(1342-ca. 1416) religious writer
When Julian of Norwich was 30 years old, she experienced intense, spiritual visions that led her to live as a religious recluse in a room attached to St. Julian’s Church in Norwich, England. The practice of living in seclusion was not uncommon during the period, and those who chose to live such a life were known as “anchorites.” Little is known about Julian; even the name “Julian” refers not to her Christian name but to the church she occupied. We do know, however, the date of her life-changing visions—May 13, 1373—and we have four manuscripts of the narrative of her mystical encounters.
Julian’s Revelations of Divine Love (also known as A Book of Showings) consists of a highly vivid account of the visions she encountered while severely ill. These revelations are examined through a theologically informed and spiritually sophisticated lens. What likely strikes present-day readers most is not Julian’s facility with both Latin and English but the intense, graphic quality of her descriptions. She describes the blood that drips from Christ’s crown of thorns as running down like heavy drops of rain falling from the eaves of a house in a rainstorm. The roundness of the drops, she adds, resembles the scales of herrings. Perhaps even more startling, however, is Julian’s comparison of Jesus to a mother figure. “The mother,” she writes, “can lay her child tenderly to her breast. But our tender Mother Jesus can lead us … into his blessed breast…, and shew us . . . the joys of heaven . . . [and] endless bliss.” The feminization of Christ, while rather unusual today, was not uncommon during the period.
Revelations of Divine Love in some ways resembles works by other religious mystics, such as Margery kempe and the author of the cloud of unknowing. Julian of Norwich’s emphasis, however, is on Christ’s love for humankind, and the excitement and inspiration she derived from her vision sets her work apart.
English Versions of Works by Julian of Norwich
A Lesson of Love: The Revelations of Julian of Norwich (Unabridged). Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, 2003.
The Revelations of Divine Love of Julian of Norwich. Translated by James Walsh. St. Meinrad, Ind.: Abbey Press, 1961.
Works about Julian of Norwich
Baker, Denise Nowakowski. Julian of Norwich’s Showings: From Vision to Book. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1994.
McAvoy, Liz Herbert. Authority and the Female Body in the Writings of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe. London: Boydell and Brewer, 2004.
