| On July 12, 1751
in a small village in Cuvilly,
France, Francois and Marie
Antoinette De
Braine gave birth to the
fifth of seven children. The child
was baptized that same day and was
given the name of Marie Rose Julie.
Her family were peasant farmers, who
also owned a little shop at Cuvilly
in Picardy, France. When Julie was
only eight years old, she would take
on the role of teacher of catechism
and Sacred Scripture while playing,
and the children of her own age and
older ones, listened enraptured.
The pastor of the village
recognized the spiritual gifts of
the child and taught Julie how to
pray. When she was nine years old,
she secretly made her first
communion.
In spite of their meagre income,
the Billiarts were a happy family.
But repeated losses brought about
real financial pressure and thieves
broke into their shop creating
further devastation. When Julie was
only sixteen years of age she had to
earn her living. She was obliged to
work, to join the harvesters in the
fields. She used this as an
opportunity to teach the other field
workers about their duties as
Christians.
One evening while Julie was in
conversation with her father in the
old store, a shot came through the
window pane. Julie's nerves were so
badly shaken that her walking and
movement were severely impaired. At
the age of twenty-three she was
reduced to the condition of an
invalid. Refusing to give into
despair, Julie found a way to
overcome her trials. She lived a
life of even closer union with God
and taught catechism to the children
of the village. With the aid of
crutches she would visit the sick
and hold vigils beside their beds.
When she was thirty-one, her
paralysis became complete. For long
hours she conversed with Jesus,
absolutely oblivious of what went on
around her, absorbed. She began to
receive students at her bedside and
teach them catechism.
Then came the French Revolution,
and with it the Civil Constitution
for the Clergy. All priests were
remanded to take an oath of
allegiance to the revolutionary
authorities. Those priests who did
not, were hunted down. Julie tried
to organize the towns people to
reject the "constitutional" priest
sent to replace their pastor and
helped to find hiding places for
fugitive priests who rejected the
taking of the oath.
When the authorities learned of
her activity, they wanted to burn
her alive, causing her to flee and
go into hiding. She fled to
Compiegne, France hidden in a
cartload of straw. She suffered much
from the situation and had to keep
moving to stay alive. In spite of
her suffering, Julie clung to God.
In the first lull which followed
the end of the Reign of Terror, an
old friend rescued Julie and brought
her to Amiens to the house of
Viscount Blin de Bourdon. Francois
Blin de Bourdon was henceforth to be
her close friend and her associate
in all her work. In the sickroom of
Julie, mass was offered daily and a
little party of women who were
inspired by Julie's suffering soon
gathered around her.
However, this calm was not meant
to last, and a recurrence of
persecution caused the group to
scatter. Julie and Francois landed
at the house belonging to the Doria
family at Bettencourt. During their
stay here, they were visited by Fr.
Joseph Varin who was immensely
struck by the personality and
capabilities of Julie. He was
convinced that God intended her to
do great things. Under his
direction, the foundations of the
Institute of Notre Dame were laid.
The Institute was to devote itself
primarily to the spiritual care of
poor children, the Christian
education of girls of all classes,
and to the training of religious
teachers.
During a novena to the Sacred
Heart of Jesus, on June 1, 1804,
Julie was miraculously cured. She
was fifty-three years old.
Three torches lit up the path of
Julie Billiart: a lively faith, a
boundless charity and a keen sense
of the goodness of God. "Ah! How
good is the good God!"
In January, 1816, Julie became
seriously ill. On April 8, while she
was repeating the Magnificent, Julie
died and entered eternal life. Julie
was 65 years old when she died.
|
