SOURCE: "Culmination of the Tradition in Julian and her Revelations" in "God Is Our Mother": Julian of Norwich and the Medieval Image of Christian Feminine Divinity, pp. 46-69, Institut fir Anglistik und Amerikanistik Universitat Salzburg, 1982, pp. 46-69.

It was not until approximately 1393 that the medieval image of a Christian feminine divinity reached its culmination in the single work of an English anchoress and mystic. Despite the setting of the concept of the motherhood of God by numerous preceding and contemporary authors in an already established tradition, it is Julian of Norwich who gives this idea a full birth in the way no other writer had. She does so in her revised version of the Revelations of Divine Love.

Four manuscripts are extant today of Julian's Revelations. This is a relatively small amount when compared to the number of surviving copies-of the writings of other great mystics of the day. Walter Hilton's Scale of Perfection has over forty extant manuscripts for Book I and at least twenty-four for Book II.¹ There are twenty-six extant manuscripts in England of Richard Rolle's Incendium Amoris.² There also still survive seventeen different texts of the Cloud of Unknowing.³

The oldest of the four manuscripts of the Revelations is the fifteenth century Amherst MS in the British Museum. It is of a shorter version which was apparently written immediately after the visions were received. The other three manuscripts record a longer version of the same revelations written some twenty years after the experience and incorporating the insights derived from thosesubsequent years of meditation. Of these, there is one from the seventeenth century in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. The other two are Sloane Manuscripts No. 2499 and No. 3705 of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, respectively, and both are presently located in the British Museum. These surviving manuscripts contain much of what is known of the author of the Revelations.

External references to Julian of Norwich include four wills of the years 1393/4, 1404, 1415, and 1416, in which money was left to the anchoress at St. Julian's Church. In each of these a Julian is mentioned by name and the third also makes reference to an Alice, her serving maid.⁴ In the Book of Margery Kempe, as earlier mentioned, there is a record of Margery's visit and conversation with Julian at Norwich when Julian was approximately seventy-one years of age. Also, in 1413 the scribe of the shorter version prefaced the work with the information that this was a vision shown by the goodness of God to "a deuoute Woman and her Name is lulyan that is recluse atte Norwyche and 3itt on lyfe."⁵ Beyond these, there is no further external record of Julian's life.

From the surviving manuscripts come Julian's own words concerning the specific experience which was the basis for her writings. She reveals that in her youth she had asked for three gifts from God: first, she wanted to share in Christ's passion; second, to suffer physically a serious illness almost to the point of death at the age of thirty; and third, to receive the three wounds of contrition, compassion, and longing for God. On a Friday morning, May 13, 1373 at the age of thirty and a half, her prayers were answered. She was struck with an acute illness which grew steadily worse. Three days later she received the last rites and three days after that she became paralyzed from the waist down, her. sight began to fail, and she was unable to speak. Her priest came and brought a crucifix which he placed before her fixed eyes. As she gazed on it and believed she was about to die, suddenly all her pain disappeared. She remembered her youthful petitions and as she gazed at the crucifix it appeared to come to life with blood streaming down from the crown of thorns. For the next five hours, from approximately four o'clock till past nine of that morning, she experienced fifteen visions in sequence. At that point Julian's own sufferings returned and caused a temporary lack of faith in what she had seen. While asleep, she dreamed of the devil attempting to strangle her. After awakening and experiencing smoke, heat, and stench apparent to no one else, she lost all sense of illness. Her faith in the truth of her visions returned and that night Julian experienced the sixteenth and last revelation. The short text includes the additional information that her mother was present along with the others at her bedside.

Of other details beyond this central experience of her life, Julianwrites very little. She begins the second chapter of the long text with the curious statement that: "This reuelation was made to a symple creature vnlettryde" (II, Ch. 2, p. 285). However, there is nothing definitely known of her place of birth, family, upbringing, or education beyond the knowledge reflected in the Revelations. The existing evidence of the wills reveals that she was enclosed in the cell attached to the parish church of St. Julian at Norwich, which belonged to the Benedictine monastery at Carrow. Therefore, much of the manner of her subsequent solitary life can be deduced from the pattern set down in the Ancrene Riwle. In 1670, Serenus Cressy published the first printed edition of Julian's work. In his own introduction, however, he admits his inability even at that time to discover anything concerning Julian further than what is in the book itself.

Despite the lack of any extensive external knowledge into more precise information on Julian's life and background, this woman must stand out clearly beyond all her predecessors and contemporaries as well when it comes to the feminine representation of a Christian God in literature. What singles Julian of Norwich out from the other mystics of the Middle Ages who have spoken of the matemal aspects of Christ's love is not simply the concept itself, but the encompassing, developed, and integral image that she makes of it. She exceeds all others by her development of the idea in the Revelations with new length, innovation, and directness.

