Saint Julian of Norwich

From New World Encyclopedia
Julian of Norwich
Born November 8, 1342
Died c. 1416
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church,
Anglican Communion,
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Major shrine Church of St Julian in Norwich
Feast Roman Catholic Church, May 13
Anglican Communion and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, May 8

Julian of Norwich (c. November 8, 1342 – c. 1416) is considered to be one of the greatest English mystics. Little is known of her life aside from her writings. Even her name is uncertain, the name "Julian" coming from the Church of St Julian in Norwich, where she occupied a cell adjoining the church as an anchoress. At the age of thirty, suffering from a severe illness and believing she was on her deathbed, Julian had a series of intense visions. (They ended by the time she overcame her illness on May 13, 1373.)[1] These visions would twenty years later be the source of her major work, called Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love (circa 1393). This is believed to be the first book written by a woman in the English language[2] Julian became well known throughout England as a spiritual authority: Margery Kempe mentions going to Norwich to speak with Julian[3].

Biography

Nothing is known of Julian before she entered the anchorage, not even her name. She probably took the name Julian from the church she entered.

She lived in a tumultuous time, the Black Death was raging in Europe, the Peasants Revolt occurred, Piers Plowman and Wat Tyler, when the old social patterns were breaking down

Julian's theology

Although she lived in a time of turmoil, Julian's 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, but was a means he used to draw us closer to himself. This was different from the prevailing views of her time, which typically saw afflictions like the Plague as divine punishment. Because of her intimations that beyond the reality of hell-fire is yet a greater mystery of God's love.

Julian-of-Norwich-statue.jpg

In her first vision concerning the hazelnut, she realized her relationship to God:

In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it. The second that he loves it. And the third, that God keeps it. But what is this to me? Truly, the Creator, the Keeper, the Lover. For until I am substantially owned to him, I may never have full rest nor true bliss. That is to say, until I be so fastened to Him that there is nothing that is made between my God and me.

Her great saying, "Sin is behovely, but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well," reflects this theology. It is also one of the most individually famous lines in all of Catholic theological writing, and certainly one of the most well-known phrases of the literature of her era. It was quoted in T.S. Eliot's "Little Gidding," the fourth of his Four Quartets.

The sixteen showings

The sixteen revelations are:

  • 1. The Crown of Thorns and God's love for all that is made — the hazelnut
  • 2. The face of Jesus on the Cross
  • 3. All creation is in God's wise care
  • 4. The scourging of Jesus, and the spilling of his blood
  • 5. The evil one defeated by the cross
  • 6. God's gifts of thanks to those who serve him
  • 7. God comforts those whether in good times or bad
  • 8. The death of Christ
  • 9. The love for humanity that brought Christ to his Passion fills the heavens
  • 10. The broken heart of Jesus for love of the world
  • 11. Mary, mother of Jesus
  • 12. The glory of Christ
  • 13. The great deed of God's making amends for our sin, which prevents us, and that he will make all things well
  • 14. God is the ground of our beseeching: he inspires us to pray and gives us what is needful
  • 15. Our coming up above: resurrection
  • 16. Christ dwells in the souls of those who love him

Legacy

She is commemorated by the Roman Catholic Church on May 13, and by both the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as a renewer of the Church and the Anglican Church on May 8.

St. Julian's Church at Norwich

A modern statue of her has been added to the facade of the Anglican Norwich Cathedral.

The song "Julian of Norwich" by Sydney Carter commemorates her optimistic philosophy.

Works

  • Revelations of Divine Love

Notes

  1. "Julian of Norwich", Encyclopedia Britannica Profiles in Encyclopedia Britannica, June 16, 2006.
  2. Edmund Colledge, O.S.A. and James Walsh, (1978); and Flinders, Carol Lee, (1993).
  3. Staley, Lynn ed. The Book of Margery Kempe, Book I, Part I, TEAMS Middle English Texts, (1996), [1]

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Abbott, Christopher. Julian of Norwich autobiography and theology. Woodbridge, Suffolk : D.S. Brewer, 1999. ISBN 9780585177564
  • Baker, Denise Nowakowski. Julian of Norwich's Showings : from vision to book. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1994. ISBN 9780691036311
  • Colledge, Edmund and James Walsh, ed. Julian of Norwich : Showings, New York : Paulist Press, 1978. ISBN 9780809120918
  • Flinders, Carol Lee. Enduring Grace : Living Portraits of Seven Women Mystics, HarperCollins, 1993. ISBN 0062502840
  • Jantzen, Grace. Julian of Norwich : mystic and theologian. New York : Paulist Press, 1988. ISBN 780809129928
  • McEntire, Sandra J. Julian of Norwich : a book of essays. New York : Garland Pub., 1998. ISBN 9780815325291
  • Magill, Kevin J. Julian of Norwich mystic or visionary? London ; New York : Routledge, 2006. ISBN 9780203008270
  • Wilson, Katharina M. Medieval women writers. Athens, Ga. : Univ of Georgia Pr, 1984. ISBN 9780820306407

External links

Retrieved December 21, 2007.

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