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.
History of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur
In South Africa
History Of The South African Community Organised For Mission 2023
The SNDdeNs living in South Africa became a Community Organised for Mission in May 2021, with an indult issued by the Congregational Leadership Team of the time. Since then, they (a small community of 6 SNDdeNs) have worked vigorously together, with all the resources available, to make this unfamiliar governance structure work for them as one of the smallest groups in the Congregation today.
Four of the current members of the group, Srs Marie Andre Mitchell, Marie Therese McLoughlin, Kay Bridge and Brigid Rose Tiernan have been in ministry in Southern Africa for more than sixty of the 116 years during which SNDdeNs have been in Southern Africa.
The first five Sisters arrived in Kroonstad in 1907
Having been missioned there from the British Province, which had already made a foundation across the Limpopo in 1899, at Empandeni, in what was later known as Southern Rhodesia, and now Zimbabwe. Until 1975, several foundations in Rhodesia (Embakwe and Pumula, Bulawayo), in Chikuni in Northern Rhodesia (1920-1948) and those in South Africa, Somerset West (1932-1944), Martindale (1932-1959), Venterpost West (1947-1969), Constantia 1948-1974), Orlando West (1959-1995), Swaziland (1969-1976), Westonaria (1970-2005), Kanye Botswana 1974-1987) Johannesburg (1975-present) were part of the same ‘mission’ region attached to the British Province. In the mid-1960s, the name given to this unit was first Pro-Province, then Vice-Province, and with the latter came some measure of ‘self-governance’. Before that there had been a heavy reliance on the British Province for human and financial resources, and for decisions about what happened in communities and ministries in the two countries (of Zimbabwe and South Africa).
In 1975, the Sisters in Rhodesia asked to separate from the Vice-Province and come once again under the umbrella of the British Province.
The SNDs in SA remained as an independent unit in the Congregation until 1999, when once again they were united with their Sisters across the Limpopo, in Zimbabwe, as what was known as the ZimSA unit. During this time, in response to their 1972 Mission Statement, the first of its kind in the Congregation, the SNDs in South Africa opened houses in Plumstead (1976-1987), in Melville Johannesburg (1979-2023), in Soweto (1987 – 2003) in Bethlehem (1992-2002) and in Maokeng (1996 – 2018). After 1975 SNDs in South Africa became increasingly conscious of the evil of the Apartheid regime, and actively worked with others for political change. Their house in Melville in the 1980s was often used as a ‘safe’ house for Black and White South Africans being pursued by the Apartheid security forces.
The 1970s saw the largest number of SNDs working in the 3 Southern Africa countries (Botswana, Swaziland, and S Africa), the British and locally born Sisters being joined by several Sisters from the US provinces in this period. From the 1980s, the number of SNDs in this part of the world has steadily declined, and no locally born women have joined the Congregation as vowed members. Sr Chantal Kisimbila, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, was the first African sister to come as a missionary to this country, in 1994. Small numbers of South Africans have at different periods linked themselves with Julie Billiart’s spirit and the Sisters’ ministries, as Associates.
The faithful living out of the 1972 Mission Statement, referred to above, and the renewal of Religious Life called for by the Second Vatican Council, found the SNDs in SA embarking on a life-changing journey. They gave up institutional living and moved into small communities for the most part situated among the people they served. The change from a Religious habit into secular dress was an external indication of the interior changes taking place. The story of this transition is documented in JOURNEY UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS, written by Brigid Rose Tiernan and published in 2021.
Currently SNDs are responsible for Notre Dame St Peter’s school in Jordania, Kroonstad.
The school has its own Board of Governors who assist with oversight of policy and ethos. A Sister of Notre Dame serves on this Board as a representative of the Sisters of Notre Dame. The school is housed in the 1908 building which was a boarding school for ‘white’ girls and closed in 1972 in response to the Mission Statement. The building was given back to the SNDs in 2000, in a totally vandalized state, and has been repaired through collaboration with four Religious Congregations and the Diocese to its present fully functional state. It also houses the Maokeng township primary school, established in 1916. Currently 2 Sisters of Notre Dame remain as residents on the school property, serving the school community in various supportive and helpful ways when called upon.
Sr Obehi Ogbeide, a missionary from Nigeria and also resident in Kroonstad, currently directs the Caritas Office for the Diocese of Kroonstad, which incorporates various projects under the Diocese of Kroonstad development Agency.
In Johannesburg, 3 SNDs are resident and have recently purchased a cottage in a Methodist Retirement Village to replace the Melville House which has been their Johannesburg home since 1979.
The legal entity in South Africa that holds the SNDdeN assets, and manages the SA portion of the Jubilee Fund, is known as the Notre Dame Foundation (NDF). Three lay women, with expertise in education, law and finance serve with the SNDs on the Management Committee of the NDF.
The archives with material dating back to 1899 are housed in the renovated Convent in Kroonstad.
