Julian of Norwich and Cats

One of my favourite medieval authors is Julian of Norwich. I have spent many hours reading and rereading her work Revelations of Divine Love, and while I have not yet published on her mysticism, I have presented papers on her work. Her work continues to inform my own scholarship, as she is a tour de force. 

As an anchoress, she lived according to the Ancrine wisse, a guidebook on living as an anchor. One such rule in the guidebook instructed that an anchoress might keep a cat as a pet. Depictions of Julian of Norwich often contain a feline companion; although she is not technically the patron saint of cats, she is at least a venerable possibility. In honour of both my affections for Julian of Norwich's work and cats, I present a few images of my cats.