme ‘non jureurs’ et les autorités les pourchassent. L’abbé
Dangicourt, curé de Julie, est l’un de ces prêtres recherchés par les
révolutionnaires et protégés secrètement par Julie. Les amies de Julie, qui
appartiennent à la noblesse, aident ces prêtres et Julie. Pendant environ un
an, Julie et sa nièce Félicité résident au château de Madame de Pont-l’Abbé à
Gournay-sur-Aronde. En 1792, lorsque les révolutionnaires encerclent le
château, Julie et sa nièce s’enfuient dans une charrette de foin à Compiègne où
elle souffre aussi de la perte de la parole. Pendant son séjour à Compiègne,
Julie ressent plus d’anxiété et de peur dans cette ville déchristianisée,
occupée par de nombreuses troupes, et à cause de la dispersion de ses amies,
les Carmélites, chassées de leur couvent. Seize d’entre elles seront plus tard
guillotinées à Paris!
Vision et relations
Pourtant, c’est aussi
quelque part à Compiègne que Julie a une vision de femmes autour d’une croix et
qu’elle entend un appel de Dieu pour une future congrégation religieuse. Elle
entend ces paroles: «Ce sont les filles que je vous donne dans l’Institut
qui sera marqué de ma croix.» Elle conserve cette expérience comme guide
pour son avenir. En octobre 1794, elle se rend à Amiens avec Félicité, à la
demande d’une autre amie, Mme la comtesse Baudoin dont le père et le mari ont
été guillotinés par les révolutionnaires.
Madame Baudoin croit
qu’une Julie estropiée l’aidera à vivre avec ses terribles souffrances et ses
deuils. Elle loue à l’hôtel Blin de Bourdon à Amiens un appartement pour elle
et ses trois filles et une chambre pour Julie. Dans cette chambre, propriété de
la famille Blin de Bourdon, une amitié longue, durable et significative avec la
vicomtesse Françoise Blin de Bourdon s’ébauche. Madame Baudoin suggère à
Françoise de rendre visite à Julie. Au début, Françoise éprouve de la
répugnance envers Julie paralysée et sa difficulté à parler. Pourtant, elle continue
à rendre visite à Julie et découvre la profondeur et la spiritualité
authentique de cette femme souffrante. Avec le temps, en 1794-1795, Françoise
commence à réaliser l’appel que Dieu lui adresse dans cette amitié, pour
l’Évangile et finalement pour l’Église. À cette même époque, Madame Baudoin
rencontre l’abbé Thomas, qui exerce en cachette son ministère à Amiens. Il
commence à visiter Julie avec un soutien spirituel et l’Eucharistie à l’Hôtel
Blin. Françoise, de juillet 1795 à mars 1797, passe du temps à régler la
succession de sa grand-mère (baronne de Fouquesolles) à Gézaincourt et à
prendre soin de son père malade à Bourdon jusqu’à sa mort. La correspondance
écrite entre Julie et Françoise témoigne de leur lien d’amitié, renforcé au
cours de ces années.
l’histoire
de Françoise Blin de Bourdon.
Création d’une
congrégation de religieuses: la mission prend racine
En 1797, un nouveau règne
de terreur éclate contre la noblesse et les prêtres qui refusent l’allégeance à
la Constitution civile. L’abbé Thomas vient d’échapper à l’attaquant en 1799.
Julie, Félicité, Françoise et l’abbé Thomas s’enfuient d’Amiens vers un château
à Bettencourt jusqu’à leur retour à Amiens en février 1803. C’est à Bettencourt
que Julie rencontre le père Varin, supérieur des Pères de la Foi, lors de sa
visite à l’abbé Thomas. C’est aussi à Bettencourt que l’appel de Julie à
Compiègne commence à s’enraciner dans son enseignement de la foi aux jeunes et
la confirmation de sa mission par le Père Varin et d’autres. La petite
communauté s’installe dans une petite résidence de la rue Puits-à-Brandil en
février puis, le 5 août 1803, dans un espace plus grand de la rue Neuve à
Amiens. Le père Varin confie le soin de quelques orphelines à Julie et il lui
demande de trouver des jeunes femmes qui prendraient soin d’elles sans aucune
attention à la naissance ou à la fortune. Le 2 février 1804, trois femmes,
Julie Billiart, Françoise Blin de Bourdon et Catherine Duchâtel s’engagent
envers Dieu par un vœu de chasteté et promettent de se consacrer à l’éducation
des jeunes filles. Ce fut le jour de la fondation des Sœurs de Notre-Dame à
Amiens, en France!
(Le coup d’État de
Napoléon en 1799 marque la fin de la Révolution française. Le Concordat de 1801
donne enfin la liberté à l’Église!)
Guérison de Julie, la
mission progresse
Après 22 ans comme
estropiée, Julie retrouve miraculeusement sa capacité de marcher alors qu’elle
fait, ignorant l’intention spécifique, une neuvaine au Sacré-Cœur de Jésus fin
mai 1804. Le cinquième jour, le 1er juin 1804, le père Enfantin lui ordonne de
se lever et de faire des pas en l’honneur du Sacré-Cœur de Jésus. Il demande à
Julie de ne le dire à personne pour le moment. Quelques jours plus tard, rue
Neuve, ses sœurs et les enfants la voient descendre les escaliers. Après sa
cure, elle accompagne les Pères pour une mission réussie à
Saint-Valery-sur-Somme et Abbeville!
Julie fait l’expérience
d’une autre vision à Amiens le 2 février 1806 quand elle voit ses sœurs comme
une «lumière de révélation» traversant les mers vers d’autres parties du globe!
Au cours des années suivantes, Julie parcourt de nombreuses routes en France et
en Belgique, en fondant des communautés de ses sœurs et des écoles pour les
filles privées d’éducation à l’époque. La croix continue de marquer sa vie: à
Amiens, l’abbé de Sambucy n’approuve pas les voyages et les fondations de Julie
et il influence Mgr Demandolx contre elle. En 1809, les sœurs quittent Amiens
en France pour Namur en Belgique, où leur maison existe depuis 1807: Mgr Pisani
les accueille; la congrégation devient les Sœurs de Notre-Dame de Namur. En
1812, Mgr Demandolx se rend compte de son erreur et rappelle Julie à Amiens,
mais elle ne réussit pas à maintenir les maisons en France. En Belgique, Julie
crée des écoles pour préparer les enfants pauvres à leurs devoirs dans la vie.
Elle considère l’éducation pour tous comme un droit humain fondamental et
l’enseignement comme «la plus grande œuvre sur terre». Elle apporte
la bonne Nouvelle et l’espérance dans la bonté de Dieu à une
génération déprimée et démunie, en préparant les enfants vulnérables à leurs
devoirs dans la vie, alors que les enfants crient pour leur survie. Certains
prêtres et certaines sœurs soupçonnent Julie d’être infidèle à l’Église.
Julie est décédée le 8
avril 1816. Elle n’a pas vécu pour aller au-delà de l’Europe continentale mais
sa congrégation religieuse sert aujourd’hui dans divers ministères, avec une
priorité pour l’éducation, dans 16 pays sur les cinq continents.
Le 22 juin 1969,
l’Église a reconnu la sainteté de Julie Billiart, fondatrice de la
congrégation des Sœurs de Notre-Dame de Namur, dans une célébration liturgique
de sa canonisation au Vatican à Rome. Le pape Paul VI a déclaré au monde entier
la sainteté de vie de Julie et son héritage de faire connaître la bonté de
Dieu, donné à notre congrégation religieuse apostolique et à d’autres qui la
revendiquent comme fondatrice dans notre mission. Les sœurs, les associé.e.s,
les volontaires pour la mission, les ancien.ne.s élèves, les administrateurs,
les professeurs, les étudiant.e.s, le personnel de toutes nos écoles, collèges,
universités, hôpitaux, cliniques, centres, paroisses et agences sociales
célèbrent la sainteté de Julie.
L’héritage de sainte
Julie
C’était une femme de
l’ère moderne qui a pris courage par l’action pour affronter,
par le ministère de l’éducation, les inégalités de son temps. Elle a reconnu la
nécessité des droits humains fondamentaux à la vie, à la liberté et à l’égalité
des personnes, proclamés au lendemain de la Révolution française. Elle démontre
la puissance et la présence d’un Dieu aimant et attentionné, en sa personne et
chez les femmes qui l’ont suivie comme sœurs. Julie a envoyé ses sœurs
rejoindre les gens «dans les lieux les plus abandonnés», leur donner des outils
pour la vie, changer des vies, démanteler des systèmes injustes et réduire la
pauvreté grâce à l’éducation. Le charisme de sainte Julie s’exprime dans
ses mots: « Ah! Qu’il est bon le bon Dieu. » Elle parle à
travers ses sœurs à une autre génération au 21e siècle!
12 juillet 1751
Naissance et baptême de Marie-Rose Julie Billiart
2 février 1804
Voeux de Julie Billiart, Françoise Blin de Bourdon, Catherine Duchâtel comme
premières sœurs de Notre Dame
8 avril 1816
Mort de Julie Billiart
13 mai
1906 Béatification
de Julie Billiart. Fête liturgique officielle
22 juin 1969
Canonisation de Ste Julie Billiart
SOURCE : https://www.sndden.org/qui-nous-sommes-2/ste-julie-billiart/?lang=fr
Sainte Julie Billiart
1751 - 1816
Fondatrice de la Congrégation des Soeurs de Notre-Dame de Namur.
Sa devise : « Une
grande foi, vivre un amour sans borne, une simplicité d’enfant. »
Prière :
Avec sainte Julie Billiart, proclamons la bonté de Dieu.
Elle se donna entièrement à sa mission d'éducatrice auprès des jeunes
et partagea les soucis des plus pauvres.
C'est pourquoi le Seigneur l'a mise au nombre de ses élus.
En bref
Julie Billiart est née le
12 juillet 1751 au bourg de Cuvilly près de Compiègne dans le diocèse de
Beauvais, de parents modestes. Très pieuse dès son plus jeune âge, elle est
admise à la première communion à l'âge de neuf ans.
Miraculeusement guérie d'une paralysie l'ayant clouée au lit durant de longues années, elle fonde la congrégation des Soeurs de Notre-Dame en 1804, dont le but principal est l'enseignement et l'éducation chrétienne des jeunes filles pauvres.
En 1809, des difficultés l'obligent à transférer sa communauté d'Amiens à Namur
où elle décède au milieu des sœurs le 8 avril 1816.
Elle a dit
- " Je dois
bien mettre ma confiance en Dieu dans mes voyages ; je vois si visiblement la
Providence dans tant d'événements dont je ne saurais comment me tirer et,
toutes les fois que je suis embarrassée, le Bon Dieu vient à mon secours ;
aussi je ne m'inquiète de rien. Vous savez que je n'ai pas d'esprit ; il faut
que le Bon Dieu fasse tout ".
- " Je serai
bien heureuse d'aller un grand nombre d'années en purgatoire ; je ne pense
guère aller au Ciel tout droit, chargée comme je le suis d'une si grande
responsabilité "
- "Quand je me
réveille, ce qui se présente d'abord à moi, c'est un sentiment d'admiration et
de reconnaissance de la bonté de Dieu qui veut bien me donner encore un jour
pour le glorifier ".
- " Oh ! Quand
on a fait l'acte de contrition tous les jours au soir, on doit être bien
tranquille. Dieu pourrait-il ne pas nous pardonner, quand on le fait de tout
son cœur. "
- " Le bon Dieu
peut détruire ce qu'il a établi. Nous devons rester bien tranquilles dans tous
les événements ; n'est-il pas maître de faire et puis de défaire ? "
Ils ont dit d'elle
- " les Sœurs
de Notre-Dame sont faites pour enseigner le catéchisme" Mère Blin de
Bourdon.
- " Cette personne me paraît vraiment inspirée de Dieu et je ne serai pas étonné qu'un jour on parlât d'elle " Mgr de la Rochefoucault, évêque de Beauvais
- " Une femme qui a su croire et aimer " Cardinal Sterckx
- " … Ce qui
chez elle d'emblée m'a séduit, m'a conquis, j'en fais l'aveu, c'est ce RESSORT
INTERIEUR, qui a fait d'elle l'infatigable apôtre de Jésus-Christ, ce ressort
jamais détendu, jamais brisé, malgré tant d'épreuves et tant de coups, ce
ressort, fruit de l'Esprit et de sa foi en la bonté de Dieu, je veux dire : son
ESPERANCE. Pour moi Sainte Julie, c'est avant tout la sainte de l'Espérance…..
Une espérance qui chez elle brille d'un si vif éclat que parce qu' elle a connu
des épreuves crucifiantes et véritablement déconcertantes…… " Extrait
de l'homélie de Mgr Desmazières, évêque de Beauvais, prononcée lors des fêtes
de la canonisation à Namur, le 5 octobre 1969
- " Ce qui m'a
le plus frappé dans Mère Julie, c'est un don d'oraison tout à fait extraordinaire
et je crois qu'elle était parvenue à un très haut degré de contemplation "
Père Sellier SJ
- "….Son oraison
était presque continuelle….. Un grand amour pour la pauvreté, un entier
dégagement d'elle-même, une parfaite soumission à la volonté de Dieu, une union
intime avec Notre-Seigneur qui dirigeait toute sa conduite, donnant l'exemple
de toutes les vertus à ses filles, communiquant partout la bonne odeur de
Jésus-Christ. Il suffisait de la voir, de lui parler pour être convaincu que
l'esprit de Dieu réglait ses pensées, ses sentiments, sa conduite." M. de
Lamarche, prêtre, directeur des Dames du Sacré-Cœur de Beauvais
1- Sa vie à Cuvilly -
1751-1790
Marie Rose Julie Billiart
est née le 12 juillet 1751 à Cuvilly, petit village à vingt kilomètres de
Compiègne, niché dans un gracieux vallon resserré à l'est par un tertre que
couronne un bois.
Les parents de Julie
tiennent un petit commerce d'épicerie et de lingerie dont le produit, joint à
celui d'une parcelle de terre, leur permet de vivre dans une modeste aisance.
Ils auront sept enfants dont quatre vont mourir en bas âge. Julie, qui est la
sixième, grandit entre une sœur plus âgée de sept ans et un frère, né trois ans
après elle.
Tout enfant, Julie aime
prier ou se retirer dans le silence de sa chambre pour parler à Dieu. Enfant
douée, elle apprend à lire et à écrire à l'école du village dirigée par son
oncle Thibaut Guilbert. L'étude du catéchisme surtout l'attire tant que, dès
huit ans c'est elle qui l'apprendra à ses petites compagnes, commentant
naïvement le texte mais avec beaucoup d'intelligence.
