MEMORIAL OF SAINT JULIE (JULIA) BILLIART, VIRGIN; SAINT PERPETUUS, BISHOP OF TOURS AND BLESSED MARY ASSUNTA PALLOTTA, FRANCISCAN MISSIONARY – FEAST DAY: On this Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, as we continue to celebrate the the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Julie (Julia) Billiart, Virgin (Patron Saint of the sick and the poor); Saint Perpetuus, Bishop of Tours and Blessed Mary Assunta Pallotta, Franciscan Missionary. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the sick, we particularly pray for those who are sick with the coronavirus disease, heart disease, cancer and those who are terminally ill, may God in His infinite grace and mercy grant them His divine healing and intervention. We also pray for the poor and needy in our world. May the Saints pray for us that we will have the strength to never give in to whatever hurdles befall our path.🙏
SAINT JULIE BILLIART, VIRGIN: St. Julie (Julia) Billiart (1751-1816 ) was born on July 12th, 1751, in Cuville, France to a large and prosperous farming family. She was one of woman who founded the “Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur”. She died at the age of nearly 65, on April 8th, 1816. St. Julie was one of the seven children of Jean-Francois Billiart and Marie-Louise-Antoinette Debraine. By the age of seven she knew her catechism by heart, and would gather her playmates together and teach it to them. Her spiritual progress was so remarkable that her parish priest allowed her to make an early first communion at the age of nine, at which time she took a vow of chastity. As a teenager she already had the reputation of being a living saint. In young age her favorite game was playing “school” and when she became older she made her favorite game into her job and taught for real. “She carried on this mission of teaching throughout her life, and the Congregation she founded continues her work.” When financial ruin struck her family, she helped to support her family by teaching at a school and working in the fields with the reapers, when she was 16. Suddenly, in 1773, the St. Julie’s whole life was changed, her father, Jean-Francois Billiart, was attacked and almost murdered by thieves in his own shop. She witnessed the attempted assassination of her father and the shock left her traumatized and largely paralyzed at the age of twenty-two. She remained a bed-ridden invalid for the next twenty-two years. She wasn’t even able to care for her basic needs. Besides her physical pain, she still believed strong in her religion and her physical challenges did not prevent her from having an active life. She received Holy Communion daily, made altar laces and linens, catechized the village children from her bedside, and spent many hours in contemplative prayer which made her feel better.
When the French Revolution erupted St. Julie strenuously fought against the Reign of Terror initiated by the Jacobins. During the French Revolution, she gave aid to priests in her home, and soon after was smuggled to safety while hidden in a hay cart. She took refuge in the home of a countess, and due to her sanctity soon had a company of young, noble ladies gathered around her bed to whom she taught the ways of the interior life. When calm was restored, this holy woman founded the Institute of the Sisters of Notre Dame in collaboration with Frances Blin, Viscountess of Gezaincourt, and Father Joseph Varin, of the “Fathers of the Faith” (a group standing in for the suppressed Society of Jesus). The Institute of the Sisters of Notre Dame is dedicated to the teaching and the salvation of the children of the poor, Christian education of girls and the training of catechists. The Sisters of Notre Dame are still “teaching”, by helping out in Pre-School and Elementary-School in Catholic schools. At the age of 53, St. Julie and three other women made the vows as the “Sisters of Notre Dame”. After the Four women made their final vows, St. Julie was elected to become Mother General of the young Congregation. After making her vows in 1804, she was miraculously cured of her paralysis (which she had endured for twenty-two years) at the end of a mission given by Father Enfantin of the Fathers of the Faith. She was now able to consolidate and extend the new Institute as well as to give her personal assistance to the mission conducted by the Fathers. For the next twelve years she made over a hundred journeys as she founded fifteen convents of her order. After Father Varin’s departure from Amiens, St. Julie had to struggle hard to preserve the distinctively modern character of her Institute. Her success can be seen in the modern cast of the Institute, which has spread throughout the world. St. Julie suffered much the last three months before she died peacefully at the age of nearly 65, on April 8, 1816 after having spent herself in the service of God. On May 13, 1906, she was beatified and in 1969 she was canonized by Pope Paul VI. St. Julie Billiart is the Patron Saint of the sick and the poor. St. Julie’s motto and mantra was: “Oh, how good God is!”
Quotes of Saint Julia Billiart, Virgin: “A simple soul is one who seeks only God and does not fear being laughed at or despised.” “I ought to die of shame to think I have not already died of gratitude to my good God.” “I cannot tire of wondering at the goodness of my God.” “Look to God as a sunflower looks to the sun…for life.”
