Most Holy Lord
The ground of our beseeching
Who through your servant Julian revealed
The wonder of your love
Grant that as we are created in your nature
And restored by your grace
Our wills may be so made one with yours
That we may come to see you face to face
And may gaze on you forever
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
To mark the occasion further, Michael Maclean and Robert Llewelyn decided to put together a little book of daily readings from Julian. They enlisted the help of two members of the congregation to provide illustrations and translate Julian’s original text. Enfolded in Love was published on 8th of May 1980 by ‘members of the Julian Shrine’.
The first edition sold out so fast it had to be reprinted twice the same year. It was reprinted every year for the next three years. By 1984 Enfolded in Love had sold over 45,000 copies. The ‘members of the Julian Shrine’ began to recognise that Julian of Norwich had friends far and wide, and that there were many more of them than we had anticipated. Perhaps we should forge a link to bring them together? And so the Friends of Julian of Norwich was formed.
The first membership card shows the entrance to Julian’s cell. Inside is the Julian Collect. Opposite is the commitment made by each Friend:
To pray regularly for the work of the shrine and its staff
To further interest in Lady Julian’s writings in whatever way I can
To contribute £…. annually to the development of the work of the Shrine.
(40 years ago the suggested amount was £1.)
Today the Friends of Julian of Norwich has over 2,000 members in 30 countries as well as supporters on Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter). You can support the work we do here.
.
The Julian Library holds copies of Julian’s book in in Catalan, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Israeli, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Norwegian, Russian and Spanish.
]]>Author Jill Korn was interviewed by Rob Jelly for BBC East which includes Radio Norfolk together with Zanna Foley-Davies, who played Julian of Norwich, and John Boyd, who produced the play. If you enjoyed the play, listen to the interview HERE or more insights into how we made it happen. You can hear it at 29:24 minutes:seconds in.
Here's some lovely feedback on the new Radio Play written specially for the 650th Anniversary. It comes from a friend of Zanna, the actor who plays Julian. The friend, who is a lay member of the Franciscan community, rightly praises Zanna's performance and writes:
"I have just listened to The Glad Giver and found it really powerful....
I found it thought provoking and I know it will linger in my mind.
In 30 minutes you brought together a lot of what spiritual writers try to impart in many thousands of words in mountains of books.
This needs to be shared widely.
It imparts a powerful message of faith embedded in realism.
I think it will have a huge impact on those who hear it as it has done me."
Click HERE or on the image above for a chance to stream the play at a time that suits you.
Reviewed by Felicity Maton
There are many images of Julian, but the first icon of Julian apparently was written only in the late 1980s by Anna DiMascio. This icon, which had been commissioned by the author of this book, is featured on the cover. Words from Julian and the liturgies of Western and Orthodox traditions are placed alongside full page colour icons.
Julian was given her Showings because she asked for ‘a bodily sight’ and this book finds surprising links between Julian and the rich tradition of Orthodoxy’s ‘holy gazing’ on icons.
Sheila Upjohn contributes ‘A Brief History of Orthodox Time’ and the author, John-Michael Mountney was a Warden of the Julian Shrine. Now he is an Orthodox Reader, an iconographer and gives an expert practical guide to praying with icons.
Click here to buy the book online.
'Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love grapple with the same fundamental question that has vexed philosophers and theologians since the advent of monotheistic religion and continue as a barrier to belief for many today. Namely, if God is so good, how can natural disaster, genocide, trauma, and my present suffering occur? Historically, there have been two apparently very different approaches to the problem: the pastoral, or practical, on the one hand, and the systematic on the other.
Richard Norton suggests that these two lines of thought may not be as separate as they seem and may indeed be dependent on one another for their cohesion.
Drawing on Julian’s medieval experience of personal and population-wide suffering, alongside that of more recent theologians such as Dorothy Solle and Jürgen Moltmann, Norton constructs a compassionate model of theodicy that can be of use to both pastoral and systematic theologians. Throughout the book he remains sensitive to the raw atrocity of evil, while preserving a vision of God as the one who ensures that all shall be well.'
Julian of Norwich and the Problem of Evil
by Richard Norton
published on 26th October 2023
More details at Lutterworth Press
11am BST at St Julian’s Church
FEMINISM, SCHOLARSHIP & MEDIEVAL WOMEN’S WRITING
Held on October 11th 7.00pm
Focusing on Claire Gilbert's I, Julian and Victoria Mackenzie's For thy great pain have mercy on my little pain' we will be joined by the authors to look at why Julian and why now and discuss what insights these imaginative interpretations of Julian’s life offer to our understanding of her writing.
