St Julian ofNorwich
Anchoress,Mystic,
Author of The Revelation of Divine Love

The Anchoress [Hermitess] Julian(a) of Norwich was born in late 1342, and may have lived well into the fifteenth century, dying around 1412. We know very few details about her life; in fact, we do not know even know her real name. At some point in her life she became an anchoress— a vowed solitary who lived a life devoted to prayer and meditation, confined to a cell adjoining a church. In her case, Julian's cell adjoined the church of St. Julian in Norwich, from which we get her pseudonym. Virtually nothing is known about her aside from what she writes— and she reveals little about herself, preferring instead to talk about her "courteous" God. In her writing (the first book written by a woman in English), Julian reveals a profound level of mystical wisdom and insight that, over six hundred years later, remains as compelling as it did when she first penned it.

We do know thatwhen she was 30, in May 1373, she became deathly ill, and whileon her supposed deathbed she received a series of vivid, profoundvisions or "showings"— sixteen visions in which Divinelove was revealed to her. She recovered from her illness, andsubsequently wrote two books about her experience: a short textpresumably written not long after the experience, and a longertext, written twenty years later, which reveals the maturing ofa deeply reflective mind.

Julian is bestknown for her optimism ("All shall be well, and all shallbe well, and all manner of things shall be well"), and alsofor her repeated insistence of naming both God and Christ as "mother."Her theology of the motherhood of God is an anticipation of, andinspiration for, much of the most creative theological and spiritualthought of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. One of theloveliest stories from Julian's collection of visions involvesa point where she was asked to hold something little, no biggerthan a hazelnut. When she asks God what this is, she is told "Itis all that exists." She marvels that this thing could evencontinue to exist, so small and delicate it appears. She thenrealizes the reason the universe continues to exist is because"God made it, God loves it, and God keeps it." Thissums up Julian's optimistic, visionary theology— a theologywhere the love of God is expressed not in terms of law and duty,but in terms of joy and heartfelt compassion.

Thanks to Carl McColman for the above, which I have edited somewhat.

For a somewhat longer article on St Juliana and her era, see below.

Here are three chapters from Revelations of Divine Love in which she writes of how and why "all shall be well"; passages relevant to TS Eliot's Four Quartets are placed in bold:

CHAPTER XXVII

“Often I wondered why by the great foreseeing wisdom of God the beginning of sin was not hindered: for then, methought, all should have been well.” “Sin is behovely—; but all shall be well”.

AFTER this the Lord brought to my mind the longing that I had to Him afore. And I saw that nothing letted me but sin. And so I looked, generally, upon us all, and methought: If sin had not been, we should all have been clean and like to our Lord, as He made us.

And thus, in my folly, afore this time often I wondered why by the great foreseeing wisdom of God the beginning of sin was not letted: for then, methought, all should have been well. This stirring [of mind] was much to be forsaken, but nevertheless mourning and sorrow I made therefor, without reason and discretion.

But Jesus, who in this Vision informed me of all that is needful to me, answered by this word and said: It behoved that there should be sin; [1] but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.

In this naked word sin, our Lord brought to my mind, generally, all that is not good, and the shameful despite and the utter noughting that He bare for us in this life, and His dying; and all the pains and passions of all His creatures, ghostly and bodily; (for we be all partly noughted, and we shall be noughted following our Master, Jesus, till we be full purged, that is to say, till we be fully noughted of our deadly flesh and of all our inward affections which are not very good;) and the beholding of this, with all pains that ever were or ever shall be,—and with all these I understand the Passion of Christ for most pain, and overpassing. All this was shewed in a touch and quickly passed over into comfort: for our good Lord would not that the soul were affeared of this terrible sight.

But I saw not sin: for I believe it hath no manner of substance nor no part of being, nor could it be known but by the pain it is cause of.

And thus pain, it is something, as to my sight, for a time; for it purgeth, and maketh us to know ourselves and to ask mercy. For the Passion of our Lord is comfort to us against all this, and so is His blessed will.

And for the tender love that our good Lord hath to all that shall be saved, He comforteth readily and sweetly, signifying thus: It is sooth [true] that sin is cause of all this pain; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner [of] thing shall be well.

These words were said full tenderly, showing no manner of blame to me nor to any that shall be saved. Then were it a great unkindness to blame or wonder on God for my sin, since He blameth not me for sin.

And in these words I saw a marvellous high mystery hid in God, which mystery He shall openly make known to us in Heaven: in which knowing we shall verily see the cause why He suffered sin to come. In which sight we shall endlessly joy in our Lord God.

CHAPTER XXXIV

“All that is speedful for us to learn and to know, full courteously will our Lord shew us”.

OUR Lord God shewed two manner of secret things. One is this great Secret [Counsel] with all the privy points that belong thereto: and these secret things He willeth we should know [as being, but as] hid until the time that He will clearly shew them to us. The other are the secret things that He willeth to make open and known to us; for He would have us understand that it is His will that we should know them. They are secrets to us not only for that He willeth that they be secrets to us, but they are secrets to us for our blindness and our ignorance; and thereof He hath great ruth, and therefore He will Himself make them more open to us, whereby we may know Him and love Him and cleave to Him. For all that is speedful for us to learn and to know, full courteously will our Lord shew us: and [of] that is this [Shewing], with all the preaching and teaching of Holy Church.