Much of the material in the archives has been digitized and is housed in the Cloud.
St. Julie Billiart
Speaks to the 21st Century
By Sr. Anne Stevenson, SNDdeN
Who is Saint Julie Billiart?
Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur consider their Foundress, St. Julie Billiart, “a saint for our times” and in all times! She lives today in the minds and hearts of multiple women, men and children throughout the Globe! She is surely a woman of our modern era who showed courage through action, in transforming differences and inequities of her time through the ministry of education!
What is her story?
In the small village of Cuvilly, north of Paris, France, Marie-Rose Julie Billiart, born on July 12, 1751, was the seventh of nine children of Jean-François Billiart and Marie-Louise Antoinette Debraine. Most of her siblings died in infancy and adolescence. Raised by strong Christian parents, her elder sister, Madeleine and younger brother, Louis-François married and nurtured good Christian families. Marie-Rose Julie, even as a child, heard a call in the whisperings of God within her, and she shared her beliefs and deep love of God by teaching other children in the village. Although an ordinary child in so many ways, the mark of the cross was a distinctive sign of her inner spiritual greatness. Suffering often accompanied her in the family losses, with the robbery of her father’s shop, and her illness brought about by shattered nerves after an attempt on her father’s life (1774). Poor medical treatment in 1782 resulted in the paralysis of her legs.
Friends of Julie
During her early adulthood, many of the women in the region of Picardy recognized Julie’s spiritual gifts and often sought her insights and inspiration, around her bed! They became her friends in these troubled revolutionary times. Later, Julie would recognize God’s call in her sufferings and her friendships, as well as in the signs of her time, in her country devastated by political and religious upheaval, violence and ignorance. With the French Revolution breaking out in 1789, restrictions became imposed by the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, requiring priests to take an oath to the government, not the Church. Priests refusing to do this were considered non-juring priests and hunted by authorities. The curé Dangicourt, Julie’s parish priest, was one of those priests, sought by revolutionists and protected secretly by Julie. The friends of Julie, who belonged to the nobility, helped these priests and Julie. For about a year, Julie and her niece Félicité stayed in the château of Madame de Pont-l’Abbé in Gournay-sur-Aronde. When revolutionaries surrounded the château, Julie and her niece escaped in a hay cart to Compiègne in 1792 where she suffered even more with the loss of speech. While in Compiègne, Julie experienced more anxiety and fear in this de-christianized city, occupied by many troops, and from the dispelling of her friends, the Carmelites, driven out of their convent. Sixteen of these Sisters would later be guillotined in Paris!
Vision and Relationships
“These are my daughters that I will give you in an Institute, which will be marked by my cross”.
Madame Baudoin believed a crippled Julie would help her to live with her terrible suffering and loss. She rented an apartment in the Hôtel Blin de Bourdon in Amiens for herself and her three daughters and a room for Julie. In this room, owned by the family of Blin de Bourdon, a long, lasting and significant friendship with the Viscountess Françoise Blin de Bourdon began.
Madame Baudoin suggested that Françoise visit Julie. At first, Françoise was repulsed by the paralyzed Julie and her inability to speak. Yet, she continued to visit Julie and discovered the depth and genuine spirituality of this suffering woman. With time, from 1794-1795, Françoise began to realize the call of God to her in this friendship for the Gospel and eventually for the Church. At this same time, Madame Baudoin met the Abbé Thomas, who was also hiding and ministering in Amiens. He began to visit Julie with spiritual support and the Eucharist at the Hôtel Blin. Françoise, during 1795 and 1797, spent time settling her grandparents’ estate at Gézaincourt (Baroness de Fouquesolles) and in caring for her ailing father in Bourdon until his death. The written correspondence between Julie and Françoise gives evidence of their bond of friendship, strengthened during those years.
“Like Mary whose name we bear, we are called to hear the word of God and keep it. Our attentive listening shapes in us a contemplative and prophetic attitude toward the whole of life and enables us to act which are to God’s love and justice”.
Story of Françoise Blin de Bourdon, Viscountess of Gézaincourt
Founding a Congregation of Women Religious: Mission Takes Root
In 1797, a new Reign of Terror broke out against the nobility and the priests who refused allegiance to the Civil Constitution. The Abbé Thomas just escaped attackers in 1799. Julie, Félicité, Françoise and the Abbé Thomas fled from Amiens to a chateau in Bettencourt until their return to Amiens in February 1803. It was in Bettencourt that Julie met Fr. Varin, Superior of the Fathers of the Faith, in his visit to the Abbé Thomas. It was in Bettencourt also that Julie’s call at Compiègne began to take root in her teaching of the faith to young people and the confirmation of her mission by Fr. Varin and others. The small community moved into a small residence on the Rue Puits-à-Brandil in February and then, on August 5, 1803, to a larger space on the Rue Neuve in Amiens. Fr. Varin entrusted the care of some young orphans girls to Julie and asked her to find young women who would care for them without any attention to birth or fortune. On February 2, 1804, three women, Julie Billiart, Françoise Blin de Bourdon and Catherine Duchâtel committed themselves to God by a vow of chastity and the care and education of young girls. This was the founding day of the Sisters of Notre Dame in Amiens, France!