Ideally, participants will have read both books before the event. They are both widely available, including from the Julian Centre. Join us for an informal, lively, and enjoyable discussion of the imaginative appeal of Julian of Norwich in the 650th year since her Revelations.
Sally-Anne Lomas, Writer/Director of the award-winning BBC4 Documentary The Search for the Lost Manuscript: Julian of Norwich, will lead a discussion comparing two very different fictional approaches to Julian’s Life, I, Julian by Claire Gilbert and For thy great pain have mercy on my little pain by Victoria Mackenzie. We will be joined by both authors to discuss why Julian?, and why now?
This will be a wonderful opportunity to question the authors about their creative decisions and gain insight into the process of writing a historical novel.
Claire on For Thy Great Pain...
Victoria Mackenzie has skilfully brought Julian into conversation with Margery, their stories woven together as two different threads made vivid by the contrast between them. I love the way Victoria tells of Julian’s all too human struggle with her chosen life and her slow learning of interior stillness. The climax of the meeting between the two women is brilliantly crafted with their mutual entrustment of their respective potential heresies.
And Victoria on I, Julian...
Claire Gilbert's writing comes from a deep understanding of Julian's faith. In tender and exquisite prose, she brings Julian to life as Julian struggles to understand her visions and to accept her life as an anchoress.
Sally-Anne on both - Two talented writers have imagined Julian's life into vivid prose. I have found it fascinating to compare their versions of Julian. It's so exciting that both authors will be joining our discussion. We will be able to question why they made their creative choices and find out what drew them to write about Julian.
Find out more about Victoria's book on her website Read a review of Claire's book by a Companion of Julian of Norwich.
]]>BBC Radio 4 ‘In Our Time’
JULIAN OF NORWICH
Thursday 19th October at 9 a.m.
This is one of the most thorough examinations of Julian, her Short Text (headed There is a vision showed by the goodness of God to a Devout woman, and her name is Julian), and her Long Text (headed Revelations of Divine Love) in print.
Following the Introduction, the book is in three parts: Introduction to the Historical Julian of Norwich; and The Short Text, The Amherst Manuscript, British Library, Additional 37,790 Analytical Transcription and Annotation; and Julian’s Long Text: Her Trinitarian Theology of Love.
The ten chapters forming Part One rather cleverly brake Clemmer’s scholarship on the visionary and her writings into ten time slots: up to and including 6 May 1373; Nine nights and days in May 1373; from Sunday 15 May 1373 to c.1393 (together with two other chapters on the same time slot); 1393-1418; 1623-51 and 1575-1641; 1651-70 and 1670; 1670-1902 and 1657-72; 1947-2016 and 1877-2015. If I add the subject matter, Julian aficionados can have fun matching these to the slots: vision, anchorite, Walter Hilton, The Cloud of Unknowing, Lollardy, Cambrai Benedictine nuns, Augustine Baker, Paris Benedictine nuns, Serenus Cressy, Edward Stillingfleet, English translations and modernisations.
After this comprehensive historical section, the second part consists of a useful edition of the Short Text.
Part Three is an extended meditation on grace. Clemmer looks at three aspects: grace as divinisation (the unity of finite and eternal being); grace as charity (transformation in prayer by divine love); and grace as faith (life, love, light). This final part opens with an extraordinary section on Edith Stein and Julian. We don’t know if Stein ever had a copy of or access to Revelations and she does not refer to Julian in her published writings. A rather strange bed fellow!
The text is supported by the most exhaustive Bibliography on Julian ever printed. On the other hand, it is unfortunate that the Index leaves much to be desired with a number of lacunae.
We would not read Clemmer’s book from cover to cover, probably not even from the beginning to the end of a chapter (especially if one took into consideration the footnotes which on several occasions take up a whole page). And it is certainly not as accessible as I would hope a book for the general public should be. But it is useful to have such a feast of Julianalia in one publication. One might well take it off the shelf to look up a specific point and for this reason I hope, if the book is to go into its second edition, that the Index will be complete.