For Julian the statement of God's matemity is no simple invocation or comparison, but a repeated insistent reality. It is clearly a form of relationship which finds a natural and essential place in her thoughts and expression. Although there is no explicit evidence other than the one reference which singles out her own mother who stands among the others attentive by her sick bed, one can realize from the Revelations the lasting and positive impression that the mother-child relationship must have had on her. This is evidenced in such statements as, "To the properte of moderhede longyth kynd, loue, wysdom and knowyng" (II, Ch. 60, pp. 598-99) and "The moders servyce is nerest, rediest and suerest: nerest for it is most of kynd, redyest for it is most of loue, and sekerest for it is most of trewth" (II, Ch. 60, p. 595). The portrayed image of the mother-child relationship is one of the most prevalent found in the Revelations and one which she applies to church, Mary, and natural mothers, as well as to her divinity. For Julian, there is ultimately no human relationship able to give an idea more exact and complete of the love of God than feminine maternal love.

Julian strikes clearly away from the traditional at the outset. Her concept of the motherhood of God is the first among her many predecessors and contemporaries which is not limited to one, or several brief passages, or even to a lengthy but single prayer.Rather, shortly following the pivotal and central chapter of her work, Julian devotes some four chapters almost exclusively to the development of this idea. These are chapter 58 through 61. Moreover, there are preceding and subsequent references throughout the work which lead up to, reecho, and reenforce the divine and maternal image as found in these chapters.

In addition, in contrast to such as Anselm and Marguerite who would restrict the title to the second person of the Trinity, or even Mechtilde who would include the third person, Julian seems to find in the title "mother" a more encompassing symbolic association. The very word seems to have been special to her. Julian uses the word "moder" with some few variations such as "moderhede" or "moderly" some eighty-three times throughout the Revelations. Of this amount Julian attributes the title nine times to Mary and four times to Holy Church. She also uses it not as a title but simply to refer to natural human mothers and the general idea of motherhood. The overwhelming majority of her references, however, attribute the title to none other than her God in all the persons. Over thirty of these references she specifically associates with Jesus Christ as the second person of the Trinity. Julian's numerical division of her use of the title accords well with her expressed belief, "Thys feyer louely worde: Moder, it is so swete and so kynde in it selfe that it may not verely be seyde of none ne to none but of hym and to hym that is very mother of lyfe and of alle" (II, Ch. 60, p. 598).

Another difference which distinguishes Julian in the original treatment she gives to this concept is her directness. No other orthodox Christian writer in this tradition has been as explicit or emphatic in the expression of God's maternity. To Julian, God is never simply "like" a mother. For her, he is a mother and the most ultimate of mothers. In her use of this title, Julian passes beyond the more typical similes of Biblical, patristic, and other mystical writers to the far more vivid and equating forms of metaphoric relationship. That Julian was capable of creating striking similes is evident from numerous examples in her work such as: "Holy chyrch shalle be shakyd in sorow and anguyssch and trybulacion in this worlde as men shakyth a cloth in the wynde" (II, Ch. 28, p. 408). This makes it all the more astounding that Julian never states anywhere that God is "like" a mother, or does things "as" a mother would. Julian has deliberately chosen metaphor over simile for this image.

Julian employs three forms to express this relationship. The most common link between the two concepts of God and mother in Julian's prose is the direct and equating verb "is" as in "god is oure mother" (II, Ch. 59, p. 591), or "oure savyoure is oure very moder" (II, Ch. 57, p. 580). The relationship is also drawn through the use of the appositive as in "very moder Jhesu" (II, Ch. 63, p.616), or "oure moder, Cryst" (II, Ch. 83, p. 724). Julian's final method is to substitute the title of mother in place of God when she implies a clear reference to the divinity as in "oure mother werkyth" (II, Ch. 59, p. 591) or "prayeng to oure moder of mercy and pytte" (II, Ch. 59, p. 592).

There are only two apparent exceptions to this direct and equating style that Julian uses for the image, in "wyll he that we done as the meke chylde" (II, Ch. 61, pp. 605-606) and "dreed that makyth vs hastely to fle fro alle that is nott goode and falle in to oure lordes brest, as the chylde in to the moders arme" (II, Ch. 74, p. 675). On closer investigation, however, one discovers that in these instances the "as" refers not to God but to the "we" of the relationship and is concerned with our role as child rather than God's as mother.

The final and most important distinction through which Julian must stand out from the earlier tradition of feminine and maternal God is in the completeness which she gives to her vision. For the first time all facets of the earlier examples come together in a single author. It is as though Julian herself had sought out this form and deliberately chosen to incorporate each within her own work. There is but one exception. The Revelations does not have a single reference to God as the mother hen of Matthew's gospel. This is all the more interesting since this example is second in frequency throughout all the earlier sources of the tradition only to the picture of a nursing mother-God. Apparently, Julian had no interest in the image which likened God to a feminine maternal bird. In contrast, the portrait of God as a human mother can be easily seen in the Revelations to have fascinated her from every aspect.

