Our Story
The Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur was founded in 1804 by Marie Rose Julie Billiart, a French woman, filled with love for God and God’s people.
Foundress
The Sisters of Notre Dame
JULIE BILLIART
Marie Rose Julie Billiart was born in 1751 in Cuvilly, a small village in France.
She attended the village school. When she was older, Julie helped in the fields with the hay making and loved to speak to the other villagers of the goodness of God. Her father owned a smallholding and a draper’s store.
One night his shop was broken into and the merchandise was stolen and ruined. Not long after this when Julie was with her father, an attempt was made on his life. As a result of this shock she became paralysed for 23 years, unable to walk and at times unable to speak.
Julie lived during the horrors of the French Revolution and many of her friends, including the Carmelites of Compiègne, died at the hands of the revolutionaries. Her great friend, Madame Pont l’Abbé, persuaded Julie that she must leave Cuvilly and she brought her and her devoted niece, Felicité, to her chateau at Gournay-sur-Aronde. However, very soon the revolutionaries were hunting for Julie and she and Felicité fled to Compiègne, hidden in a hay cart. Again Julie had to flee and her friend, Madame Baudoin, brought Julie and her niece, Felicité, to Amiens. It was there that Madam Baudoin introduced Julie to Françoise Blin de Bourdon, who was to became a close friend of Julie and the co-foundress of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
St Julie’s Feast Day is 13 May.
Co-Foundress
The Sisters of Notre Dame
FRANCOISE BLIN DE BOURDON
Françoise was born in 1756 into one of the oldest families in Picardy, France.
She was the daughter of Viscount Blin de Bourdon who had married Marie-Louise-Claudine de Fouquesolles, daughter of the Baron of Fouquesolles, Viscount of Doullens. Unlike Jule, Françoise was educated firstly by governesses and later at the Benedictine and Ursuline schools.
Prior to the Revolution, as Vicomtesse Blin de Bourdon, Françoise had devoted her life to the good management of her estates and to caring for the poor and sick. She hoped one day to become a Carmelite.
Following the death of Robespierre, Françoise was freed from imprisonment and her friend, Madame Baudoin, brought Julie Billiart and her niece, Felitité, to Amiens. They acquired a small apartment in the town home of Françoise Blin’s brother on the rue des Augustins in Amiens. Madam Baudoin invited Françoise to meet Julie. Françoise responded to the invitation but in the beginning she found she could not understand the invalid’s laboured speech. However as the days passed, Françoise would read to Julie and help feed her. Gradually, Julie’s winning personality triumphed over her physical limitations, and what began as a work of mercy was transformed into one of the most beautiful examples of a spiritual friendship between two women in the recorded history of religious life.
The Early Days
When the Congregation began, in France in 1804
The first house in Namur
It was a time of religious and social upheaval.
Julie and Françoise dedicated themselves to God on February 2nd, 1804, and made vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Very soon other young women joined them. Julie named her Congregation, Notre Dame, as an expression of her love for Mary, woman of faith.
The spirit of the Sisters was one of “simplicity, obedience and charity, and their desire was to dedicate themselves to the poor in the most abandoned places."
“We exist only for the poor, only for the poor, absolutely only for the poor.” Julie encouraged in her Sisters deep union with God, liberty of spirit and courage; qualities needed for an apostolic vocation. As the Sisters were in Amiens, the Bishop of Amiens thought the Sisters belonged only in his diocese, but Julie knew God was calling her far beyond those boundaries. It was her vision and hope that her Sisters would go throughout the world, proclaiming God’s loving care for all peoples. The bishop responded by expelling her from Amiens. It was a very painful time for Julie, Françoise and the Sisters. Each Sister was free to choose whether to remain in Amiens – and separate herself from the original Congregation – or go with Julie. Most Sisters did choose to go with her, and they found a home in the diocese of Namur, Belgium and became known as Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
Julie had remained faithful to the vision God had given her for the Congregation.
The future would see Sisters of Notre Dame in 16 countries on five continents
First Houses in Britain
The vision
Penryn c. 1845
Shared by Julie and Françoise
Inspired six Sisters of Notre Dame to leave Namur and come to England. They came in response to a request by the Redemptorist Fathers who had set up a mission in 1843 led by Fr Louis de Buggenoms.
