Julian of Norwich
Julian of Norwich
by Josiah English
Marking twenty years of championing the city, VisitNorwich presents its ambitious year-long cultural celebration:
Twenty Stories. One City. The City of Stories.
From medieval rebels and mystics to pioneering reformers, artists, entrepreneurs and unsung heroes, these are the people who shaped Norwich over 1000 years- and whose legacy can still be discovered across the city today.
All told by twenty invited guest authors from across our city’s creative and cultural community.
Stories Published So Far:
Jack Valentine | Emma de Gauder | Pablo Fanque | Rumsey Wells | John Crome | Harriet Martineau
JULIAN OF NORWICH
1343 – 1416
Almost nothing is known about the life of Julian of Norwich, who became the first woman to write a book in the English language.
She lived as an anchoress in a small cell attached to St Julian’s Church in the city of Norwich, after receiving a series of sixteen divine revelations while she was thought to be on her deathbed. These revelations transformed her life and after a remarkable recovery she dedicated her remaining years to the contemplation of what she had seen, writing an account of her visions so that others could know more about the unending love that God has for the world he made.
Since its rediscovery in the 19th Century, her book has become a spiritual classic read and loved by millions around the world, and today the Julian Shrine is a place of international pilgrimage attracting thousands of visitors every year who come to bear witness to this remarkable woman.
Julian of Norwich 1342 – c.1416
She lived, alone, in a little cell.
It was not for want of ambition that this she chose; nor to abstain from the life she could be living.
For the cell, though small, no more contained her within its walls than might the sky a bird. Just as a door is smaller than a house, so on entering this cell, a world opened to her beyond its walls, the world and the life she had known.
Restless. Yearning. Hungering. All her life she had wanted more than what she had; purpose, meaning, calling. ‘Are you never satisfied?’ said mother, father, teachers, friends. ‘Do we not live in a fine house in a fine city with plenty to eat? Is not this enough?’
No! There must be more, this cannot be all there is.
To God she said, ‘Give me more.’
More compassion.
More contrition.
But above all, above everything, a longing for You that never ceases, abates, nor fades.
Then came the sickness. Said mother, ‘Could you not have been more content? Have you not brought this on yourself with your ceaseless yearnings? Always asking, never resting. Always wanting more. And now the fever will not break; see how pale you look, how weak, surely the end is coming soon. The priest must be called. After everything, must I now lose you too?’
A blinding light, a ringing in her ears; the priest holds the rood before her fevered brow, then a tearing of the curtain, as this world gives way to another: Is this death? Stand I on the threshold between worlds?
The light begins to clear. First I see his face, the look of love in his eyes. There is agony, and ecstasy, written on that bleeding brow. My search is at an end. This is my more, my yearning, my call. To sit here, and gaze upon his sacred face, body torn with the anguish of his love.
The priest hovers close, listening to each fevered word that escapes from her lips, ready for the final shuddering breath. Mother clings to her sweating palms, willing life into soon-to-be lifeless limbs. It cannot last much longer; surely it must be soon.
How long did I lay at his feet? How long did I feel his love and his wisdom and his warmth pour into me? It could never be long enough. After all the longing of my life, my hungering has finally found a home. Wait! What is this? Do not take me away— I cannot bear it. No! Do not send me from this place. Can I not stay a while longer?
She stirs. Morning dawns; mother wakes. The fever breaks. Eyes flutter. She is alive.
The body recovers, but the mind remains elsewhere. What she saw in that world beyond this world she cannot forget; sixteen visions of the divine and an endless ocean of love now trapped inside her. No one else can understand, you weren’t there— you don’t know.
Where there was hunger, now a chasm of emptiness.
Listless and restless. Ceaseless pacing. ‘You’ll wear through the floor— can you not sit down? You need your rest or the sickness will return.’
I cannot rest. Rest for what? To rest is to prepare. And what have I for which to prepare?
Then, a voice; a whisper. The divine speaks: ‘Look how I loved you.’
Look? All I can do is look— look and long! But where is my heaven, now that I am back on earth?
‘Yours was the gift of sight; but what of those without such a gift? Would you keep what you have for yourself alone?’
She sits in silence, stunned. Could it be?
What if these showings were the beginning, not the end? Could there be a destiny, a purpose in their telling? But to discover their meaning, to put into words, to make it as real for others as it was for me— why, this would take a lifetime of contemplation! Could there be a second life for me? Is such a thing possible?
And so begins a second lifetime. Locked in those four walls, yet not contained by them. In restriction is her liberation. For forty years she laboured, in that little church. Daily she delved deeper into the meaning of these revelations of divine love. Sixteen glimpses of heaven, an inexorable call to tell the world. Surely of this love the world must know more! And she will be the one to tell it. Not just to tell, but to write! And to write in English, the language of her people, so that from end to end across this land someday all may hear the news: you can be fully known and fully loved, that in God there is love without condemnation, or mitigation, or ending.
Step Into The Story.
A city you don’t just read about – you experience.
Spend a moment of contemplation at The Julian Shrine and explore The Julian Centre’s books
Visit The Julian Shine in St Julian’s Church which is open for FREE (Monday – Sunday, 9am – 6pm), and see the site of Julian of Norwich’s cell, which attracts pilgrims from around the world. Then visit The Julian Centre (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday – Saturday, 10am – 3.30pm) next door, a space to discover more about Julian, her contemporaries and translations of their works. (Private group tours are available.) Attached to this is All Hallows Guesthouse, a quiet 7-bedroom retreat with a private garden and Julian of Norwich Library. Simple rooms from £44 per night single occupancy, including breakfast.
In May, honour this remarkable woman at the Julian Festival (8 – 12 May 2026), where you can take part in a special High Mass, attend the Annual Julian Lecture- this year’s theme Julian’s Sensory World will be presented by Margit Thøfner- and take part in a sketch and talk workshop with artist-in-residence Debra Shipley to develop your own expressive response to the shrine and its history.
You can hear about Julian of Norwich and other remarkable women on a Her Story Walk with Norwich Story Walks (£10pp), or join Paul Dickson on Julian’s Medieval Norwich, a tour celebrating the mystic and the medieval city she lived in (£12pp).
A copy of Revelations of Divine Love can be found at The Museum of Norwich.
Author bio: J William English first discovered Julian of Norwich during his MA in Medieval Studies at the University of Birmingham and has been fascinated by her ever since. He now lives and works at the Julian Shrine in Norwich with his wife and two dogs, just yards from where Julian herself once lived and wrote. He can usually be found on a country walk or sampling some of the Fine City’s many fine ales.