Within the longer. text of her writings Julian includes nearly every previously encountered form and variation of this tradition. The extensiveness of her usage ranges from the standard images, such as that of a nursing mother-God found in almost every earlier Biblical, patristic, and mystrical writer, to the less common image, such as that of the mother-God who feeds the child with the sacrament of the Eucharist which was found earlier only in St. John Chrysostom. Julian states: "oure precyous moder Jhesu, he may fede vs wyth hym selfe, and doth full curtesly and full tendyrly with the blessyd sacrament, that is precyous fode of very lyfe" (II, Ch. 60, pp. 596-97).

In the manner established by the Bible, St. Augustine, St. Bonaventure, Albert the Great and others, Julian also repeatedly declares that the wisdom of God is our mother, as in "the depe wysdome of ??e trynyte is our moder" (II, Ch. 54, p. 563). Unlike many of her predecessors as found in this tradition, however, Julian goes well beyond the more conventional expression of God's femininity as limited only to the role of divine wisdom.

In the manner of the apocryphal Acts of Peter, Mechtild von Hackeborn, and the anonymous English litany, Julian further includes not one but three passages which formally list God as mother among the other human family roles. One example of this is: "god enjoyeth that he is our fader, and god enjoyeth that he is our moder, and god enjoyeth that he is our very spouse" (II, Ch. 52, p. 546). Another example is: "He is oure moder, broder and savyoure" (II, Ch. 58, p. 584).

Julian also follows in the terminology of the Bible, Albert the Great, the Monk of Fame, and Marguerite d'Oyngt, by asserting God as more a mother than our human parent, as in "though oure erthly moder may suffer hyr chylde to peryssch, oure hevynly moder Jhesu may nevyr suffer vs that be his chyldren to peryssch" (II, Ch. 61, pp. 604-605). Although in this assertion Julian is following earlier tradition, her emphasis is singularly more positive than some of her predecessors. She does not, like Marguerite d'Oyngt, emphasize the inferiority of the earthly mother who is rejected for Christ as mother. Julian equally knows and affirms the superiority of God. Yet Julian's love of the superior mother, God, does not cause her to reject but rather to incorporate and confirm her continued love of earthly mother and world as integral parts of that same God's creation.

The extensive thoroughness with which Julian has followed and gathered the earlier examples of this tradition is clear from the Revelations. Julian, however, has done far more in her book than to merely lump all her source examples together. In many cases she progresses beyond a simplistic statement or idea with a richer development and innovation than previously encountered.

In the Revelations Julian presents her vision of God in the feminine maternal role not in the isolated fragments of the tradition but in a complete connected cycle of life from before birth through after death. Julian's majestic vision proceeds through all the various stages of: enclosure and growth within the womb; the trauma of labor and birth; the suckling of the infant and feeding of the child; the care and education of the older child; the setting of examples and disciplining of the child; the washing, healing, forgiving, and comforting of the child as it matures; and the continual loving, touching, and guiding of the child even to the point of its own death which becomes in turn a rebirth and return to the original womb.

The imagery begins with our original placement and growth within God which is envisioned in terms of the child within the womb. Julian goes beyond the single womb references of Saint Ambrose and the Monk of Fame to create her own vivid picture through repeated suggestive wording. Julian many times in her work echoes the Biblical phrasing of Saint Paul who tells how the children arerooted and built up in God when she speaks of the maternal God's children who are "so depe growndyd in god" (II, Ch. 56, p. 570) and "kyndely rotyd in god" (II, Ch. 56, p. 571), whose "lyfe is alle grounded and rotyd in loue" (II, Ch. 49, p. 505), and of the mother "Crist, in whom oure hyer party is groundyd and rotyd" (II, Ch. 57, p. 578) and "oure moder" who is "the / seconde person of the trynyte" and "in whom we be groundyd and rotyd" (II, Ch. 58, p. 586). Another favorite wording Julian employs to evoke the womb-like description is her repetition of the mother-God in whom the children are enclosed. Examples of this are: "our moder, in whom we be closyd" (II, Ch. 54, p. 563), "Crist, vs alle havyng in hym that shall be savyd" (II, Ch. 55, p. 565), "we be all mercyfully beclosyd in the myldehed of god" (II, Ch. 49, p. 507), "oure god verely, that hath vs all in hym selfe beclosyde" (II, Ch. 6, p. 306), "out of whom we be all come, in whom we be alle enclosyd" (II, Ch. 53, pp. 557-58), "he vs all havyng beclosyd in hym" (II, Ch. 57, p. 580), and others.

Still further descriptive of the child's development within the womb, Julian speaks of the children who are "beclosyd in hym in to the tyme that we be waxyn and growyn" (II, Ch. 55, p. 567), and of "oure very moder Jhesu" who "susteyneth vs with in hym in loue and traveyle, in to the full tyme" (II, Ch. 60, pp. 595-96). God is further the mother to whom the child is "so fastned to him that ther be right nought that is made betweene my god and me" (II, Ch. 5, p. 300), to whom the child is "knytt to hym in the makyng" (II, Ch. 53, p. 560), and to whom the child comes "naked" (II, Ch. 5, p. 302), as well as the one within whom the child was "tresured in god and hyd" (II, Ch. 53, p. 560), and from whom "we haue oure beyng of hym, where the ground of moderhed begynnyth" (II, Ch. 59, p. 589).

