April 8 St. Julia Billiart

Patron Saint Against Illness

St. Julia was born into a poor family in 1751 at Cuvilly, France. She had little education, but had memorized the catechism by age seven and began teaching other children. At age 22, she was sitting next to her father when some one shot at him; the shock left her partially paralyzed. During the French Revolution, a group of her friends helped organize the work she’d started by teaching young women and girls.  Julia was miraculously healed of her paralysis in 1804 and resumed teaching and organizing the other women. 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.

The real truth of  why I picked St. Julia for today was because of a picture of her I found on the SQPN website. It made me want to know the woman in the painting.

St. Julia Billart