Françoise Blin de Bourdon

Mother St. Joseph, also known as Marie Louise Françoise Blin de Bourdon (born March 8, 1756, Gezaincaurt on the Somme) was a French noblewoman and nun.

Biography

Françoise Blin de Bourdon was a native of Picardy. Her family belonged to the old nobility of France. She was the youngest child of Viscount Pierre Louis Blin de Bourdon and the Baroness Marie Louise Claudine de Fouquesolles. She received her early training at the home of her maternal grandmother. From the age of six years until she made her First Holy Communion, she attended the school of the Bernardines; she completed her edu¬cation with the Ursulines of Amiens.

When Françoise was nineteen, she left Gezaincourt for Bourdon, as her parents wished her to make her debut into society. For several years she was one of the gayest members of the brilliant society of her time and was presented at the Court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. For a while the charms of the world dazzled her, but she soon tired of what seemed to her a frivolous, useless life. She became more religiously oriented.

Thus her life passed happily until the Reign of Terror loosed its madness on the land. Early in 1793 her aged father was imprisoned at Amiens; a few months later she herself was dragged from her home by a frantic mob, all in the name of Liberty. She was taken to a house of detention at Amiens where she learned that her father, her brother, his wife, and child were all prisoners. Her entreaties to see them were harshly silenced. Every day a long list of victims was announced for execution. After seven months' imprisonment she read the names of her father and herself among the proscribed. The day set for their execution was July 29, 1794, but their lives were saved by the fall of Robespierre on the preceding day, As her grandmother had died from the effect of so many horrors, Françoise, after her release from prison, returned to the home of her brother in the Rue des Augustins. After these experiences, she became even more oriented toward a religious style of life. She found the person who could guide her in Julie Billiart, also of Picardy. Françoise was not at first attracted to Julie and she found her visits embarrassing. This was due to Julie's paralysis, which caused difficulties of speech. Gradually the two women were able to work together on religious projects and became co-workers in the area. They found other women willing to work with them for the church and the poor.

Their first years were not easy, but gradually they recognized a call to unite. In Amiens, the foundation of the Sisters of Notre Dame was laid in August, 1803. It had for its object the salvation of the souls of poor children. The first members. were Julie Billiart, Françoise Blin, and Catherine Duchatel, a young lady from Rheims. A provisional Rule was drawn up by Father Varin. On the Feast of the Purification, February 2, 1804, they solemnly consecrated themselves to the new Institute.

In 1816 Julie Billiart died, and her position as head of the Sisters of Notre Dame was taken over by Francoise Blin de Bourdon, or Sr. St. Joseph, as she was known among the Sisters.

Mother St. Joseph continued her work as head of the Sisters of Notre Dame until 1835. Her great work was the compiling and collation of the Rules and Constitutions of the Sisters of Notre Dame. Its basic principles lasted until the changes of the second Vatican Council.

References

*Outline History of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Washington: D.C. Trinity College. 1938
*Recker, Jo Ann M. SND de N. Francoise Blin de Bourdon: Woman of Influence. New York: Paulist Press. 2001