On 8th November 1845 the Sisters left the Motherhouse and sailed to London, travelling on to Penryn by train and mail coach. When the Sisters arrived in Penryn they began to plan their schools and in January 1846 a poor school started with five children and two boarders arrived for the boarding school.
By the autumn of 1846 there were over 80 children in the poor school and the Sisters were also running a workshop to teach a trade to girls and women and giving instruction in Sunday and night schools. The boarding school was struggling for survival though, and it was this fee-paying school for young ladies upon which the Sisters relied for funds for their work with the poor.
Convent at Clapham, around 1900
In 1848 the foundation in Penryn transfered to Clapham, London.
The Redemptorist Fathers had requested a foundation there and given the struggles of the community in Penryn, it was decided that the Sisters would relocate to Clapham.
A day school was opened on 1st October and the boarding school in January 1849. The Sisters also taught in the poor school in Park Road established by the Redemptorists. An elementary school was built in the grounds of the convent after the move to Clapham Common. This school, St Mary's, completed in 1861, is still open.
Sister Mary of St Francis
The Spread of Schools in the UK
The Congregation continued to spread
Throughout the industrial areas and sprawling cities of England and Scotland.
As new foundations opened, this same pattern of the early houses or one very similar was usually followed. A fee-paying day school was opened aimed at the middle classes of society and in some cases a fee-paying boarding school for young ladies. These schools, whilst teaching the same curriculum, had separate classrooms and teachers as the pupils did not mix with each other.
At the same time as establishing these schools which would provide them with an income, the Sisters would open poor schools or work in established parish elementary schools. There follows a snapshot of just a few of the foundations.
In 1850 a community in Blackburn was established. About a week after arriving, the Sisters began work in St Alban's school. There was a Sunday school and a day school. The poor school at St Anne's was begun about a month after they arrived. They also ran an evening school in the same room. The community moved to Brookhouse in 1859. Upon moving building work was begun almost immediately for a large boarding and day school which was completed in 1862. New parishes were formed in the town as the numbers of Catholics increased and the Sisters were invited to teach in the elementary schools of St Mary's in 1871, St Joseph's in 1872, St Peter's in 1881 and the Sacred Heart School in 1901.
The first Sisters arrived in Liverpool in March 1851 at the invitation of local clergy to take charge of St Nicholas' poor school. Their first house was no.3 Islington Flags, a small house with just eight rooms in which they housed the day, middle and evening schools which they opened.
Larger premises were soon needed and in December 1851 no. 96 Mount Pleasant was purchased.
A day school was opened in 1852 including a high school and middle school with boarders as well as day pupils. The boarding school was closed in 1855 in order to provide room for the training college
By 1895, fifty years after their arrival in Britain, the Sisters of Notre Dame had opened foundations in Penryn, Clapham, Blackburn, Liverpool, Manchester, Northampton, Wigan, Southwark, Sheffield, St Helens, Plymouth, Norwich, Birkdale, Islington, Battersea, Waterloo, Brixton and Glasgow. In the years that followed, more foundations were opened with the resulting schools. In many places the original fee-paying day schools evolved into direct grant grammar schools. The Sisters were pioneers in opening pupil teacher centres.
That the Sisters were able to establish so many foundations, and therefore reach and educate so many young girls, was due in part to the wealth that Sister Mary of St Francis (Laura Petre née the Hon. Laura Stafford-Jerningham) brought with her when she entered the congregation in 1850. She not only brought this wealth but also her administrative and management skills that enabled the foundations at Clapham, Mount Pleasant - Liverpool, Liverpool Orphanage, St George's - Southwark, St Helens, Blackburn, Sheffield, Plymouth, Norwich, Northampton, Battersea - London, Birkdale, Wigan and Everton Valley - Liverpool to be bought and built.
From These Early Beginnings
The work of the Sisters in Britain continued to spread embracing Primary, Secondary and Higher education throughout England and Scotland and child guidance clinics in Glasgow, Liverpool and London.
In the nineteenth century,
It was common for young people to be apprenticed for five years as pupil teachers.
