GIULIANA di NORWICH. – English mystic, born in 1342; she was still living in 1413. In May 1373 she was favored with sixteen “Manifestations” or “Revelations,” narrated in English approximately 20 years later, when she was living as an anchoress in a cell adjoining the church of S. Giuliana at Norwich, belonging to the Benedictine abbey of Carrow, in which G. was probably a nun.
They were first published in London in 1679, from a sixteenth-century manuscript, by dom Serenus Cressy (reprint, there 1843), and cited by F. Blomfield (1705–52) in his Topogr. Hist. Norfolk (IV, London 1806). From a fifteenth-century manuscript they were published by Dundas Harford (there 1911). This is an abridged version. The other was subsequently published also by Fr. P. H. Collins (there 1877), by Miss G. Warrack (there 1901), and by G. Tyrrell (there 1902).
G.’s theological knowledge and precision are noteworthy, as is also her docile and obedient fidelity. “I entrust myself to Holy Church, our mother, as an innocent child ought to do,” she declares.
The “Revelations” demonstrate the intensity of Our Lord’s love for souls, his saving will, what is meant by the “wrath” of God, and how all things work together for the good of those who love God. G. was greatly troubled by the problem of the devil, by the prevalence of sin, and by the eternal damnation of many; she received the answer that on the last day God will miraculously possess all, and that then everything will be well, with an allusion to the immense extent of Grace. The key to all the visions lies in these words: “Would you know our Lord’s intention in this thing? Know it well: his intention was love. Who showed it to you? Love. And why did he show it to you? For love.”