Julian of Norwich
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Julian of Norwich (c. November 8, 1342 – c. 1416) is thought of as
one of the greatest English mystics. She is venerated in
the Anglican and Lutheran churches, but has never been canonized,
or officially beatified, by the Catholic Church probably because so
little is known of her life aside from her writings, including the date
of her death. She was last known to be alive in 1416 when she was
73 years old.[1] Her birth name is uncertain; the name "Julian"
comes from the Church of St Julian in Norwich, where she was
an anchoress (a type of hermit who lives in a cell attached to the
church and engages in contemplative prayer). In the 11th century,
the city in southeast England was the second largest after London.
At the age of 30, suffering from a severe illness and believing she was on her deathbed, Julian
had a series of intense visions of Jesus Christ. (They ended by the time she recovered from her
illness on May 13, 1373.[2]) Julian wrote down a narration of the visions immediately following
them, which is known as The Short Text. Twenty years later she wrote a theological exploration
of the meaning of the visions, known as The Long Text.[3] These visions are the source of her
major work, called Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love (circa 1393). This is believed to be the first
book written in the English language by a woman.[4] Julian became well known throughout
England as a spiritual authority:English mystic and author of england's first autobiography
Margery Kempe mentions going to Norwich to speak with her.[5]
[edit]History of Revelations
The Short Text of the Revelation of Love was finished by 1413, as noted in its introduction.
The Amherst Manuscript of the fifteenth century, now in the British Library, named Julian and
referred to her as still alive. She is not named in the Tudor Westminster Manuscript. She is named
in the colophon to the Elizabethan Brigittine Long Text manuscript produced in exile in the
Antwerp region, now known as the Paris Manuscript. In the seventeenth century, some
manuscripts which were written out and preserved in the Cambrai and Paris houses of the English
Benedictine nuns in exile cite her. Three of these contain her Long Text in full or in part; the two
complete texts being in the British Library Sloane Collection.[6] It is believed these nuns had a
preserved manuscripts of Revelations' Long Text.[6]
The first printed version of the Revelations was available to the public
in 1670, and was edited by Benedictine Serenus Cressy. It did not
become well-known until the twentieth century. Cressy's edition was
reprinted in 1843, 1864, and again in 1902. However, it was Grace
Warrack's 1901 version of the book with its "sympathetic informed
introduction" which introduced most early twentieth-century readers
to Julian.[7] After this, Julian's name spread rapidly as she became a
topic in many lectures and writings. In 1979 an annotated edition of
Julian's work was published, and after this her book was widely sold
and discussed, at a time of renewed spiritual searching by many.
Julian is now recognized as one of England's most important
mystics.[8]
[edit]Theology
A statue of Julian (in white) appears on the front of Norwich Cathedral, along with a statue of St.
Benedict.
Although Julian lived in a time of turmoil, her theology was optimistic, speaking of God's love in
terms of joy and compassion as opposed to law and duty. For Julian, suffering was not a
punishment that God inflicted, as was the common understanding. She believed that God loved
and wanted to save everyone. Popular theology, magnified by current events including the Black
Death and a series of peasant revolts, asserted that God was punishing the wicked. In response,
Julian suggested a more merciful theology, which some say leaned towards universal salvation.
She believed that behind the reality of hell is a greater mystery of God's love. In modern times,
she has been classified as a proto-universalist, although she did not claim more than hope that all
might be saved.[9] Although Julian's views were not typical, local authorities did not challenge
either her theology or her authority because of her status as an anchoress. The lack of references
to her work during her own time may indicate that religious authorities did not count her worthy
of refuting, since she did not have much power as a woman.[citation needed]
Julian's theology was unique in three aspects: her view of sin, her belief that God is all love and
