Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur

In September 1958, St. Mary of the Annunciation School was founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Saint Julie Billiart (1751–1816) was a French religious leader who founded and was the first Superior General of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Deeply affected by the poverty she witnessed after the French Revolution, Saint Julie chose poor children as the object of her care.

The Mission
"Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur making known God’s goodness … educating for life. Sisters of Notre Dame, women with hearts as wide as the world, make known God’s goodness and love of the poor through a Gospel way of life, community, and prayer. Continuing a strong educational tradition, we take our stand with poor people, especially women and children, in the most abandoned places."

Each of us commits her one and only life to work with others to create justice and peace for all.

Saint Julie Billiart founded the Sisters of Notre Dame to make known God’s goodness, especially among the poorest and most abandoned people in the world. Today, the Sisters of Notre Dame work with refugees in London, street children in Nairobi, immigrant farm workers in Florida, AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe … and always, women and children, who are among the very poorest.

We work to enable those who are materially poor to obtain what is rightfully theirs by changing unjust structures. We believe that education in varied forms is the best way to accomplish this goal.

(The Sisters of Notre Dame are recognized as outstanding educators, and over the years thousands of Sisters have taught children and adults on five continents. Although many Sisters continue to staff schools, others have chosen to work with the homeless, AIDS patients, the elderly, the poor, and countless others in need of help. All of this activity has one aim: to proclaim in our time, as Saint Julie did in hers, that God is good!*)

*To find out more about the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, please visit www.sndden.org