PRAYER: Saint Julie, through your great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, you were miraculously cured and favored by many graces. By your powerful intercession, obtain for us above all, great trust in God in all difficulties of life, the strength to accomplish in all things the precious will of God and the special grace we now humbly ask of you… Amen.
Lord, our God, grant that Your faithful spouse, St. Julia may kindle in us the flame of Divine love that she enkindled in other virgins for the everlasting glory of Your Church. Amen. Saint Julie Billiart, Virgin ~ Pray for us🙏
SAINT PERPETUUS, BISHOP OF TOURS: Saint Perpetuus was the eighth Bishop of Tours, who governed that see for more than thirty years, from 461 to 494. During all that time he labored by zealous sermons, many synods and wholesome regulations, to lead souls to virtue. Saint Perpetuus had great veneration for the Saints and respect for their relics; he adorned their shrines and enriched their churches. As there was a continual succession of miracles at the tomb of Saint Martin, Perpetuus, finding the church built by Saint Bricius too small for the concourse of people coming there, directed its enlargement. When the building was finished, the good bishop solemnized the dedication of this large new church, which a writer of that time said was one of the marvels of the world and worthy to be compared with the temple of Solomon. The translation of the body of Saint Martin was carried out on the 4th of July in 491. It is believed that either Saint Martin or his Angel assisted on this occasion, for the coffin was so heavy that no means were found to move it, until an unknown elderly gentleman came forward and offered his aid, immediately efficacious.
Saint Perpetuus had made and signed his last will, which is still extant, on the 1st of March, 475, a number of years before his death. In this testament of love, he remited all debts owing to him; and having bequeathed to his church his library and several farms, and establishing a fund for the maintenance of lamps and the purchase of sacred vessels, he declared the poor his heirs for all the rest. He added exhortations to concord and piety, and begged a remembrance in prayer. His ancient epitaph equals him to the great Saint Martin. He died on the 8th of April, 494.
Saint Perpetuus, Bishop of Tours ~ Pray for us🙏
BLESSED MARY ASSUNTA PALLOTTA: Blessed Assunta Maria Liberata Pallotta (1878-1905) was the first non-martyr missionary sister to be beatified in the history of the Church. Bl. Mary Assunta Pallotta hails from Piceno and was born on August 20, 1878 in the little town of Force, Italy. She was baptized the day after she was born and was confirmed at the age of two. Assunta’s father was a common laborer who was chronically out of work. Her mother often had a hard struggle to feed her five children. By the time Assunta was eleven, her father left home to seek his fortune. Assunta, the dutiful older sister, helped her mother to keep the house, raise the younger brothers and go out to work to help support the family. In her youth she was obliged to perform every manner of lowly service in order to help her parents, who were in straitened circumstances. She attracted everybody by her modest reserve, and nobody could have found it in him to speak a coarse word in her presence. Jesus in the tabernacle was the love of her soul.
After she had been invested with the holy habit among the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, she formed a definite resolution which became the motto of her life: “I will become a saint!” She delighted in taking the last place. On the journey to the Chinese missions in the spring of 1904, a severe storm arose. She was asked whether she was not afraid, but she calmly replied: “I have nothing to fear. It is all the same to me whether I arrive at my goal or whether I am drowned in the depths of the sea. Just so that the will of God is accomplished.”
At the Franciscan mission of Tung-er-kow in Shansi, Blessed Mary Assunta Pallotta was at once appointed to duties in an orphanage. Meanwhile, her union with God was so intimate that no external occupation could disturb it. The task assigned her by Providence, to win the heathens for Christ by her holy and innocent life as well as by her holy death, was shortly to be accomplished. Within a year after her arrival in this pagan land, Mary Assunta was attacked by typhus and died a victim of love on April 5, 1905, at the early age of twenty-seven years. Pagans as well as Christians hastened to her grave to implore her powerful intercession in the most varied needs. In 1913 her remains were exhumed so that she could be moved to Tai-Yuan-Fou, and at that time Blessed Mary Assunta’s body was found to be incorrupt. China is now a Communist state, and it is not known even if the little gravesite still exists. In May, 1904, this charming ornament of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary knelt before Pope Pius X to ask his blessing before setting out on her journey to the Chinese mission. Fifty years later another Pius conferred on her the honors of the altar, when he beatified her on November 7, 1954.
Blessed Mary Assunta Pallotta, Franciscan Missionary ~ Pray for us🙏