Françoise Blin de Bourdon
Françoise Blin de Bourdon, a wealthy Frenchwoman and a close friend of St. Julie Billiart, co-founded the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. She was the Congregation’s first “donor,” providing the financial support that enabled the Sisters to expand during the early years. Françoise also provided a spiritual foundation by writing the first “Rule,” which described the way the Sisters were to live and also wrote the “Memoirs” that tell us so much about St. Julie and the early history of the Congregation. She succeeded St. Julie as the superior general (worldwide leader) of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
Of course, there is much more to the story than that! For example…
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Selling All
Françoise had it all: a doting grandmother, a home on a luxurious estate, access to the upper echelons of 18th-century French society. By the time she died, she had given away all of her material goods. What happened to the luxury-loving society woman? She heard God’s constant invitation to deep relationship with Him, and said “yes.”
That “yes” led her to St. Julie Billiart who, paralyzed and bedridden, was a guest of Françoise’s brother. While at first Françoise found visiting the sick woman distasteful, friendship grew between them. With St. Julie’s guidance, she spent her whole life “letting go” of anything that could come between her and God.
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Losing her head (almost!)
Have you ever had a narrow escape?
Françoise, a member of an aristocratic French family, had been presented at the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette! Then the French revolutionists overthrew the king and queen and began executing members of the aristocracy. Françoise herself was imprisoned and was one day away from execution when Maximilien Robespierre, the mastermind of the French Revolution, fell from power, and Françoise was freed.
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A fruitful friendship
Do you know right away whether you want to be friends with a new acquaintance? Françoise was not at all sure about her new acquaintance, Julie Billiart. Julie was paralyzed and bedridden, and at times her speech was hard to understand. But she spoke of God as if she knew Him well, and Françoise kept coming back.
The friendship between the two women developed, and Françoise found herself confiding in Julie about her own relationship with God. When they were unable to talk face-to-face, they wrote frequent letters to each other.
In those letters, Julie often calls Françoise “my dear friend in the Lord.” That “friendship in the Lord” was the foundation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Julie, Françoise, and Catherine Duchâtel consecrated themselves to God on February 2, 1804, the “birthday” of the Congregation. They professed vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience as Sisters of Notre Dame on October 15, 1805. Françoise, whose name as a Sister was Mother St. Joseph, wrote the first biography of St. Julie, the first history of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, and was the second superior general (worldwide leader) of the Congregation.
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