SacredSpace102fm - Who was Julian of Norwich? - 28th August 2011

In this recording of our weekly programme we have interview recorded in 2010 about the mystic Julian of Norwich.

Julian is thought of as one of the most important English mystics. She is venerated in the Anglican and Lutheran churches, but has never been canonized, or officially beatified, by the Catholic Church, probably because so little is known of her life aside from her writings, including the exact date of her death. It is determined that she was born in 1342 in Norwich, Norfolk, England, and she was last known to be alive in 1416 when she was 73 years old.

Her birth name is uncertain; the name "Julian" comes from the Church of St Julian in Norwich, where she was an anchoress. At the age of 30, suffering from a severe illness and believing she was on her deathbed, Julian had a series of intense visions of Jesus Christ. They ended by the time she recovered from her illness on 13 May 1373. Julian wrote down a narration of the visions immediately following them, which is known as The Short Text. Twenty to thirty years later she wrote a theological exploration of the meaning of the visions, known as The Long Text. These visions are the source of her major work, called Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love (circa 1393). This is believed to be the first book written in the English language by a woman. Julian became well known throughout England as a spiritual authority.

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