(The coup d’état by Napoléon in 1799 signaled the end of the French Revolution. The Concordat of 1801 finally gave freedom to the Church!)
Cure of Julie and the Mission Evolves
After 22 years as a cripple, Julie miraculously regained her power to walk after she made, unaware of the specific intention, a novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in late May 1804. On the fifth day, on June 1, 1804, Fr. Enfantin directed her to stand and to take steps in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He instructed Julie not to tell anyone yet. Her Sisters and the children saw her walking down the stairs some days later at the Rue Neuve. After her cure, she accompanied the Fathers on a successful mission in June to St. Valery-sur-Somme and Abbeville!
Julie did experience another vision in Amiens on February 2, 1806 when she saw her Sisters as a “light of revelation” going across the seas to other parts of the Globe! For the years following, Julie walked many roads in France and Belgium in founding communities of her Sisters and schools for young girls deprived of education at the time. The cross continued to mark her life: in Amiens, abbé de Sambucy did not approve of Julie’s travels and foundations and he influenced Msgr Demandolx against her. In 1809, the Sisters moved from Amiens, France to Namur, Belgium where their house existed since 1807: Msgr Pisani welcomed them; the Congregation became the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. In 1812, Msgr Demandolx realized his error and called Julie back to Amiens, but she could not maintain the houses in France. In Belgium, Julie established schools to prepare poor children for their duties in life. She saw education for everyone as a basic human right, and teaching as the “greatest work on earth.” She brought the good news and hope in the goodness of God to a depressed and deprived generation by preparing vulnerable children for their duties in life, when children cried out for survival. Some priests and some Sisters suspected Julie of being unfaithful to the Church. Julie died on April 8, 1816. She did not live to go beyond continental Europe but her religious Congregation serves today in a variety of ministries, with a priority for education, in 16 countries on five continents.
On June 22, 1969, the Church recognized the Sainthood of Julie Billiart, Foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, in a liturgical celebration of her Canonization at the Vatican in Rome.
Pope Paul VI declared to all the world Julie’s holiness of life and her legacy of:
“Making known God’s goodness”
Given to our apostolic religious Congregation and to others who claim her as Foundress in our Mission. Sisters, Associates, Mission Volunteers, alumnae/alumni, administrators, faculty, students, staff in all our schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, clinics, centers, parishes and social agencies celebrate Julie’s Sainthood.
Françoise Blin de Bourdon
A wealthy French noblewoman and a close friend of St. Julie Billiart, co-founded the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
She wrote the “Memoirs” that tell us so much about St. Julie and the early history of the Congregation.
Françoise also provided a spiritual foundation by writing the first“Rule,” which described the spirit of the religious congregation and the way of life for the Sisters. She was "the Congregation’s first donor,” providing the financial support from her family inheritance which enabled the Sisters to expand during the early years. She succeeded St. Julie as the superior general (worldwide leader) of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
Selling All
Françoise grew up with a doting grandmother, a home on a luxurious estate, and access to the upper echelons of 18th-century French society.
What happened to the luxury-loving society woman? She had heard God’s constant invitation to a deep relationship with Him, and she said “yes.” That “yes” led her to St. Julie Billiart who, paralyzed and bedridden, was a guest in the home of Françoise’s brother in Amiens.
At first, Françoise found visiting the sick woman distasteful. Gradually a strong 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. Before her death, she had given away all her material goods.
Losing her head (almost!)
Have you ever had a narrow escape?
Françoise, whose family belonged to the French aristocracy or nobility, had been presented at the court of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette in Versailles! French revolutionists imprisoned and guillotined the king and queen. Then they began executing members of the aristocracy and clergy. Françoise herself was imprisoned, while awaiting execution. Just one day before her date with the guillotine, Maximilian Robespierre, the mastermind of the French Revolution, fell from power, and Françoise was freed.
A faith-filled 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. A bedridden paralytic, Julie experienced great difficulty in speaking. At times, it was hard to understand her speech. But she spoke often of God as a person who knew him well. Fascinated by Julie’s wisdom and closeness to God, Françoise kept coming back to be with her.
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.
On February 2, 1804, the day that the Sisters consider as the “birthday” of the Congregation, Julie, Françoise, and Catherine Duchâtel consecrated themselves to God. Later, they professed vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience as Sisters of Notre Dame on October 15, 1805. Françoise, whose name as a religious was Sister St. Joseph, wrote the first biography of St. Julie, the first history of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Mother St. Joseph became the second superior general (worldwide leader) of the Congregation.