Childless Cat Lady Julian

Mystic and First Woman to Write

a book in English in the Fourteenth Century.

She lived alone, indeed, with a cat, in a cell called an Anchorage, attached to St. Julian's Church in Norwich, England.

There she lived and there she wrote Revelations of Divine Love during the infamous Black Death plagues.

Her message of hope was embraced by those who came to her window to hear about Love, Divine Love.

It's been 650 years, but Lady Julian has not been forgotten by the world writ large.

She lived as the insider/outsider in the in-between space, the liminal

space. Her theology was founded there. It is a “thinking/experiential” theology born of her mystical encounters with the Divine. The message lived beyond the church’s oppressive authority. She was never called a heretic, she was never sainted. She was someone between the two, careful with her words to honor “Holy church” while sharing with her “Even Christians”, like us, the message of hope and unconditional love. Pilgrims, like me, travel long distances to sit in her Anchorage. Some of her titles are: Lady Julian, Mother Julian, Dame Julian.

Photo of the Anchorage attached to St. Julian's Church, Norwich.