Julian of Norwich

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Saint Julian of Norwich
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Saint Julian of Norwich - New World Encyclopedia

Julian was also known as a spiritual authority within her community, where she also served as a counsellor and advisor.

Very little is known about Julian's life. Even her name is uncertain; the name 'Julian' is generally thought to have been derived from the Church of St Julian in Norwich , to which her anchorite's cell was joined. Julian's writings indicate that she was probably born around and died around At least one source considered it likely that she received her early education with the Benedictine nuns at nearby Carrow.

Plague epidemics were rampant during the 14th century and, according to some scholars, Julian may have become an anchoress unmarried or, having lost her family in the plague, as a widow. There is scholarly debate as to whether Julian was a nun in a nearby convent or a laywoman. When she was 30 and living at home, Julian suffered from a serious illness. As part of the ritual, he held a crucifix in the air above the foot of her bed.

Saint Julian of Norwich

Julian reported that she was losing her sight and felt physically numb, but as she gazed on the crucifix she saw the figure of Jesus begin to bleed. Twenty to thirty years later, perhaps in the early s, Julian began to write a theological exploration of the meaning of the visions, known as The Long Text , which consists of 86 chapters and about 63, words.

The English mystic Margery Kempe , whose autobiography is thought to be the first written in English, mentioned going to Norwich to speak with "Dame Julian" in around The Long Text appears to have been slightly better known, but still does not seem to have been widely circulated in late medieval England. The one surviving manuscript from this period is the mid- to lateth century Westminster Manuscript , which contains a portion of the Long Text not naming Julian as its author , refashioned as a didactic treatise on contemplation.

On the one hand, there exists the late 16th century Brigittine Long Text manuscript, produced in exile in the Antwerp region and now known as the Paris Manuscript.

Julian of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love - Robert Fruehwirth

The other set of readings may be found in two manuscripts, now in the British Library 's Sloane Collection. The first printed version of the Revelations was edited by a Benedictine, Serenus Cressy , in It was reprinted in , and again in Modern interest in the text increased with the publication of a new edition of the Long Text by Henry Collins. An important moment was the publication of Grace Warrack's version of the book, with its "sympathetic informed introduction" and modernised language, which introduced most early 20th century readers to Julian's writings.

Many editions of the works have been published in the last forty years see below for further details , with translations into French five times , German four times , Italian, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, Catalan, Greek and Russian.

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Revelations is a celebrated work in Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism because of the clarity and depth of Julian's visions of God. Julian says that sin is behovely , which is often translated as "necessary", "expedient", or "appropriate". Julian came to such a sense of the awfulness of sin that she reckoned the pains of hell are to be chosen in preference to it. For a kind soul has no hell but sin. Julian lived in a time of turmoil, but her theology was optimistic and spoke of God's omnibenevolence and love in terms of joy and compassion.

She could have been a Benedictine nun before she became an anchoress or she could have known the local Beguines, the Roman Catholic laypersons who lived in a loose semi-monastic community, who dwelt nearby. She lived in a tumultuous time, the Black Death was raging in Europe.

The first such plague occurred when she was only six years old. The road beside Saint Julian's Church was used to remove the bodies of the dead from subsequent plagues, and she probably heard the carts rumble by. The Hundred Years' War between England and France had begun in , as did the papal schism in which two popes each suspected the other of being the Antichrist. Famine and cattle disease contributed to the forces that caused the Peasants' Revolt, and John Wycliff and his followers, the Lollards , were declared heretics.

Some were burned and buried near Julian's church cell. She must have been aware of the suffering of the time. In her desire to find union in God's love, she reported asking God for three graces. The first was the "recollection of the passion," to experience the crucifixion of Jesus as if she had been a witness or even as if it were happening to her personally.

The second was to experience an illness so severe that everyone would think she was dying and to have it occur at age 30, the age of Christ when he was crucified. By experiencing the pains and terrors of such a serious illness she felt that she could live more fully with God. The third grace was for three "wounds," which she characterized as "the wound of contrition, the wound of compassion, and the wound of longing with my will for God.

She thus believed that her request for three graces of God led to her the illness and the visions which transformed her life.

Saint Julian of Norwich

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Saint Julian of Norwich - New World Encyclopedia