During his weekly general audience yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI continued his catechises on women who have shaped the Church's spirituality and thought. Yesterday's catechises was dedicated to our own Julian of Norwich, the 14th century English mystic who wrote
The Shewings of Divine Love - the first English book to have been written by a woman.
Having lived in Norwich for most of my adult life, Julian is an important figure in my own spiritual journey. For several years I was able to join the devotees who gather in her cell every Monday morning to offer the Rosary. We were then led by Fr Robert Llewelyn (RIP), who was well into his 90s at the time! He himself was a mystic, attuned to God's love present in all things and situations. Fr Robert was also an important ecumenical figure, even if he might not have thought of himself in that way - he was an Anglican priest, firmly rooted in the Catholic tradition. The Monday morning Rosary group was (and still is) quite ecumenical itself, as it had (and still has) members from the Catholic and Anglican Churches, as well as Quakers, Methodists, and various others.
Recently, whilst conducting some research into an article on Julian of Norwich, written by someone else, I discovered that the most important copy of
The Shewings is owned by Westminster Cathedral! This version of
The Shewings (or
Revelations) was possibly written in 1368 (the date that appears on the cover page and the book's spine), when Julian was around 25 years old. This dating is controversial, as it is generally accepted, and written by Julian herself in later versions, that she was 30 years old when she received the
Shewings, in the year 1373. Some academics have therefore suggested that the document was copied in or around the year 1500, and that "1368" is an error made by the copyist. It was rebound in the 19th century. It is, though, the most important of the three versions extant, and is the one that is most used for the purposes of modern translation.
There are only eight original manuscripts representing three versions of Julian of Norwich's
Shewings. Of those, it could be argued that the Westminster Cathedral manuscript is the most prized. Unfortunately, though, this manuscript is now beginning to be identified with Westminster Abbey, and is often referred to as the "Westminster Manuscript" or the "Westminster Cathedral / Abbey Manuscript". In the 1990s the then Administrator at Westminster Cathedral, now an auxiliary bishop of Westminster, gave the document (along with another valuable book) to the Abbey on permanent loan. It seems that the Cathedral lacked the facilities required to care for such a rare item, so the Abbey kindly agreed to look after it.
All the Julian of Norwich
Shewings manuscripts are connected to Syon Abbey. The Westminster Cathedral manuscript was once owned by a recusant family, called Lowe - a family that was closely connected to Syon (see
here). The Lowes were still associated with Syon Abbey during their exile in the Low Countries and Rouen. Some members of the Lowe family were also willing to undergo martyrdom for the Catholic faith, and Julian Bolton Holloway writes that, "a Lowe priest was drawn, hung and quartered at Tyburn for converting five hundred souls to Catholicism" (
here). In the nineteenth century Rose Lowe entered Syon Abbey in Lisbon, eventually becoming the monastery's prioress. Around the same time, it appears that the future Bishop James Bramston was attending the English seminary at Lisbon. Eventually, the manuscript passed from the Lowe family into his hands, and finally found its way to Westminster Cathedral.
One day I intend to write about Julian of Norwich, and what she gave the Church. I will leave you today, though, with the full text of the Holy Father's words concerning this great mystic and English woman: -
I am still remembering with great joy the journey I made to the United Kingdom last September. England is a land that has given birth to so many illustrious figures who with their testimony and their teaching have embellished the history of the Church. One of these, venerated both by the Catholic Church as well as the Anglican Communion, is the mystic Julian of Norwich, of whom I would like to speak this morning.
The information we have on her life -- not much -- is taken primarily from the book in which this kind and pious woman gathered the content of her visions, titled "Revelations of Divine Love." It is known that she lived from 1342 to about 1430, years of torment both for the Church, lacerated by the schism following the Pope's return from Avignon to Rome, as well as for the people suffering the consequences of a long war between the kingdom of England and that of France. God, however, even in times of tribulation, does not cease to raise figures such as Julian of Norwich, to call men back to peace, love and joy.
As she herself recounts, in May of 1373, probably on the 13th of that month, she was suddenly stricken by a very serious illness that in three days seemed to bring her to the point of death. When the priest who came to her bedside showed her the crucifix, Julian not only quickly recovered her health, but received 16 revelations that subsequently she reported in writing and commented in her book, "Revelations of Divine Love." And it was in fact the Lord who, 15 years after these extraordinary events, revealed to her the meaning of those visions. "Do you wish to know what your Lord intended and to know the meaning of this revelation? Know well: Love is what he intended. Who reveals this to you? Love. Why does he reveal it to you? Out of love ... So learn that love is our Lord's meaning" (Julian of Norwich, "Il Libro delle Rivelazioni," Chapter 86, Milan, 1997, p. 320).