LUKE PENKETT
Curator of the Margery Kempe Centre, King’s Lynn
Hon. Sec. of the Margery Kempe Society
Book Reviews Editor, Medieval Mystical Theology
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Professional banner-maker Ed Hall has created banners for campaigns, artists, and trade unions for almost forty years. In 2020 he made a Julian-themed banner for the Norwich Arts Centre, part of a series to accompany Jeremy Goldstein’s ‘Truth to Power Café’ performances around the UK, featured in the Friends’ Easter newsletter (pictured below)
The South Bank Centre in London recently commissioned Ed to create three new banners for their summer festival Planet Summer with climate change as its theme.
Ed writes about how the words of Julian of Norwich inspired him to create one of them:
“Discussion about climate change is wide ranging, but the plain facts are very stark. We could wreck our own planet, the only home we have. When I was talking to the South Bank, the writings of Julian were so relevant. She wrote of the need to care for the whole of creation, and famously used the hazelnut to illustrate the importance of every living thing. A group of musicians use the slogan ‘there is no music on a dead planet’. I adapted this, and using words inspired by Julian’s ‘Revelations’, created the banner ‘Hazelnuts do not grow on a dead planet’.
'Planet Summer' runs until 3rd September. More information can be foundhere
Read about Ed Hall here
Caroline writes, "Following our wildly successful crowdfunding campaign, we moved into a studio space on January 1st and spent six weeks building sets, getting props and wardrobe together, and prepping for the shoot, which began on Feb 9. Five weeks later, we wrapped on March 12, and managed to complete 80% of the film!
The remaining scenes are the most important - Julian's visions, which we plan to film in exterior locations in the NYC area. Our plan is to make these scenes look as "realistic" as possible, in contrast to the "stagey" look of Julian's waking life, so audiences will recognize her visionary experience as genuine, and not a hallucination.
Here are some stills from the cut my editor is putting together, I thought you'd enjoy seeing how the project is shaping up.
All shall be well."
One of the things that the Trail highlights is the large number of other Churches in the City that had recluses in them in and around Julian's time. In May 2023, a commemorative lecture was delivered on the Hermits, anchorites and recluses: a study with reference to medieval Norwich at the Norfolk Record Office. This link for that lecture is here.
What exactly went on in those confined spaces? How did recluses support themselves financially?
A considerable part of the answer to that question is that people left money in their wills. At that same link, there is another absolutely fascinating account by highly respected local archivist and historian, Frank Meres, of each and every will which mentioned the anchoress or anchorite at St. Julian's, and images of them all.
Why were some neatly and tidily written, and others less so?
Why were all in Latin except one in French?
From all of these wills, can we determine how old Julian was when she died?
Enjoy finding out!
]]>Four pages in the Church Times feature the 650th anniversary.
Assistant Editor Sarah Meyrick interviews authors inspired by Julian’s writings; Emma Pennington, author of At the Foot of the Cross with Julian of Norwich (and Canon Missioner at Canterbury Cathedral) writes here on why Julian’s theology continues to appeal, and there are extracts from new books by Victoria MacKenzie and Claire Gilbert.
There’s also a two page feature ‘A Tale of Two Lockdowns’ in The Tablet from Victoria MacKenzie
Illustration by Tim Hunt
Have you ever had a sudden thought or experience that takes you out of the usual and opens a whole new world?
I was lucky enough to work in television production and there were many such moments, but one in particular has stayed with me and enriched my life. It was discovering the writings of a Norwich woman who, on 8th May 1373 had a near-death experience which was filled with visions of the crucifixion of Jesus and impressing on her the ever-present love of God. When she had recovered from the illness she wrote about these revelations, pondering on their meaning over a long period.
She is known as Julian of Norwich, probably taking her name from the dedication of the church of St. Julian, which still exists today between Rouen Road and King Street. Like others at that time, she opted to live in a small room attached to a church, becoming an anchoress, a person of deep spirituality and from her window to the alley outside she gave counselling to those who came to her in trouble and distress.
Norwich was prosperous and creative then, but there were wars, outbreaks of plague and the Peasants’ Revolt. People would be fearful of rough justice in this world and the next. But Julian gave hope with words such as these:
“Because of our good Lord’s tender love to all those who shall be saved, he quickly comforts them, saying the cause of all this pain is sin. But all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”
She also says that although we are beset by all kinds of troubles, because we are so loved by God, we will not be overcome. One of Julian’s radical insights was:
‘As truly as God is our Father, so just as truly is he our Mother. Not a God of wrath but of a mother’s caring.’
