We are inching closer to the Saintly Sixteen, and yesterday’s matchup delivered a holy heavyweight bout. In the end, Fr. Damien of Molokai punched his ticket to the next round, edging out Brother Roger of Taizé with 55.22% to 44.78% of the vote. Caring for those with leprosy clearly still packs a saintly punch. 🥊
But today’s matchup gives us a completely different kind of showdown.
In one corner stands Julie Billiart, the joyful founder of the Sisters of Notre Dame, who spent her life teaching the faith, and forming young people. If holiness had a motto, hers might be: Trust in God… and maybe start a school while you’re at it.
In the other corner is Blessed Gerard, the founder of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem, the medieval order that cared for sick and weary Christian pilgrims making the dangerous journey to the Holy Land. His legacy lives on today through the Roman Catholic Order of Malta, the primarily Anglican, Order of St John, as well as the St John’s Eye Hospital Group serving those throughout the Holy Land today. Hospitals, hospitality, and a little bit of crusader-era grit? Not a bad résumé.
So what will it be today? The joyful teacher of faith or the founder of the original pilgrim ER?
Read the blogs. Watch the video. Cast your vote. Only one will move one step closer to the Saintly Sixteen. 🏆
Julie Billiart
Described as “a born teacher,” St. Julie Billiart was born on July 12, 1751, in the small village of Cuvilly, France.
“She saw education for everyone as a basic human right, and teaching as the ‘greatest work on earth,’” according to the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, the order Julie founded.
By age 7, Julie reportedly had memorized the Catholic catechism and started teaching it to her friends in the village.
She was known for the refrain, “Oh, qu'il est bon, le bon Dieu!" or, “Oh, how good is the good Lord!” But her belief in God’s goodness didn’t come cheaply.
Several of her siblings died at young ages. At 16, she began working on a farm after the store her family owned was robbed. Her own health suffered after a traumatic event, witnessing the attempted murder of her father.
For the next 22 years, Julie was unable to walk. For a time, she also was unable to speak.
So her students came to her, gathering around her bedside.
During the French Revolution, Julie was forced to flee to Compiègne, where she had a vision of a group of women at the foot of the cross, dressed in a religious habit she didn’t recognize. In the vision, she heard Jesus tell her, "Behold the spiritual daughters whom I give to you in the Institute which will be marked by My Cross."
Next, she took refuge in Amiens. There, a small company of women formed around “the saint of Cuvilly," and she began to teach them, too. Among them was Françoise Blin de Bourdon, whom she recognized from her vision. The two became close friends and collaborators.
With the encouragement of their priest and bishop, Julie and Françoise founded the Sisters of Notre Dame and started the Institute of the Sisters of Notre Dame. They dedicated themselves to educating girls living in poverty, later relocating their motherhouse to Namur.
Around this time, Julie’s health began to recover, and she spent the rest of her life teaching and traveling, founding convents and schools across France and Belgium before her death on April 8, 1816. She was canonized in 1969 by Pope Paul VI.
The goodness of God was the central doctrine at the heart of everything Julie taught. More than 200 years later, “making known God’s goodness” remains the motto of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
— Emily Miller
Collect for Julie Billiart
Almighty God, by your Holy Spirit you have made us one with your saints in heaven and on earth: Grant that in our earthly pilgrimage we may always be supported by this fellowship of love and prayer, and know ourselves to be surrounded by their witness to your power and mercy. We ask this for the sake of Jesus Christ, in whom all our intercessions are acceptable through the Spirit, and who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
Blessed Gerard
When it comes to unspooling the threads of any saint’s story, it’s important to know what else is happening beyond the bounds of the church, the castle, or any other structures that form the narratives that we love to dig into, especially during Lent. This is especially true for Blessed Gérard. His time and place of birth is sketchy: somewhere around where modern-day Italy and France meet, and sometime around the mid 11th century. Not much is known about how he found himself as a lay Benedictine brother, whether he was brought in as a child or came in later in adulthood, but his faith was known broadly.
So much so that in 1080, he was appointed as the rector of the hospital at the center of the Christian section of Jerusalem; the hospital adopted the Rule of St. Benedict and focused on hospitality to all. Jerusalem, as we know, had been under Islamic control for decades , and the First Crusade was just around the corner.
Thrown into the crosshairs of violent religious wars, Blessed Gérard was subversively helpful to the Christian Crusader cause, but his primary focus was on the care of the injured and sick, the work of which drastically increased during the Crusades. Gérard, it is said, insisted that the sick be treated with reverence and be greeted with “our Lords, the sick.” No matter what illness or violence to their bodies brought them to the hospital of St. John, Gérard saw that they were the priority. This proved fruitful for the ministry of the hospital long after his death, as those who were treated so well stayed on as nurses, monks, or sent back financial contributions. Fulcher of Chartes, a priest of the Crusades who documented the years, had this to say at the end of Gérard’s life: “Here lies Gerard, the humblest man in the East, the slave (servus) of the poor, hospitable to strangers, meek of countenance but with a noble heart. One can see in these walls how good he was. He was provident and active. Exerting himself in all sorts of ways, he stretched forth his arms into many lands to obtain what he needed to feed his own.”