Elle préludait ainsi à sa
mission de catéchiste. Ce sera d'ailleurs la grande œuvre de sa vie et le
principal but donnée à la congrégation qu'elle fondera plus tard.
En juin 1759 M.
Dangicourt est nommé vicaire à Cuvilly, puis curé en 1765. Surpris par la
valeur de l'enfant, il s'intéresse à elle et lui apprend à faire oraison et à
suivre fidèlement les mouvements de la grâce. Il l'autorise d'ailleurs, dès
l'âge de neuf ans, à communier en cachette.
Le 4 juin 1764, la jeune
Julie âgée de treize ans, est confirmée par l'évêque de Beauvais et l'année
suivante, désireuse de se consacrer entièrement à Dieu, elle fait le vœu de
chasteté perpétuelle. A l'âge de vingt ans elle obtiendra la faveur de
communier quotidiennement, fait très rare à cette époque encore fortement
teintée de jansénisme.
Elle a seize ans lorsque
suite à un vol de marchandises et des calomnies qui éloignèrent la clientèle du
magasin paternel, la famille est réduite à la pauvreté. Pour subvenir aux
besoins de ses parents et pour aider sa sœur presque aveugle et son frère
boiteux, elle décide de louer ses services aux fermiers des environs.
Un soir d'hiver 1774, sa
famille est agressée. Personne n'est blessé, mais la frayeur ajoutée à la
fatigue déclenche chez Julie une maladie des nerfs très douloureuse qui la
rendra peu à peu paralysée. Malgré cela jamais elle ne se plaindra, ne se
lamentera, ne se découragera.
2- Compiègne 1791-1794 :
la vision
Quand éclate la Révolution de 1789, M. Dangicourt, ayant refusé le serment de fidélité à la constitution civile du clergé, est obligé de se réfugier à Paris. Julie reste seule. Bientôt, elle doit fuir aussi, menacée par les révolutionnaires depuis qu'ils savent qu'elle aide le séjour clandestin de quelques prêtres. Elle trouve refuge chez Mme de Pont-l'Abbé, châtelaine de Gournay sur Aronde, à six kilomètres de Cuvilly qui l'héberge avant de s'enfuir elle-même à l'étranger. Les révolutionnaires se lancent à la poursuite de la " dévote ". A nouveau, elle s'enfuit du château, cachée ainsi que sa nièce qui la soigne dans une charrette remplie de paille. Elles sont abandonnées à Compiègne, dans une cour d'auberge.
Les demoiselles Chambon les recueilleront mais toujours poursuivies et
indésirables, elles devront changer très souvent de domicile.
C'est à Compiègne, en
1793, que Julie a une vision qui lui montre au pied du calvaire un groupe de
femmes portant un habit religieux qu'elle ne reconnaît pas. Puis elle entend
ces paroles : " Ce sont les filles que je vous donne dans l'institut
qui sera marqué de ma croix ". Son infirmité s'accroît, elle perd
l'usage de la parole qu'elle ne retrouvera que plusieurs années plus tard.
3- La rencontre avec
Françoise Blin de Bourdon
A Cuvilly, La comtesse
Beaudouin se rendait souvent au chevet de Julie, devenue infirme. Aussi
lorsqu'elle vient, en 1795, trouver refuge à Amiens chez le vicomte Blin, elle
n'oublie pas sa petite protégée réfugiée à Compiègne et la fait venir près
d'elle.
C'est là qu'elle, la
paysanne, et Françoise, l'aristocrate, sœur du vicomte Blin, vont se rencontrer
providentiellement. "le Bon Dieu, écrit Julie à Françoise, en février
1797, vous a présentée à moi sans que j'y contribue en rien. C'est bien
Lui qui nous a unies si intimement ". Françoise, qui a préparé son
entrée au Carmel, est séduite quant à elle, par la profondeur de la foi de
Julie Billiart, son courage, sa bonté, sa générosité, sa passion pour la Parole
de Dieu.
Elles ne vont plus jamais
se séparer.
Depuis longtemps la
sainte malade, éclairée de lumières particulières, savait l'intime union que
Françoise allait contracter avec elle en vue d'une œuvre : travailler au salut
du prochain et surtout, donner aux enfants une éducation chrétienne dans ce milieu
déchristianisé par les idées révolutionnaires.
Mais Julie a quarante-six
ans et est infirme. Que peut-elle faire ? De son côté Françoise entrevoit
clairement sa future vie : partageant les idées de Julie, elle décide de
consacrer sa vie et sa fortune personnelle à la réalisation du projet de son
amie.
C'est au château de
Bettencourt, près de St Ouen, où elles se sont installées en 1799 que le
Seigneur leur montre la voie. L'infatigable animateur d'une restauration
chrétienne qu'est le Père Varin, supérieur des Pères de la Foi, en est le
promoteur. Frappé par l'aptitude extraordinaire de l'infirme pour la catéchèse,
il lui suggère lors d'une visite, d'établir une école pour l'instruction
religieuse des enfants du peuple qui sont abandonnés.
4- L'oeuvre à Amiens
1803-1809
Au mois de février 1803,
Julie et Françoise s'établissent rue Neuve à Amiens, pour commencer l'œuvre
sous la conduite spirituelle du Père Varin.
Le 2 février 1804 alors
qu'elle est encore sur son lit, Julie se consacre à Dieu avec deux de ses
compagnes. Quatre mois plus tard elle guérit miraculeusement pendant une
neuvaine au Sacré-Cœur. Elles prennent alors le nom de Sœurs de Notre-Dame, nom
attribué par le Père Varin. Elle qui ne marchait plus depuis vingt-deux ans se
remet à marcher. Infatigable elle se met alors à voyager.
Au cours d'un voyage en
Flandre, elle est invitée par Mgr Fallot de Beaumont, évêque de Gand, à fonder
une maison dans son diocèse. Ce sera le point de départ d'une série de
fondation en Belgique et en France.
En juillet 1807 Mère
Julie qui vient d'établir la maison de Namur, y apprend la nomination du Père
de Sambucy comme supérieur de la communauté. Ce dernier, pernicieusement, va
s'opposer aux idées de Julie, réussir à l'éloigner d'Amiens, s'emparer de ses
ressources financières, la discréditer auprès de Mgr Demandolx. Ces manœuvres
aboutissent à l'expulsion de la congrégation !
5- L'oeuvre à Namur
1809-1838
Monseigneur Pisani de la
Gaude, évêque de Namur ouvre son diocèse aux exilées. Désormais Namur sera la
maison-mère et les sœurs en porteront le nom.
Grâce à l'intervention de
Mgr De Broglie, évêque de Gand, Salency reconnaît ses torts et Mère Julie est
réhabilitée.
Pendant ces années
d'épreuve, elle avait fondé plusieurs institutions :
Jumet en 1807 ;
Saint-Hubert en 1809 ;
Gand en 1810 ;
Zele en 1811 ;
Andenne et Gembloux en 1813 ;
Fleurus en 1814 suivis plus tard par Liège et Dinant.
Par sa volumineuse
correspondance et par ses visites, elle communique à tous sa foi, sa confiance,
sa charité, son zèle, son courage et sa sérénité, même dans les plus violents
orages, car elle est sûre de son Dieu. De ses lèvres s'échappent, en toute
circonstance, ces mots sans cesse répétés : " Ah! qu'il est bon le
Bon Dieu ! ".
Le 7 décembre 1815, Mère
Julie fait une lourde chute qui lui occasionne de violentes douleurs de tête et
un malaise général.
Le 14 janvier 1816 elle
s'alite et le 8 avril elle meurt paisiblement.
C'est une grande peine
pour Françoise, en religion Mère Saint-Joseph, sa fidèle compagne de toujours.
Supérieure de la maison-mère de Namur, elle est élue supérieure générale le 2
juin 1816 et continue, jusqu'à sa mort en 1838, l'œuvre entreprise par son amie
Julie Billiart.
Peu après la mort des deux fondatrices, la vision qu'avait eu Mère Julie que
ses filles iraient dans le monde entier se réalise. Elles partent aux USA en
1840, en Grande-Bretagne en 1845, au Guatemala en 1859, au Congo en 1894, en
Rhodésie en 1895. Au cours du XXième siècle, l'expansion continue : en
Belgique, en Italie, en France, au Japon, en Chine, au Brésil, au Pérou, au
Nigeria, au Kenya, aux îles Hawaï.
Partout les Sœurs de
Notre-Dame portent le message de l'Evangile, s'adressant à tous, avec une
préférence marquée pour les pauvres, et leur confirmant combien Dieu est bon.
6- L'approbation suprême
Le 13 mai 1906, Rome
célèbre la béatification de l'humble servante de Dieu, Julie Billiart, sous le
pontificat de saint Pie X.
Le 22 juin 1969, se déroulent les fêtes de la canonisation sous Paul VI qui déclare dans son panégyrique : " nous apercevons en Julie Billiart, cette conformité à l'image du fils de Dieu, Jésus-Christ, laquelle nous dévoile une prescience et une prédestination de la part de Dieu à l'égard de cette âme…… Sa biographie laisse transparaître une splendeur de grâce et un exemple de vertu chrétienne : l'humilité, la pureté, la patience, la douceur, l'intériorité dans l'agir et toujours, d'une manière quasi connaturelle, l'aspiration à l'apostolat, l'amour de l'église au milieu de tant d'épreuves et d 'amertumes, l'assiduité dans la prière, la dévotion à la Vierge, l'art de se faire aimer et obéir, le talent d'organisatrice ……. "
sources :
- Vie de Julie
Billiart par sa première compagne Françoise Blin de Bourdon ou les Mémoires de
Mère Saint-Joseph
- Des gens de chez nous : Ste Julie Billiart par le père Jean Le Guen
- Eglise de Beauvais 1989 p 278
- Julie Billiart collection "les Origines" ( Maison Mère
des Sœurs de Notre-Dame - 17, rue Julie Billiart - Namur - Belgique )
liens :
- la paroisse
Ste julie Billiart, du Ressontois, dans le secteur missionniare du
Compiègnois.
- Le site de Notre-Dame de Namur : www.ndnamur.be/juliebilliart
Textes et photos
recueillis et mis en forme par Martine Mainguy
Imagen de una miniatura con el rostro de Santa Julia Billiart. Se cree que fué realizado pocos años antes de la muerte de la santa, en 1816.
Also known as
Julia of Billiart
Julie Billart
Mary Rose Julia Billiart
Profile
Sixth of seven children of peasant farmers Jean-François
Billiart and Marie-Louise-Antoinette Debraine. She was poorly educated,
but knew her catechism by
heart at age 7, and used to explain it to other children.
At age 14 she took a private vow of chastity, and gave her life to serving
and teaching the poor.
At age 22, she was sitting next to her father when
some one shot at him; the shock left her partially crippled for
22 years. During the French
Revoluation, a group of her friends helped organize the work she’d started.
Julia was miraculously healed of
her paralysis on 1 June 1804,
and resumed her work. Her organization became the Congregation of the
Sisters of Notre Dame (Institute of Notre Dame; Sisters of Notre Dame),
dedicated to the Christian education of girls,
formally established in Amiens, France,
the first vows being made by Saint Julia and two others on 15 October 1804.
By the time of her death the Institute had
15 convents.
Born
12 July 1751 at
Cuvilly, diocese of Beauvais,
department of Oise, Picardy, France as Mary
Rose Julia Billiart
8 April 1816 at
the Institute’s motherhouse at Namur, Belgium of
natural causes
Additional Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
The
Holiness of the Church in the 19th Century
Venerable
Julie Billiart, Foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame of
Namur
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other sites in english
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Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
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Readings
I ought to die of shame to think I have not already
died of gratitude to my good God. – Saint Julie
Billiart
Do what you can and don’t waste time lamenting over
what you can’t do. – Saint Julie
Billiart
MLA Citation
“Saint Julia Billiart“. CatholicSaints.Info. 7
April 2024. Web. 8 April 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-julia-billiart/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-julia-billiart/
Saint Julie Billiart
Born in Cuvilly, France,
into a family of well-to-do farmers, young Marie Rose Julia Billiart showed an
early interest in religion and in helping the sick and poor. Though the first
years of her life were relatively peaceful and uncomplicated, Julie had to take
up manual work as a young teen when her family lost its money. However, she
spent her spare time teaching catechism to young people and to the farm
laborers.
A mysterious illness
overtook her when she was about 30. Witnessing an attempt to wound or even kill
her father, Julie was paralyzed and became a complete invalid. For the next two
decades she continued to teach catechism lessons from her bed, offered spiritual
advice and attracted visitors who had heard of her holiness.
When the French
Revolution broke out in 1789, revolutionary forces became aware of her
allegiance to fugitive priests. With the help of friends she was smuggled out
of Cuvilly in a haycart; she spent several years hiding in Compiegne, being
moved from house to house despite her growing physical pain. She even lost the
power of speech for a time.
But this period also
proved to be a fruitful spiritual time for Julie. It was at this time she had a
vision in which she saw Calvary surrounded by women in religious habits and
heard a voice saying, “Behold these spiritual daughters whom I give you in an
Institute marked by the cross.” As time passed and Julie continued her mobile
life, she made the acquaintance of an aristocratic woman, Francoise Blin de
Bourdon, who shared Julie’s interest in teaching the faith. In 1803 the two
women began the Institute of Notre Dame, which was dedicated to the education
of the poor as well as young Christian girls and the training of catechists.
The following year the first Sisters of Notre Dame made their vows. That was
the same year that Julie recovered from the illness: She was able to walk for
the first time in 22 years.
Though Julie had always
been attentive to the special needs of the poor and that always remained her
priority, she also became aware that other classes in society needed Christian
instruction. From the founding of the Sisters of Notre Dame until her death,
Julie was on the road, opening a variety of schools in France and Belgium that
served the poor and the wealthy, vocational groups, teachers. Ultimately, Julie
and Francoise moved the motherhouse to Namur, Belgium.
Julie died there in 1816.
She was canonized in 1969.
Julia (Julie) Billiart V
(RM)
Born in Cuvilly (near
Beauvais), Picardy, France, on July 12, 1751; died on April 8, 1816; beatified
in 1906; canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1969. Julia, baptized Marie Rose Julia
Billiart, was born to prosperous peasant farmers who also owned a small shop in
Cuvilly. Early in life she evinced an interest in religion and helping the sick
and the poor. At 14, she took a vow of chastity and dedicated herself to the
service and instruction of the poor.