Mt Pleasant Pupil Teacher Centre c. 1900
Headteachers were obliged to give one hour instruction daily to their pupil teachers; this was a difficult task in schools where the apprentices were of varying "years".
The Sisters of Notre Dame were pioneers in the setting up of pupil teacher centres. In 1855 when the teacher training college opened in Liverpool a pupil teacher centre was also opened.
Here, from the age of 13, girls were boarded, educated, and prepared for the teaching profession.
They were apprenticed for five years, and served on the staff of the practising school or other schools in the city that were conducted by Sisters of Notre Dame. They taught in these schools during the day, and in the evenings they were taught in groups, according to their year of apprenticeship, by the Sisters who were their HeadmistressesIt soon became evident that the system of collective teaching at Mount Pleasant was the solution. That it gave maximum results, with minimum expenditure of enegy and time, was proved, when on the publication of the first General Class List of Queen's Scholars in 1872, the Liverpool candidates obtained 13 places in the first 100 and one in the first ten.
When the Liverpool Council of Education founded prizes for the pupil teachers of the city who gained the highest places on the Queen's Scholarship List, they were won by Catholics in nine years out of ten. These successes attracted attention of other providers of education and as a consequence similar centres for the collective teaching of pupil teachers were founded in Liverpool, London and many large towns.
Over the years the system of teaching in these centres changed and developed with half the day being spent teaching and the other half at lessons in the centre, for example. Many of the Sisters' pupil teacher centres gradually merged with the secondary schools during the early years of the twentieth century as the training system changed and access to secondary education became better funded and more widely available.
Training Colleges
Liverpool England - Mount Pleasant
Mt Pleasant Training College 1904
In 1853, two years after the Sisters had arrived in Liverpool, the subject of opening a teacher training college for Catholic women was raised with the superior of Mount Pleasant by the government inspector of schools, Mr Stokes.
It was March 1855 before Mr Allies, the secretary of the Catholic Poor School Committee, was deputed to visit Namur and request the acceptance of the direction of a training college assisted from funds of the committee. A correspondence was entered into as a result of the visit and the Mère General offered the Liverpool house as the place where the training college would be started.
In October 1855 the first Sisters who were to take the government examination began their studies. Sister Mary of St Philip (Frances Mary Lescher) came from Namur to begin the college. On 19th January 1856 21 Queen’s scholars entered as the first students of the Liverpool training college.
One private student joined them. After just a few months it was necessary to provide additional accommodation. Plans were designed by Hansom and the new house was built to accommodate 60 students and was ready to be inhabited by the end of 1856 and was completely finished by February 1857 when about 36 students entered as pupils.
Sister Mary of St Philip, first Principal of Mt Pleasant, with a group of students 1884
Training Colleges
Glasgow Scotland - Dowanhill
Dowanhill Training College c.1900
The Sisters were invited to Glasgow by the Canons of the Cathedral Chapter with the sanction of Archbishop Eyre.
Canons Chisholm and Cameron went to Liverpool in spring 1893 to discuss the possibility of establishing a training college in Scotland. In May 1894 the project was formally laid before the Canons in Chapter and Canon Macintosh, the Diocesan Inspector, with Canon Chisholm of Paisley, went to Liverpool, deputed by the Archbishop, to propose the project to the Superiors at Namur. They had a house which they wanted the Sisters to go and see.
In June, Sister Mary of St Philip (Frances Mary Lescher) and Sister Mary of St Wilfrid (Mary Adela Lescher) were sent by the Mère General to examine matters. Two days of house hunting resulted in no suitable locality being found and the foundation was postponed indefinitely.
In November Canon Chisholm arrived at Mount Pleasant with news of an ideal spot on Dowanhill on the highest ground above the smoke and fog, standing in its own grounds. The Canon then travelled to Namur to obtain leave for its purchase. Sister Mary of St Philip and Sister Mary of St Wilfrid went to Glasgow again and with the Mère General's permission, agreed upon the purchase in her name and on 20th December permission was obtained from the Scottish Education Department to open the college.