The imagery of God as mother continues from the womb into labor and birth. Her references to the maternal God who endures labor pains to give birth surpass in their directness the comparative example of the Bible. As with Saint Anselm and Marguerite d'Oyngt, Julian equates Christ's suffering and death on the cross with the labor necessary for the maternal God to give birth.

While Julian adds more detail to this image than Anselm, she does not give as gruesome a picture of the suffering as Marguerite and chooses rather to emphasize the unceasing love which motivates the maternal God to endure. Of Christ's labor, Julian writes, "he abydyth / vs, monyng" (II, Ch. 80, p. 710) and "it passyth nevyr fro Crist tylle what tyme he hath brought vs oute" (II, Ch. 80, p. 711). Again Julian compares the crucifixion to the pains of labor when she writes that Christ sustains us within himself:

… in to the full tyrme he wolde suffer the sharpyst thomes and grevous paynes that evyr were or evyr shalle be, and dyed at the last. And whan he had done, and so borne vs to blysse, yett myght nott all thys make a seeth to his mervelousloue. And that shewd he in theyse hye ovyrpassyng wordes of loue: If I myght suffer more I wold suffer more. He myght no more dye, but he wolde nott stynte werkyng.

(II, Ch. 60, p. 596)

Julian also composes a striking paradoxical statement which envisions the subsequent process of birth in both a stasis and perpetual production: "oure savyoure is oure very moder, in whome we be endlesly borne and nevyr shall come out of hym" (II, Ch. 57, p. 580). Our mother, Christ, is further the one who has "borne vs to blysse" (II, Ch. 60, p. 596), the one who "quyckyd vs, and in his blessyd dyeng vppon the crosse he bare vs to endlesse lyfe" (II, Ch. 63, pp. 616-17), the "god in whome we haue oure beyng" (II, Ch. 59, p. 592), and "oure very moder Jhesu, he alone beryth vs to joye and to endlesse levyng" (II, Ch. 60, p. 595). In reference to "oure bodely forthbryngyng" Julian adds that "it is he that doth it" (II, Ch. 60, p. 599), that "all his blessyd chyldren whych be come out of hym by kynd shulde be brougt agayne in to hym by grace" (II, Ch. 64, p. 619), and that "of this swete feyer werkyng / he shalle nevyr ceese nor stynte, tylle all his deerwurthy chyldren be borne and brought forth" (II, Ch. 63, p. 616).

After labor and birth, as the mother provides nourishment for the infant, so too does Julian's image develop in this manner. She presents an image of God who, from the time of the labor of the death on the cross and our birth to life, has continually fed us as a mother should:

And from that tyme, and now and evyr shall in to domysday, he fedyth vs and fordreth vs, ryght as the hye souereyne kyndnesse of moderhed wylle, and as the kyndly nede of chyldhed askyth.

(11, Ch. 63, p. 617)

This same maternal God is also the one who feeds the children since "hym behovyth to fynde vs, for the deerworthy loue of moderhed hath made hym dettour to vs" (II, Ch. 60, p. 596).

Julian more specifically approaches the tradition's popular image of a nursing mother-God when she speaks of the children who obtain nourishment from God by "hym swetly swelwyng" (II, Ch. 43, p. 481) and from the "dyversytes flowyng oute of hym" so that of all the children "none shalle be perysschyd" (II, Ch. 57, p. 577). Julianalso uses the still more particular image in which the nursing child drinks not the milk but the blood of Christ as nourishment as found earlier in St. John Chrysostom, St. Bonaventure, the Blessed Angela de Foligno, the Monk of Farne, and the treatise entitled, "A talkyng of pe loue of God." Julian speaks of Christ's "blessyd / blode … ther is no lycour that is made that lykyth hym so wele to yeue vs. For it is most plentuous, as it is most precious" (II, Ch. 12, p. 343).

In two further passages Julian deliberately deviates from the more common from of her many predecessors in this tradition who have already spoken vividly of the nursing breasts of Christ by branching out into new and more significant directions. Julian portrays our mother, Jesus, who does not simply give the child suck of milk, but rather feeds us still more directly with God's own flesh and with the food of very life in the sacraments:

The moder may geue her chylde sucke hyr mylke, but oure precyous moder Jhesu, he may fede vs / wyth hym selfe, and doth full curtesly and full tendyrly with the blessyd sacrament, that is precyous fode of very lyfe; and with all the swete sacramentes he systeynyth vs full mercyfully and graciously.

(II, Ch. 60, pp. 596-97)

Julian again pictures our mother, Jesus, who does not merely lay the child to the breast, but rather more intensely leads us actually within his breast through the blessed wound of his open side:

The moder may ley hyr chylde tenderly to hyr brest, but oure tender mother Jhesu, he may homely lede vs in to his blessyd brest by his swet opyn syde.