She was paralyzed by
shock when someone shot a gun at her father, while she was sitting next to him.
Thereafter, she was an invalid for 22 years. Although she was in pain, this
malady gave her the luxury of spending more time in prayer.
In 1790, the curé of
Cuvilly was replaced by a priest who had taken the oath prescribed by the
revolutionary authorities, and Julia rallied the people to boycott him. She
also helped find safe houses for fugitive priests, and for this reason was
taken to Compiegne, where she had to change addresses often for her safety.
A friend brought her to
Amiens to the house of Viscount Blin de Bourdon after the Reign of Terror.
There she met Frances Blin de Bourdon, Viscountess de Gézaincourt, who became
her friend and worked with her. Daily the viscountess and a small group of
pious women gathered in Julia's sickroom for the sacrifice of the Mass.
Throughout the French Revolution (1794-1804), Julia encourage the group in
their works of charity. Heightened persecution forced Julia and Frances to move
to a house belonging to the Doria family at Bettencourt, where, with a group of
women, they conducted catechetical classes for the villages.
At Bettencourt Julia met
Father Joseph Varin, who was convinced that the saint was meant to achieve
great works. When Frances and Julia returned to Amiens, they laid the
foundations of the Institute of Notre Dame, whose objects were to see to the
religious instruction of poor children, the Christian education of girls of all
classes, and the training of religious teachers. They also opened an orphanage.
The rules of the
institute were somewhat innovative, requiring the abolition of the distinction
between choir and lay sisters. At a mission held by the Fathers of the Faith of
Amiens in 1804, the teaching of women was given to the Sisters of Notre Dame. At
the end of the mission, Father Enfantin asked Julia to join him in a novena
without telling her why, and on the fifth day, the feast of the Sacred Heart,
he ordered her to walk. After 22 years as an invalid, at the age of 44, she got
up and realized that she was cured.
Now fully functional, she
worked to extend the new foundation and to assist at missions conducted by the
Fathers of the Faith in other towns. She did this until the work was halted by
the government. The educational work continued, however, and convents were
opened at Namur, Ghent, and Tournai.
Unfortunately, Father
Varin's post of confessor to the sisters was filled by a young priest who
estranged Julia from the bishop of Amiens, and the bishop pressed for her
withdrawal from his diocese in 1809. She moved the mother house to Namur,
joined by nearly all the sisters, where she was well received by the bishop.
Soon she was vindicated
and invited to return to Amiens, but since it was too difficult to restore the
foundation there, Namur became the motherhouse. As of 1816, it was clear that
Julia's health was failing rapidly. While repeating the Magnificat, she died.
By the time of her death 15 convents had been established (Benedictines,
Delaney, Encyclopedia, Gill, Walsh, White).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0408.shtml
St. Julie Billiart
(Also Julia). Foundress,
and first superior-general of the Congregation
of the Sisters of Notre Dame of Namur, born 12 July, 1751, at Cuvilly,
a village of Picardy, in the Diocese
of Beauvais and the Department of Oise, France;
died 8 April, 1816, at the motherhouse of her institute, Namur, Belgium.
She was the sixth of seven children of Jean-François Billiart and his
wife, Marie-Louise-Antoinette Debraine. The childhood of Julie was
remarkable; at the age of seven, she knew the catechism by
heart, and used to gather her little companions around her to hear them recite
it and to explain it to them. Her education was
confined to the rudiments obtained at the village school which
was kept by her uncle, Thibault Guilbert. In spiritual things her
progress was so rapid that the parish priest,
M. Dangicourt, allowed her to make her First Communion and to
be confirmed at the age of nine years. At this time she made a vow of chastity. Misfortunes
overtook the Billiart family when Julie was
sixteen, and she gave herself generously to the aid of her parents,
working in the fields with the reapers. She was held in such high esteem for
her virtue and piety as
to be commonly called, "the saint of Cuvilly". When
twenty-two years old, a nervous shock, occasioned by
a pistol-shot fired at her father by some unknown enemy, brought on a
paralysis of the lower limbs, which in a few years confined her to her bed a
helpless cripple, and thus she remained for twenty-two 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 alter 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
Julie Billiart had been compelled to take refuge with
Countess Baudoin during the troublesome times of the French
Revolution, she met
Françoise Blin de Bourdon, Viscountess of Gizaincourt,
who was destined to be her co-laborer in the great work as yet
unknown to either of them.
The Viscountess Blin de Bourdon was thirty-eight years
old at the time of her meeting with 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. She
was not at first attracted by the almost speechless paralytic, but by degrees
grew to love and
admire the invalid for her wonderful gifts of soul.
A little company of young and high-born ladies, friends of the
viscountess, was formed around the couch of
"the saint". Julie taught them how to lead the
interior life, while they devoted themselves generously to
the cause of God and
His poor. Though they attempted all the exercises of an active community
life, some of the elements of stability must have been wanting, for these
first disciples dropped off until none was left but
Françoise Blin de Bourdon. She was never to be separated
from Julie, and with her in 1803, in obedience to Father Varin,
superior of the Fathers of the Faith, and under the auspices of
the Bishop of Amiens,
the foundation was laid of the Institute of
the Sisters of Notre Dame, a society which
had for its primary object the salvation of poor children.
Several young persons offered themselves
to assist the two superiors. The first pupils were eight orphans.
On the feast of the Sacred Heart, 1 June,
1804, Mother Julie, after a novena made
in obedience to her confessor, was cured of paralysis. The
first vows of religion were
made on 15 October, 1804 by Julie Billiart, Françoise Blin de Bourdon, Victoire Leleu,
and Justine Garson, and their family names
were changed to names of saints.
They proposed for their lifework the Christian education of
girls, and the training of religious teachers who should go wherever
their services were asked for. Father Varin gave the community a provisional
rule by way of probation, which was so far-sighted that
its essentials have never been changed. In view of
the extension of the institute, he would have it governed by a
superior-general, charged with visiting the houses, nominating the
local superiors, corresponding with the members dispersed in the different convents,
and assigning the revenues of the society.
The characteristic devotions of the Sisters of Notre
Dame were established by the foundress from the beginning. She was
original in doing away with the time-honored distinction
between choir sisters and lay sisters, but
this perfect equality of rank did not in any way prevent her from
putting each sister to the work for which her capacity and education fitted
her. She attached great importance to the formation of the
sisters destined for the schools,
and in this she was ably assisted by Mother St.
Joseph (Françoise Blin de Bourdon), who had herself
received an excellent education.
When the congregation of
the Sisters of Notre Dame was approved by an imperial decree dated 19
June, 1806, it numbered thirty members, In that and the following years,
foundations were made in various towns of France and Belgium,
the most important being those at Ghent and Namur,
of which the latter house Mother St. Joseph was the first
superior. This spread of the institute beyond the Diocese
of Amiens cost the foundress the greatest sorrow of her life. In the
absence of Father Varin from that city, the confessor of the
community, the Abbé de Sambucy de St. Estève, a man of
superior intelligence and attainments but enterprising and
injudicious, endeavored to change the rule and fundamental constitutions of the
new congregation so as to bring it into harmony with the
ancient monastic orders. He so far influenced the bishop.
Mgr. Demandolx, that Mother Julie had soon no alternative
but to leave the Diocese
of Amiens, relying upon the goodwill of Mgr. Pisani de la Gaude, bishop of Namur,
who had invited her to make his episcopal city the center of her
congregation, should a change become necessary.
In leaving Amiens, Mother Julie laid the case before all
her subjects and told them they were perfectly free to remain or to follow her.
All but two chose to go with her, and thus, in the mid-winter of 1809,
the convent of Namur became
the motherhouse of the institute and is so still. Mgr. Demandolx, soon
undeceived, made all the amends in his power, entreating Mother Julie to
return to Amiens and rebuild her institute. She did indeed return,
but after a vain struggle to find subjects or revenues, went back
to Namur. The seven years of life that remained to her were
spent in forming her daughters to solid piety and
the interior spirit, of which she was herself the model. Mgr.
De Broglie, bishop of Ghent,
said of her that she saved more souls by
her inner life of union with God than
by her outward apostolate. She received special supernatural favors
and unlooked-for aid in peril and need. In the space of twelve years
(1804 - 1816) Mother Julie founded fifteen convents,
made one hundred and twenty journeys, many of them long and toilsome, and
carried on a close correspondence with her spiritual daughters.
Hundreds of these letters are preserved in the motherhouse. In 1815 Belgium was
the battlefield of the Napoleonic wars,
and the mother-general suffered great anxiety, as several of her convents were
in the path of the armies, but they escaped injury. In January, 1816, she was
taken ill, and after three months of pain borne in silence and
patience, she died with the Magnificat on her lips. The fame of
her sanctity spread
abroad and was confirmed by several miracles.
The process of her beatification,
begun in 1881, was completed in 1906 by the decree of Pope
Pius X dated 13
May, declaring her Blessed. [Note: She was canonized in
1969 by Pope Paul VI.]
St.
Julie'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.
Her whole soul was
echoed in the simple and naïve formula which was continually on her lips and
pen: "Oh, qu'il est bon, le bon Dieu" (How good God is).
She possessed all the qualities of a perfect superior,
and inspired her subjects with filial confidence and tender
affection.
"St. Julie
Billiart." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York:
Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 8 Apr.
2016<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08559a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by H. Jon Thomas.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08559a.htm
Front
of St. Julie Catholic Church (formerly First Presbyterian Church), located at
77 E. Main Street (U.S. Route 60) in Owingsville, Kentucky, United
States. It was built in 1887.
THE BLESSED JULIE
BILLIART, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONGREGATION OF SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME—1751-1816
Feast: April 8
It was a common remark
among well-informed, sympathetic publicists at the beginning of the nineteenth
century, that after the overthrow of religion and settled government, the
greatest disaster brought upon France by the Revolution was the almost entire
destruction of the system of education that existed in 1789. Old France had
more universities, colleges and schools than any other country in the world.
The vast majority of these time-honoured, and generally very efficient,
institutions were swept away by the Jacobins, and their material resources
seized and squandered by the promoters of the new "enlightenment."
But if the losses were
enormous, the recuperative genius of the French character was never more
conspicuously seen than in the restoration of the homes of learning that so
speedily followed after the establishment of the Concordat (1802). Among the
many and deservedly illustrious names associated with this noble work, that of
Julie Billiart will ever stand forth conspicuous. Nor are the circumstances of
her career less noteworthy than her achievements. The sixth child of a poor
shopkeeper of Cavilly in Picardy, named Jean Francis Billiart, and his wife,
Marie Louise Antoinette Debraine, she was born 12th July, 1751. She only
received a common education at the village school kept by her uncle, Thelbault
Guilbert, but her youthful piety was such, that she was allowed to make her
first Communion at the age of nine. The usual age for this ceremony at that
time in France—no doubt owing to the influence of Jansenism—was about the age
of twelve, but apart from her solid piety, Julie was no ordinary child. She
aided her parents strenuously and cheerfully in their combined shopkeeping and
agricultural work, and in her spare time gathered the children of the village
about her and explained the Catechism to them.
Then a seeming great
misfortune occurred. One night in the winter of 1774, a robber discharged a
pistol into the house of the Billiarts, and the report so frightened the
sensitive girl, that Julie henceforth for many years suffered from severe
paralysis. Instead of repining, the now, apparently, hopeless cripple redoubled
her prayers and spiritual exercises, received Holy Communion daily, and soon
became known far and wide for the depth and wisdom of her conversation and the
penetration of her perception. She supported herself as well as she could by
making altar linen, and very soon her humble abode became the object of a sort
of pilgrimage, many persons in spiritual and temporal trouble coming to seek
the prayers and wise advice of "the Saint of Cavilly," as these
zealous folk would persist in terming the poor invalid, to her great grief and
manifest embarrassment.
Among those who conversed
with her at this time were Monseigneur Francois Joseph de la Rochefoucauld, and
his brother, the Bishop of Saintes, both of whom subsequently perished in the
massacre at the Carmes, in September 1792. After the interview, which took
place at the episcopal palace, his Lordship said to the assembled
ecclesiastical dignitaries: "This young girl seems to be inspired by God
Himself. I shall be much surprised if we do not hear her spoken about later on!"
During the Revolution,
Julie had much to suffer from the "Constitutional" Cure—whom the
revolutionary authorities had thrust upon the parish—and his republican
abetters. She sojourned for a while at the Chateau of Gournay-sur-Arondre, and
thence journeyed on to Compiegne, where she lived near the holy Carmelite nuns,
who, in 1793, went from their prison to the guillotine chanting the <Te
Deum>—another glorious band of martyrs of holy Church.[1]
Julie Billiart's next
place of abode was Amiens, where she arrived in October, 1794, at the request
of the Vicomtesse Francoise Thin de Bourdon, who was desirous of instituting
some kind of good work that might help to restore religion and social sanity
after the blood and nightmare of the recent "Terror" (1793-94). The Viscountess
herself had been in the hands of the Jacobins, and had only escaped the common
fate of thousands of so-called "aristocrats," by the death of the
Arch-fiend, Robespierre himself.
Not only was Julie
installed in the house of her benefactress, but her room became a chapel where
Holy Mass was said daily by a more or less disguised priest, the Abbe Thomas.
In spite of fiery harangues from imported demagogues, the planting of trees of
liberty, and even an ominous parade of the awful "Red Widow "—the guillotine!—Amiens,
thanks largely to its sturdy Norman common sense, had been less affected by the
revolutionary madness than most towns of France.
Still, the actual
situation there was bad enough. From the official report of Jacques Silher,
member of the Municipal Council of Amiens, we learn that most of the children
of the city, owing to the absence of good schools or teachers were growing up
in vice and insubordination. The writer bitterly deplored the loss of the
excellent primary and secondary schools, which existed before the Revolution
under religious teachers, where, for the most part, the instruction was free
and open to all! The teachers, who have taken the place of the brothers and
nuns, continues our informant, were indifferent to their work, often without
moral character, and seemingly desirous only of making money.[2]
"The pious ladies
who gradually formed a circle" around the Viscountess, gradually came to
learn the principles of the interior life from the saintly invalid, Julie
Billiart, and to love through her "the cause of God and His poor." These
devout souls were powerfully aided by the wise counsels of Pere Joseph Desire
Varin (1769-1850), of the famous "Peres de la Foi," one of the many
new religious foundations that arose during the Revolution itself.
By the advice of Fr.
