Founded in 1985 in Norwich, Connecticut by Fr. John-Julian Swanson, OJN, the Order has flourished in its vocation to creatively renew the great traditions of contemplative and mystical spirituality in the Episcopal Church.

Julian House, pictured above, is located just 20 miles west of Milwaukee in Waukesha Wisconsin. We are please to welcome Short and Medium Term Guests to our monastery, to join in our prayer, silence, and work, and to soak up the general peace and restfulness of our place.

Presently there are six nuns and three monks. Following the spirit of Mother Julian, our aim is to create small monastic houses in which a deep contemplative life can be lived, supported by solid monastic practices. We lead a semi-enclosed life, focused on corporate liturgy, contemplative practice, and meditation.  We work with our hands, taking care of our grounds and buildings and our daily needs, as well as with our minds and our hearts in caring for guests, spiritual directees, and offering the occasional retreat or parish address. We publish various liturgical and spiritual materials. We profess four vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and prayer.

For a deeper understanding of how we have creatively retrieved monastic tradition, see our Rule and Customary which articulate the principles and practices of our monastic life.

Around this core of traditional monastic life in community, we have a thriving community of over 200 Associates and Oblates. Essential to the Order’s fulfillment of its charism, our affiliates are responsible for taking our contemplative and monastic charism, awareness of the mystics, and the practice of deep prayer into their parishes. They are lay and ordained, women and men, single, married, and in life-long partnerships. 

In a time of hostility and division in the Church, the Order does not take an official stand on various issues. Rather, we invite everyone seeking a renewed life of prayerful transformation in Christ to share with us in our mission of contemplative renewal. Join us in our prayer for the unity of Christ’s body!