(II, Cb. 60, p. 598)

In this cycle of God as mother, Julian further continues and develops the image past infancy. In what is a new development for the tradition, she describes her divinity in terms of a mother who sets a good and virtuous example for the child as it grows, who cares for and teaches the young child right from wrong, and who expects obedience as it grows and begins to learn.

God is therefore a mother who far beyond carrying, giving birth, and feeding the child, is always "to vs dyverse manner werkyng" (II, Ch. 58, p. 586). This is a mother who ever "woot and knowyth the neyde of hyr chylde, she kepyth it full tenderly, as the kynde and condycion of moderhed wyll" (II, Ch. 60, p. 599): who fosters in the child:

… myldnesse and mekenesse and all pe feyer vertuse that long to chyldren in kynde. For kyndly the chylde dysperyreth nott of the moders loue, kyndely the chylde presumyth nott of it selfe, kyndely the chylde louyth the moder and eche one of them other. Theyse be as feyer vertues with alle other that be lyke, wher with oure hevynly moder is servyd and plesyd.

(11, Ch. 63, p. 617)

and who:

… kyndelyth oure vnderstondyng … prepareth oure weyes … esyth oure consciens … confortyth oure soule … lyghteth oure harte and gevyth vs in party knowyng and louyng … with curtesse mervelyng … and makyth us to loue all that he louyth for his loue, and to be well apayde with hym and with alle his werkes.

(11, Ch. 61, pp. 601-602)

A number of passages in the Revelations refer to Christ, whom Julian has consistently identified with the maternal image, in the role of teacher. This is evident in: "Crist hym selfe is ground of alle the lawes … he taught vs to do good not evylle" (II, Ch. 40, pp. 458-59), "he / wylle we be his helpers, gevyng to hym alle oure entent, lernyng his lawes, kepyng his lore, desyeryng that alle be done that he doth, truly trustyng in hym" (II, Ch. 57, p. 581), and "And yf we wett nott how we shall do alle this, desyer we of oure lorde, and he shalle lerne vs" (II, Ch. 77, p. 695). This is a teacher who does not merely speak, but sets the clear precedent for the child to follow, as in: our mother Christ who "doyth to vs as he techyth vs to do; for he wylle that we be lyke hym" (II, Ch. 40, p. 459), and "And the blessyd creatures pat shalle be in hevyn with hym with out / ende, he wylle haue them lyke vnto hym selfe in alle thing" (II, Ch. 77, p. 695). Julian frequently refers to this exemplary mother as "all wysdom" and she explicitly states: "Thus workyth oure moder in mercy to all his belovyd chyldren whych be to hym buxom and obedyent" (II, Ch. 58, p. 586).

Yet another avenue of maternal care which the Revelations includes is that of the mother's washing of the child. A single earlierexample is in the lyric "Ihesu, thi swetnes wha moghte it se" where the poet in two lines speaks of the mother who even before the child's birth washed it clean of Adam's sin through baptism. Julian speaks more extensively of "oure moder" whose "deerworthy blode and precious water is plentuous to make vs feyer and clene" (II, Ch. 61, pp. 607-608); of the "precious plenty of his dereworthy blode" which "ovyrflowyth all erth, and is redy to wash / all creatures of synne" (II, Ch. 12, p. 344); of the unclean soul which "oure derewurthy mother" shall make clean when "he shall all besprynkyl vs in his precious blode" (II, Ch. 63, pp. 615-16); and of the mother, Christ, whom we need but to "touch" and "we shalle be made cleene" (II, Ch. 77, p. 694).

The cycle of maternal imagery continues on as the child grows still older and Julian's divine mother changes tactics, but not love. Julian both incorporates the attributes of the maternal God found in the earlier Ancrene Riwle and expands upon them. In the Ancrene Riwle, the mother indulged in playful games of hide and seek with the young child, so that the child seemed left alone and the grace and comfort of the mother was apparently withdrawn. Yet this was actually done out of love for the child rather than through a lack of it. In a similar manner Julian's image of God as mother of the growing child also with-draws out of love and concern for the child's development. This mother further allows the child to deal with some mishaps apparently on its own while she remains ever ready in the background in case the child should come to any real harm.

When the child is "wexid of more age" Julian, therefore, reveals God as mother who at times "sufferyth / it that it be cha(s)tised in brekyng downe of vicis, to make the chylde receyve vertues and grace" (II, Ch. 60, p. 599). Of this same mother, Julian further states: "By hys syfferannce we falle … and by mercy and grace we be reysyd to manyfolde more joy" (II, Ch. 35, p. 435) as well as:

And yett aftyr thys he sufferyth some of vs to falle more hard and more grevously then evyr we dyd before, as vs thyngkyth. / And than ween we that be nott alle wyse that all were such that we haue begonne. But it is nott so, for it nedyth vs to falle, and it nedyth vs to see it; for yf we felle nott, we shulde nott knowe how febyll and how wrechyd we be of oure selfe, nor also we shulde not so fulsomly know pe mervelous loue of oure maker.