Julian’s book was the first known to be written in English by a woman, but her writings must have been kept secret in her lifetime, as she would have been in danger of losing her life as a heretic. They survived in copies made by others, found in collections of books about two hundred years later and her Revelations of Divine Love were first printed in Belgium.
Now visitors and pilgrims from all over the world come to St. Julian’s Church and the Julian Centre on Rouen Road where this year some of many special events will take place. The Annual Julian Festival will be held on Saturday, 13th May.
I became involved with the Friends of Julian of Norwich once I retired, having made a short film about Julian a few years earlier. It was that experience that opened my eyes to the wonder of a medieval woman released from the cloistered ideas of the day to the liberation of knowing that we are all loved.
Rachel Burdett CJN writes....
'Claire Gilbert has clearly spent many years walking beside Julian in her devotional reading of The Revelations Of Divine Love, because in I, Julian, written in the first person and giving a fictional account of the whole of Julian’s life, she creates what feels like Julian’s authentic voice. From the child Julian we meet at the beginning of the novel, we hear the beginnings of her relationship with a God who is loving rather than wrathful and vengeful, and the first expressions of her theology. While nothing is known about Julian and her life before the anchorhold, there is much historical evidence of the Norwich she would have known, and Ms. Gilbert weaves a life which rings true to that time and place. It is a skilfully written and inspiring novel, which gave me a lot to ponder while not disturbing my relationship with Julian’s voice through my own reading of her Revelations. I, Julian leads us through the whole of Julian’s (imagined) life, giving us a fresh perspective and different ways to consider the life Julian had lived while she was writing her book, and the woman she was. Ms. Gilbert has given us a great gift.'
Rachel Burdett CJN
Find out more about the book and forthcoming events here
]]>During Lent many people find the Stations of the Cross a particularly powerful devotion. If you can't get to church to join the public Stations or make your way round them on your own, here's an excellent way to make the Way of the Cross at home: a 15-minute YouTube presentation of the Stations of the Cross with Julian of Norwich.
Narrated by Sheila Upjohn with passages from her own translation of the Revelations of Divine Love, the images of the Stations are those painted in 1993 by Irene Ogden for St Julian's, Norwich, where the great English mystic Julian of Norwich lived and prayed. Between each Station are musical excerpts from "When I survey the wondrous Cross" played by Mother Hilary of the Order of Julian of Norwich.
This is an excellent and simple way to pray the Stations with Julian in this 650th anniversary year of her visions of the Passion of Christ.
Poster copies of the St Julian's Stations, and a booklet with the passages from the Revelations of Divine Love, are available from the Julian Shrine, and also from the Friends of Julian ebay shop here
Leafing through Prayers for Children struck me as it always does for the visuals on display—famed artist Eloise Wilkin’s chubby-cheeked children with a dreamy-soft focus to the colored pencil and watercolor illustrations.
As many times before, something in me went still when I opened the frayed edges of the cover. But I realized this time how The Little Golden Book’s well-thumbed pages also hint at the ways in which times for prayer leave us casting about for adequate words.
In one scene, Wilkins paints children running under majestic clouds that are dispersing from a darkened sky. While most of the pictures are saturated with light, and many of the prayers focus on child-friendly assurances about God, one entry, “Evening Hymn,” hints at what anyone might not see or grasp:
I hear no voice, I feel no touch,
I see no glory bright;
But yet I know that God is near,
In darkness as in light.
We will not, indeed, always hear a voice or feel a touch, much less see “glory bright.” The “prayer” suggests what faithfulness looks like when prayer seems hard. Even as we mature we get frustrated with words, like a child might.
There’s a good reason—a deeply theological one—that prayer sometimes seems hard and words seem inadequate and inelegant. The so-called apophatic tradition in Christian spirituality stresses how faintly our fragile words allow us to express the depths—or heights.
I used to see the apophatic stream as a gloomy reminder of what can’t be said or described. But lately I see how it gives us permission not to always have the words.
Still, we need help in conveying what’s on our hearts. We turn to a book of prayers. We gaze at moving illustrations. And here the kataphatic tradition gives us a complement. Images such as God as a Rock or God as my shield move words beyond the vague to the visceral. We even speak of a loving, divine Parent.