Inspired by divine love, Julian made a radical choice. Like one of the ancient hermits, she chose to live in a cell, which was near a church dedicated to St. Julian, in the city of Norwich, at the time a very important urban center, near London. Perhaps she took the name Julian precisely from that saint to whom the church was dedicated and next to which she lived for so many years, until her death. We might be surprised and even perplexed by this decision to live as a "recluse," as this was called in her time. However, she was not alone in making this choice: During those centuries a considerable number of women opted for this kind of life, adopting rules elaborated purposefully for them, such as that composed by St. Aelred of Rievaulx. The anchorites or "recluses" dedicated themselves within their cells to prayer, meditation and study. In this way, they developed a very fine human and religious sensitivity, which made them venerated by the people. Men and women of every age and condition, in need of advice and comfort, sought them devotedly. Hence, it was not an individualistic choice; precisely with this closeness to the Lord, what matured in her also was the capacity to be a counselor to many, to help those who lived in difficulty in this life.
We know that Julian also received frequent visitors, as attested in the autobiography of another fervent Christian woman of her time, Margery Kempe, who went to Norwich in 1413 to receive suggestions on her spiritual life. This is why when Julian was alive she was called, as is written on the funeral monument that houses her remains, "Mother Julian." She became a mother for many.
The women and men who withdraw to live in the company of God, precisely because of this decision, acquire a great sense of compassion for the sorrows and weaknesses of others. As friends of God, they have a wisdom that the world, from which they distance themselves, does not have. And with kindness, they share it with those who knock on their door. I am thinking, hence, with admiration and gratitude, of women's and men's cloistered monasteries that, today more than ever, are oases of peace and hope, precious treasures for the whole Church, especially in recalling the primacy of God and the importance of constant and intense prayer for the journey of faith.
It was precisely in the solitude inhabited by God that Julian of Norwich composed the "Revelations of Divine Love," of which we have two editions, a shorter one this is probably older, and a longer one. This book contains a message of optimism based on the certainty of being loved by God and of being protected by his Providence. In this book we read the following wonderful words: "I saw with absolute certainty ... that God, even before creating us loved us, with a love that has never failed, and will never vanish. And in this love he did all his works, and in this love he disposed that all things should be useful for us, and in this love our life lasts for ever ... In this love we have our beginning, and we see all this in God without end" (Ill libro delle rivelazioni, chapter 86, p. 320).
The subject of divine love returns often in the visions of Julian of Norwich who, with a certain audacity, does not hesitate to compare it also to maternal love. This is one of the most characteristic messages of her mystical theology. Tenderness, solicitude and the gentleness of God's goodness to us are so great that, to us pilgrims on earth, they evoke the love of a mother for her children. Indeed, at times the biblical prophets also used this language that recalls the tenderness, intensity and totality of the love of God, which manifests itself in creation and in the whole history of salvation and has its culmination in the incarnation of the Son. God, however, always surpasses every human love, as the prophet Isaiah says: "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even if these may forget, yet I will not forget you" (Isaiah 49:15).
Julian of Norwich understood the central message for the spiritual life: God is love and only when we open ourselves totally and with total trust to this love and allow it to become the sole guide of existence, is everything transfigured, true peace and true joy are found and one is able to spread this around.
I would like to stress another point. The Catechism of the Catholic Church takes up the words of Julian of Norwich when it gives the point of view of the Catholic faith on an issue that does not cease to constitute a provocation for all believers (cf. Nos. 304-314). If God is supremely good and wise, why does evil and the suffering of the innocent exist? Saints as well, precisely the saints, ask themselves this question. Enlightened by faith, they give us an answer that opens our heart to trust and hope: In the mysterious designs of Providence, even from evil, God draws a greater good, as Julian of Norwich writes: "I learned by the grace of God that I must remain firmly in the faith, and hence I must firmly and perfectly believe that all will end well" (Il libro delle rivelazioni, chapter 32, p. 173).
Yes, dear brothers and sisters, God's promises are always greater than our hopes. If we entrust to God, to his immense love, the most pure and most profound desires of our heart, we will never be disappointed. "And all will be well," "everything will be for the good": This is the final message that Julian of Norwich transmits to us and that I also propose to you today. Thank you.
[Translation by ZENIT]
There are some excellent images of the Westminster Cathedral manuscript in this month's
Oremus, Westminster Cathedral's magazine!
[Picture note: 1. Julian of Norwich, detail from a painting by Alan Oldfield, which hangs in All Souls' Ditchingham; 2. Dame Julian's cell, anchored to St Julian's; 3. St Julian's Church, Norwich]
Thy inspirations and carried on by Thy assistance, so that all our prayers and works, having been begun in Thee, may likewise be ended through Thee. Amen.
Here are segments from Fr Harvey's obituary which was issued yesterday by the Oblates of St Francis de Sales, the religious order to which he belonged (the unedited obituary can be viewed 
