This saint was carried away captive from some Western country when he
was very young, and sold for a slave in Syria. For some years he much
aggravated the weight of his chains by his impatience under them;
till having the happiness to receive the light of faith he found them
exceedingly lightened by the comfort which religion afforded him. A
right use of his afflictions from that moment contributed much to
the sanctification of his soul. Not long after, he recovered his
liberty by the death of his master, and immediately in the fervor of
his devotion dedicated himself to the service of God in an austere
monastery in Mesopotamia. He frequently resorted to the great St.
Ephrem for advice and instructions in the exercises of virtue; and
that holy man went often to see him, that he might edify himself by
his saintly conversation. This learned doctor of the Syriac church
tells us, that he could not forbear always admiring the sublime
sentiments and spiritual lights with which God favored a man who
appeared in the eyes of the world ignorant and a barbarian. Julian
was of a robust body, inured to labor, but he weakened and emaciated
it by great austerities. He worked with his hands, making sails for
ships; and wept almost continually at the consideration of his past
sins, and of the divine judgments. St. Ephrem tells us that he often
admired to find that in the copies of the holy Bible after Julian had
used them some days, several words were effaced, and others rendered
scarcely legible, though the manuscripts were entire and fair before;
and that the holy man candidly confessed to him when he one day
asked him the reason, that the tears which he shed in reading often
blotted out letters and words. Our saint always looked upon himself
as a criminal, trembling, and expecting every moment the coming of
his judge to call him to an account. It is easy to imagine how remote
such a disposition of mind was from being capable of entertaining
the very thought of amusements. His extreme humility appeared in his
words, dress, and all his actions. He had much to suffer from certain
tepid and slothful monks, but regarded himself as happy to meet with
so favorable opportunities of redeeming his sins, and of exercising
acts of penance, patience, meekness, and charity. Prayer was almost
the uninterrupted employment of his heart. He made in his little cell
a kind of a sepulchre, where he lived retired for greater solitude
whenever his presence was not required at duties of the community. He
assisted at the divine office without ever moving his body, keeping
his whole attention fixed on God, as if he had been standing before
the tribunal of his sovereign judge. Saint Ephrem assures us that God
honored him with the gift of miracles. Sozomen writes[58] that his
life was so austere, that he seemed almost to live without a body.
Thus he spent twenty-five years in his monastery, purifying his soul
by patience, obedience, and the labors of penance. He passed to a
glorious immortality about the year 370. See his life written by his
friend St. Ephrem, Op. t. 3, p. 254, ed. Vatic.