The saints knew this. Julian of Norwich’s writing is an immersion in vivid images: the everyday things you would find in a home or on a walk: a hazelnut, small enough to be held in a hand, coming with assurance that God held all things. Even more, she said, God “is our clothing that enwraps us … surrounding us out of tender love.”
Such language helped her pray and fed her intimacy with one she called our maker and “carer,” our “unending joy and bliss.”
The Rev. Timothy Jones is an American Episcopal priest who has found much insight and inspiration in Julian’s Revelations. He is writing a book on the Trinity, has written widely on spirituality, and blogs at revtimothyjones.com. Here's one that refers to Julian particularly.
Copyright © 2022 by the Christian Century. “I hear no voice by Timothy Jones is excerpted by permission from the December 15, 2022 issue of the Christian Century. To read the full article, click here.
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"My first encounter with Julian was in the first term of secondary school, back in the late 1970s, when the headmistress of my Norwich girls’ school marched my whole year down in crocodile to the shrine, to educate us about Julian’s general wondrousness.
Miss Standeven was a biblical scholar. She explained that Julian had been the first woman to write a book in English and she talked in a matter of fact way about Julian’s visions of a loving, accepting God. I am so grateful for this introduction, and while much of what I was supposed to be learning at school did not stick, that day kindled my imagination. I grew to love Julian’s writing and other scholars’ writing about her.
I wrote about that day in my first (self-published) novel, Last Summer in Soho, and in 2020, clutching an unsolicited manuscript for Henry Layte to consider at The Bookhive, I stopped off first in the shrine, as I had done since my teens, to say a little prayer and muster my courage.
Henry was good enough to take the risk with Sea-Change and shortly after, I was commissioned by The National Centre for Writing to write a poem for the UNESCO 10 years City of Literature festival. It seemed natural to write about Julian and the shrine, spiritual inspiration for so many."
Jessica Streeting is a Norfolk-based writer and community nurse consultant.
Her epic poem Sea-Change is published by Propolis. In August 2021 the book was the inaugural winner of The Ellingworth Prize, from Kett’s Books.
Sea-Change was shortlisted for the biography section of East Anglian Book of the Year 2021 and will soon also be available as an audiobook.
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What are you doing to help prepare for the conference?
Bishop Graham: “Reading and reflecting on the words of Julian of Norwich and talking with others about her work. Although little is known about her life beyond her writings, I can see that Julian still has a presence in her city – the holy ground of the church cell she lived in, the Lady Julian bridge stretching over the river, and even a lecture theatre named after her at the University of East Anglia”.
Sr. Elizabeth: “As well as being the 650th anniversary of the Revelations, this year is the 150th anniversary of the birth of St Therese of Lisieux, who seems to incarnate Julian’s teachings in her own life. I am reflecting on what Julian learned during her near-death experience”.
Bishop Tony: "I confess to learning afresh about the wonderful writings of Julian of Norwich and reflecting on how the Single Consecrated Life offers a way for a growing number of people wanting to commit themselves to live more closely with Jesus today".
What do you think is the most important aspect of Julian’s message for today?
Bishop Graham: “Julian of Norwich speaks deeply about the biodiversity and climate crises we found ourselves in. Her visions show us that when creation suffers so does Jesus. Julian also shows us that the proper response to this suffering is not to turn away but to respond with love. By responding with love, we can work together to protect creation and limit the impacts of climate change”.
Sr Elizabeth: “One of the things that has struck me in both Therese and Julian is their complete non-violence. Also, the ability to see that spiritual growth has to follow natural human growth without forcing the personality into ‘perfection.’ A compassionate heart makes room for people just as they are”.
Click here for the Conference details page
]]>A Companion of Julian is one called to seek God in companionship with Julian and her own experience of Christ revealing his love to her. This companionship is often reflected in a life of prayer, some solitude and compassionate ministry.
Fred, why are you pleased that the Friends have been able to give their practical and financial support for this conference?
The practical and financial support of the Friends has enabled the conference to become a reality and a means of kindling and inspiring a deeper response, in those taking part, to God's love as revealed to Julian and expressed in her book.
Bruce, how does this conference reflect what the Companions are all about?
The Companions are all about making a personal response to a call NOW. This conference is thus not a consideration of Julian and her Revelations of Divine Love as a piece of literature, or from an academic point of view, but a way to reflect upon how her legacy can help us all to live lives marked with compassion, repentance and God-longing in the places we find ourselves in contemporary life.