Varin, and with the approval of the Bishop of Amiens, Mgr Demandolx, formerly
Bishop of La Rochelle, a society was formed to promote the welfare of poor
children, chiefly as to their religious and moral education. A school was
opened in the Rue Neuve which soon became too small, and another and larger
house was taken in 1806, in the Faubourg Noyon. The new foundation was much
assisted by a certain Madame de Franssu—widow of the Messire Adrien Jacques de
Franssu—who later established the "Congregation of the Sisters of the
Nativity" for the education of girls.[3] It was about this time, too, that
Julie Billiart at the conclusion of a Novena, was completely cured of her long
paralytic malady and on 15th October, 1804, she, together with Francoise Thin
de Bourdon, Victoria Lebeu and Justine Garson, took the first vows in the
Congregation of Sisters of Notre Dame.[4]
The foundation had not
been made without a severe trial. As in the case of St. Alphonsus, who was
abandoned by nearly all the early Redemptorists, so all the "circle"
of devout ladies already referred to had fallen off one by one from Mere Julie
and Mere St. Joseph (Mme Thin), thus proving yet again that religious vocation
is not given to every one, however spiritually minded. The Congregation not
only vowed itself to the Christian education of girls, and the training of
teachers, but further, held itself ready to go wherever its services might be
required. No distinction was made between Choir-Sisters and Lay-Sisters, but in
view of the increasing educational requirements of the age, and their very
probable great extension in the future, much stress was laid, from the first,
on the importance of turning out always a body of really well-equipped
teachers—an ideal that has ever since been carefully maintained.
Within ten years of its
commencement, the foundation had already more than justified itself even from
the point of view of those practical "results" which have such a
fascination for the publicist and even the "man in the street."
Houses existed in various parts of France and Belgium, notwithstanding the
world-war which raged around the tottering throne of the imperial Colossus.
On the 15th of January,
1809, the Mother-House was transferred to Namur, owing to an unfortunate
episode that occurred at Amiens. During the absence of Fr. Varin, the confessor
of the nuns, the Abbe de Sambucey de St. Esleve, with more zeal than
discretion, endeavoured to assimilate the Congregation to the ideals animating
the ancient orders of women, regardless of the fact that times and requirements
were utterly changed! Rather than see nearly the whole object of the
Congregation destroyed, Mother Julie resolved to leave Amiens and go to Ghent,
where the Bishop, Mgr Jean Maurice de Broglie, greatly wished to have a branch
of the, by now, well-known teaching order.[5]
The new Mother-House, as
the "branch" at Namur soon became, was quickly regarded as something
more than a centre of excellent collegiate education. The saintly character of
Mother Julie and her magnetic influence, exercised by voice and pen,
soon had their effect over countless souls, and became, in fact, a real
"apostolate." The departure of the nuns from Amiens was regarded as
something of a calamity by the Bishop of that city, Mgr. Demandolx, and his
advisers, who did all they could to retain Madame Julie in their midst, but as
she said in a letter to M. de Sambucey, the cause of all the trouble: "My
Bishop is at Namur, and my choice is made! I hope God will bless it, for my
intention is upright."
The last years of the
Foundress were clouded by two anxieties, war and severe illness, Belgium, which
in 1814-15, became once more the "cockpit of Europe," saw its
territory overrun by the French and allied armies, but happily no harm came to
the convents of the religious, and the result of the ever-memorable campaign
was the establishment of a peace for the country that was not to be seriously
disturbed for a hundred years.
In January, 1816, seven
years after her quitting Amiens, Mother Julie was taken ill, and after three
months of suffering borne with the patience and resignation begotten of years
of real devotion and submission to God's will, she died sweetly in the
Lord, just after repeating the sublime heart-pourings of the
<Magnificat>, on 8th April, 1816.
The fame of her holiness
which had commenced even with her early childhood, increased all during the
nineteenth century, and finally in 1881, the long-delayed cause of her
beatification was introduced at Rome. It was completed in 1906, when Pius X
enrolled her venerable name among the Blessed.
Of the numerous houses of
the Congregation de Notre Dame in England, the most famous is that for the
training of school-mistresses at Mt. Pleasant, Liverpool, the management of
which was entrusted to the Sisters by the Government in 1856. The "Centre-System,"
or concentrated instruction of pupil-teachers, which the Sisters introduced, is
now adopted by all the more important education committees in this country.
[<Life of Blessed
Julie Billiart>, by a Sister of Notre Dame. (London 1909.) Much information
also in <Madame de Franssu Fonda trice de la Congregation de la Nativite de
N.S.>, by the Abbe L. Cristiani. (Avignon Aubanel Freres, 1926).]
Endnotes
1 See the account of the
Carmelite Nuns of Compiegne, martyrs. under July 16th.
2 Darsay, <Amiens et
le departement de la Somme pendant la Revolution>, ii. 144, etc.
3 Jeanne de Croquoison,
Mme de Franssu (1751-1824), Foundress of the Congregation of the Nativity, is
regarded as one of the restorers of Christian education in France. There are
two convents of the foundation in England, one at Eastbourne and the other at
Sittingbourne.
4 The Rule of the
Congregation de Notre Dame was approved by Gregory XVI in 1844.
5 The Bishop (1766-1821)
was the son of the famous Marshal Duc de Broglie who advised a "whiff of
grape-shot"-"pour la canaille il faut la mitraille!"-as a short
and sharp cure for the rising Revolution, or rather the anarchic part of it.
The remedy unfortunately was not applied till 1799, when Bonaparte used it with
complete success on the mob, that sought to revive the disorders of 1791-1792
and the carnage of 1793-1794.
(Taken from Vol. V
of "The Lives or the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints" by
the Rev. Alban Butler, (c) Copyright 1954, Virtue and Company, Limited,
London.)
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SOURCE : https://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/BILLIART.HTM
The
Holiness of the Church in the Nineteenth Century – Blessed Julie Billiart
Over thorny paths, but
lovingly and wisely, Providence led Blessed Julie Billiart to the end of her
vocation. She was born at Cavilly in Picardy on 12 July 1751. On account of the
poverty of her parents she was unable to obtain any superior education. It was
her misfortune to become the victim of a nervous disorder, resulting from a
great shock, and in course of time it completely crippled her. But sickness
does not set limits to the activity of the saints. By her prayer and example
and by her wise counsels Julie practised from her sick-bed a beneficent
apostleship on all who addressed her from far and near. This was particularly
manifest when the assault on altar and throne began in France. But the time
came when the crippled Julie was obliged to flee from the bloody-minded
revolutionists, who had discovered her to be the chief support of religion in
Cavilly. After long and various wanderings, she at last found refuge in Amiens.
The persecution had
brought her into contact with a noble and congenial soul, the noble lady
Francoise Blin de Bourdon, Viscountess of Gezaincourt. To check the frightful
degeneracy of morals caused by the unbelieving era of the Revolution the two
friends resolved to found a Congregation for the education of poor girls.
Although afflicted until 1802 with her dreadful ailment, Julie Billiart was the
moving power of the enterprise, and with the assistance of two priests of the
Fathers of the Faith, Father Joseph Varin and Father Anthony Thomas, who later
joined the restored Society of Jesus, the establishment of the Congregation of
Notre Dame was realized.
This institute spread
rapidly and there prevailed in it an excellent religious spirit owing to the
enlightened wisdom of Julie. But heavy storms were to break upon its founder. A
French priest, the first confessor of the Congregation, interfered too much in
the affairs of administration; there came differences with the bishop of Amiens
and Julie Billiart fell under grave suspicion. It finally ended in her formal
expulsion from Amiens and the abolition of her work in France. The holy woman
turned to Belgium, where she had already established many residences. Here,
too, severe trials awaited her. But the more frequent the blows of misfortune,
the more refined was the gold of her pure love of God and the more solid the
edifice of her Congregation. On April 8, 1816, she rendered her noble soul into
the hands of the Creator. She had hardly died when the world recognized how
great a saint had left it, but it no longer withheld the acknowledgment. On 13
May 1906, Pius X bestowed on her the honors of the altar. Her Congregation
continues to work efficaciously in Belgium, Holland, Germany, England, and
America.
– this text is taken
from The Holiness of the Church in the Nineteenth
Century: Saintly Men and Women of Our Own Times, by Father
Constantine Kempf, SJ; translated from the German by Father Francis Breymann,
SJ; Impimatur by + Cardinal John Farley, Archbishop of New York, 25 September
1916
_-_Saint_Julie_Billiart_statue.jpg)
Statue
de Julie Billiart, Saint Julie Billiart Catholic Church, Hamilton, Ohio.
Venerable
Julie Billiart, Foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame of
Namur
“How good the good God
is!”
This was the cry which
went up continually from the heart of the Foundress of the Sisters of Notre
Dame and her loving refrain is echoed by hundreds of her children today; for
the first great step towards her glorification has been taken, and the long looked
for “Placet” of Pope Leo XIII, has at last crowned with the title of Venerable
that “admirable labourer in the Lord’s Harvest” (as she is termed in the Roman
decree), the Servant of God, Julie Billiart.
Marie Rose Julia Billiart
was born at Cuvilly, in the old province of Picardy, on the 12th of July, 1751,
and was baptized the same day. Her parents were in modest yet easy
circumstances, and were distinguished for their fidelity in the practice of
every religious duty. The childhood of Julie was remarkable as shadowing forth
her future destiny and the prominent features of her character – love of prayer
and zeal for souls. She was often missed from the family circle, and when
sought for was found in some hidden nook saying her childish prayers, with a gravity
and devotion far beyond her years. By the time that she had reached the age of
seven, she knew her Catechism perfectly, and had mastered not only the words
but the meaning. After school hours it was her custom to gather her little
companions round her, and if any were absent, she would send for them, crying
out – “I want plenty of little souls, to teach them how to love and serve the
good God.” Then, with her bright and winning manner, she kept them attentive
while she explained the Catechism, and wound up with an exhortation on the love
of God or the hatefulness of sin, so earnest, we are told, as to captivate all
her listeners, whether old or young. These meetings came to the ears of the
Curé of Cuvilly, and that venerable man watched over his child-catechist with
paternal interest. He judged from her apparently infused knowledge of the
truths of faith. and her singularly delicate appreciation of Divine things,
that God had great designs upon her soul, and he was jealous of her
correspondence with those designs. He therefore initiated her into the method
of prayer and the practices of a devout life. It might have been said of Julie
as of Tobias “Though younger than any of her tribe, yet did she no childish
thing.”
After this it is not
surprising to learn that Julie was al lowed to make her first Communion when
only nine years old. She doubtless received very abundant graces from this
early participation in the Eucharistic Feast; and ever after, the preparation
of children for their first Communion became her favourite work of zeal. Not
long afterwards the pious child was confirmed by Cardinal Potier de Gesvres,
Bishop of Beauvais, and thenceforth the Holy Ghost took complete possession of
this pure soul, for Julie abandoned herself unreservedly to the guidance of the
Divine Spirit.
As she grew older she
took her share in the labours which devolved on her as a farmer’s daughter. Her
virtues gave her an extraordinary ascendancy over the labourers and workmen,
and she made use of her influence to lead them to God. They were so charmed by
the instructions she gave them during the hour of their midday rest, that they
would have liked to gather round their young catechist on Sundays also. But all
the time she had to spare on Sundays was devoted by Julie to the saintly
Carmelites of Compiègne, whom she loved as mothers, and from whom she learned
the secrets of an interior life. When she was fourteen she burned with the
desire of consecrating herself irrevocably to the service of her Divine Master,
and M. Dangicourt, then parish priest at Cuvilly, allowed her to make a vow of
perpetual chastity. She was soon called upon to show the spirit of a martyr as
well as that of a virgin and an apostle, for the white lily of her virginity
was to blossom amid the sharp thorns of suffering. She was to be struck down
like Job; first reduced to actual poverty by the misfortunes which fell thick
and fast upon her father, and then stretched on a bed of sickness by a
complication of diseases. For thirty years Julie was to be a living example of
the most heroic patience.
The troubles of the
Billiart family began in 1767. Julie, then young and strong, devoted herself to
the hardest work in the fields, in order to help her parents. She ate little,
allowed herself scanty repose, endured extremes of heat and cold, and undertook
many fatiguing journeys. With all this she found time for her daily communions,
her meditations and vocal prayers, and her visits to the sick, by whose
bedsides she often spent whole nights. Her old zeal went on consuming her.
During her journeys she catechised those whom she met, carrying everywhere, as
the Apostle says, the good odour of Jesus Christ. But a sudden blow was to
check all this exuberant life of eager zeal and willing labour.
Towards the close of the
year 1774, Julie was sitting one evening by her father’s side, when he was
suddenly fired at from outside the house. He was not hurt, but the fright gave
so great a shock to his daughter’s nervous system, that it was the beginning of
a long series of complicated and undefined diseases. She completely lost the
use of her limbs, and this helplessness was followed by such dangerous
convulsions, that five times she received Extreme Unction, and was considered
to be at the point of death. Almighty God had accepted the oblation which she
had made to Him of her whole being; but whilst He thus afflicted her, He also
drew her closer to Himself. M. Dangicourt took her Holy Communion every day,
and for several hours afterwards Julie remained absorbed in prayer, noticing nothing
that passed around her, and with her countenance glowing with celestial
brightness. But she came to herself as soon as it was the time for her
Catechism class. No suffering could make her relinquish the work she loved so
well, and, as the children came trooping in and ranging themselves round her
sick bed, she had a sweet smile and a loving greeting for each. Nor were these
her only visitors. Several noble ladies in the neighbourhood sought the counsel
of the poor invalid; they learned from her the lessons of the interior life,
and consulted her in their doubts and difficulties. This poor girl, who had had
no education but what her village could afford her (as M. Augé, Curé of
Beauvais, wrote in 1820), “spoke on spiritual and religious subjects like a
doctor of divinity and an experienced director of souls.” She became known as
the “Saint of Cuvilly,” and the reputation she acquired was such that the
Bishop of Beauvais thought it prudent to have her examined by competent judges.
She was accordingly questioned in the presence of several learned
ecclesiastics, who bore unanimous testimony to her sound doctrine, her tender
piety, and her profound knowledge of the Science of the Saints.
Julie’s influence was
especially useful in restoring that spirit of love and confidence in God which
had been blighted in the north of France by the icy breath of Jansenism.