For we shalle verely see in hevyn without ende pat we haue grevously synned in this lyfe; and not withstondyng this we shalle verely see that we were nevyr hurt in his loue, nor we were nevyr the lesse of pryce in his syght. And by the assey of this fallyng we shalle haue an hygh and a mervelous knowyng of loue in god without ende; for hard and mervelous is that loue whych may nottnor wyll not be broken for trespas.

(11, Ch. 61, pp. 602-603)

In regard to mercy which "longyth to moderhode in tender loue" Julian adds that it "sufferyth vs to feyle" but "in all this the swet eye of pytte and of loue deperteth nevyr from vs, ne the werkyng of mercy cesyth nott" (II, Ch. 48, pp. 501-502). Although this process of falling is for the child's own good, Julian makes clear that the heavenly mother never really abandons the child as in:

The moder may suffer the chylde to fall some tyme and be dyssesed on dyuerse manner, for the one profyte, but she may nevyr suffer that ony manner of perell come to her chylde for loue. And though oure erthly moder may suffer hyr chylde to peryssch, oure hevynly moder Jhesu may nevyr suffer vs that be his chyldren to peryssch.

(II, Ch. 61, pp. 604-605)

Always the motivation of Julian's maternal God remains constant since:

And if we feele vs nott than esyd, as sone be we suer that he vsyth the condycion of a wyse moder. For yf he see that it be for profyte to vs to morne and to wepe, he sufferyth with ruth and pytte in to the best tyme for loue.

(II, Ch. 61, pp. 606-607)

When the child in the process of growing up involves itself in more serious difficulties, Julian reveals other aspects of this image of God as mother. In the Revelations God is also a mother who forgives the child for wrongdoing, who listens attentively to the problems, questions, and apologies of the child and gives comfort; and who, through an imagery of healing, assists when the child has hurt itself and restores it to a healthful life.

An earlier example of the maternal God who is ready to forgive and comfort the child who has done wrong is in the treatise "A talkyng of the loue of God." Here the author describes the widespread arms of Christ on the cross ever ready to comfort the sinful child. This mother needs but to hear the child crying in distress and shewill take it in her arms, kiss and console it, ask it the nature of the problem, and then give it her breast to still its tears. In the Ancrene Riwle there is this same picture of the mother who will run to the crying child, hug it, kiss it, and wipe its eyes.

Julian expands on this pattern when her divine mother gives "vnderstandyng" through "swet worde" (II, Ch. 60, p. 598); when the mother "reformyth vs and restoryth" (II, Ch. 58, p. 586); and when the mother in the time of "oure fraylte and oure fallyng" continues to "kepyth vs in this tyme as tendyrly and as swetely … as / he doth when we be in most solace and comfort" (II, Ch. 62, p. 610). This is the mother from whom we must ask forgiveness "myghtly prayeng to oure moder of mercy and pytte" (II, Ch. 59, p. 592), and the one to whom in times of trouble "mekely make we oure mone to oure derewurthy mother" (II, Ch. 63, p. 615). This mother does not wish the child to run away out of dread and shame for his failings, but rather wishes the child to quickly run towards the mother for help and to trust in her love as in: "That dreed that makyth vs hastely to fle fro alle that is nott goode and falle in to oure lordes brest, as the chylde in to the moders arme" (II, Ch. 74, p. 675) and:

But oft tymes when oure fallyng and oure wrechydnes is shewde vs, we be so sore adred and so gretly ashamyd of oure selfe that vnne this we witt wher we may holde vs. But then wylle nott oure curtesse moder that we flee away, for hym were nothing lother; but he wyll than that we vse the condicion of a chylde. For when it is dissesyd and a feerd, it rynnyth hastely to the moder; and if it may do no more, it cryeth on the mother for helpe with alle myghtes. So wyll he that we done as the meke chylde, seyeng thus: My kynd moder, my gracyous moder, my deerworthy moder, haue mercy on me. I haue made my selfe foule and vnlyke to thee, and I may not nor canne amende it but with thyne helpe and grace … And he wylle then ??at we vse the properte of a chylde, that evyr / more kyndly trustyth to the loue of the moder in wele and in woo.

(II, Ch. 61, pp. 605-607)

Although the mother may punish the child, it will be tempered rather than severe since "he is all wysdom, and can ponyssch me wysely" yet "whan we wyll wylfully and gladly take the skorgyng and the cha(s)tyssyng" then "it shalle be fulle tendyr and fulle esy" (II, Ch. 77, pp. 691-92). Julian's maternal God clearly takes greater delight in forgiving and comforting the child as in: "My dere darlyng, I am glad thou arte come to me in alle thy woe. I haue evyr ben with the, and now seest thou me louyng, and we be onyd in blysse. Thus are synnes forgevyn" (II, Ch. 40, p. 455);"And whan we be fallen by freelte or blyndnes, than oure curtesse lord touchyng vs steryth vs and kepyth vs … but he wylle nott that we abyde therwith … he hath haste to haue vs to hym, for we are his joy and his delyght" (II, Ch. 79, pp. 705-706); and "yf we see verely that oure synne deserve it, 3ett hys loue excusyth vs. And of hys gret curtesy he doth away alle / oure blame, and beholdeth vs with ruth and pytte, as children innocens and vnlothfulle" (II, Ch. 28, p. 411).