Fred, what are you looking forward to particularly from the conference?
I am very much looking forward to the contributions from our excellent speakers and to the fellowship, listening and sharing of insights and understanding of everyone participating in the conference.
Bruce, if you had to sum up the vision for the conference in three words, what would they be?
Listening, learning, loving.
Both of you, as the conference gets closer what kind of preparation will you be doing?
Fred: I shall be preparing by a prayerful reading of chapters in Julian's book.
Bruce: Apart from obvious practical preparations, I want to spend some time praying for an openness to receive what God desires for me.
CLICK HERE for the Conference details page.
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Revd Bec Bydder, a Deacon in the Anglican diocese of Perth, Western Australia, has been Ecumenical Chaplain across women's prisons since 2019. She wrote the following devotion after reflecting on her ministry. Bec shared her reflection at a recent meeting of Australian Companions, and we're delighted that she's happy to share it here:
Dr Susannah Self writes.......
'Julian’s experiences in Revelations of Divine Love coincided with the Black Death, indeed, she may even have had it, as a few people survived. Therefore, I feel that her experience of high fever resonates with the acute hospitalised patients in the recent pandemic. It is so inspiring that in her Revelations, Julian confronts her own mortality and that of others with great empathy. She opens her heart to spiritual transformation as a result of her near-death experience. It seems to me that her gift of personal suffering can bring us closer to an experience of divinity. Also, her observation that God is the mother of all things, and that spirit is present in every atom, helps connect us universally whatever our beliefs. Through music, the connection between Covid patients and Julian’s high fever allows the parameters of time and linear histories to emerge. With high fever we are literally plunged into the crucible of our bodies as the burning away happens. This suggests a metaphor for an alchemical process that purifies and encourages us to achieve a clearer spiritual state.'
'As a composer, I was drawn to create a work inspired by the Revelations because I have lived in Norfolk for 30 years and have visited Julian’s church on many occasions. Also because of my own experiences as a teenager when I contracted Bornholm’s disease which attacks the diaphragm with excruciating pain and creates high fever. When the Covid Omicron variant visited me at Christmas my dreams consisted of interior images of musically tight figures. On a subliminal level it seemed to me that these repeating images mimicked the efficacy of my jabs, and so I was experiencing at a cellular level the arrested effects of the virus. Within a few days I was recovering well. However, this experience set me thinking about facing up to the issues around fever and death. Coinciding with these thoughts, I won a composing residency from the Aldeburgh Foundation for two weeks in February this year, and submitted a proposal to compose a choral work for three female singers and string orchestra. At Aldeburgh I was housed in isolation at the Cosy Nook in Benjamin Britten and Peter Pear’s garden at The Red House.' Here is a short video about my time there, and here is a sample of the music, an instrumental interlude called Soul Depth.
I very much hope to bring Revelations of Divine Love to Norwich for the 650th anniversary of Julian’s Shewings.
Meanwhile you can attend performances at Cley Church on Saturday 17th September 2022 at 7.30pm
Tickets £15 from www.cleyrevelations.eventbrite.co.uk
and Binham Priory on Sunday 18th September at 3.00pm
Tickets £15 from Mrs Frost: davidfrost226@btinternet.com
You can also purchase the sheet music here
New Visions of Julian of Norwich was described as ‘the first international hybrid conference to focus solely on Julian’s writing, life contexts and influence long after her death.’ It was held over two days in July at Somerville College, Oxford. I was told that there were over 60 delegates who attended in-person and a similar number who participated online. I consider myself privileged to have been there in person.
The conference was opened by a welcoming performance of some of Julian’s texts set to music by modern women composers, performed by members of Somerville College Choir, on the Thursday evening preceding the Conference proper. This was the idea of Dr Alison Daniell and Louise Stewart of Multitude of Voyces. It was a beautiful and meditative performance, with words sung in Middle English and in modern translation, and it was appreciated by all who attended. The Friends of Julian of Norwich were among the sponsors of this event.
Over the next two days, papers were given by over 40 contributors on wide-ranging aspects of Julian studies. Some authors of books, monographs and essays on Julian were speakers, as were some of the academics who have delivered past lectures at the Julian Festival in Norwich over the years. The papers were given in-person and via Zoom from Canada, the U.S. and Japan. There were also four roundtable presentations which enabled dialogue about present-day lived experiences of Julian and her texts and contexts.