Frequent Communion had fallen into disuse, and the altar rails, except at
Easter and the great Festivals, were almost deserted. Julie’s motto, “Que le bon
Dieu est bon!” worked quite a transformation in all who came near her. It is
still remembered and acted upon, even after the lapse of more than three
quarters of a century. “Ah, how good the good God is!” Julie repeated, again
and again. The word “good,” in English, starkly expresses all the loving
kindness, the tenderness, and pity that is implied in the French “bon.” Pere
Varin wrote, many years later, “Tell Julie I often think of her, for I like to
remind myself how good the good God is.'” Frequent Communion found an advocate
and an apostle in Julie. Herself a daily communicant, she did all she could to
persuade others to approach the Holy Table as often as possible. Writing to a
lady of rank, who had consulted her on this subject, she said: “Do not let
human respect keep you away from Communion. Why should we be afraid of what
others may say? Ah, if they did but know the gift of God, how they would envy
our happiness!”
In 1790, a Constitutional
priest replaced the pastor of Cuvilly. Julie, strong in her faith, refused all
communication with the intruder. The authority she had acquired by her
reputation of holiness enabled her to lead public opinion in this matter. All
doubts were silenced by her teaching. The Republicans were enraged. They had
already a grudge against Julie for the help she had given in procuring places
of refuge for the hunted and persecuted priests. And now they were determined
to take their revenge. They collected the wood of the wayside crosses, and
lighted a bonfire in the village. “The Saint shall be burned alive!” was the
horrible cry. At the first intimation of this infamous project Julie’s friends
hastened to her rescue. They lifted her from her couch, and placed her at the
bottom of a cart filled with hay, which they despatched by a circuitous route
to Compiègne. As the cart drove slowly through the village the poor fugitive
could hear the blasphemous threats of her enemies thus cheated of their prey.
“Never,” she afterwards said, “did I suffer so much from my inability to move.
I longed to spring up and offer myself to die a thousand times rather than be
the involuntary cause of so many offences against my God.” She arrived at last
at Compiègne, but there was no peace for her there. Tracked from house to
house, she was obliged to change her abode five different times in order to
save the lives of those with whom she lodged. In relating these adventures she
used to add that her favourite ejaculation at that time was – “O, my dear Lord,
wilt Thou not find me a corner in Thy Paradise, since there is no room for me
on earth!”
The hurried moving to and
fro redoubled Julie’s physical ailments. A violent contraction of the muscles
deprived her for a time of all power of speech. What was worse, she was denied
the spiritual succour which had been her chief support – no Mass – no
Sacraments – it was as if God Himself had abandoned her. Her Lord, however, was
very near her, and He deigned about this time to grant her the consolation of a
heavenly vision. She saw before her the image of one of the large wayside
Crucifixes, and at its foot a group of kneeling nuns in a dress as yet unknown
to her. She was told that these Religious would one day be her spiritual
daughters in an Institute which would be marked with the Cross of Christ, and
whose object would be the salvation of the souls of children.
In 1793, the Abbé de
Lamarche came to see Julie. He was ministering in disguise to the spiritual
wants of those holy Carmelites whom he was so soon to attend on the scaffold at
the scene of their glorious martyrdom. He heard the poor invalid’s confession,
and gave her Holy Communion. “She could not speak,” writes this venerable
Confessor of the Faith, “except when she went to confession. She had to be told
an hour before hand, and then she obtained from Almighty God the grace of
saying all she wished to her Director. As soon as her confession was finished
she relapsed into silence. Her prayer seemed to be continual, and she offered
herself incessantly as a victim to appease the Divine Justice.”
As soon as the Reign of
Terror was over, Julie Billiart was sought out by the Countess Baudouin, who
had known her at Cuvilly. She took her to Amiens in October, 1794, and lodged
her in the house in which she herself was staying, the “hôtel” or town
residence of the Viscount Blin de Bourdon. It was here that Julie met Francoise
Blin de Bourdon, Baroness of Gezain court, who was destined to be the first of
those spiritual daughters shown her beneath the Cross at Compiègne, and her
fellow-labourer in the foundation of the Institute of the Sisters of Notre
Dame.
And now came a happy time
of spiritual helps and consolations. The good Père Thomas (one of the “Fathers
of the Faith”) took up his abode in the Hotel Blin, and offered the Holy
Sacrifice daily in Julie’s room. Gradually her power of speech was restored,
though for many months it cost her a painful effort to articulate. Mademoiselle
Blin de Bourdon soon discovered the treasure hidden under that suffering
exterior, and there grew up between the bourgeoise of Cuvilly and the Baroness
of Gèzaincourt one of those friendships of which God is the author, and which
become the source of innumerable graces. The fame of the “Saint of Cuvilly” had
followed her to Amiens, and a little gathering of young and high-born ladies was
formed around the couch of the invalid. They called her their mother, and she
taught them how to lead an exterior life, while they devoted themselves with a
generous ardour to the cause of God’s Church and His poor. They visited and
relieved the needy and the sick, they instructed the ignorant and comforted the
sorrowful. They made an attempt at all the exercises of an active community
life, but probably some of the elements of stability were wanting, for these
first disciples of Mére Julie dropped off, one by one, and no one was left but
Françoise de Bourdon.
The “Petite Terreur,” as
it was called, broke up the party at Amiensit was unsafe for a time for any
priest to be seen in the city, and the two friends retired to a country house
belonging to the Doria family at Betten court, whither Pere Thomas followed
them. The parish there had been left without a priest since the beginning of
the Revolution, and the inhabitants were living in utter forgetfulness both of
the truths and practices of religion. It was a grand opportunity for Julie to
resume her apostolic labours. She could not move from her couch, but her room
was thrown open to young and old. The children, as at Cuvilly, crowded round
her bed, and she spent her entire day in catechising and instructing. The whole
aspect of the place was changed, and the tradition remains to this day of all
that was done for Bettencourt by “the good Mothers” while they stayed there.
The present Curé writes: “The memory of Mère Julie Billiart and Mère Blin de
Bourdon is still fresh in the minds of many of our old people. They speak of
their daily Communion, their piety and gentle ness, gradually winning back to
the practice of their religious duties even the scoffer and the infidel, while
the instructions they gave laid the foundation of that spirit of faith which, I
am proud to say, now distinguishes so many families in my parish.”
In 1800, the celebrated
Pere Varin, Superior of the Pères de la Foi (afterwards re-united to the
Society of Jesus) was an occasional visitor at Bettencourt. As he watched Julie
at her zealous labours, he felt certain that she was destined to undertake
greater works for the glory of God. He often spoke to her of his previsions,
but the humble invalid only answered, “How can this be?” As soon as the
restrictions on religion were finally removed, Mademoiselle de Bourdon returned
to Amiens, and she and Mère Julie established themselves in a small house in
the Rue Puits-à-brandil, and here in August, 1803, in obedience to Père Varin,
and under the auspices of the Bishop of Amiens, the foundation was laid of the
Institute of the Sisters of Notre Dame, an Order which had for its primary
object the salvation of the souls of poor children. Several young persons
offered themselves to assist the two Mothers. They were not rich or high-born,
like those first disciples of six years ago; but this did not distress Mère
Julie. She rather rejoiced that her little congregation should begin as the
Church itself did. “Let us be nothings ourselves,” she cried, “and the good God
will do His work through us.” While Mère Blin de Bourdon superintended the
secular studies of the first Sisters, Mère Julie breathed into them her own
apostolic spirit. “O, my daughters,” she exclaimed, “think how few priests
there are now, and how many poor children lie buried in the grossest ignorance,
and it is for us to reclaim them. Ah, who are we, that we should be allowed to
handle souls! Poor little women (femmelettes) and yet called to the office of
Apostles.” In a very short time Mère Julie had organised a system of
instruction, had opened an orphanage, and had formed evening classes for the
teaching of Catechism. No obstacle hindered her. “It is God’s work,” she would
say, and she met every difficulty with her firm unwavering faith. When one of
the young Sisters, sent to teach a class, bewailed her in capacity, Julie
affectionately blessed her, saying – “Never fear, my child, Saint Peter knew as
little as you do when he preached his first sermon, and yet he converted three
thousand, because he was filled with the Spirit of God.”
In 1804, a great mission
was opened in Amiens by the Fathers of the Faith. Pere Varin made abundant use
of the zeal and goodwill of the Sisters of Notre Dame. He confided to them the
instruction of the women, the greater number of whom were ignorant of the first
elements of religion. Mère Julie spent part of each night in preparing her
daughters for the work of the next day. Her own activity and charity produced
marvellous fruits in the souls that came in contact with her. None could resist
her they said they seemed to hear our Lord Himself speaking to them.
All this time she had
remained a cripple, unable to walk across her room; but the hour had come when
the work of God needed all her energies, both physical and mental, and He Who
had cured the paralytic of old was to say to Julie, by the mouth of her
confessor, Pere Enfantin, “Arise and walk.” It was on the 1st of June, 1804,
that this miracle of healing was effected the Feast of the Sacred Heart of
Jesus in Whose Name the sufferer of twenty-two years was restored to strength,
and to Whom she ever afterwards dedicated her renewed vigour. “Te Deum
laudamus,” was the cry of her heart, as she offered herself up to fresh labours
for the glory of God. When the first burst of joyous gratitude was over, and
had been re-echoed in her daughters’ hearts, Mère Julie went straight into a
ten days’ retreat. Then she devoted herself to assist the Fathers in their
missionary work, and, no longer hindered by physical incapacity, she was able
to follow them to Abbeville and Saint Valéry. She wrote to Amiens, “I have a
large room to myself here where I give my instructions. Though I am, as you
know, such a very little servant of God, and can do nothing worth naming for
His glory, the good people of Abbeville leave me no peace. I scarcely know how
to attend to them all. Just now I am busy teaching an old man his Credohe is
nearly ninety and has not yet made his First Communion, but he has the best
will in the world.”
The civil authorities put
a stop to the missionary work of the Fathers, and after an absence of two
months, Mère Julie returned to her community, now rapidly in creasing. She
exerted herself to form her sisters to a life of regularity and self sacrifice:
“You should be living rules,” she said to them; “you are the hinges upon which
the whole of our Order will depend.” Her singular clear-sightedness enabled her
to distinguish the special gifts and aptitudes of each – to spare or gently
press the weak, and to urge the strong to the higher flights of which she knew
them to be capable. Of a most unsuspicious nature herself, she was not the less
vigilant; her very simplicity and straightforwardness caused her to discover
almost intuitively any double dealing in those about her.
After taking into
consideration the urgent need for religious education amongst all classes of
society in France at that time, the Foundresses of the Sisterhood of Notre Dame
decided to modify their original plan, and to open schools for the rich as well
as for the poor, Mère Julie’s master-mind stamped even this part of her work
with a distinct character of its own. Simplicity, largeness of mind, and
freedom from little feminine weaknesses marked her training. “Try to form good
Christian women,” she would say, “women who will be useful in their homes and
in society, not sentimental devotees.” She warned her younger Sisters against
the temptation sometimes yielded to in convents of inspiring all the pupils
with the notion that they must become nuns to save their souls. “You must not
wish to make all your children nuns,” she said, “but bring them up to be
intelligent Catholics: the good God will call them Himself if He wishes. Your
duty is to spare neither time nor care to prepare your pupils for the position they
are likely to occupy in the world.”
As for her dear poor,
Mère Julie looked upon them as, in a certain sense, the apostolic capital of
the Institute. “I would sooner lock up the house,” she was heard to say, “and
hang the keys outside the door, than be with out our beloved poor children to
teach.”
By the year 1808 the
Congregation of Notre Dame had taken firm root and developed healthy branches.
Convents had been opened in four other dioceses besides Amiens, viz., Bordeaux,
Namur, Ghent and Tournay. Whilst all seemed prosperous outwardly, a heavy cross
was preparing for the Foundress within. Her trial, which was doubtless intended
to purify her and to winnow the chaff from the grain in her sisterhood, was a
peculiarly painful one. A zealous ecclesiastic, with much good will but a very
narrow mind, found continual fault with her manner of acting; she was
misrepresented to the Bishop, misunderstood, not allowed to act as Superior
General, and placed under obedience to a young local Superior. Mère Julie submitted
to the new arrangements with perfect simplicity; she deferred to all, and
excused all, leaving her cause in the hands of God. But when it was determined
to change the whole plan of her Institute, to abolish the office of Superior
General, and to make each house perfectly independent, the two Foundresses
first consulted prudent advisers, and then decided on a respectful
remonstrance. This only brought matters to a crisis; and at last the Bishop
sent, through his Vicar General, a formal permission to Mère Julie to leave
Amiens, and to withdraw to any other diocese which would suit her. Nearly the
whole of the Amiens Community elected to accompany their Mother, and the party
of Sisters set out for Namur (where their principal Belgian Convent was situated),
in January, 1809. They went on their way, says Mere Julie, “very cold but very
courageous, in great peace and union with our Lord Jesus Christ.” She adds,
“The whole earth is the Lord’s; everywhere we shall find our good God, and
everywhere souls to be saved.”
The little party were
received with open arms by their sisters at Namur, and met with a fatherly
welcome from the Bishop, Mgr. Pisani de la Gaude. Under his auspices the
Convent of Namur became the Mother-house of the Congregation, in which Mère Julie
took up her residence, and which was governed by Mère Blin de Bourdon (now Mère
San Joseph) as local Superior. The good Prelate early appreciated the gift God
had bestowed on his diocese, for he held the Sisters in singular esteem, and
wrote thus of their Mother-General: “People talk of Mère Julie as if she had
been sent away from Amiens all I can say is that I look upon her as a saint,
whom my diocese is happy in possessing.” Divine Providence eventually dispersed
all the clouds which had gathered so thickly round His faithful servant at that
period of her life. The injudicious and restless character of the ecclesiastic
who had caused so much trouble, was fully brought to light in consequence of
his attempt to change the rules of the Dames du Sacré Cour. In 1811 the Bishop
of Amiens wrote to beg Mère Julie to return to the place that had been the
cradle of her Institute, giving her full powers to act as Mother General. The
Foundress was far from looking on this recall in the light of a triumph; she
humbly gave thanks to God, and begged many prayers that she might know the
Divine will. Various circumstances combined to prevent a return to France;
several Religious, who had remained in that country, joined their sisters in
Belgium, and all connection ceased between the Foundress and the diocese of
Amiens, though the arrangements on both sides were carried out with the most
perfect charity and mutual esteem.
Free from all vexatious
interference, and happily established in her mother-house at Namur, Mère Julie
devoted herself more fully than ever to her work. Her chief care now was to
form children worthy to carry it on. She infused into her daughters an esteem
for solid piety, and taught them how to preserve the interior spirit amidst
their many exterior employments. How ever busy they may be, the Sisters of
Notre Dame must spend an hour daily in studying or explaining Christian
doctrine, and about three hours more in prayer and spiritual exercise. “If we
are not women of prayer,” said Mère Julie, “our Institute will never flourish.”