God shewed full great pleasance that He hath in all men and women that mightily and meekly and with all their will take the preaching and teaching of Holy Church. For it is His Holy Church: He is the Ground, He is the Substance, He is the Teaching, He is the Teacher, He is the End, He is the Meed for which every kind soul travaileth.

And this [of the Shewing] is [made] known, and shall be known to every soul to which the Holy Ghost declareth it. And I hope truly that all those that seek this, He shall speed: for they seek God. All this that I have now told, and more that I shall tell after, is comforting against sin. For in the Third Shewing when I saw that God doeth all that is done, I saw no sin: and then I saw that all is well. But when God shewed me for sin, then said He: All SHALL be well.

CHAPTER LXIII

“As verily as sin is unclean, so verily is it unkind”—a disease or monstrous thing against
nature. “He shall heal us full fair.”

HERE may we see that we have verily of Nature to hate sin, and we have verily of Grace to hate sin. For Nature is all good and fair in itself, and Grace was sent out to save Nature and destroy sin, and bring again fair nature to the blessed point from whence it came: that is God; with more nobleness and worship by the virtuous working of Grace. For it shall be seen afore God by all His Holy in joy without end that Nature hath been assayed in the fire of tribulation and therein hath been found no flaw, no fault. Thus are Nature and Grace of one accord: for Grace is God, as Nature is God: He is two in manner of working and one in love; and neither of these worketh without other: they be not disparted.

And when we by Mercy of God and with His help accord us to Nature and Grace, we shall see verily that sin is in sooth viler and more painful than hell, without likeness: for it is contrary to our fair nature. For as verily as sin is unclean, so verily is it unnatural, and thus an horrible thing to see for the loved soul that would be all fair and shining in the sight of God, as Nature and Grace teacheth.

Yet be we not adread of this, save inasmuch as dread may speed us: but meekly make we our moan to our dearworthy Mother, and He shall besprinkle us in His precious blood and make our soul full soft and full mild, and heal us full fair by process of time, right as it is most worship to Him and joy to us without end. And of this sweet fair working He shall never cease nor stint till all His dearworthy children be born and forthbrought. (And that shewed He where He shewed [me] understanding of the ghostly Thirst, that is the love-longing that shall last till Doomsday.)

Thus in [our] Very Mother, Jesus, our life is grounded in the foreseeing Wisdom of Himself from without beginning, with the high Might of the Father, the high sovereign Goodness of the Holy Ghost. And in the taking of our nature He quickened us; in His blessed dying upon the Cross He bare us to endless life; and from that time, and now, and evermore unto Doomsday, He feedeth us and furthereth us: even as that high sovereign Kindness of Motherhood, and as Kindly need of Childhood asketh.

Fair and sweet is our Heavenly Mother in the sight of our souls; precious and lovely are the Gracious Children in the sight of our Heavenly Mother, with mildness and meekness, and all the fair virtues that belong to children in Nature. For of nature the Child despaireth not of the Mother’s love, of nature the Child presumeth not of itself, of nature the Child loveth the Mother and each one of the other [children]. These are the fair virtues, with all other that be like, wherewith our Heavenly Mother is served and pleased.

And I understood none higher stature in this life than Childhood, in feebleness and failing of might and of wit, unto the time that our Gracious Mother hath brought us up to our Father’s Bliss.

And then shall it verily be known to us His meaning in those sweet words where He saith: All shall be well: and thou shalt see, thyself, that all manner of things shall be well. And then shall the Bliss of our Mother, in Christ, be new to begin in the Joys of our God: which new beginning shall last without end, new beginning.

Thus I understood that all His blessed children which be come out of Him by Nature shall be brought again into Him by Grace.

CHAPTER LXVIII

“He said not: Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be afflicted, [but] Thou shalt not be overcome.”

THIS was a delectable Sight and a restful Shewing, that it is so without end. The beholding of this while we are here is full pleasing to God and full great profit to us; and the soul that thus beholdeth, it maketh it like to Him that is beheld, and oneth it in rest and peace by His grace.

And this was a singular joy and bliss to me that I saw Him sitting: for the [quiet] secureness of sitting sheweth endless dwelling.

And He gave me to know soothfastly that it was He that shewed me all afore. And when I had beheld this with heedfulness, then shewed our good Lord words full meekly without voice and without opening of lips, right as He had [afore] done, and said full sweetly: Wit it now well that it was no raving that thou sawest to-day: but take it and believe it, and keep thee therein, and comfort thee therewith, and trust thou thereto: and thou shalt not be overcome.

These Last Words were said for believing and true sureness that it is our Lord Jesus that shewed me all. And right as in the first word that our good Lord shewed, signifying His blissful Passion,—Herewith is the devil overcome,—right so He said in the last word, with full true secureness, meaning us all: Thou shalt not be overcome.