After forgiving and comforting the child who has fallen, Julian's divine mother has the equally important task of restoring the child back to the healthy state of a sinless life. Other than the Biblical allusions to this maternal role, the one earlier reference in the tradition is that of St. Catherine of Siena where the nursing mother-God drinks the bitter medicine so that it may be transmitted to the child through her milk. In the Revelations, the mother-God is not only "oure medycyne" (II, Ch. 82, p. 718), but also "oure salue" (II, Ch. 79, p. 706), "the remedy" (II, Ch. 77, p. 693), and "the helth and the lyfe" (II, Ch. 60, p. 597) of the child. After the child has fallen into the hard injury of sin, it is this mother who will "make oure soule full softe and fulle mylde, and heele vs fulle feyer by processe of tyme" (II, Ch. 63, p. 616); who "thorow contrycion and grace" shall "perfetely cure vs" (II, Ch. 78, pp. 698-99); who "vsyth the very office of a kynde norysse, that hath not elles to done but to entende about the saluation of hyr chylde" (II, Ch. 61, p. 608); and whose "blessed woundes. be opyn and enjoye to hele vs" (II, Ch. 61, p. 608). As a result of this "helyng" (II, Ch. 48, p. 503) and of the "swete werkyng" of the mother, the children are ever "strenthyd" (II, Ch. 61, p. 602).

Julian further describes God in the Revelations as repeatedly expressing love for humanity through touch much as a mother does with her child. God is the one who: "touchyth vs fulle prevely" (II, Ch. 40, p. 454); "wylle geve vs grace to loue hym and cleve to hym" (II, Ch. 86, p. 732); "tendyrly … towchyth vs and blyssydfully callyth vs, seyeng in our soule: Lett me aloone, my derwurdy chylde" (II, Ch. 36, p. 439); "colleth vs and beclosyth vs for tendyr loue, that he may nevyr leue vs, and is more nere to vs than tonge may telle or harte may thyngke" (II, Ch. 72, pp. 661-62); "touchyng vs steryth vs and kepyth vs" (II, Ch. 79, p. 705); and "hastely … reysyth vs by his loueiy beclepyng and his gracyous touchyng" (II, Ch. 61, p. 602). God's children, in turn: "cleue to hym" (II, Ch. 34, p. 431, etc.): "reverently cleue to god" (II, Ch. 52, p. 551): "clevyng to his loue and to his goodnesse" (II, Ch. 82, p. 718); "clevyng to with feythfulle trust" (II, Ch. 74, p. 675); and need only to "Touch we hym, and we shalle be made cleene. Cleve we to hym, and we shalle be suer and safe from alle manner of peryllys" (II, Ch. 77, p. 694). Julian further makes this imagery more explicit when she speaks of the "swetgracious handes of oure moder" which always "be redy and diligent a bout vs" (II, Ch. 61, p. 608).

The Revelations further shows the cycle of the maternal God's activity throughout the child's life through an imagery suggestive of mother as unceasing guide for the child. God as the one who leads the child repeatedly along the safe and proper way is expressed in such examples as: "oure good lord contynually ledyth vs" (II, Ch. 48, p. 500); "he is with vs in erth, vs ledyng" (II, Ch. 52, p. 549); "oure tender mother Jhesu, he may homely lede vs in to his blessyd brest" (II, Ch. 60, p. 598); "Crist is oure wey, vs suerly ledyng" (II, Ch. 55, p. 565); "he is here with vs ledyng vs" (II, Ch. 81, p. 714); "oure lorde is with vs, kepyng vs and ledyng in to fulhed of joy" (II, Ch. 77, p. 694); and "In whych endlesse loue we be ledde and / kepte of god, and nevyr shalle be lost" (II, Ch. 53, p. 559). There is an additional passage which is reminiscent of the tradition's earlier homily "An Bispel" in its use of light and dark imagery used to express God's guiding maternal care:

Oure feyth is a lyght, kyndly comyng of oure endlesse day … in whych lyght oure moder, Cryst, and oure good lorde the holy gost ledyth vs in this passyng lyfe. This lyght is mesuryd dyscretly, nedfully stondy(ng) to vs in the nyght. The lyghte is cause of oure lyfe, the nyght is cause of oure payne and alle oure woo … Thus I sawe and vnderstode that oure feyth is oure lyght in oure nyght, whych lyght is god, oure endlesse day.

