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”
Had to vote for Blessed Gerard in memory of my father-in-law a Serving Brother of St. John Ambulance. The St. John Ambulance continues to serve the ill and injured as 1st Aiders at events.
Just liked her better.
Did so much good
I went with Julie Billiart today, not because I felt Blessed Gerard was lacking in some way but because Julie educated girls and believed education is a human right.
Yes, I agree! This was my toughest vote so far this year. In the end, I couldn't resist her commitment to education - a human right indeed!
My husband was Amienois.
I hesitated to vote for Gerard because I worry that there will be some Crusader issues down the road. But I couldn't resist a hospital that treats all in a war zone. Much less a chain of them!
And treats them still today in Palestine and throughout the St John volunteering corps
My vote went to Gerard, not because he subversively helped the crusaders, but because he served the sick of any faith or race and offered the very best care to all.
Blessed Gerard’s legacy of the eye hospital group still active in Palestine serving those in need would be enough for me, but the fact the St John Ambulance Brigade’s logo remains on Doctor Who’s TARDIS puts it over the edge
If he moves forward, this bodes well for Gerard in the Round of Saintly Kitsch.
After thirty years of teaching at the SNDdeN-founded Villa Julie College, there could be only one choice for me. 🙂
I surprised myself. I was not going to vote for Brother Gérard, because of the Crusades. That lamentable history of imperial invasion disguised as religion seemed best relegated to the past. But we’re living it still today. I would have liked to hear that the good brother served Christian, Jew, and Muslim alike, that the hospital was a place for ecumenical congress. So I will approach him in a spirit of curiosity. How might we bring care instead of conquest to west Asia?
My thoughts exactly, St. Celia. Looking back on the Crusades now, I feel a repulsion right up there with the destruction that colonial settlement wreaked on Indigenous cultures. No war should ever be justified as “holy”, including bobbin Iran for no apparent reason. However, knowing that Brother Gérard purposely treated all injured patients regardless of religious affiliation, as well as seeing the legacy of the St. John’s Ambulance still in service today, gave me pause for thought. Reminded me of the story of the Good Samaritan; help those who need help, don’t walk on by.
* bombing
The collect for Julie is an apt one for the whole reason for Lent Madness.
Go Fr Michael and Fr Christian !
Enjoying your videos.
As a retired teacher who also believes that God is good, and that education is a basic human right, my vote went to Julie.
I was an elementary/ special education teacher. I taught for 40+ years… prek teacher/ director, severely disturbed, cognitively impaired, learning disabled, ESOL, k-3, juvenile delinquents… I taught in Brazil and like Julian, I think teachers are THE MOST impotent job in society. Certainly we have done more for democracy than politicians! The MOST important job is parenting. Yet I can not vote for her.
I must vote for Gerard. Evidently he was a humble person, which is my favorite personality trait. If one is humble,that impacts one in every other personality trait! At least in my opinion.
In honor of international women’s day and women’s month I’ll caste my vote for Julie.both wonderful servants of God.
Almost Gerard: *anyone* who will help suffering people in the Middle East, then and now, is blessed. But in honor of my husband's half-century of educating girls, it's Julie today. Jesus taught, and teachers follow in his footsteps.
I had to vote for Julie Billiart! Her religious siblings, the Sisters of Notre Dame, came to the US from Germany to educate young women. They founded my undergraduate college as well as many high schools.
Shout out to Becca Kello! "God does not call the equipped but equips the called."
Also to Fr. Christian - the church should be an oasis of healing.
"God does not call the equipped, but equips the called." will be entered into my journal of Words to Ponder! Beautiful!
I was named for Mother Julie, as my mom was taught by the Sisters of Notre Dame and I grew up on stories of what she went through to help teach children. What she had to put up with really earned her sainthood!
Voting for Julie today in honor of Sr. Mary Ann Osborne, SSND of Mankato, MN. Incredible artist and joyful, beautiful soul. When we hosted a show last year in our gallery, I was overwhelmed by the love, happiness, and deep faith of all the SSND sisters who came to support her and her work.
I also remember fondly several SSND sisters, but, for the record, the School Sisters of Notre Dame are a different religious order than the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (SNDdeN)
I would like to vote for Julie Billiart, but it is so hard to get this program to work when all you have is an iPad. It simply will not let me vote. I miss the days when Lent Madness was more compatible with iPads.
What does it mean to be "subversively helpful to the Christian Crusader cause?" Did Gerard accept Moslem patients and then harm them? Or, did he just not welcome the Islamic enemies? I suppose any place of rest and refuge was admirable in those (and all) times, but I don't get "subversively helpful."
Thus, most pleased to vote for foundress of the Sisters of Notre Dame of Namur. I know some nuns of this order and they are some of best people I've ever known, all to some degree genuinely subversive of the ways of the world.
I voted for Brother Gerard. This quote abut Blessed Gerard spoke to me, "God does not call the equipped, but equips the called. " as we are all called to serve all people, with the gifts God provides us. Healing of mind, heart and body all needed in this turbulent time.
Once again the celebrity bloggers are doing a fantastic job. As a teacher myself from a household of people involved in education, I voted for the teacher today.
Since her youth, Saint Julie has guided the education of women across the world, and her sisters of Notre Dame de Namur have been missionaries in many countries that need that support. I was fortunate to attend Trinity Washington University some length of time ago (when it was Trinity College) and matured with the understanding that social justice would guide us in our professional lives. Among our graduates, Nancy Pelosi stands out as well as members of congress,leaders of colleges, doctors and many other noteworthy graduates. Saint Julie deserves the honor of the golden halo.
Good health care keeps people alive. Good education shows people ideals to live for, and enables them to develop tools with which to support those ideals. The right to both of these should be inalienable rights for ALL. Julie and Gerard both knew and practiced this.
I'm going to have to resort to voting for the one I'd most want at my dinner party, and that would be joyful Julie. And if that delighted and playful smile in the painting portrays her well? Oh, how good, congenial, and laughter-filled the dinner gathering would be!
Teachers are often underappreciated. I am a teacher myself and come from a family of teachers. So my vote is for Julie, a quiet hero.
Ouch! Another struggle today. As a former teacher, I lean toward Julie; as one partly raised by a grandmother and aunts who saw their nursing careers in the same light that Gerard saw his care of the sick, I lean toward Gerard. Gerard won. Could you make the next choice a litteless difficult, please
Nope!
It seems as though every matchup is nail-biting as I try to choose between two wonderful "saints" who are each and every one worthy of the Golden Halo!
In honor of a dear friend who was a former member of the hospitaliers of st john of God and who continues to live holy hospitality in his ministry, I have to vote for Blessed Gerard. (Besides that I am an RN!)
Being a nurse I had to vote for Blessed Gerard. The statement "our Lords, the sick" really hit home for me. Over a thousand years ago caring for the sick was caring for human beings and not diseases. It hurts to know that today we need to remind caregivers to look at the person, not the disease. Thanks Blessed Gerard for showing this example of caring.