And all this teaching in this true comfort, it is general, to all mine even-Christians, as it is aforesaid: and so is God’s will. And this word: Thou shalt not be overcome, was said full clearly and full mightily, for assuredness and comfort against all tribulations that may come. He said not: Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be afflicted; but He said: Thou shalt not be overcome. God willeth that we take heed to these words, and that we be ever strong in sure trust, in weal and woe. For He loveth and enjoyeth us, and so willeth He that we love and enjoy Him and mightily trust in Him; and all shall be well.

And soon after, all was close and I saw no more.

 

1342-1416

Agnostics and atheists announce that the world's pain and distress contradict God's power and render faith in him impossible, even though many live in unspeakable suffering with ardent faith and a vivid apprehension of God. St Julian's book, Revelations of Divine Love, was the distillate of a divine visitation that occurred amidst horrific developments in the fourteenth century.

Edward III came to power in 1330 when his adulterous mother and her lover murdered his father, and he reigned until five years after St Julian had her Revelations. In 1334 Scotland and France ganged up and plunged England into the Hundred Years' War, which seared the land for generations. The Black Death loomed in the midst of the war— a plague that was to kill one third of Europe's population. In 1351 a mutant strain of the scourge especially lethal to children scythed the population. The clergy who ministered to agonized victims succumbed at even higher rates. Crop failures in 1348 and 1363 were surpassed by that of 1369, and this in turn inflamed a Peasant Revolt. In 1377, rival bishops in Rome (Urban VI) and Avignon (Clement) claimed the allegiance of a divided Church. Pope Urban VI recruited Julian's bishop, Despenser of Norwich, to lead armed forays against his Avignon counterpart. Militarily crushed, the bishop stumbled back to Norwich in disgrace. In all of this, Julian's confidence in the gospel and her affirmation of one "Holy Church" and her grasp of the meaning of her "revelations" remained resilient.

In 1373, at age 30, the cloistered nun had found herself "visited" by her Lord as she lay near death. Upon recovering, she described in writing the vivid visions vouchsafed to her (the "short text.") She refrained from speaking of them (never mind preening herself on account of them), wisely knowing that the visitation was brief while the disclosure of its meaning was protracted. She pondered them for the next twenty years, steeped in prayer, living the truth disclosed in them, awaiting further illumination from their author and object. In 1393 she wrote the "long text" (a book of 170 pages), elucidating their significance for her and readers that had been entrusted to her. (She knew that God intended others to profit from her experience and reflection, and for this reason had written in English rather than Latin.)

Like prophets and apostles of old, Julian knew that vivid experience alone is the measure of nothing. Who has experiences more vivid than drug-users or deranged persons? And yet like prophets and apostles, she knew that apart from experience of the Lord, doctrine is only a mental abstraction, scripture is only a quarry whose nuggets are buried in tons of lifeless rock, and the church hardly more than a corrupt principality that misrepresents the gospel and victimizes its members. So although visions and auditions, raptures and ecstasies, consolations and desolations (i.e., feelings of God's presence or absence) strike many as bizarre and therefore dismissible— and even more must be judged with careful discernment— actual experience is basic to the Bible. King David wrote, "Why dost thou hide thyself in times of trouble?" (Ps. 10:1) and "When the cares of my heart are many, thy consolations cheer my soul" (Ps. 94:9). But like the Biblical writers, Julian never preached her experience; she declared only the gospel, the "word of the cross." Without experience she would never have proclaimed anything, but her revelations taught her (and she teaches us) that we will not come to know God by waiting for visions and ecstasies, but rather by waiting on Him through relentless prayer and diligent study.

Julian never hesitate to speak of Jesus Christ as "our mother." In this, however., she was not arguing for the feminisation of God, as is popular in some modern circles. She knew God as eternally Father, Son, and Spirit, and knew that the divine Son is Jesus of Nazareth. (Col. 2:9) In speaking of Christ as "our mother" Julian was merely likening the work of Christ to that of a mother. He gives birth to those who are reborn of him. Like a mother, he suffers for them before, during and after their "delivery." He must patiently nourish, safeguard and instruct his children. In none, of this, however, was Julian arguing that God is "she."

Julian lived in an era of horrific, undeserved suffering as plague rampaged throughout Europe. In reflecting on human pain in the light of God's truth and mercy, she proffered no "quick fix" or shallow legitimation. She knew that suffering can serve a cautionary or corrective purpose, but she did not pretend that the world does not hold a colossal amount of suffering that appears random and arbitrary, pointless and inexplicable. And she insisted that no future reward or blessing or delight at God's hand, however protracted or intense, can ever compensate for such suffering so as to "outweigh" it. Outweighing is not the point: rather, in God's economy, reward or blessing will prove to have been intrinsic to our suffering and impossible without it; on the great Day of Christ's return, we will see that our capacity for suffering was essential to that human being whom God has made as "the apple of his eye" and who can now enjoy him forever.

Since Julian spoke the truth of the gospel to the people of her own era. And her century (the 14th) saw the invention of the clock, the birth of the modern university, parliament, and the European banking system.

Thanks to Victor Shepherd for the above, which I have edited somewhat.