The full programme has been published on the Julian of Norwich website. It is to be hoped that some of the excellent papers will be published together as a record.
One of the wonderful features of the conference was the buzz of conversations over the break-times as we were able to discuss further with each other the riches we were encountering. I came away with the possibility of many more avenues of interest to discover and explore – as Dr Godelinde Gertrude Perk said in her opening remarks, ‘Julian is always just around the next corner, beckoning us on.’ I am already looking forward to the next conference.
On the final evening we experienced a ‘world-first’ performance of the play 'Cell' by actor Cindy Oswin, described as ‘darkly humorous,’ which considered some questions of how Julian might have experienced her later enclosed life. It presented some of her wrestling with difficult and painful issues which are apparent or hinted at in the Revelations of Divine Love and in her social and religious context. We were able to discuss the play with Cindy afterwards. It is a work in progress, and it would be interesting to see how it is developed in future performances.
The conference closed with a Gala Dinner – plenty of conversation, no speeches apart from thanks to those who had worked so hard on so many aspects, and a toast to Julian of Norwich!
On Saturday, we will be celebrating the Feast Day of Julian of Norwich with our annual Julian Festival.
High Mass will be celebrated at St Julian's Church, and then at noon there will be a lecture on Julian of Norwich and Ecological Consciousness by Dr Claire Foster-Gilbert, Director of the Westminster Abbey Institute. All are welcome - just turn up on the day.
If you can't make it to Norwich, you can stream the events from the comfort of your own home. Links to do so are here, on our Julian Festival Links and Resources page.
Dr Foster-Gilbert is not very active on social media, but she did take the time to share her thoughts as she prepares her talk on Veronica Mary Rolf's Facebook Group (The Julian of Norwich Group):
"I am looking forward with some trepidation to delivering the annual Julian lecture next week. It's going to be about ecological consciousness and how Julian can help us with that. I think - don't we all - that she has so much to say to our times of pestilence and war and deep unease, and one of them is showing us how to be with nature and each other so we will cease the harm that we do. She shows us a way of looking that is porous, not separate, from what she and we see. Her encounters are so direct and her writing draws us into the same direct, visceral encounter - feeling the world the size of a hazelnut on the palm of our hand; entering Jesus's side through his wound and feeling his love from his inside; receiving his body and blood as we received our mother's milk, feeling that mother's love - and that transforms us. Julian doesn't present arguments but changes us by her poetic writing. And being transformed into people who feel the deep connection between all of us and nature is what is so badly needed now, so that the solutions we bring to our terrifying ecological crisis are not controlling, technological, colonial, but humble, grateful, born of a feeling of service and love. Oh the industrial revolution, amazing though it was, has brought us so much trouble! Enslaving us to a technological, controlling mindset. I say that Julian offers us an escape route from our separated, lonely, fearful lives. Wonderful woman" (29 April, 2022, https://www.facebook.com/groups/448593398565018/permalink/5010679985689647/)
See more public Facebook posts about the Festival at #JulianFestival
]]>Here's the recording of our final meeting this afternoon:
Caption: Lent Book Group Week 7 recording
It's also available alongside other recordings on our YouTube channel, in the Julian Lent Book Group Playlist.
Next Steps
We give thanks for Lisa Dahill's book, on which the book group was based, for Margaret Mary's leadership, and for everyone who attended throughout this series.
Margaret Mary and the rest of the Trustees will now discuss the feedback we have received from participants, and the next steps that we can take to continue the spirit of this regular gathering of people who want to read and contemplate Julian's Revelations.
In the meantime, here is a reminder of Lisa Dahill's questions in the 'Journey's End' section of her book:
"As a result of this journey:
And have a blessed Easter when it comes.
Online resources for the Julian Lent Book Group 2022
]]>There's no need to "catch up" before this afternoon's session, but if you would like to see the recording of last week's meeting, here it is:
Caption: Lent Book Group Week 6 recording
It's also available alongside other recordings on our YouTube channel.
40-day Journey
Margaret Mary McFadyen has been posting daily in her Sunflower Seed Spirituality blog, and sharing recordings on her podcast.