She herself was the model which exemplified her teaching her conversation was
in heaven, and God was for her the very centre of her existence. Mgr. de
Broglie, Bishop of Ghent, said of her that he was convinced she had saved more souls
by her interior life of union with God than by her outward apostolate. This
habit of recollection betrayed itself almost unconsciously. No one came nigh to
her without feeling nearer to God. Those who saw her return from the Holy Table
could not help noticing her transfigured appearance; the veil which she lowered
over her face could not quite conceal the glow on her cheeks, the tears in her
eyes, and the sort of heavenly light which seemed to emanate from her
countenance. “Whosoever shall glorify Me, him will I glorify,” says the Lord,
and this promise was distinctly fulfilled in Mère Julie. She received special
supernatural favours; she was many times divinely inspired concerning the wants
or wishes of the Sisters; the answer to her prayers was often as speedy as to
Elias of old; cures, conversions, unlooked-for aid in peril or in need; all
this, and more, did Julie obtain from the Divine Master Whom she so faithfully
served.
In 1813 Mère Julie had to
pass through Paris, and she made a memorial visit to Pope Pius VII, then a
prisoner at Fontainebleau. She remained a long while kneeling at his feet, and
when she left the venerable captive, her face wore an expression of intense
sorrow, her eyes were swollen with much weeping. “Ah, my child,” she said to the
Sister who was waiting for her, “we have wept together over the sorrows of the
Church.” She then seemed lost in prayer. A little black crucifix given her on
this occasion by the Holy Father was preserved ever afterwards amongst her most
precious relics.
The life so full of work
for God and for His Church was drawing now very near its close. In the short
space of twelve years, from 1804 to 1816, the Venerable Mother had founded 15
Convents, undertaken 120 journeys, many of them long and perilous, and carried
on a continual active correspondence with her daughters. “Mère Julie,” said the
Bishop of Namur, “is one of those souls who can do more for God’s Church in a
few years, than a hundred others are able to do in a century.” And Cardinal
Sterckx gave the reason when he defined the Institute of Notre Dame as being “a
breath of the Apostolic Spirit upon the heart of a woman who knew how to
believe and how to love.” This heart so strong and yet so tender was to be
still more tried and purified before it was to cease to beat.
The memorable year 1815
brought the Sisters of Notre Dame face to face with the terrors of war. Their
venerable Mother, unable to leave Namur on account of the disturbed state of
the country during the “Hundred Days,” suffered intense anxiety about the fate
of her Convents, especially those of Jumet, Fleurus, and Gembloux. Namur itself
was filled with soldiers after the battle of Waterloo, the French seeking
refuge there and the Prussians pursuing them. The constant alarms and the
continued strain told visibly on the sensitive nerves of the venerable
Foundress. But there was another strain on Julie’s heart, consumed as it had
been all her life with one absorbing passion. Her mortal frame was too weak to
bear any longer the love which was wearing it away, and we may well believe
that this contributed to bring on the mysterious illness which was to break her
bonds and unite her soul to the God she so longed to possess. “My God,” she
exclaimed to Mère Saint Joseph, just before she was taken ill, “how happy a
soul must be when it can leave behind it this miserable body!”
In the early part of the
year 1816 her strength completely failed her. No one in the house thought her
in danger, but she herself was not deceived, and she earnestly begged for the
last consolations of religion. Her confessor, then M. Médard, Vicar General,
convinced that she was supernaturally enlightened as to the approach of death,
hastened to accede to her wishes, and she received the Last Sacraments in the
tenderest sentiments of faith and love. Mère Julie had, as it were, laid
herself down to die, and from the day of her Last Anointing, though her
daughters fondly hoped for her recovery, she seems to have been waiting
tranquilly on the threshold of Heaven, with her work done and her heart
detached from every earthly tie. She lingered three weary months, and had many
torturing pains to endure before “The Spirit and the Bride said, ‘Come.'”
She bore her sufferings
as of old, with loving silent patience and uninterrupted union with God. Every
morning the priest brought her Holy Communion, and it was noticed that even
when she could not retain so much as a drop of water, she was always able to
receive the Blessed Sacrament. She spoke very little to anyone. She expressed
no wishes and gave no counsels. It was the triumph of her humility. “She felt,”
said M. Médard, “that her Institute was God’s own work, and that He was only
removing one of His instruments in order to make use of another.” Her beloved
friend and fellow-labourer, Mère Blin de Bourdon, was dangerously ill at the
same time, so that Julie was truly alone with her God. He was enough for her,
and His arms held her up as the shadows deepened around her.
The last summons came on
the 8th of April, 1816, when Julie Billiart went to continue in Heaven the hymn
of praise to her Creator which her whole life had sung to Him on earth. No
sooner had her spirit fled than her countenance appeared to reflect the joy of
the Blessed, her face assumed an unearthly beauty, and all her limbs remained
supple and flexible, This holy death plunged the entire town into mourning. The
room where Mère Julie lay was crowded all day long by those who wished to visit
her venerated remains. Clergy and laity, rich and poor, all came to pray and
weep beside her, and to carry away with them the memory of one whom they all
spoke of as a Saint. The funeral took place on the 10th, the Bishop insisting
on its being as solemn as possible; the crowds who were present bore witness to
the high esteem in which the Foundress was held in the town of Namur.
It was but natural that
Mère Julie’s own daughters should ask themselves, in the first bitterness of
their bereavement, “Has not Heaven recalled our Mother too soon? Our little
Congregation is still in its cradle, and how will it grow to maturity without
the help of her counsel and the light of her example?” But all things turn to
the good of those who serve God. In taking the Mother to her reward, Divine
Providence has given to her children a powerful protectress in heaven. Her
charity and zeal, far from being diminished, are increased by the ardent love
which consumes the souls of the Blessed. And by a thousand graces of every
kind, each more precious than the last, she has compensated for the loss of her
visible presence. The sapling which she planted with her hands and watered with
her tears, has grown into a stately tree, and beneath its wide-spreading
branches thousands of souls who have fled from the pleasures of the world to
taste the austere joys of self sacrifice and penance, have found rest and
consolation. The highest sanction ever coveted by Saintly Founders has crowned
Mère Julie’s work. The rules and Constitutions of the Sisters of Notre Dame
received the formal approbation of the Holy See by a Decree dated 28th June,
1844. Since that date the history of the Institute of the Sisters of Notre Dame
has been one of continual growth and progress. The fifteen Convents in Belgium
founded by Mere Julie herself have been multiplied fourfold, while the little
seed sown in America in 1840, has produced thirty-six Convents, of which seven
are in California. The English mission, begun at Penryn in Cornwall in 1845 and
transferred to Clapham in 1848, soon had its branches in seven different
Dioceses, and at the present date (1889), the Convents of Notre Dame in England
number twenty.
One hundred and fourteen
Communities in Belgium, England and America carry on the work of education
begun by the Venerable Julie Billiart, while the apostolate of her daughters
extends over the souls of nearly 150,000 children and adults. In addition to
the Convents of Notre Dame, which are directly connected with the Mother-house
at Namur, three distinct congregations in Holland, Germany and America trace
their origin to the Venerable Julie Billiart. The first of these, the Dutch
foundation, was made shortly after the Foundress’s death. A zealous Jesuit
missionary, Father Wolf, of Amersfoort, applied to Namur for Sisters to teach
his schools. The hostile spirit of the Dutch Government alarmed Mother Saint
Joseph, who was then Superior-General, and instead of sending sisters to
Holland she proposed that the Dutch postulants should come themselves to be
trained at Namur. Accordingly three young ladies entered the Noviciate of the
Mother-house and on their profession returned to their own country and
commenced a Congregation known as that of Notre Dame of Amersfoort. An Offshoot
from this foundation was established at Coesfeld in Westphalia, which in its
turn became the Mother house of several German Convents.
In 1871, the persecuting
laws of Prussia caused much suffering to the Sisters. Their property was
confiscated and the Coesfeld Community, after many vicissitudes, sought a
refuge in America. Cordially welcomed by the Bishop of Cleveland, they settled
in the United States and founded establishments in Cleveland and Kentucky. A
few sisters lingered near the Prussian frontier hoping to return to their
fatherland, and after years of weary waiting they found an opening at Paderborn
and Munster. The three Congregations of Holland, Germany and America separated
from Namur and from each other by the difficulties of the times in which their
lot was cast, still look up to the Venerable Servant of God as their Foundress,
and still carry out the Rules and Constitutions which their first Sisters
received from the Mother-house at Namur.
Sixty years passed away
before any decisive steps were taken towards placing the faithful servant of
God, Julie Billiart, on the altars of the Church. Yet, from the time of her death,
in 1816, a tender and filial devotion for her memory and a loving confidence in
her intercession were cherished in the hearts of her children-and many and
constant were the proofs they obtained of their Mother’s power before God. At
last the time came when her light was to shine before men. In March, 1881, the
Reverend Mother Aloysie Mainy, fifth Superior General of the Congregation,
presented a petition to Monstgnor Gravez, Bishop of Namur, praying him to
permit the opening of the Process before the Ordinary, for the beatification
and canonization of the servant of God, Julie Billiart. On the 21st of June
accordingly, a commission of information was opened at Namur, under the
presidency of Monsignor Delogne, V. G. Similar Processes were instituted at Beauvais,
Amiens and Malines. Authentic copies of all the proceedings were taken to Rome
by the Rev. H. Henry, Honorary Canon of the Cathedral of Namur, and on June
26th, 1889, His Holiness Pope Leo XIII wrote the “Placet” which, while
authorizing the introduction of the cause of beatification and canonization,
gives the servant of God, Julie Billiart, the title of Venerable. The following
is a translation of the Decree:
Decree of the
Beatification and Canonisation of the Venerable Servant of God, Julie Billiart,
Foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Diocese of Namur.
In the calamitous times
which closed the last century and opened our own, there lived and died in the
Lord’s Harvest an admirable labourer, the Venerable Servant of God, Julie
Billiart, who spent her days in a humble village commonly called Cuvilly, in
the diocese of Beauvais. Possessed of singular virtues, tested by long sickness
and by trials, she ended by a holy death at Namur, April 8th, 1816, a life of
labour which had been enriched with heavenly gifts. The fame of the sanctity of
this eminent Servant of God continued to flourish, particularly in these spots
where she had dwelt. After her death it shone yet further and more brightly
through the Institute called ” of the Blessed Virgin Mary,” which she herself
had founded for promoting the salvation of souls. This Institute, in fact,
growing up like a vigorous tree which God had blessed, has stretched forth its
branches into far off countries, and has brought forth plenteous fruits in the
vineyard of the Lord the works of her daughters who, filled with the spirit of
their admirable Mother, and imitating her zeal, give themselves up entirely to
helping souls. Hence it has come to pass that many of the faithful, admiring
the holiness of the Servant of God and applying to her as an advocate with God,
have testified that through her intercession they have received singular
favours from heaven.
Hence a process was
canonically instituted by authority of the Ordinary in the Ecclesiastical Court
of Namur, concerning the reputation of her holiness, her life, her virtues, and
her miracles. This was followed by many postulatory letters, in the first place
from his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, and her Majesty the Queen of the
Belgians, as well as from many Cardinals and Bishops, and from Societies of
Regulars and Seculars of both sexes, clearly proving this reputation of
sanctity.
As, then, our most Holy
Lord Pope Leo XIII had already graciously granted that the question of signing
the Commission for the Introduction of this Cause should be treated of in the
Ordinary Congregation of Sacred Rites, without the intervention or opinions of
consultors, and that, although ten years had not yet gone by since the day of
the presentation of the Informatory Process in the Records of the same Sacred
Congregation, and, again, although the writings of the aforesaid Servant of God
had not been inquired into and examined the most eminent and Reverend Lord
Cardinal Laurenzi, Prefect of the same Sacred Congregation and Proposer of this
Cause, at the request of the Right Rev. Prelate, Raphael M. Virili, Postulator
of the same Cause, proposed to the Ordinary Assembly of the Sacred Congregation
of Rites, convened at the Vatican on the undersigned day, the following
question for discussion: “Whether the Com mission for the Introduction of the
Cause is to be signed in the case and to the effect under discussion?” The most
eminent and Rev. Fathers of the Congregation of Sacred Rites, after hearing the
Right Rev. Augustine Caprara, Promoter of the Faith, who gave his opinion both
orally and in writing, on May 25th, 1889, decided to reply Affirmatively, that
is, that the Commission be so signed if it shall please his Holiness.
And these things having been
faithfully reported to our Most Holy Lord Pope Leo XIII by the undersigned
Secretary, his Holiness ratified the rescript of the Sacred Congregation, and
vouchsafed to sign with his own hand the Commission for the Introduction of the
Cause of the Venerable Servant of God, the aforesaid Julie Billiart, on the
26th day of June of the same year.
R. Card. Monaco.
Vincent Nussi
Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Rites
* * *
Ever since the opening of
the Process of Information, the tomb of the Foundress, which is placed in the
Chapel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in the grounds of the Mother-house at
Namur, is daily visited by numerous pilgrims, who come to venerate the precious
remains, and who, in many cases, return after obtaining the most signal favours.
From all parts of Belgium, England, France, Holland, America, Africa and the
Indies, letters pour in with solicitations for relics of Mère Julie, and
petitions which the writers entreat may be laid on her tomb. Many of the
writers speak with touching gratitude of the graces of healing or of conversion
obtained through the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God.
– author not listed;
published in July 1889 by the Catholic Truth
Society
Santa Giulia Billiart Vergine,
Fondatrice
Cuvilly (Dipartimento
Oise, Francia), 12 luglio 1751 - Namur (Belgio), 8 aprile 1816
Nacque il 12 luglio 1751
da una famiglia agiata a Cuvilly (Francia), sedici anni dopo, la miseria colpì
la famiglia e Giulia fu costretta a lavorare. A 22 anni, fu colpita dalla
paralisi alle gambe e, sotto la guida del suo parroco, si dedicò alle pratiche
di pietà e al catechismo dei bambini. Costretta alla fuga, durante la
Rivoluzione Francese, perché accusata di nascondere dei sacerdoti, si diresse
ad Amiens, dove incontrò padre Varin, superiore dei Padri della Fede, il quale
la convinse a fondare un'organizzazione per l'educazione cristiana delle
fanciulle. Cominciò nel 1803 la vita in comune con alcune compagne,
pronunciando i voti nel 1804, anno in cui avvenne la miracolosa guarigione
delle sue gambe. Superiora nel 1805, allargò la sua opera fondando scuole
dappertutto in Francia e Belgio, nel 1809 a causa di false calunnie fu
costretta a lasciare la sua Casa, ma tutta la Comunità la seguì a Namur in
Belgio. Nel frattempo cambiarono il nome in «Suore di Nostra Signora di Namur».
