Jesus as Mother. The life and thought of Giuliana di Norwich

Article by Kitretred Cherry published on his blog Jesus in Love (United States) on May 8, 2016, freely translated by Silvia Lanzi

Giuliana di Norwich is an English medieval mystique that celebrated the "Mother Jesus". It is not known if Giuliana herself was queer, but some of her ideas were. Giuliana is often listed among the LGBT saints for her genderbending visions of Jesus and God. This year her party falls on the day of Mother's Day (8 May 2016).
His conception of Jesus as a mother sounds radical even now, more than six hundred years later. His vision of the Trinity that contains all genres adapts to contemporary feminism and queer theology. Mother's Day is, among other things, a propitious period to honor mothers whose love for gay children has helped launch LGBT organizations, including: Jeanne Manford and Adele Starr, founders of Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (Pflag), and Edith "Mom" Perry of the Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC).

Giuliana di Norwich (c.1342-1416) is the first woman to write a book in english. The book “Revelations of divine love"It contains a series of sixteen visions that experienced from 8 to 13 May 1373 During a serious illness, when she was thirty. The book includes the most famous saying of Giuliana:"And everything will be good and every sort of things will be good", Words said by God in one of Giuliana's visions.

Later, Giuliana became an anaching, a type of imprisonment that lived in a cell attached to a church and made a contemplative life. His Romitage cell was located at the church of San Giuliano in Norwich. The cell had two windows, one open to the church and the other open on the road. He became known throughout England for the spiritual advice he gave.

Giuliana is considered one of the first Catholics who wrote about God for a long time as Mother. His deep ideas today speak strongly to women and believing queer people:"As is true that God is our Father, so it is true that God is our Mother" giuliana Writes.

Here are some short quotes from the numerous writings of Giuliana about the "Mother Jesus”:

"So Jesus Christ, who places the good against evil, is our true mother. We owe our being to him - and this is the essence of motherhood! - and all the delights and love protection that follow. God is really our mother as our father is."(Chapter 59).

"So Jesus is our true mother according to nature to our first creation, and it is our real mother according to grace, for having assumed our created nature on herself." (Chapter 59).

"A mother can give her baby to suck milk, but our Mother Jesus can feed us himself, and does it more sweetly and more tenderly with the Holy Sacrament, which is the precious food of life itself ... The mother can place the child to her maternal heart, but our tender mother Jesus can familiarly bring us to the blessed chest with her sweet side tightened." (Chapter 60).

The sacred feminine is just one of the many revelations that have made Giuliana dear to the public. It also uses objects of everyday life to illustrate the nature of God, which is love and forgiveness. For example, in a vision, God shows Giuliana a small object, like a hazelnut, in the palm of his hand. Giuliana writes: "I looked at it and I thought: 'What can it be?', And I came to the answer, 'It's all that it was done'. I wondered how it could last, because it was so small and I thought it could suddenly disappear. 'Hades and will last forever, because God loves him; and in the same way everything exists through the love of God'". (Chapter 5)

An ancient legend tells Giuliana's friendship with her cat. As an anachorete, Giuliana probably lived alone. It is said that the only other living being who divided the room with her was a cat, with the practical purpose of keeping it free from rats and mice.

The New York painter Douglas Blanchard shows the saint with his cat Betty in a painting made as a tribute and memorial to his beloved companion Felina who died in 2013. In the painting there is one of the favorite quotes of Giuliana:

“He has done all things for love,
with the same love he supports them,
and he will support them without end. "

Another icon of Giuliana and her cat was painted by robert lentz, A Franciscan friar from new york. Known For Its innovative icons, she was taken up by the Church for having painted saints lGBT And god As a female.

A later "Giuliana Di norwich" Was sketched on a lavender background by tobias haller, An Iconographer, author, composer and vicar of the episcopalian community of saint James In the Bronx. Haller delights by increasing the variety of icons available with the creation of icons Of lGBT people and other figures of holy progressive, as well as traditional saints. he and her husband joined in religious marriage more than thirty years ago and with a civil ceremony after homosexual marriage has become legal in New York.

Giuliana lived for a long time. The date of death is unknown, but the documents show that it was still alive in seventy -three years to receive an inheritance. It has never been formally canonized, but is considered holy by popular devotion. The Episcopalian and Lutheran churches celebrate it on May 8th.

Giuliana's famous words were put in music with the song "All Will Be Well" of Meg Barnhouse, a unitarian pastora of Texas and singer -songwriter.

Original text: Julian of Norwich: Celebrating Mother Jesus