At the very outset of the Short Text of her Revelations, Julian of Norwich tells us:

Within the context of late medieval affective spirituality, the first of these requests seems entirely conventional, yet Julian positions it explicitly outside the devotional framework of the Church:

Although the second request is expressed in extreme terms (‘I wolde that this bodilye syekenes might have beene so harde as to the dede’: Vision, 1.21–2) and is without exact contemporary parallel, in its emphasis on physical mortification it does not sound entirely out of keeping with the trends of contemporary spirituality. Julian, however, is quick to tell us that:

She does not apply this ‘condition’ to her third request (for the wounds of ‘contrition’, ‘compassion’ and ‘wilfulle langinge to God’: Vision, 1.40–1) and that she does not claim her desire for this third grace ‘passede the comene course of prayers’ is perhaps because the states of contrition, compassion and the longing for God are such staples of the late medieval devotional life.

According to Julian, however, a visionary experience of the Passion beyond the ‘techinge of haly kyrke’ and a physical illness ‘so harde as to the dede’ cannot be defined by the terminology of contemporary devotion. Nor, she infers, can her desire for these graces be judged to fall within the boundaries of ‘comene’ intercessory practice. It is precisely this relationship between Julian's visionary experience and the patterns of contemporary prayer (specifically liturgical and quasi-liturgical) which I explore in this essay, suggesting that, while wider intercessory and meditative practices can shed some light on Julian's literary and liturgical affinities, there are inevitably aspects of her devotional life and language which remain idiosyncratic and enigmatic.