Julian of Norwich (ca 1342-ca 1416)
“But all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” (Showings 1373)
Icon of Julian of Norwich.
Julian of Norwich is experiencing an answer to a most unusual prayer. Like her contemporaries of 1373, she is Roman Catholic and believes in the efficacy of the last rites. Recognizing her need for a deeper love of Christ, she has appealed to God for three things: firstly, for a stronger understanding of Christ’s passion; secondly, for a sickness unto death while still young, so that she might experience all that a body and soul experiences in death, including attack by devils, but without actually dying, so that she might learn to live more mindful of God; and thirdly, for three “wounds:” absolute contrition, kind compassion, and steadfast longing toward God.
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An anchoress—a woman who has set herself apart for God, and who lives isolated in a cell—Julian has indeed become deathly ill. Everyone around her despairs of her life. She also believes she is dying. The last rites are administered to her.
But then a wonderful thing happens; Julian experiences what a future generation might describe as a near-death experience. At the crisis of her sickness, between four and nine one afternoon, she receives fifteen “showings” or revelations. She reports that Heaven opens to her and she beholds Christ in his glory, and sees the meaning and power of his sufferings. She also sees Christ’s mother, Mary, exalted and beloved.
In her thirteenth showing, Julian receives a comforting answer to a question that has long troubled her:
“…in my folly, before this time I often wondered why, by the great foreseeing wisdom of God, the onset of sin was not prevented: for then, I thought, all should have been well. This impulse [of thought] was much to be avoided, but nevertheless I mourned and sorrowed because of it, without reason and discretion.
“But Jesus, who in this vision informed me of all that is needed by me, answered with these words and said: ‘It was necessary that there should be sin; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.’”
Remembering Christ’s attitude later, she adds, “These words were said most tenderly, showing no manner of blame to me nor to any who shall be saved.” In this she recognizes the compassion she had prayed for.
She is impressed with her need to be joyful in all circumstances, however adverse, and for no particular reason, except this: that all things will ultimately be put right by Christ. Sin, she sees, becomes its own hell.
The following night Julian will receive a final, sixteenth showing while she sleeps, in which the devil assaults her; but the power of Christ protects her.
Soon after her recovery, Julian records a short account of these revelations. Twenty years later, having meditated long upon them, she will add additional thoughts as to their purport and meaning.
Centuries later, Christians will still read her showings with interest, and wonder to what extent Julian of Norwich actually penetrated the mysteries of the unseen world.
—Dan Graves
Dig a Little Deeper
- Deen, Edith. Great Women of the Christian Faith. New York: Harper, 1959.
- Gardner, Edmund G. “Juliana of Norwich.” Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
- Julian of Norwich. Revelations of Divine Love. Translated by Clifton Wolters. Penguin, 1966.
- Julian of Norwich. Showings. New York : Paulist Press, c1978.
- “Julian, of Norwich.” Dictionary of National Biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. London: Oxford University Press, 1921 – 1996.