Blessed Gérard’s faithfulness in service reminds me that God does not call the equipped, but equips the called. He was not some mystical, overly pious person, but a lay brother whose willingness to show up and see those in need as Christ saw them, and tend to them with the love and compassion of Christ. His feast day is on October 13th, and you can celebrate that by eating bread, but more on that next time.
— Becca Kello
Collect for Blessed Gerard
O God, by whose grace your servant Gérard, kindled with the flame of your love, became a burning and a shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
61 comments on “Julie Billiart vs. Blessed Gerard”
I voted for Julie, both because I've been a public school teacher for a long time and because, like her, I believe that education is a fundamental human right. And given the events of the last couple of weeks, if saints indeed do attend in hours of need, I hope she was there with those school girls in Iran; I suspect she wouldn't have cared what their faith was, only that they were innocent girls who were seeking education and who were senselessly slaughtered.
Reading about Gerard welcoming people of all ethnicities & religious groups to his hospital in Jerusalem: I'm reminded of U.S.-born Henrietta Szold who founded Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem that she insisted must care for everyone. She understood that Hadassah's visiting nurses program, dental clinics, infant welfare stations, etc., having policies requiring they always serve Hebrews & Arabs alike were essential for Jewish survival in Palestine. She loved their humanitarian work for all people. Same place, 800+ years apart, with religious motivations in both cases.
Still having trouble voting.
The joy of Julie won my vote!
I’m a nurse, so Blessed Gerard!
Another tough choice, but my degree is in education, and I spent years working in schools, so Julie Billiart wins my heart.
My teacher heart went with her.....though it was a hard decision
Julie - because she's a teacher. But also, if Gerard had treated Muslims, I would have voted for him, but it doesn't speak of that, and clearly says he "subversively helped the Christian cause" - how?
I think the Wikipedia article said that he treated people of all faiths.
Had to vote for Julie, since I went to Emmanuel College . It was founded by her order.
For my teacher grandparents, for the community of women so under threat today: Julie.
Why can’t I split my vote? Still haven’t decided, as a retired teacher who supports access to public education for all, and whose family has many reasons to be grateful to our country’s universal healthcare and to those who work there.
Kudos to our bloggers for their excellent arguments in favour of Julie who founded an order giving girls and women access in the right to education for all; and Gerard who extended healthcare to everyone regardless of creed, economic status, ethnicity or affiliation.
Both these saints and their legacies bear witness that God’s love is truly for all, regardless of human definitions and divisions.
Whichever one doesn’t make it, (or both, depending on how far the winner of today’s vote progresses) please put them in next year’s bracket. Education and healing for all!
Self-correction/clarification: my assessment of Gerard as welcoming all was based on the statement that “ he was appointed as the rector of the hospital at the center of the Christian section of Jerusalem; the hospital adopted the Rule of St. Benedict and focused on hospitality to all.” I hope that he in practice was as inclusive as my tired brain and my wish interpreted. A very brief subsequent search did not show anything to the contrary, or any suggestion that he/they harmed anyone because of affiliation.
Thanks to Lent Madness, the SEC, the bloggers and this community for the opportunities of learning and growing together.
Both these saints inspire and offer ways to relate for a practical person who likes to "get things done" and one whose career was in education, but our times call for those who can be subversively helpful to the Christian cause in times of war so Blessed Gerard got my vote.
I've got to go with Sr Julie, in honor of Sr Sue, my chaplain in college, who was a Sister of Notre Dame and tremendously influential in my formation as an adult Catholic. Thank you Sister! Merci, Soeur Julie!
My mind was made up at, "Blessed Gérard was subversively helpful to the Christian Crusader cause..."
My vote goes to Soeur Julie.
This was a difficult decision for me. As a nurse, I honor the healing and hospitality offered by the Blessed Gerard, and as a teacher, I admire and believe in the education of girls offered by St. Julie. In the end, I voted for St. Julie, for her persistence through trials and illness to establish the order of women dedicated to the education of women.
Love both, but I just had to go with St. Gerard. Not sure if this is the same Saint, but there’s a St. Gerard (Italian Origin) that is the patron Saint also of expectant mothers and families. Many friend prayed to Gerard for healthy babies…..and my favorite cousin is named after him. Go Gerard!
I received a most excellent high school education from the good sisters of Notre Dame decades ago. They still provide that quality today, especially in offering so many empowering opportunities for young women. St. Julie's tremendous work is a legacy that continues to make an important impact even now. For that reason she gets my vote!
Both of these saintly people have interesting stories and time periods. Both are much alike. I voted for Gerard but it was to make up my mind.
Education is indeed one of the basics of life, and so all honor to Julie Billiart. Still, my vote today goes to the Blessed Gérard. I am an Anglican/Episcopalian who spent several years working in health care. Also, I liked his Benedictine value of hospitality. Another tough choice.
I was nearly ready to vote, leaning towards Julie Billiart, when I saw that Blessed Gerard's feast day is my birthday, Oct. 13. I think that was a message from above!
Thank you for this fun, clever, edifying ministry!
I am living "post social media" so I appreciate accessing Lent Madness via website and Youtube.
My husband and I enjoy discussing and voting every evening.
Suggestion for next year: all women saints!
We attend St James Edpiscopal in New London, Connecticut.