Today in 1373, Julian of Norwich, 30 years old, sick and thought to be dying, received the revelations which are retold in her book, The Revelations of Divine Love (above). Her curate held up a crucifix for her to look at as she died, but instead, what followed over the next few hours were 15 ‘shewings’ of the love of God. The Revelations is the oldest known book authored by a woman in the English language, and includes her reflection over her many years as an anchoress on what her revelations meant. The answer she recived was memorable:
‘Wouldst thou learn thy Lord’s meaning in this thing? Learn it well: Love was his meaning. Who shewed it thee? Love. What shewed he thee? Love. Wherefore shewed it he? For Love. Hold thee therein and thou shalt learn and know more in the same.’ Julian of Norwich, The Revelations of Divine Love
Today in 1723, Johann Sebastian Bach was confirmed in his new job as Cantor of St Thomas’s Church, Leipzig. He had to write a cantata a week, which produced one of the most astonishing creative explosions in the history of Western music. In between composing, copying out instrumental parts, and rehearsing musicians, Bach also found time to rattle off such biggies as the St John Passion.
St Thérèse of Lisieux saw the Mother of God on Pentecost Sunday, today in 1883. Thérèse had been deeply traumatised first by the death of her mother, and when her older sister Pauline entered a nunnery, she fell into a hysterical and hallucinatory illness. Her vision of the Virgin Mary, which happened when she was 10 years old, lasted only four or five minutes, but changed the course of her life. She is reckoned to be one of the most popular Catholic saints ever.
‘All of a sudden the Blessed Virgin appeared beautiful to me, so beautiful that never had I seen anything so attractive; her face was suffused with an ineffable benevolence and tenderness, but what penetrated to the very depths of my soul was the ravishing smile of the Blessed Virgin.’ St Thérèse of Lisieux
Pope John Paul II was shot by the professional assassin Mehmet Ali Ağca as he rode in the Popemobile through the crowds in St Peter’s Square, Rome, today in 1981. He later visited his would-be murderer in prison to forgive him in person. Almost exactly a year later, he made a pilgrimage to Fatima, Portugal, to thank the Virgin Mary and give her one of the bullets as a present, and was almost assassinated a second time, this time by a bayonet-wielding priest.
Today in the year 609, the Pantheon in Rome, formerly a temple to the gods, was converted by Pope Boniface IV to become the Church of St Mary and the Martyrs. It was almost 500 years old then, and now, 1,400 years later, it still serves as a church, with the name given it by Boniface.
Nguyễn Văn Thiện died today in 2012, the oldest Roman Catholic bishop in the world. Originally a bishop in his home country of South Vietnam, he was a couple of months over his 106th birthday.
Image: British Library