Summary

Em and Jesse begin a journey into the world of Medieval mysticism with a discussion of hermits and anchorites/anchoresses. With some interesting discussions of cats, Michel Foucault, Plato, and Siddhartha Gautama.

Annotations, Notes, and Corrections

0/ There are some sound issues in this episode–I (Em) recorded in what sounds like a cave, and Jesse’s mic is a little staticy and flat for some reason–I suspect she accidentally recorded with the wrong mic. Sorry! [Actually, I turned the gain way down and sat further away–I thought I was being too loud before!–JN]

1/ Quarantine: See our episode on the plague, especially note 22.

2/ The woman who died in 1990 was Maria-Nazerina of Jesus. She became an anchoress in 1945, meaning she went 45 years speaking once per year. (She appears to have been much stricter in her observance than many of the Medieval anchoresses we’ll discuss, in that she did only speak to her spiritual director instead of also offering counsel to anyone who wanted it.) Another modern anchoress we found is Sister Rachel Denton, who is arguably less strict than the Medieval women–for example, she gives seminars and uses the internet, and I think she has a garden. [Christina of Markyate is a good example of an anchoress who was in a tiny cell for a while…she shows up in more detail later in the episode.–JN]

3/ [4:57] My cat has occasionally caught mice, but we can’t rule out that there was something wrong with them that he managed to get them. [Julian’s cat comes from the Ancrene Wisse‘s Outer Rule, Part 8, which allowed anchoresses to have a cat. Here is the quote (lines 76–77: “Ye, mine leove sustren, bute yef neod ow drive ant ower meistre hit reade, ne schulen habbe na beast bute cat ane.” Translation: “My dear sisters, unless need drives you and your director advises it, you must not have any animal except a cat” (trans. Savage and Watson, p. 201). Here are some Julian of Norwich images with her cat (that she presumably had, because of Ancrene Wisse)! Here is the image of Julian with her cat in Norwich Cathedral (and here is the full window where you can see her name). Here is the second window in Norwich Cathedral of Julian (no cat–Julian is the far bottom right figure; here’s a close up). Here’s another great image of Julian and her cat from St Thomas, Earlham Road, Norwich. This window also includes Julian’s famous statement–a quote from Christ, who told Julian that “All shall be well.” We’ll discuss this full statement at more length in the Love and Hell episode in a few weeks. Here is a famous icon of Julian with her cat by Robert Lentz, OFM. (The cat pictured here is a legendary cat of great soul, Magnificat, the protector of all Northwestern University graduate students in medieval studies). Anne Savage and Nicholas Watson, eds. Anchoritic Spirituality: Ancrene Wisse and Associated Works. New York: Paulist Press, 1991.