Saint Who?
Saints Who Exemplify Devotion
to the Christ Child
Saint Julie Billiart
Foundress († 1816) Feast: April 8
Marie-Rose Julie Billiart was born in 1751 to a family of French shopkeepers. An energetic and devout girl, she fell seriously ill in her twenties after witnessing the attempted murder of her father. The trauma affected her nerves, and the poor medical treatment she received left her bedridden for two decades. Julie turned her sickroom into a place of prayer, and many came seeking her intercession and counsel. Despite increasing infirmity, she and a pious French noblewoman (who had narrowly escaped the guillotine) founded the Sisters of Notre Dame. Then Julie was miraculously healed.
She was deeply devoted to the Child Jesus, whose image hung in her room. And when her community faced devastating opposition from a bishop, it was to the Infant Jesus that she turned. On the fifth day of her novena she remarked, “I have no shadow of anxiety left, I am in perfect peace. The Child Jesus has taken us under his protection; he will deliver us.” She remained at peace, even though she had to relocate herself and her sisters in the dead of winter. During her final illness she wrote, “Here is the holy crib of our dear Jesus; I will place everything in it, everything, everything. I believe that before very long we shall see things we should never have dreamed of.”
Infant Jesus, may we, like Saint Julie, place everything in your holy crib and so find perfect peace.