E anche in Belgio seppe diffondere le sue fondazioni. Fervente devota al Sacro
Cuore ebbe anche il dono di estasi e miracoli, morì a Namur l'8 aprile
1816. (Avvenire)
Etimologia: Maria = amata
da Dio, dall'egiziano; signora, dall'ebraico
Martirologio Romano: A
Namur lungo la Mosa nel Brabante, nell’odierno Belgio, santa Giulia Billiart,
vergine, che fondò l’Istituto di Santa Maria per la formazione della gioventù
femminile e propagò con zelo la devozione verso il Sacratissimo Cuore di Gesù.
Leggere la vita di santa Giulia, sembra di leggere la vita di altre sante o beate fondatrici anch’esse di Congregazioni religiose, tanto gli episodi salienti sono quasi uguali. Nacque il 12 luglio 1751 da una famiglia agiata a Cuvilly (Francia), sedici anni dopo, la miseria colpì la famiglia e quindi Giulia fu costretta a lavorare anche con lavori manuali pesanti.
A ventidue anni, fu colpita dalla paralisi alle gambe, pur in quelle condizioni, sotto la guida del suo parroco, si dedicò alle pratiche di pietà e all’insegnamento del catechismo ai bambini. Costretta alla fuga, durante la Rivoluzione Francese, perché accusata di nascondere dei sacerdoti restii alle nuove norme civili, si diresse ad Amiens, dove incontrò padre Varin, superiore dei Padri della Fede, il quale la convinse a fondare un’organizzazione dedita all’educazione cristiana delle fanciulle.
Cominciò nel 1803 la vita in comune con alcune compagne, pronunciando i voti nel 1804, anno in cui avvenne la miracolosa guarigione delle sue gambe. Superiora nel 1805, allargò la sua opera fondando scuole dappertutto in Francia e Belgio, nel 1809 il vescovo di Amiens, dando credito a voci calunniose su di lei, ordinò che lasciasse la sua Casa, ma tutta la Comunità la seguì e si istallarono a Namur in Belgio, sotto la protezione del locale vescovo; nel frattempo cambiarono il nome in “Suore di Nostra Signora di Namur”.
Pur essendo d’istruzione limitata, seppe diffondere le sue fondazioni in Belgio, formando anche schiere di maestre. Fervente devota al Sacro Cuore ebbe anche il dono di estasi e miracoli, morì a Namur l’8 aprile 1816. Beatificata da s. Pio X il 13 maggio 1906 e dopo il riconoscimento di due miracoli avvenuti uno in Belgio e l’altro in Brasile è stata canonizzata il 22 giugno 1969 da papa Paolo VI.
Autore: Antonio Borrelli
La santa festeggiata oggi, per trent’anni vive con le gambe paralizzate, ma non è mai sola. Attorno al suo letto tante fanciulle ascoltano incantate il suo catechismo. Maria Rosa Giulia Billiart nasce in Francia, a Cuvilly, nel 1751, da una numerosa famiglia di sfortunati contadini commercianti. Giulia è una bambina buona, va a scuola, ubbidisce ai genitori. Si alza al mattino presto per iniziare la giornata con un’ora di preghiera. Trova anche il tempo per leggere il Vangelo. Ha solo otto anni e a casa sua insegna il catechismo ai suoi compagni. Com’è brava Giulia a parlare di Gesù, delle parabole e dei miracoli! Una nobile della città le affida la distribuzione, di casa in casa, dell’elemosina. Giulia assolve l’importante compito con gioia: a ogni malato e bisognoso che incontra porta pane e parole buone. La sua famiglia cade in miseria e Giulia non si vergogna di andare a mietere il grano per sopravvivere.
Un giorno, mentre prega, ha la visione di alcune suore e una voce le indica che sarà sua missione guidarle. Purtroppo a ventitré anni si ammala e le sue gambe non si muovono più. Giulia non si perde d’animo. Prega sempre, cuce merletti per i poveri e per mantenersi. Il tempo che le rimane lo dedica alle ragazzine che si siedono attorno al suo letto per apprendere il catechismo.
In quel periodo scoppia la Rivoluzione francese (1789) e i sacerdoti vengono osteggiati. Giulia deve scappare perché accusata di favorirli. Grazie all’aiuto di alcune donne nobili, Giulia viene trasportata ad Amiens (Francia) e qui fonda la sua prima scuola gratuita per fanciulle povere. Inizia con otto orfanelle. Tutto ciò lo realizza una donna paralizzata che a malapena riesce a stare su una sedia.
Ma ecco compiersi il miracolo: dopo trent’anni Giulia si alza e cammina (1804). Le preghiere e il desiderio di “fare” qualcosa per il prossimo, la premiano. Giulia diventa suora ed è più attiva che mai. Si trasferisce a Namur (Belgio) dove fonda la comunità “Suore di Nostra Signora di Namur”. Viaggia tanto e, benché si definisca una “povera contadina”, apre ulteriori scuole in Belgio e Francia che si estendono in Olanda, Germania e in altri Paesi. La “Divina Provvidenza” non abbandona la santa: quando le casse si svuotano per pagare il necessario, queste si riempiono di nuovo. Giulia Billiart muore nel 1816 a Namur dove ancora oggi riposa.
Autore: Mariella Lentini
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/48950
.jpg)
Chiesa di Santa Giulia Billiart, Roma, nel quartiere Tuscolano. Facciata
Façade
of the church of Saint Julie Billiart in Rome, Italy
Chiesa
di Santa Giulia Billiart, a Roma, nel quartiere Tuscolano. Interno.
Den hellige Julia
Billiart (1751-1816)
Minnedag: 8.
april
Den hellige Julia
Billiart (fr: Julie) ble født den 12. juli 1751 i Cuvilly nær Beauvais i
Picardie i Frankrike. Ved dåpen fikk hun navnene Marie-Rose-Julie. Hun var det
sjette av syv barn av Jean-François Billiart, en ganske velstående bonde som
også eide en liten butikk, og hans hustru Marie-Louise-Antoinette Debraine.
Julia viste i tidlig alder tegn på fromhet og uvanlige dyder, og som 7-åring
kunne hun hele katekismen utenat og pleide å samle sine venner rundt seg for å
høre dem i katekismen og forklare den for dem. Hennes utdannelse var begrenset
til landsbyskolen i Cuvilly, som ble drevet av hennes onkel, Thibault Guilbert.
I åndelige spørsmål var
hennes fremgang så rask at sognepresten, M. Dangicourt, tillot henne i
hemmelighet å gå til førstekommunion og bli fermet i den tidlige alder av 9 år,
mens det normale var 13. Sognepresten ga henne også tillatelse til å avlegge et
privat kyskhetsløfte som 14-åring. I tillegg til katekismen lærte han henne
hvordan hun skulle be korte mentale bønner, å kontrollere sitt voldsomme
temperament og å utvikle en dyp kjærlighet til Jesus i eukaristien.
I 1767 mistet familien
sin formue på grunn av dårlige investeringer, og Julia måtte ta på seg hardt
kroppsarbeid for å hjelpe familien å overleve. Hun hadde begynt å undervise de
yngre barna og gårdsarbeidere i sognet i katekisme, i tillegg til at hun
besøkte de syke, og hun forsøkte å opprettholde disse aktivitetene mens hun
arbeidet.
Julia var tidlig i
tyveårene da hennes liv plutselig ble forandret. En kveld vinteren 1774 ble det
gjort et forsøk på å såre eller til og med drepe hennes far – de to satt sammen
i hjemmet da det ble avfyrt et skudd gjennom et vindu. Den følsomme Julia fikk
et sjokk som førte til en nervøs lammelse, og gradvis gjorde sykdommen henne
ute av stand til å gå, og den forårsaket store smerter. En ny leges forsøk på
behandling gjorde det hele bare verre, og fra hun var 30, var hun fullstendig
invalid og ikke en gang i stand til å stå. Hun mottok kommunionen daglig, og
hun tilbrakte fire-fem timer hver dag i kontemplasjon. Hun ofret sine lidelser
til Jesu hellige Hjerte som reparasjon for verdens synder, spesielt dem som var
begått mot Den hellige eukaristi.
Sognepresten fortsatte å
være hennes åndelige veileder, og han oppmuntret henne til å fortsette med sin
katekismeundervisning fra sengen. Hun utviklet sitt eget apostolat, ga åndelige
råd til et voksende antall mennesker og ivret for hyppig mottakelse av
kommunionen når det var mulig. Noen velstående kvinner begynte å besøke henne,
imponert av det de hadde hørt om hennes tålmodighet, fromhet og gode humør.
Senere led hun av slike
kramper at folk trodde at hun var besatt av djevelen. Hun spiste svært lite og
ved flere anledninger virket det som om hun skulle dø – hun fikk den siste olje
(sykesalvingen) fem ganger, og den gangen ble den bare gitt til døende. Blant
dem som besøkte og samtalte med henne på denne tiden var de salige brødrene
François-Joseph de Rochefoucauld og Louis de la Rochefoucauld, biskoper av
henholdsvis Beauvais og Saintes, som begge ble martyrdrept i massakren i
karmelittklosteret (Les Carmes) i Rue de Rennes i Paris den 2. september 1792
og tilhører De
191 Septembermartyrene.
I 1789 brøt Den franske
revolusjon ut. I 1790 ble sognepresten (curé) i Cuvilly erstattet av
en konstitusjonell prest, som hadde avlagt den eden som var foreskrevet av de
revolusjonære myndighetene. Det var hovedsakelig Julias innflytelse som fikk
folket til å boikotte inntrengeren. Men da kom hun under mistanke fra de
revolusjonære myndighetene for å huse forfulgte prester, og på torget i
landsbyen reiste bøddelen snart et bål laget av kirkeinventar, hvor Julia
skulle brennes som heks.
Da ble hun tvunget til å
gå i dekning. Hennes venner smuglet henne ut fra Cuvilly i en høyvogn, og de
neste tre årene tilbrakte hun i dekning i Compiègne, hvor hun ble flyttet fra
et tilfluktssted til et annet mens hun led stadig større smerter. Sykdommen
forverret seg i en slik grad at hun mistet taleevnen i flere måneder. I denne
tiden hadde hun en forvirrende visjon hvor hun så Golgata omgitt av nonner i
uvanlige drakter og hørte en stemme som sa til henne: «Se disse åndelige døtre
som jeg gir til deg i et Institutt merket av korset». I Compiègne bodde hun i
nærheten av de salige 16 karmelittnonnene,
som gikk syngende til giljotinen den 17. juli 1794.
Etter den første pausen i
forfølgelsene som fulgte etter slutten på Terrorregimet, ble Julia reddet av en
gammel venn, og i oktober 1794 ble hun brakt til Amiens og huset til vicomte
Blin de Bourdon. I dette gjestfrie hjemmet fikk den invalide Julia komme til
krefter, og der møtte hun vicomtens søster, Françoise Blin de Bourdon,
vicomtesse av Gezaincourt, som ble hennes nære venninne og hennes medhjelper i
alt arbeidet, medgrunnlegger av hennes institutt og hennes første biograf.
Françoise var 38 år gammel da hun møtte Julia og hadde tilbrakt sin ungdom i
fromhet og gode gjerninger. Hun var blitt innesperret sammen med hele familien
under Terroren, og unnslapp døden kun på grunn av Robespierres fall. I
sykerommet, hvor messen daglig ble feiret av Abbé Thomas, som var mer eller
mindre i skjul, samlet fromme venninner seg rundt Julia i de ti årene mellom
1794 og 1804 for å søke å gi sitt veldedige arbeid en permanent form.
Men en gjenoppblussing av
forfølgelsene spredte dem, og tvang Julia og hennes nye venninne til å trekke
seg tilbake til et hus som tilhørte Doria-familien i Bettencourt. Der kunne de
sammen med en gruppe kvinner holde katekeseklasser for landsbyboerne. Under
oppholdet der fikk de flere ganger besøk av p. Josef Desire Varin (1769-1850),
superior for «Troens fedre» (Pères de la Foi), og han ble straks ble slått
av Julias personlighet og evner. Han var overbevist om at Gud hadde utsett
henne til å gjøre store ting for Kirken. Da Julia etter revolusjonen dro
tilbake til Amiens, grunnla hun i 1803 under p. Varins veiledning «Instituttet
av Notre Dame for kristen utdannelse». Deres hovedformål var åndelig omsorg for
fattige barn, men også utdannelse av jenter av alle klasser og opplæring av
ordenssøstre til lærere. Grunnleggelsen ble godkjent av biskopen av Amiens,
Msgr Demandolx, tidligere biskop av La Rochelle.
I 1804 holdt «Troens
fedre» en stor misjon i Amiens, og undervisningen av kvinnene ble overlatt til
Instituttet av Notre Dame. Avslutningen av misjonen ble fulgt av en begivenhet
som skapte stor sensasjon. En av prestene, p. Enfantin, som hadde blitt
presteviet i en låve under revolusjonen, ba Julia om å slutte seg til ham i en
novene for en ukjent intensjon. På den femte dagen, den 1. juni – festen for
Jesu hellige Hjerte, befalte han henne: «Moder, hvis du har noen tro, ta et
skritt til ære for Jesu hellige Hjerte». Hun reiste seg straks og forsto at hun
var fullstendig helbredet etter 22 år som invalid.
To eller tre andre
sluttet seg til Julia og Françoise, og p. Varin skrev en provisorisk regel for
dem. De første fire søstrene avla sine løfter den 15. oktober 1804: Julia
Billiart, Françoise Blin de Bourdon, Victoire Leleu og Justine Garson, og deres
familienavn ble endret til helgennavn. Den provisoriske regelen var så
forutseende at dens prinsipper aldri er blitt endret. Før et år var gått var de
atten søstre.
På 1800-tallet ble det
grunnlagt så mange institutter og kongregasjoner for kvinner at det er lett å
miste av syne pionerelementene i Julias arbeid. Hennes institutts regler var på
mange områder svært forskjellige fra andre ordener, spesielt i avskaffelsen av
skillet mellom korsøstre og legsøstre. Søstrene måtte være frie til å forlate
klostrene for å arbeide i skolene, så det kunne ikke være noen klausur.
Hovedformen for selvdisiplin måtte ligge i de samvittighetsfulle forberedelsene
til undervisningen og hardt arbeid i klasserommene. Julia var fullt klar over
problemet med å kombinere et kontemplativt og et aktivt liv, men hun
understreket at uten et dypt indre liv ville kongregasjonen ikke vare.
