JULIAN OF NORWICH. – English mystic, b. 1342; still living in 1413. In May 1373 she was favoured with sixteen “Showings” or “Revelations,” narrated in English about twenty years later, when she was living as an anchoress in a cell attached to the church of St Julian at Norwich, belonging to the Benedictine priory of Carrow, in which G. was probably a nun.
They were first published in London in 1670, from a 16th-century manuscript, by Dom Serenus de Cressy (reprint, ibid. 1843), and cited by F. Blomefield (1755–52) in his Topogr. Hist. Norfolk (IV, London 1866). From a 15th-century manuscript they were published by Dundas Harford (ibid. 1911). This is an abridged version. The other was later published also by Fr. P. H. Collins (ibid. 1877), by Miss G. Warrack (ibid. 1901) and by G. Tyrrell (ibid. 1902).
Noteworthy are G.’s theological knowledge and precision, as well as her docile and obedient fidelity. “He commended me to the Holy Church, our mother, as a child is commended to its mother,” she declares.
The “Revelations” show the intensity of Our Lord’s love for souls, His will to save, what is meant by the “wrath” of God, and how all things work together for the good of those who love God. G. was deeply troubled by the problem of the devil, by the foreknowledge of sin, by the eternal damnation of many; she received the answer that on the last day God would miraculously possess all, and that all would then be well, with an allusion to the immense extent of grace. The key to all the visions is in these words: “Do you wish to know the intention of our Lord in this matter? Know well that it was love. Who showed it to you? Love. And why did He show it to you? For love.”