(11, Ch. 83, pp. 723-25)

No matter whether teaching, guiding, healing, touching, cleansing, feeding, or laboring to give birth, God is most significantly envisioned in the work by Julian as an ultimately loving mother. This love, just as it is the answerer of all at the end of the Revelations, through Julian's imagery extends even to the point of death and beyond. Through wording often recalling the scattered references of the Bible, Julian envisions a God who is not angry or powerful, but rather throughout the cycle found to be continually loving, sweet, and gentle. Julian states: "I saw no manner of wrath in / god" (II, Ch. 49, p. 506). Rather, Julian repeatedly attributes to God the title of "all loue" and speaks of the "endlesse loue" God has for the children. She further describes God with such terminology as: "lowest and mekest, hamlyest and curtysest" (II, Ch. 7, p. 314); "gentylle, curteyse, fulle swete" (II, Ch. 74, p. 676): and "Feyer and swete is our hevenly moder in ??e syght of oure soule" (II, Ch. 63, p. 617). Julian's maternal God is one whose love is so great that: "we be endlesly onyd to hym in loue" (II, Ch. 49, p. 505): "we be brought agayne by themotherhed of mercy and grace in to oure kyndly stede, where we ware in, made by ??e moderhed of kynd loue, whych kynde loue nevyr leevyth vs" (II, Ch. 60, p. 594); "he wylle haue alle oure loue fastenyd to hym" (II, Ch. 60, p. 600); and in this mother "alle the swete kepyng of loue … endlesly folowyth" (II, Ch. 59, p. 589). This marvelous love continues beyond death whether it be the death of the mother as in, "He myght no more dye, but he wolde nott stynte werkyng" (II, Ch. 60, p. 596), or the death of the child who is ultimately borne to bliss when at the end of life "oure very moder Jhesu, he alone beryth vs to joye and to endlesse levyng" (II, Ch. 60, p. 595).

Julian has drawn the cycle of active motherhood so perfectly that it becomes joined at the identical point of beginning and conclusion so that there is no beginning or end and the death and birth of the child become as one. Julian has pictured this in her work a number of times: in "all his blessyd chyldren whych be come out" of the divine maternal womb and yet must eventually return within that same womb when they shall "be brought agayne in to hym by grace" (II, Ch. 64, p. 619): in the mother in whom the children are "endlesly borne and nevyr shall come out" (II, Ch. 57, p. 580): and in that same mother "out of whom we be all come, in whom we be alle enclosyd, in to whom we shall all goo, in hym fyndyng oure full hevyn in everlastyng joy by the forseyeng purpose of alle the blessyd trynyte fro without begynnyng" (II, Ch. 53, pp. 557-58). Thus the image comes full circle to its completion, which viewed through Julian's eyes must be seen not as a conclusion but as a continually new beginning: "And than shall ??e blysse of oure moderheed in Crist be new to begynne in / the joyes of oure fader gooi, whych new begynnyng shall last, without end new begynnyng" (II, Ch. 63, p. 618).

There is no single previous example which even begins to approach the depth with which Julian has explored the varied potentials of the image of a Christian maternal God. Only by combining the scattered suggestive examples of the Bible on the guiding, teaching, washing, healing, etc., as well as the more common nursing mother, can the reader establish a pattern for the complete maternal cycle of love and caring that Julian has created. But these diverse examples as earlier evidenced are not easily found within the more common image of the Old Testament male father-God, unless one is actively looking for them or receptive to them. That Julian had read the Bible in this searching receptive manner and been strongly influenced by these examples seems the logical conclusion, particularly when considering the many passages in the Revelations which echo Biblical wording and ideas.

In addition to the Bible, Julian clearly seems to have been influenced by at least some if not all of the earlier examples of this tradition. She seems further to have well used that earliertradition as a basis upon which to add her own length, elaboration, and new development. In an unprecedented manner she combines all of the tradition's divided fragments into a unified cohesive picture of active motherhood from birth until death. The result is her unique cyclical vision which powerfully presents the image of God as a mother to the read-er so throughly and naturally as to be readily accepted.

For reasons of her own, Julian chose to devote a great deal of her creative talent to this particular image. She developed the image not only through four main chapters, but further through echoing references forwards and backwards in her work. She strove with her innovatively direct and expansive style to reveal God as mother from every aspect of the human role. Her interest and energy in this achievement enabled the centuries old tradition of a Christian feminine and maternal God to find its fullest development in fourteenth century England within her own Revelations of Divine Love.

Notes

¹ Joseph E. Milosh, The Scale of Perfection and the English Mystical Tradition (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1966), p. 3.

²The Incendium Amoris of Richard Rolle of Hampole, ed. Margaret Deanesly (Manchester, England: The University Press, 1915), p. xix.

³The Cloud of Unknowing, ed. Phyllis Hodgson, EETS, OS, No. 218 (1944; rpt. London: Oxford University Press, 1958), p. ix.

⁴A Book of Showings to the Anchoress Julian of Norwich, I, 33-34. All further references to this work appear in the text. The Shorter Version of the Revelations is found in Vol. I. The Longer Version is in Vol. II.

⁵ Julian of Norwich, A Revelation of Love, ed. Marion Glasscoe (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1976), p. vii.