Love Was His Meaning

‘Love was his meaning’: a conversation about Julian of Norwich between Dr Claire Gilbert and Fr Eamonn Monson.

Click on the link below to listen to the conversation

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16euftBoLdrM3X1YvEAhK3RznhdAI1LFj/view?usp=drivesdk

Claire Gilbert wrote her doctoral thesis on Julian in relation to the ecological crisis, but when she was diagnosed with myeloma, a cancer of the blood, Julian stopped being the subject of her academic study and became her spiritual companion and guide through two and a half years of gruelling treatment.  Claire wrote about this in letters to friends, published as Miles to Go Before I Sleep.  At the end of the treatment she heard a call to tell Julian’s story and wrote I, Julian, a fictional autobiography which seeks to do justice to this extraordinary woman’s life.

Dr Claire Gilbert is an author.  She is the founding director of the Westminster Abbey Institute, and has worked for the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England as policy adviser in medical ethics and environmental issues. She was a lay Canon at St Paul’s Cathedral where she co-founded the St Paul’s Institute in 2003. Claire is visiting fellow at Jesus College, University of Cambridge, and has been a member of numerous public and advisory bodies.  

Fr Eamonn Monson, SAC, is parish priest of St Mary Star-of-the-Sea Roman Catholic Church, and was a great influence on Claire’s books.