Etter Julias helbredelse
i 1804 fortsatte etableringen av hennes kongregasjon med raske skritt og
spredte seg til Gent, Namur og Tournai i Flandern (det nåværende Belgia). Nå
kunne hun også delta personlig i de misjonene som ble ledet av Troens fedre i
andre byer, inntil deres aktiviteter i den retning ble stoppet av regjeringen.
Hun underviste dem som på grunn av revolusjonen ikke hadde fått noen religiøs
opplæring, og var bekymret for en tilsynelatende avkristning av landet. Dette
var det viktigste motivet for hennes opplæringsarbeid. Det forklarer også
arbeidets omfang, for mens hennes første interesse alltid hadde vært de
fattige, forsto hun at de andre klassene i samfunnet hadde like stort behov for
sunn kristen utdannelse og at hennes søstre aldri kunne håpe på å dekke hele
behovet alene. Da kongregasjonen ble godkjent ved keiserlig dekret datert 19.
juni 1806, hadde den 30 medlemmer.
Fra 1804 til hennes død i
1816 var Julia konstant på veien og var ansvarlig for det nye Instituttets
raske ekspansjon. Hun åpnet skoler i 19 sentre i Frankrike og Belgia og dannet
mønsteret for deres fremtidig arbeid: fattigskoler, dagskoler og kostskoler,
kallsgrupper og skoler for utdannelse av lærere. Hun og Françoise kombinerte på
en fruktbar måte de to tradisjonene i den franske utdannelsen frem til da:
insisteringen på grunnskoler for de fattige og utdannede lærere for å undervise
der på den ene siden, og på den andre side verdsettelsen av en bredere, mer
individrettet undervisning, for eksempel i ursulinnenes skoler for overklassen.
Julias egen formelle utdannelse hadde vært begrenset, og hun refererte hele
tiden nedsettende til sin uvitenhet. Men hennes andre kvaliteter mer enn
kompenserte for hennes mangel på akademiske bakgrunn. Søstrenes
utdannelsesarbeid fortsatte å vokse raskt, de startet et barnehjem, og alt så
lyst ut.
Men det kom et
tilbakeslag da p. Varin ble forflyttet fra Amiens. Hans etterfølger som
skriftefar for Søstrene av Notre Dame ble den dyktige og intelligente, men
høyst ukloke og stivsinnede unge presten abbé de Sambucy de St. Estève. Han
prøvde å forandre regelen slik at den kom i overensstemmelse med de monastiske
ordenene, men Julia og Françoise motsatte seg dette. Men abbé de Sambucy hadde
så stor innflytelse over biskopen av Amiens, Msgr Demandolx, at han klarte å få
også ham til å bli fiendtlig innstilt til søstrene. Biskopen tvang dem til å
forlate Amiens i 1809.
Moder Julia tok da med
seg de aller fleste av søstrene og flyttet ordenens moderhus til Namur, hvor
byens biskop, Msgr Pisani de la Gaude, tok varmt imot dem. Siden har deres navn
vært «Søstrene av Notre Dame av Namur» (Soeurs de Notre Dame de Namur –
SNDdeN eller SND). Ikke lenge etter ble Julia renvasket i affæren i Amiens og
biskopen ba henne om å komme tilbake. Hun forsøkte også å vende tilbake til Amiens,
men etter et forgjeves forsøk på finne søstre og inntekter, ga hun opp og
beholdt moderhuset i Namur.
Sine syv siste år i livet
tilbrakte Julia med å utvide sin grunnleggelse ytterligere. Ved hennes død
fantes det 15 klostre. Det ble gjort forsøk på å støte noen søstre bort fra
Julia, og noen ganger forårsaket prester problemer fordi de mente at de skulle
ha mer kontroll over klostrene som ble opprettet i deres menigheter.
Forskjellige omstendigheter førte til at alle klostrene og skolene i Frankrike
ble stengt, og i 1815 ble flere av de belgiske klostrene ransaket av soldater
før og etter slaget ved Waterloo. Julia taklet vanskelighetene med sunn fornuft
og en fullstendig tillit til Guds forsyn, og hun holdt instituttet sammen med
en tilsynelatende endeløs reise fra kloster til kloster, hvor hun oppmuntret,
støttet og bidro til undervisningen eller med å vaske etter hvert som behovene
meldte seg. Françoise (Moder St. Josef) for sin del tok seg av foretaksomme
myndigheter, sivile og kirkelige, med en aristokratisk sikkerhet, stille
fasthet og en overbevisning om at Julia utførte Guds verk.
Julia, som var
grunnlegger av en av de store lærerkongregasjonene i Kirken, skrev ingen
avhandling om undervisning eller drift av skoler. Hennes ideer finnes i brev samt
den undervisningen hun ga til søstrene, men også i den måten Françoise satte
disse ideene ut i praksis etter Julias død. Ordensregelen ble ikke fullført
mens Julia levde, men ble overlatt til Françoise, som i 1818 ga den ut i tre
deler. Den ble godkjent i 1844 av pave Gregor XVI (1831-46).
Da Françoise Blin døde i
1838, var den nye kongregasjonen fast etablert, dens filosofi og arbeid klar og
dens tilstedeværelse akseptert og verdsatt. Den var nyskapende ved å tilby
utdannelse for jenter av alle klasser og i sin understreking av nødvendigheten
av å utdanne de fattige. Ved slutten av 1800-tallet hadde Notre Dame-søstrene
spredt seg til USA, Storbritannia, Guatemala, Kongo og Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). På
1900-tallet spredte den seg til Japan, Kina, Brasil, Peru, Nigeria og Kenya.
Julia ble syk i januar
1816, og etter tre måneders smerte som hun bar i stillhet og tålmodighet, døde
hun den 8. april 1816 i Namur mens hun rolig resiterte Magnificat. Biskopen av
Namur sa at «Moder Julia er et av disse menneskene som kan gjøre mer for Guds
Kirke på få år enn andre kan gjøre på et århundre».
Julia ble gravlagt den
10. april på byens kirkegård. Tre måneder senere skulle det plasseres en
gravstein på graven, og kisten ble åpnet et kort øyeblikk. Hennes legeme ble da
funnet like friskt. Den 17. juli 1817 ble kisten flyttet til kirkegården ved
moderhuset i Namur, og igjen ble hennes legeme funnet like friskt. Hennes ry
som hellig spredte seg, og det ble styrket av flere mirakler. Hennes
saligkåringsprosess ble innledet i 1881 og hennes jordiske levninger ble
skrinlagt i 1882. Da var forråtnelsen skjedd på normal måte og bare skjelettet
var igjen.
Hun ble saligkåret den
13. mai 1906 (dokumentet (Breve) var datert den 19. mars) av den hellige
pave Pius X (1903-14)
og helligkåret den 22. juni 1969 av pave Paul VI (1963-78). Hennes minnedag er
dødsdagen 8. april, men 18. april og 31. juli nevnes også. Hennes faste
uttrykk, både skriftlig og muntlig, var: «Oh, qu'il est bon, le bon Dieu» (Å,
hvor god Gud er).
Kilder:
Attwater/Cumming, Butler (IV), Benedictines, Delaney, Bunson, Ball (1), Cruz
(1), Engelhart, Schauber/Schindler, Index99, KIR, CE, CSO, Patron Saints SQPN,
Infocatho, Bautz, Heiligenlexikon, EWTN, Viq, sndohio.org - Kompilasjon og
oversettelse: p. Per
Einar Odden - Opprettet: 2000-04-06 20:03 -
Sist oppdatert: 2005-08-24 17:09
SOURCE : http://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/jbilliar
Maria Rosa Julia Billiart
französischer Name:
Marie-Rose-Julie
Gedenktag katholisch: 8.
April
Name bedeutet: M: die Beleibte / die Schöne / die Bittere / die von Gott Geliebte (aramäisch)
R: die Rose (latein.)
J: aus dem Geschlecht der Julier (latein.)
Ordensgründerin
* 12. Juli 1751 in Cuvilly in der Picardie in Frankreich
† 8. April 1816 in Namur in
Belgien
Maria Rosa Julia half dem
Pfarrer ihres Heimatortes schon
in ihrer Jugend beim Erzählen biblischer Geschichten für Kinder und beim
Katechismus-Unterricht. Als sie 23 Jahre alt war, erschrak sie ob eines
Anschlags auf ihren Vater so, dass sie gelähmt wurde und nur noch im Bett
liegen konnte. Während der Französischen Revolution beschuldigte man sie,
verfolgten Priestern Unterschlupf zu gewähren, deshalb sollte sie auf dem
Dorfplatz verbrannt werden, konnte aber mit Hilfe von Freunden fliehen. 1803
gründete sie zusammen mit Gefährtinnen in Amiens die
Kongregation der Schwestern Unserer Lieben Frau mit
der Zielsetzung der Erziehung und Unterweisung junger Frauen. Bald darauf genas
sie auf wunderbare Weise nach 30 Jahren der Lähmung.
Die Kongregation wuchs
schnell, wurde aber 1809 mit ihrer Gründerin aus Frankreich vertrieben und fand
in Namur in
Belgien eine neue Heimat. Kurz vor dem Tod der Gründerin wurde die Gemeinschaft
in Frankreich wieder zugelassen.
Kanonisation: Papst Pius X. sprach
Julia am 13. Mai 1906 selig, Papst Paul VI. sprach
sie am 22. Juni 1969 heilig.
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Quellen:
• Vera Schauber, Hanns Michael Schindler: Heilige und Patrone im Jahreslauf. Pattloch, München 2001
• Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, begr. von Michael Buchberger. Hrsg. von
Walter Kasper, 3., völlig neu bearb. Aufl., Bd. 5. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau
1996
korrekt zitieren: Joachim Schäfer: Artikel Maria Rosa Julia Billiart, aus dem Ökumenischen Heiligenlexikon - https://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienM/Maria_Rosa_Julia_Billiart.htm, abgerufen am 8. 4. 2024
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet das Ökumenische
Heiligenlexikon in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte
bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über https://d-nb.info/1175439177 und https://d-nb.info/969828497 abrufbar.
SOURCE : https://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienM/Maria_Rosa_Julia_Billiart.htm
Plaque
en l'honneur de la fondation des Sœurs de Notre-Dame de Namur par sainte Julie
Billiart.
Santa Yulia Billiart
Pendiri Konggregasi
Suster Notre Dame de Namur
Diterbitkan :
31 Agustus 2013
Diperbaharui :
31 Mei 2014
Maria Rosa Yulia Billiart
dilahirkan di Belgia pada tahun 1751. Pamannya, seorang guru desa, mengajarinya
membaca dan menulis. Yulia terutama senang sekali belajar katekismus (pelajaran
agama). Ketika usianya baru tujuh tahun, ia sudah menerangkan kebenaran iman
kepada anak-anak kecil lainnya. Ketika orangtuanya jatuh miskin, Yulia bekerja
keras untuk membantu menopang keluarganya. Ia bahkan ikut pergi menuai hasil
panenan. Namun demikian, ia selalu menyisihkan waktu untuk berdoa, mengunjungi
mereka yang sakit, dan mengajarkan katekese.
Ketika Yulia masih seorang wanita muda, ia menderita sakit parah yang
menyebabkannya lumpuh total. St. Yulia tidak lagi dapat bekerja, tetapi ia
mempersembahkan doa-doanya kepada Tuhan agar banyak orang dapat menemukan
kebahagiaan sejati bersama-Nya. Yulia merasa jauh lebih akrab dengan Tuhan
daripada sebelumnya. Ia tetap mengajarkan katekese dari pembaringannya.
Yulia seorang yang penuh dengan Roh Kudus. Banyak orang datang kepadanya untuk
meminta nasehat sebab ia dapat membantu mereka mendekatkan diri kepada Yesus
dan mengamalkan iman mereka dengan penuh cinta. Ia mendorong semua orang untuk
menerima Komuni Kudus sesering mungkin. Kasih Yulia kepada Tuhan membangkitkan
semangat banyak wanita muda. Mereka rela mengorbankan waktu serta kekayaan
mereka untuk karya amal kasih. Dengan Yulia sebagai pemimpin, mereka
membentuk Kongregasi
Suster-suster dari Notre Dame de Namur.
Suatu ketika, seorang imam mengadakan misi di kota di mana Yulia tinggal. Ia
meminta Yulia untuk melakukan novena bersamanya bagi suatu intensi yang
dirahasiakan olehnya. Setelah lima hari, yaitu pada Hari Raya Hati Yesus Yang
Mahakudus, imam berkata: “Moeder, jika anda memiliki iman, majulah satu langkah
demi menghormati Hati Yesus Yang Mahakudus.” Moeder Billiart, yang telah lumpuh
selama duapuluh dua tahun, berdiri dan disembuhkan!
St.Yulia menghabiskan sisa hidupnya untuk mempersiapkan para gadis yang hendak
menjadi biarawati. Ia mengurus kongregasinya. Ia banyak menderita oleh karena
mereka yang tidak mengerti karyanya, namun St. Yulia senantiasa mengandalkan
Tuhan. Kata-kata kesukaannya ialah: “Betapa baiknya Allah yang baik itu.” Tuhan
meyakinkan Yulia bahwa suatu hari kelak, kongregasi religiusnya akan berkembang
menjadi amat besar. Dan itulah yang terjadi. Meskipun St. Yulia telah wafat
pada tanggal 8 April 1816, saat ini ada banyak suster dari kongregasi St. Yulia
yang tersebar di seluruh dunia.
Arti nama
Julia adalah bentuk
feminim dari nama "Julius".
Julius = nama Romawi
yang mungkin berasal dari bahasa Yunani ιουλος (ioulos) yang
berarti "berjanggut".
Variasi Nama
Julia (English), Iulia, Julia (Ancient
Roman), Julia (Biblical), Yuliya (Bulgarian), Julija (Croatian), Julia (Danish), Julia (Dutch), Julia (Finnish), Julia (German), Julitta (History), Júlia, Juli, Juliska (Hungarian), Iúile (Irish), Giulia, Giulietta (Italian), Julija (Lithuanian), Julia (Norwegian), Julia, Julita (Polish), Júlia, Julinha (Portuguese), Iulia (Romanian), Yulia, Yuliya (Russian), Júlia (Slovak), Julija (Slovene), Julia (Spanish), Julia (Swedish)
Bentuk pendek : Juliette (French), Jools, Juliet (English)
Bentuk Maskulin : Jules (French), Julius (English)
SOURCE : https://katakombe.org/para-kudus/item/yulia-billiart.html
