ASSIGNMENT FOR TOMORROW

• Reading for BLESSED HENRY SUSO online!

HW Review

• What 3 things did Julian request from God?• Why did she want bodily illness?• What were the 3 wounds she desired?• Did Julian ask for or want visions?• What did she see in her visions?• What did the round ball in her hand symbolize?• She learned that it pleases Jesus that we come

to God through “intermediaries.” What does this mean?

BIO• St. Julian of Norwich was an English anchoress who is

regarded as one of the most important Christian mystics. • She has never been canonized or beatified. However she

is “unofficially” considered a saint and her feastday is celebrated May 13th!

• Very little is known about Julian's life. Even her name is unknown; the name "Julian" simply derives from the fact that her anchoress's cell was built onto the wall of the Church of St Julian in Norwich. Her writings indicate that she was probably born around 1342 and died around 1416.

• She is honored by Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans and many other Christian Denominations.

• Norwich was at the time the second largest city in England. Plague epidemics were rampant during the 14th century and, according to some scholars, Julian may have become an anchoress while still unmarried or, having lost her family in the Plague, as a widow.

• Becoming an anchoress may have served as a way to quarantine her from the rest of the population. There is scholarly debate as to whether Julian was a nun in a nearby convent or even a laywoman.

What is an Anchoress?

• Male: Anchorite or anchoret • Female: anchoress • From Ancient Greek: anachōrētḗs, meaning "one who has

retired from the world“• Definition: someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws

from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, and—circumstances permitting—Eucharist-focused life. It is a type of religious hermit.

• Unlike hermits, they were subject to a religious rite of consecration that closely resembled the funeral rite, following which – ideologically, at least, they would be considered dead to the world, a type of living saint.

ANCHORHOLD

Windows

• During the Medieval Ages, if the anchorite was walled up inside the cell, the bishop would put his seal upon the wall to stamp it with his authority. But some anchorites freely moved between their cell and the adjoining church.

• Hearing Mass and receiving Holy Communion was possible through a small, shuttered window in the common wall facing the sanctuary, called a "hagioscope" or "squint".

• There was also a small window facing the outside world, through which the inhabitant would receive food and other necessities and, in turn, could provide spiritual advice and counsel to visitors, as the anchorites gained a reputation for wisdom.

THE “SQUINT”

• Anchorites were supposed to remain in their cells and NEVER leave. Some were even burned in their cells, which they refused to leave even when pirates or other attackers were looting and burning their towns.

• They ate frugal meals, and spent their days both in contemplative prayer and interceding on behalf of others.

• Anchorites' bodily waste was managed by means of a chamber pot.

Do Anchoresses Exist Today?

• YES!• Very unusual.• Diocesan Anchorites

are allowed by Canon Law, under the same provision as Hermits.

• Today they are “locked in” by the Bishop.

• The anchorhold is connected to a Church.

• Others must be willing to support the anchoress or anchorite before Bishop will permit the enclosure.Picture of a new anchoress being led by the Bishop

to her new Anchorhold in England – 1982.

Her Life

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYyM_z2mmc0

INSIDE OF JULIAN’S CELL

Her Writings• When she was 30 and living at home, Julian suffered from a severe

illness. While apparently on her deathbed, Julian had a series of intense visions of Jesus Christ, which ended by the time she recovered from her illness on May 13, 1373.

• Julian wrote about her visions immediately after they had happened (although the text may not have been finished for some years), in a version of the Revelations of Divine Love now known as the Short Text; this narrative of 25 chapters is about 11,000 words long.

• Twenty to thirty years later, perhaps in the early 1390s, 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 63,500 words. This work seems to have gone through many revisions before it was finished, perhaps in the first or even second decade of the fifteenth century.

Westminster Cathedral

Manuscript 

Opening of

Julian of Norwich's 

Revelations of Divine Love 

Written around 1395

These are the first works in English known

to be by a woman.

Her Theology• Julian of Norwich lived in a time of turmoil, but her theology was

optimistic and spoke of God's love in terms of joy and compassion, as opposed to law and duty.

• Julian’s theology is often misunderstood and misrepresented. This may be the reason she is still not a canonized Saint today in the Church.

• For Julian, suffering was not a punishment that God inflicted, as was the common understanding. She believed that God loved everyone and wanted to save them all. This was a new thought in the Medieval Ages.

• Popular theology, magnified by catastrophic contemporary events such as the Black Death and a series of peasant revolts, asserted that God punished the wicked. Julian suggested a more merciful theology, which some say leaned towards universal salvation.

• She believed that behind the reality of hell is a greater mystery of God's love.

• Her theology was unique in three aspects: her view of sin; her belief that God is all-loving and without wrath; and her view of God (Christ) as mother.

Regarding SinJulian believed that sin was necessary because it brings someone to self-knowledge, which leads to acceptance of the role of God in their life. She taught that humans sin because they are ignorant or naive, and not because they are evil, the reason commonly given by the mediaeval church to explain sin. Julian believed that to learn we must fail, and to fail we must sin. She also believed that the pain caused by sin is an earthly reminder of the pain of the passion of Christ and that as people suffer as Christ did they will become closer to him by their experiences.

Regarding God’s Wrath• Julian saw no wrath in God. She

believed wrath existed in humans, but that God forgives us for this. She wrote, "For I saw no wrath except on man's side, and He forgives that in us, for wrath is nothing else but a perversity and an opposition to peace and to love."

• She preached that sin should be seen as a part of the learning process of life, not a malice. Some have taken this to mean that she did not believe in forgiveness. This is not true. She wrote that God sees us as perfect and waits for the day when human souls mature so that evil and sin will no longer hinder us.

Regarding “God as Mother”• Julian's belief in God as mother was controversial.

According to Julian, God is both our mother and our father. This idea was also developed by Hildegard Von Bingen and Bernard of Clairvaux, as well as others from the 12th century onward. The understanding of God (or Christ) as a mother was used as a metaphor rather than a literal belief or dogma.

• For example, in her fourteenth revelation, Julian writes of the Trinity in domestic terms, comparing Jesus to a mother who is wise, loving and merciful. Julian believed that the mother's role was the truest of all jobs on earth. She emphasized this by explaining how the bond between mother and child is the only earthly relationship that comes close to the relationship a person can have with Jesus.

• She wrote metaphorically of Jesus in connection with conception, nursing, labor and upbringing, but saw him as our brother as well.