Julian of Norwich and Other Tibetan Lamas

And in this, sodenly I saw the red bloud trekile downe from under the garlande, hote and freshely, plentuously and lively, right as it was in the time that the garland of thornes was pressed on his blessed head. Right so, both God and man, the same that sufferd for me. ₁

As Chapter 3 ended with Julian’s expressed aspiration for compassion with the pains of Jesus, “with him I desire to suffer,” Chapter 4 begins with the words, “And in this, sodenly I saw …” Of these words Nicholas Watson and Jacqueline Jenkins note:

The phrase ‘in this’ is used a hundred and fifty times in A Revelation to describe a movement inward from one state of perception to another, as sight follows sight. ‘I saw’ is used hundred and sixty times, to describe any kind of perception, from bodily sight to a mental intuition or a realization – although in these last two cases its place is sometimes taken by the more intellectual ‘I understand.’ ₂

And regarding the word “sodenly,” they observe that it is a “recurrent word in this part of the text, suggesting direct intervention by God.” ₃ Maggie Ross and Vincent Gillespie note that the word emerges as “an important signal for the sometimes dizzying and usually unsettling changes of viewpoint or perspective performed by [Julian’s] text” ₄

The first words of Chapter 4 do indeed mark a change in “viewpoint and perspective,” as the word “sodenly” is directly followed by “I saw” and the commencement of the anchorite’s description of her visionary experience: “I saw the red bloud trekile downe from under the garlande …” The ‘garlande” references an element of the Passion of Christ where he is crowned with a braided wreath of thorns. The moment was captured in devotional meditation texts such as The Privity of the Passion:

Then they …toke a garlande of scharpe thornnes in stede of a corowne & threste one his hede …Be-holde hym nowe with compassione & tendirnes of herte hou his heued was thurghe-prikkede with scha[r]pe thornes thurghe his blesside brayne, and ofte-tyme þey smote hyme with þe septure one þe heuede fore scorne & dispite; and beholde his blyssede face all rynnande with rede blode. ₅

The verb Julian first uses to describe the motion of the blood on the holy face is “trekile,” which the Middle English Dictionary defines as “[t]o drip, trickle, fall down in droplets; of the eye: well over (with tears).” The association of the word with tears is supported by nearly all of the fifteen sample quotations of the word offered by the Dictionary, except that taken from Julian’s first sentence of Chapter 4. ₆  

Within medieval English devotional writings, two fluids are continuously poured out, namely, the blood of Christ’s Passion and the tears of His Mother’s Compassion. And they are inextricably interrelated. The 13^th century lyric, “Stond wel, Moder, under rode,” reveals something of this relationship. Here the Crucified Christ begs his moder to have pity on him, and to wash away “those bloody tears,” for they cause him to suffer more than his death. In response, the grieving Mother asks how she can stop her tears as she sees “those bloody floods” run out of his heart down to her feet. ₇ It is tears such as those wept by the Blessed Mother, tears which find their source in a heart rent with compassion, that medieval Christians were called to practice: “Loke to þi louerd, man, þar hanget he a rode, / and wep hyf þo mist terres al of blode. / Vor loke hu his heued biis mid þornes bi-wnde [encircled]…” ₈

Endnotes

1. Julian of Norwich, The Writings of Julian of Norwich, Eds, Nicholas Watson and Jacqueline Jenkins. University Park, The Pennsylvania State University Press, Chapter 4, lines 1-4, page 135.
2. Julian of Norwich, The Writings of Julian of Norwich, Eds, Nicholas Watson and Jacqueline Jenkins. University Park, The Pennsylvania State University Press, page 134.
3. Julian of Norwich, The Writings of Julian of Norwich, Eds, Nicholas Watson and Jacqueline Jenkins. University Park, The Pennsylvania State University Press, page 132.
4. Maggie Ross and Vincent Gillespie, “With Mekenes Aske Perseverantly”: On Reading Julian of Norwich” Mystics Quarterly, 30:3-4. 2004, page 136.
5. “The Privity of the Passion,” Yorkshire Writers: Richard Rolle of Hampole and His Followers. Edited by C. Horstmann. D.S Brewer, 1985/1999, page 204. The quotation is also cited in Julian of Norwich, The Writings of Julian of Norwich, Eds, Nicholas Watson and Jacqueline Jenkins. University Park, The Pennsylvania State University Press, page 134. The Middle English text, The Northen Passion, also depicts the scene: “After thei toke thornes kene, / They made a garlond bedene [immeditaely] / And sett it upon hys hede. / Ther was no mercy with hem leved. / The thornes made woundys grete; / The blode ran doune with grete hete.” (“The Northern Passion,” Codex Ashmole 61: A Compilation of Popular Middle English Verse. Edited by George Shuffelton. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications, 2008, #28, lines 1148-1153.
6. “triklen,” Middle English Dictionary at Middle English Compendium: triklen – Middle English Compendium (umich.edu)
7. “Stond wel, Moder, under rode,” Middle English Marian Lyrics. Edited by Karen Saupe. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications, 1997, lines 13-18, page 33. Actual text from same reference: “Moder, reu upon thi bern: / Thu wasse awey tho blodi teren, / It don me werse than mi ded.” / “Sune, hu mitti teres wernen? / Hy se tho blodi flodes hernen / Huth of thin herte to min fet.”
8. “Respice in Faciem Christi,” Religious Lyrics of the XIVth Century. Edited by Carlton Brown. Revised by G.V. Smithers. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957, page 2. A rough translation: “Look to your Lord, O Human Being, there hangs he on the Cross, and weep, if you might, tears all of blood. For look how his head is with thorns encircled …”