Julian of Norwich and Other Tibetan Lamas

In the very first words of A Revelation, Julian references the Passion of Christ as she begins to introduce her showings: “[O]f which the first is about his precious crowning of thorns.” ₁  The first chapter contains a number of such references, which identify critically important imagery and themes for the rest of the text: “the discoloring of his fair face, signifying his precious passion”; “the scourging of his tender body, with copious shedding of his precious blood”; “the fiend is overcome by the precious Passion of Christ”; and “the last pains of Christ.” ₂

The religious and devotional culture in which Julian was formed and in which she practiced placed a great emphasis on the Passion of Christ. This orientation can be traced back, at least in part, to developments that took place around the turn of the first millennium. One of the primary figures who introduced this focus, and the individual who has even been identified as its founder, is Anselm of Canterbury (1003-1109). ₃ Born in what is now Italy, this monk, philosopher, and scholar came in time to minister in England – ultimately becoming the Archbishop of Canterbury. While Anselm was a very accomplished philosopher and logician, he also generously supported others with materials intended to enhance their spiritual life. His Prayers and Meditations became a touchstone in a movement to leverage the energies of human affect in a new way in the practice of devotion and meditation. The vibrancy, tenderness, and the poignancy of Anselm’s language was meant to “to stir up the mind of the reader.” ₄ In this approach, Anselm was presenting reading as a form of meditation. But this was not ordinary, everyday reading. The texts that he intentionally crafted were for a different type of reading. Thus, he explains that the prayers and meditations are “not to be read in a turmoil, but quietly, not skimmed or hurried through, but taken a little at a time, with deep and thoughtful meditation.” It was a form and method that gave great license to practitioners’ sense of their own needs. The reader “should not trouble about reading the whole” of any of the prayers, but “only as much as, with God’s help, she finds useful in stirring up the spirit to pray, or as much as she likes.” Practitioners can begin reading wherever they wish – it need not be at the beginning. The writing is divided into paragraphs to mark more easily where meditators begin and where they leave off, to guard against becoming bored with too much text, and to be able “to ponder more deeply those things that make her want to pray.” ₅  A primary topical focus of these writings was the suffering and dying of Christ, and the affective orientation was one of deep grief at not being present in the Savior’s final, agonizing hours:

Why, O my soul, were you not there / to be pierced by a sword of bitter sorrow / when you could not bear / the piercing of the side of your Saviour with a lance? / Why could you not bear to see / the nails violate the hands and feet of your Creator? / Why did you not see with horror / the blood that poured out of the side of your Redeemer? ₆

Endnotes

1. Julian of Norwich, Showings. Translated from the critical text with an introduction by Edmund Colledge, O.S.A. and James Walsh, S.J. Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1978, page 175. Middle English: “Of which the first is of his precious crowning of thornes.” Julian of Norwich, The Writings of Julian of Norwich, Eds, Nicholas Watson and Jacqueline Jenkins. University Park, The Pennsylvania State University Press, Chapter 1, Line 3, page 123.
2. Julian of Norwich, Showings. Translated from the critical text with an introduction by Edmund Colledge, O.S.A. and James Walsh, S.J. Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1978, pages 175-176. Middle English: “the discoloring of his fair face, in tokening of his deerworthy passion” (lines 8-9); “skorging of his tender body, with plenteous sheding of his precious bloud” (lines 13-14); “the feende is overcome by the precious passion of Christ” (line 15); “the last paines of Christ” (line 23). Julian of Norwich, The Writings of Julian of Norwich, Eds, Nicholas Watson and Jacqueline Jenkins. University Park, The Pennsylvania State University Press, Chapter 1, page 123.
3. The eminent medievalist, R. W. Southern writes of this originating role: “In a handful of prayers composed during the period when Anselm was prior of Bec (1063-78), he opened up a new world of ardent emotion and piety.” R.W. Southern, The Making of the Middle Ages. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953, page 232.
4. Anselm of Canterbury, The Prayers and Meditations of St. Anselm. Translated by Sister Benedicta Ward. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973, page 89. The full quotation is: “The purpose of the prayers and meditations that follow is to stir up the mind of the reader to the love and fear of God …” Latin: “Orationes sive meditationes quae subscriptae sunt, quoniam ad excitandam legentis mentem ad dei amorem vel timorem …” Anselm of Canterbury, “Prologus.” S. Anselmi Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi Opera Omnia. Volume 3. Ed. F. S. Schmitt. 6 vols. Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1946, page 3. A scanned copy of Sr. Benedicta’s book is available through Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/prayersmeditatio0000anse
5. The larger excerpt from Anselm’s “Preface” to the Prayers and Meditations provides a greater sense of the model that he is presenting and of the temper and tone of his spiritual teaching: “They are not to be read in a turmoil, but quietly, not skimmed or hurried through, but taken a little at a time, with deep and thoughtful meditation. The reader should not trouble about reading the whole of any of [the prayers and meditations], but only as much as, by God’s help, he finds useful in stirring up the spirit to pray, or as much as he likes. Nor is it necessary for him always to begin at the beginning, but wherever he pleases. With this in mind the sections are divided into paragraphs, so that the reader can begin and leave off wherever he chooses; in this way he will not get bored with too much material but will be able to ponder more deeply those things that make him want to pray.” Anselm of Canterbury, The Prayers and Meditations of St. Anselm. Translated by Sister Benedicta Ward. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973, page 89. Latin [Nec debet intendere lector ut quamlibet earum totam perlegat, sed quantum sentit sibi deo adiuvante valere ad accendendum affectum orandi, vel quantum illum delectat. Nec necesse habet aliquam semper a principio incipere, sed ubi magis illi placuerit. Ad hoc enim ipsum paragraphis sunt distinctae per partes, ut ubi elegerit incipiat aut desinat, ne prolixitas aut frequens eiusdem loci repetitio generet fastidium, sed potius aliquem inde colligat lector propter quod factae sunt pietatis affectum.] Anselm of Canterbury, “Prologus.” S. Anselmi Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi Opera Omnia. Volume 3. Ed. F. S. Schmitt. 6 vols. Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1946, page 3.
6. Anselm of Canterbury, The Prayers and Meditations of St. Anselm. Translated by Sister Benedicta Ward. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973, lines 79-86, page 95. This excerpt is taken from Anselm’s “Prayer to Christ.” Below is a table with the English and the Latin side by side. The Latin is taken from: Anselm of Canterbury, “Oratio ad Christum.” S. Anselmi Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi Opera Omnia. Volume 3. Ed. F. S. Schmitt. 6 vols. Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1946, page 7, ll. 42-45. After her own quotation of this passage from Anselm’s text, scholar Grace M. Jantzen makes connections between the abbot’s devotional writings and Julian of Norwich’s later visionary experience: “The very things which will be the significant ingredients of Julian’s visions, Anselm presents to himself in his prayers …” Grace M. Jantzen, Julian of Norwich: Mystic and Theologian. New York/Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1988, page 56. A scanned copy of Professor Jantzen’s book is available through Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/julianofnorwichm0000jant