Order of Julian of Norwich
The Order of Julian of Norwich (OJN) is a contemplative community of monks and nuns in The Episcopal Church.
Our Lady of the Northwoods Monastery | |
Two nuns from the order | |
Formation | 1985 |
---|---|
Type | Anglican religious order |
Location |
|
Coordinates | 45°9′2″N 88°40′20″W |
Membership | The Episcopal Church |
Website | www |
History
The Order was founded in Connecticut in 1985, under the inspiration of Fr John Swanson (now known by his religious name, Fr John-Julian OJN). The Episcopal Church formally recognised the Order in 1997. The Order relocated to Waukesha, Wisconsin, where Julian House Monastery was gradually extended. The Order again relocated, this time in 2015, to White Lake, Wisconsin. The community is semi-enclosed, and the focus of their life together is on prayer, contemplation, and manual labor.[1] Since 2010 the Guardian (elected superior of the community) has been Reverend Mother Hilary OJN.
Julian House Monastery
Originally occupying a single house with an adjacent chapel, the community engaged in extensive fundraising to extend the monastic buildings, and engaged with local contractors to construct an ecologically sensitive building. The house and chapel are now joined, and further extensions have provided community work rooms, additional cells, and facilities for caring for elderly members of the community. Amongst other eco-friendly features, the monastery generates its own solar electricity, harvests rainwater through a water management system, and engages in extensive market gardening and sustainable land husbandry.[2]
Spiritual life
The monks and nuns of the Order lead lives balanced in prayer, work, and recreation. They rise at 3.30am, pray a four-fold daily office, celebrate a daily mass, and engage in individual and community works; their day ends with compline (night prayer) at 7.00pm. Professed sisters and brothers take the three traditional Benedictine vows: stability, conversion of life, and obedience "in the spirit of our Blessed Mother Saint Julian".[3]
References
- Kiefer, James E. (n.d.). "Dame Julian of Norwich, Contemplative". Biographical sketches of memorable Christians of the past. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
- See the article Care of Place.
- The vows and full Rule are available on-line here (requires PDF download).