- Chapter 2:
- What does Julian mean when she calls herself an "unlettered
creature"?
- When does Julian say her visions took place?
- What three things does Julian pray for?
- Chapter 3:
- When did Julian experience her visions? (i.e, what year?)
How old was she at the time?
- How long does Julian lie sick before she sees the vision?
- What image does the Vicar hold before Julian's face
as she thinks she is dying?
- What does Julian imagine is around the cross in the
darkness that makes the cross ugly and terrifying?
- Chapter 4:
- What does Julian mean when she says she saw the crucifixion
"without any intermediary"?
- Chapter 5: What is the sign of god's
familiar love? How does it relate to clothing?
- What, according to Julian, is the round little object
like a hazelnut that rests in her hand in the vision?
What, according to Julian, prevents that little hazelnut-like
object from falling into nothing?
- Chapter 58: What unusual change does
Julian make to the traditional trinitarian formula of
"father, son and holy ghost" in her writing?
What does she mean to suggest by this change?
- Chapter 60: What contrast does Julian
make between the way a mother feeds her child and how
Christ feeds his [her?] children? How does Mother Christ
lead lead humanity to his/her breast? (i.e. through what
opening in his body?)
- Chapter 61: Why does God allow people
to "fall" according to Julian?
- Chapter 86: According to Julian, what is the
meaning of her visions?
- What sort of people does Julian pray will come into
possession of her book in future ages?
Quotation Identifications: Be prepared to identify
where these quotations come from, who wrote them, and comment
briefly on their significance in the author's work:
At the same time as I saw this sight of the head bleeding,
our good Lord showed a spiritual sight of his familiar love.
I saw that he is to us everything that is good and comforting
for our help. He is our clothing, who wraps and enfolds
us for love, embraces us and shelters us, surrounds us for
his love, which is so tender that he may never desert us.
And in this he showed me something small, no bigger than
a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed to
me, and it was as round as a ball. I looked at it with the
eyes of my understanding and thought: What can this be?
I was amazed that it could last, for I thought that because
of its littleness it would suddenly have fallen into nothing.
When I was young, I desired to have this sickness when
I would be thirty years old. As to the third [request],
by the grace of God and the teachings of Holy Church I conceived
a great desire to receive three wounds in my life, that
is, the wound of true contrition, the wound of loving compassion,
and the wound of longing with my will for God.
And when I was thirty and a half years old, God sent me
a bodily sickness in which I lay for three days and three
nights, and the third night I received all the rites of
Holy Church, and did not expect to live until day. . . .
[The priest] set the cross before my face, and said: I have
brought the image of your savior; look at it and take comfort
from it.
For [Christ] is our Mother, brother, and savior. . . .
father, husband, lover.