Julie Billiart
French religious leader
Feast: 8 April (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Julie Billiart was born at Cuvilly on 12 July 1751 to a comfortable family that fell into poverty when she was sixteen, so that she did heavy manual work. At 22 her legs were paralysed; even so, guided by her parish priest, she prayed and taught children the catechism.
Forced to flee in the Revolution for hiding priests, she met Father Varin in Amiens, who persuaded her to found a work for the Christian education of girls: the Sisters of Notre Dame of Namur. She began community life in 1803 and took vows in 1804, the year her legs were miraculously healed. She died at Namur on 8 April 1816.
The miracles
The Dicastery's biography does not describe the miracles approved in the cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
A paralysed woman who taught the faith from her bed and founded an order to educate girls.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Giulia Billiart
- Wikidata Q259718 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Julie Billiart (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.