The house originally purchased was one of two villas. The owner of the second was very reluctant to leave, but seeing that he was to have nuns for neighbours, he agreed to sell and the house was bought by the Archbishop and rented by the Sisters.
The Convent was opened on 21st August 1894. The Training College opened on 8 January 1895 with 23 first year students and Sister Mary of St Wilfrid as Principal. In September of that year, a further 22 students enrolled. Another large house at the end of Bowmont Gardens was purchased in May 1895 and used for dormitory accommodation.
The Beginnings of Child Guidance Work
The Notre Dame Child Guidance Clinic was founded in Glasgow in 1931.
Sister Mary Hilda welcoming a boy to the Clinic
The question of opening a child guidance clinic in connection with Notre Dame Training College, Glasgow was first raised in the summer of 1930.
Dr Rush, lecturer in education at Jordonhill Training College for Teachers went to see Sister Marie Hilda (Hilda Gertrude Marley) and Sister Aimée, the principal of Notre Dame Training College, to discuss the possibility of founding a child guidance clinic.
Sr Marie Hilda made preliminary visits to the Islington Clinic, London where she investigated the methods, techniques and essential requirements and to the recently established London Child Guidance Clinic at Canonbury Place. There, Dr William Moodie and Dr Lucy Fildes gave her the facilities to observe and fully investigate the clinical procedure.
Sr Marie Hilda had a very great natural psychological insight and having been given the impetus by Dr Rusk set about making herself an expert. Since the late 1920s she had been seeing and testing children and advising their parents as part of her psychology work in college. In subsequent years she did summer courses and laboratory work at London University as well as following courses as Louvain and she was in touch with everyone in the child guidance field.
In April 1931 Sr Marie Hilda helped Lady Margaret Kerr establish a Catholic child guidance clinic at Edinburgh, not only by giving advice but also by giving her own services as psychologist on Saturday mornings.
She then applied to the trustees of the Commonwealth Fund for assistance with her own project. Her application was favourably received. It was also necessary to secure permission from lay and ecclesiastical authorities. The Archbishop of Glasgow gave his sanction and the director of education circulated pamphlets explaining the child guidance movement and arranged to notify head teachers of the weekly clinic attendances of children from their schools. The National Committee for the Training of Teachers recognised the work as a practical application of the psychology course followed by the students and, at a later date, voted a grant of 100 guineas towards clinic expenses.
The opening of the clinic in September 1931 was made possible by the generosity of the London Child Guidance Council and the superior of the Dowanhill community. The London Child Guidance Council loaned a fully-trained psychiatric social worker, Cecily Hay-Shaw and the Dowanhill community provided the premises for the clinic and was responsible for all the equipment and its maintenance.
In 1941, ten years after the clinic opened Sr Marie Hilda retired from the college staff where she had continued to lecture every morning before working in the clinic each afternoon. She was then able to devote her time to the clinic. Her clinic work was supplemented by a lecture-programme through which she sought others to follow her lead. Lecture tours took her to Scotland, England, Ireland, Germany, France, Holland and Belgium.
In 1942 she received notice of her election as Fellow of the British Psychological Society. In 1943 she became vice-president of the Guild of Catholic Social Workers in Scotland. In 1944 she was voted vice-president of the Scottish branch of the British Psychological Society. In 1947 she was presented with the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice by the Archbishop of Glasgow.
In 1945
The clinic moved to larger premises at Athole Gardens.
Thanks to these beginnings the Notre Dame Centre, Glasgow has been open for over 80 years working with children, young people and families. www.notredamecentre.org.uk
The above information was extracted from “Freedom to Grow – Sister Marie Hilda’s Vision of Child Guidance” by Sr Jude McAleer SND, Glasgow 1981
Psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and play therapists in the 1940s
In 1942 Sr Marie Hilda helped to found a second Notre Dame Child Guidance Clinic in Liverpool which opened in 1943.
This clinic became part of the Archdiocese of Liverpool’s Liverpool Catholic Children’s Society in the early 1960s and closed in 1976.
The Sisters were asked to open a child guidance clinic in the Westminster Archdiocese. The Notre Dame Child Guidance Clinic opened in Ladbroke Grove in 1966. it eventually closed in 1988.