Faithful Friday: Julian of Norwich

Little is known of the mysterious anchorite of Norwich, Norfolk UK, not even her real name. She was a renown mystic hermit, and author of Revelations of Divine Love based on a series of visions she experienced during a severe illness. She is known as “The first English woman of letters” and the first woman to ever write in vernacular English, an astounding feat, given that she had no formal education.

The 14th century was a time of turmoil in England; the Peasants’ Revolt rocked the social and political order, while the Black Death circulated. It was a time when lay people were not permitted to write mystical theology, and especially not women. Julian, however, believed that her visions of Christ were too important to keep to herself. She wanted others to know the depth of the love of God, and how He desires us to know Him.

In 1373, at the age of thirty, Julian fell ill with a mysterious illness that threatened to take her very life. She was spared, however, by the mercy of God, who healed her and revealed Himself to her in visions. These visions are profound as they are beautiful, covering the deeper topics of the Christian faith, such as predestination, grace, the sufferings of Christ and of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the problem of evil. Shortly after this, she wrote down all these visions in what became known as the “short text” most of which has been lost.

Twenty years later, after much meditation, Julian wrote her second, Larger Text, which has remained with us. It was probably about this time, or perhaps a few years after, that Julian became an anchoress– a religious hermit who lived in seclusion in a church to focus on God. She was well-respected by all in Norwich, and many would come to her for spiritual counsel.

After many years of communion with God, Julian did eventually leave this mortal realm to enter fully into the spiritual realm, probably sometime after 1416. May we all know the love of God more fully as Julian did, and may we always remember our Lord’s words to Julian: all shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.