Julian of Norwich: Finding Christ in Isolation

I Julian: A Story That Made All Things Well for the Author

For Claire Gilbert, what began as a “dry as dust Oxford theology degree” ended with the discovery of a bright, lively thinker who ultimately accompanied Claire through two and a half years of grueling cancer. While studying for that theology degree, Claire read Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love, the 14th century mystic’s telling of her 16 spiritual revelations from God. Though Julian of Norwich began as the subject of Claire’s doctoral thesis, she soon became Claire’s spiritual companion as she faced the cancer.

I, Julian is a fictional autobiography of Julian of Norwich, told in first person because as “I, Claire” emerged from her cancer, she heard a clear call to tell her story in the same voice she had discovered in her own autobiography Miles to Go Before I Sleep: Letters on Hope, Death and Learning to Live. And so she did, following Julian’s instructions to those to whom Julian gave her writings, “Don’t look at me, look at what I saw.”

If you treat yourself to this lovely story within a story, you will discover much about Julian, much about Claire, much about what they were both shown by God and especially how we the readers might open ourselves to what we are being shown.

In her journey with Julian and cancer, Claire heard God say just as God said to Julian, “You will see that I will make all things well,” and regarding her cancer, Julian told her to “walk towards the cancer, don’t put it away or fight it, but become porous to it, walk through it and joy will emerge.” Claire followed Julian’s instructions and tells Julian’s story as an homage to her.

If you are a scholar of Julian, you will know that the 14th century visionary was the first woman, as far as we know, to write in English, and her life was lived in times as turbulent as our own. You will know and may have read all 16 revelations Julian experienced during a life-threatening illness after years of prayer for God to reveal God’s self to her. The mystical visions brought comfort and concern, but she was condemned for writing them down. Therefore, much of Julian’s own story remains something of a mystery. If you are not a scholar of Julian, do not be deterred or daunted by the angst of reading about a medieval mystic who only wrote in Middle English and had visions of God. This book makes all of her story very accessible. 

Very little is known about her life, and her book is believed to be the first book written by a woman in English. Julian was a medieval woman who dared to tell her story. The “holy church” was condemning heretics then as it often does now. And so, Claire embarks on a fictional telling of Julian’s journey, carefully noting at the end of the book in a meticulous timeline, which characters and events are historical, and which are not.

            Perhaps the most stunning chapter of the book is the day of Julian’s funeral, when the anchor hold in which Julian has vowed to live for the rest of her life is bricked up, and Julian is dead to the world as she knew it. Immediately after the last brick is placed, Julian settles into the stillness with the words, “I have never felt so fully alive.” And her journey as an anchorite began,  cut off from the world living in a 9 x 12 room with a dirt floor, a few furnishings and a wash bowl that also served as a toilet.

            When asked if she could tell where Julian stops and she starts in the novel, Claire’s response was, “I have never had visions, but in the act of writing the book, I reenacted them. I do feel very close to her…Julian receives and participates in her visions and is porous and responds to them. In that regard, I felt very much like her.” When asked which of Julian’s visions was the most revealing vision, Claire said, “The vision of Mary at the time of the conception of Jesus…and Julian’s explanation that God comes to those who know they are nothing because God knows there’s room.”

            This book is rich with beautiful language, filled with plausible fiction, and most especially a touching story of a 21st century woman’s way of struggling through pain accompanied by a 14th century woman’s own struggle with God.