Sisters of Notre Dame

I am really glad to have had this opportunity to read about our school's foundresses.  I found the lives of Franciose Blin de Bourdon and Julie Billiart interesting, but what stood out to me was how different their lives were and how those differences ultimately made them compatible.  I was also taken back for a moment when I read in the opening of the handout that Franciose was repulsed by Julie's infirmity.

Reading about Franciose's life was interesting from the beginning.  I wondered why she was raised from infancy by her maternal grandparents especially if both sides of Francoise's family were "landowners with impeccable aristocratic lineage."  I also want to to know how much exposure she
had to her parents and siblings because we learn after her education she come back to them and I feel like she was out of place there. Some of the key points that stood out to me was her exposure to her family taking good care of the people on their land.  The point that really drove this home for me was her visits with her grandmother to those that worked on her family's land.  She watched her grandmother taking good care of them by making sure they had enough to eat and bringing them remedies if they were ill.   In our handout, it states that this is where Franciose learned first-hand the pleasure of giving and realizing the value of personal service.  Another point that stood out to me about Franciose life is her continued push to for what is right.  This was apparent in the way she was described as not mincing words when writing to sister Therese Briet about the treatment of the nuns in her convent.  Thinking about what she wrote and how she continued her education and life after her education, I cannot help but think how awesome it is to be a woman and attending a school she founded.

When I read about Julie, I can't help but wonder what it is I am doing with my life.  Another thought I had was how cool it was that I know now where the name Cuvilly Hall comes from.  I also was wondered it if was purposeful or coincidence that Cuvilly Hall is where the student today learn business academia, but in Julie's time, her father learned and practiced business successfully in Culvilluy.  When I initially read that Julie had already staretd to notice the difference