no wrath, and her view of Christ as mother.[citation needed] According to Julian, God is both our
mother and our father. This idea was also developed by Francis of Assisi in the thirteenth
century.Feminist theology in the 20th and 21st centuries has developed along similar lines.
Julian believed that sin was necessary in life because it
brings one to self-knowledge, which leads to acceptance of
the role of God in one's life.[10] Julian taught that humans
sin because they are ignorant or naive, not because they are
evil, which was the reason commonly given by the church
for sin during the Middle Ages.[11] Julian believed that in
order to learn, we must fail. Also, in order to fail, we must
sin. The pain caused by sin is an earthly reminder of the
pain of the passion of Christ. Therefore, as people suffer as
Christ did, they will become closer to Him by their
experiences.
Similarly, Julian saw no wrath in God. She believed wrath
existed only in humans but that God forgives us for this. She writes, “For I saw no wrath except
on man's side, and He forgives that in us, for wrath is nothing else but a perversity and an
opposition to peace and to love”.[12]Julian believed that it was inaccurate to speak of God's
granting forgiveness for sins because forgiving would mean that committing the sin was wrong.
Julian preached that sin should be seen as a part of the learning process of life, not malice that
needed forgiveness. Julian writes that God sees us as perfect and waits for the day when humans'
souls mature so that evil and sin will no longer hinder one's life.[13]
Lastly, Julian's theology was controversial in regard to her belief in God as mother. Some
scholars believe this is a metaphor, rather than a literal belief or dogma. In her fourteenth
revelation, Julian writes of the Trinity in domestic terms, comparing Jesus to a mother who is
wise, loving, and merciful. (See Jesus as Mother by Carolyn Walker Bynum. Need page cite and
full info.) Julian's revelation revealed that God is our mother as much as He is our father. On the
other hand, F. Beer asserts that Julian believed that the maternal aspect of Christ was literal, not
metaphoric; Christ is not like a mother, He is literally the mother.[14] Julian believed that the
mother's role was the truest of all jobs on earth. She emphasized this by explaining how the bond
between mother and child is the only earthly relationship that comes close to the relationship one
can have with Jesus.[15] She also connects God with motherhood in terms of (1) "the foundation of
our nature's creation, (2) "the taking of our nature, where the motherhood of grace begins" and (3)
"the motherhood at work", and writes metaphorically of Jesus in connection with conception,
nursing, labor, and upbringing. However, she sees him as our brother as well.
The Norwich Benedictine and Cardinal of England Adam Easton O.S.B. may have been Julian of
Norwich's spiritual director and editor of herLong Text Showing of Love. Birgitta of Sweden's
spiritual director, Alfonso Pecha, the Bishop Hermit of Jaen, edited her Revelationes.Catherine of
Siena's confessor and executor was William Flete, the Cambridge-educated Augustinian Hermit
of Lecceto. Easton's Defense of St Birgitta echoes Alfonso of Jaen's Epistola Solitarii, and
William Flete's Remedies against Temptations, all of which are referred to in Julian's text.[16]
The saying, "…All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well",
which Julian claimed to be said to her by God, reflects her theology. It is one of the most famous
lines in Catholic theological writing, and one of the most well-known phrases of the literature of
her era.[citation needed]
The 20th-century poet T.S. Eliot incorporated this phrase, as well as Julian's "the ground of our
beseeching" from the 14th Revelation, in his "Little Gidding", the fourth of his Four
Quartets poems:
Whatever we inherit from the fortunate
We have taken from the defeated
What they had to leave us—a symbol:
A symbol perfected in death.
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
By the purification of the motive
In the ground of our beseeching.
[edit]Works

Showing of Love, ed. Sister Anna
Maria Reynolds, C.P., and Julia Bolton
Holloway. Florence: SISMEL, 2001.

Showing of Love, Trans. Julia Bolton
Holloway. Collegeville: Liturgical Press;
London; Darton, Longman and Todd,
2003.

The Writings of Julian of Norwich,
ed. Nicholas Watson and Jacqueline
Jenkins. Brepols, 2006.

Revelations of Divine Love