The author warns that "[??]e ancre be wearnde anober a cwaer to lane, f[e]or ha hefde heoneward hire bileaue ehe" (21) ("The
anchoress who refused another a quire on loan would have the eye of her faith turned far from here" (22)), and further advises that
Sarah occupies her time saying prayers and reading her Rule, a holy text meant to explain her responsibilities as an
anchoress and reinforce her devotion.
Her vocations as an
anchoress and as a writer have much in common with the vocations of artists.
Jo Ann McNamara made the translation of the first text--The Life of Yvette,
Anchoress of Huy by Hugh of Floreffe--for Peregrina Press in 1999.
The anchorhold is the most internal and private space and in many ways mirrors the body of the
anchoress who inhabits it.
(24.) Caviness, "
Anchoress, Abbess, and Queen," 11; and "To See, Hear, and Know All at Once," 124.
Her religious pronouncements take on more drama, thanks to the illuminating instruction she receives from the
Anchoress Juliana of Norwich (played by that living saint of comic delivery, Marylouise Burke).
In a state of unio mystica the
anchoress says: Now I am a garden of scents I am a flower opening in my bride- groom's heart
Paxton, Frederick S., trans.,
Anchoress & Abbess in Ninth-Century Saxon.
There is the gentle statue of the Virgin which hypnotizes the teenage Christine and inspires her to have herself walled up in
Anchoress (Chris Newby, 1993).
For me, the most fascinating part of the book was the depiction of Juliana, an
anchoress at the priory.