If you haven't had time to make use of this week's resources, don't worry - Margaret Mary is looking forward to seeing us all this afternoon and will be guiding us gently through today's contemplation and sharing.If you haven't yet registered for the book group, you can still do so at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lenten-book-group-2022-40-day-journey-with-julian-of-norwich-tickets-253678026807 and / or watch on catchup on the YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEL5dmLHSDDXdnX1CIJvmlw
Online resources for the Julian Lent Book Group 2022
]]>For the last five years I've been attempting to do the seemingly impossible: adapt Julian of Norwich's "Revelations of Divine Love" into a feature film. It's a challenging prospect, for a number of reasons - there's the technical challenge of translating the spiritual into a visual schematic, the ambitious undertaking of recreating 14th-century England on a hand-built set, and the work of proving Julian's enduring relevance. But the import of Julian's writing has kept me afloat for these many years. I can safely say that, were it not for discovering her work when I did, I likely wouldn't be here today trying to make this film.
Allow me to set the scene: it was April 2017, shortly after the election, and I had just finished post-production on my first feature, A Feast of Man. No one wanted to screen this film, I was working a dead-end job that I didn’t like, and the world was in shambles. All I could muster was a daily prayer for an easy death. I was laying on the sofa in my apartment, fantasizing about getting hit by a bus, when my roommate and writing partner, Laurence Bond, asked if he could read me a paper he was working on. Laurence was studying for his MA in medieval history at Columbia and researching Julian of Norwich, a 14th-century mystic.
From the moment he began to describe her visionary experience, I was rapt. Julian’s writing hit me like a ton of (soft, comforting) bricks: here was a woman who worked in solitude, endured bodily sickness, survived two waves of the Black Plague, and came out on the other side with a revelatory understanding. Her version of Christianity was so contrary to the popular patriarchal and colonial iterations we’ve witnessed throughout history - she believed that love was this awesome, powerful force that could conquer all ills. Her visions were visceral, bordering on the psychedelic, and she described what she saw, felt, and understood in such vivid detail. I couldn’t believe that someone hadn’t made a film about her.
So, here we are, almost five years later - and her work has only become more timely. Julian wrote allegorically about the Black Plague and the subsequent Peasants’ Uprising in her work, using these visions as a way of understanding the violence and madness around her. This is essentially what I’m trying to do with my film: offer audiences a rich, colorful, and disguised way of understanding our own fraught moments. When I launched my crowdfunding campaign on March 1, I didn't expect to make the goal on day one - but the immediate success of my fundraising effort only further proves my point: Julian's work is still resonant, and her rich, compelling story demands to be told.
Visual Précis: "Revelations of Divine Love" from Cinema Firmament on Vimeo.
Caroline Golum is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker, writer, and programmer. When she is not working for the Man, she is usually at, writing about, or working on a movie. You can follow her on Twitter at @carolineavenue.
]]>Sheila Upjohn writes: Given three wishes, most of us might choose health, wealth and happiness. Julian of Norwich chose longing for God, an illness, and to be present at the crucifixion. It’s an unusual choice. In Holy Week many of us, as we walk with Jesus on the way leading from his show trial to his dreadful death, may sometimes wish, as Peter once did, that it simply hadn’t had to happen. Or we may see Jesus as the victim of the Father, who wreaks vengeance on his Son instead of visiting his wrath on us. Or we may wallow in guilt, as we hold ourselves responsible for this disaster. But Julian wanted to share Christ’s suffering, and to help him bear it. And as she stood by the cross Julian was shown crucifixion is a cause for rejoicing:
“All that he has done for us, and is doing, and shall do, was never a charge or burden to him, nor could it be. He paid a price only for the deeds he did while he wore our flesh—that is to say, beginning from his precious incarnation and lasting until his joyful rising from the dead on Easter Day. Jesus wills we understand the joy of the blessed Trinity has in our salvation, and that we open our hearts and rejoice just as much—so that our joy should be as much like Christ’s own joy as it can be while we are still here on earth. The whole Trinity was at work in the Passion of Christ, bringing overflowing virtue and grace to us through him. But it was the Virgin’s son alone who suffered. And so the whole Trinity is filled with joy through this.” [Chapter 23]
The Stations of the Cross, painted by the artist Irene Ogden, were given to St Julian's church by the Reverend Marigold Hall.
A devotional booklet including copies of the paintings, and Julian's text translated by Sheila Upjohn is available from the Friends of Julian eBay shop. Click here to order.
Watch the meditation on the Stations explored through Julian's words and the paintings in St Julian's church on Sheila's YouTube channel below:
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