5 - Saint Julian of the Apocalypse
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2023
Summary
The Solitary in her Community
In both the earlier A Vision Showed to a Devout Woman and the longer A Revelation of Love, Julian of Norwich relates that she was denied a specific revelation concerning the spiritual destiny of a close friend or relative:
And when God allemightye hadde shewed me plentyouslye and fully of his goodnesse, I desired of a certaine person that I loved howe it shulde be with hire. And in this desire I letted myselfe, for I was noght taught in this time. And than was I answerde in my reson, als it ware be a frendfulle meen: ‘Take it generally, and behalde the curtaysy of thy lorde God as he shewes it to the. For it is mare worshippe to God to behalde him in alle than in any specialle thinge.’ I assented, and therwith I lered that it is mare wyrshippe to God to knawe alle thinge in generalle than to like in anythinge in specialle. And if I shulde do wisely efter this techinge, I shulde nought be glad for nathinge in specialle, na desesed for na manere of thinge, for alle shalle be wele. (Vision, 16.12–21)
From the passage in A Vision alone, it might be inferred that Julian is seeking information about whether or not this woman will go to heaven. In A Revelation, this passage is subtly reworded so that we no longer know that the person is female: ‘I desired to wit of a serteyn creature that I loved if it shulde continue in good leving, which I hoped by the grace of God was begonne’ (Revelation, 35.2–3). At the same time, however, we are given additional information about her: evidently, like Julian, she has committed her life to divine service in some way. And the nature of Julian's request is also specified, since it is now clear that she is enquiring about her friend's state of grace in her lifetime, rather than after her death. Both versions agree, however, that Julian was denied this knowledge on the grounds that it was a ‘specialle thinge’ (Vision, 16.17; Revelation, 35.7), or as A Revelation puts it, a ‘singular desyer’ (Revelation, 35.4), a desire to know about an individual rather than a general truth.
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- Information
- A Companion to Julian of Norwich , pp. 64 - 74Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2008
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