Sister Sue CSF writes:
GROWING up in Edinburgh with her parents and sister Janet, Helen English gained a BA in Librarianship at Newcastle Polytechnic in 1976, subsequently working for the Dundee library service. These professional skills later benefited several of her community’s libraries, and more recently their archives.
Early in 1985, aged 29, Helen came to the Community of St Francis, then based at Compton Durville in Somerset, to test her vocation; she had first encountered Franciscans at Alnmouth Friary, while she was a student. On becoming a novice later that year, she took the name Helen Julian. During initial formation, her main practical responsibility was cooking, which she did efficiently and creatively.
Subsequently in London, she was employed in various administrative posts, including work with the Church Urban Fund and the social-justice desk of the Roman Catholic Conference of Religious. She was professed in vows in 1988, and made her Life Profession in 1993. During this period, she was an active campaigner with the Movement for the Ordination of Women.
A few years after her life profession, Helen was appointed Novice Guardian. She moved back to Compton Durville, and also became the House Guardian; she took over after a difficult time, and fostered a calm and stable atmosphere.
Helen was intelligent, prayerful, witty, wise, and compassionate. She was an avid and discerning reader, while also cultivating more unusual interests. In Somerset, she reached Second Dan level in aikido, and more recently participated in an online project analysing old ships’ logs to track climate change through time.
In 2002,the Sisters elected Helen Julian as Minister Provincial. She oversaw the establishment of CSF in Korea, and a restructuring of our presence in the UK.
Alongside these major tasks, Helen was developing her gifts as a writer. Her book Living the Gospel: The spirituality of Francis and Clare was published in 2002, and in 2004, The Lindisfarne Icon, a book about St Cuthbert, of whom she said: “It was as if he tapped her on the shoulder, saying ‘The next book is mine.’” She continued writing for the Bible Reading Fellowship, contributing regularly to New Daylight Bible-reading notes, and the group-study notes Holy Habits. In 2006, her book The Road to Emmaus: Companions on the journey through Lent was published.
During these years, Helen Julian had a growing sense of a vocation to the priesthood, and was eventually ordained deacon in 2013 and priest in 2014.
Since 2009, Helen had been exploring a greater degree of solitude in her life within community, as it had become clear that her vocation had three strands: as a Franciscan Sister, a priest, and a solitary. She wove these together with characteristic determination, creativity, and persistence.
The office of Minister General, which she had held since 2012, involved international travel and close collaboration with the SSF Brothers’ Minister General. Her latest book, Franciscan Footprints (Books, 18 September 2020), reflects this global vision, and illustrates the rich diversity of ways in which people have been inspired to follow Christ in the way of St Francis.
Helen Julian was much in demand as a speaker, retreat leader, and preacher, and she also produced excellent Facebook material. This latter ministry she pioneered and managed for the Franciscans, and for the On Fire Mission, with whom she was a trustee for many years. Very gifted in both the written and the spoken word, she was also a brilliant composer of difficult minutes.
In her last 18 months, while she was journeying with cancer, her approach was to combine honest realism with a deep trust in God, continuing as far as possible in the life to which she had been called.
For many, Helen Julian was a signpost to the God for whom she lived, both in her manner of life, and in her words. We thank God for her.
Sister Helen Julian CSF died on 22 August, aged 66.
