5What if St. Francis of Assisi, St. Hildegard of Bingen, and the English mystics Julian of Norwich, The Cloud of Unknowing author, Richard Rolle, and Margery Kempe came to dinner? The Mystics Who Came to Dinner imagines such a gathering, with six medieval mystics enjoying dinner and lively conversation in a modern home setting. There, the strange and sometimes alienating aspects of the medieval world are removed so that the mystics' commonalities, as well as their distinctive personalities, shine through and their experiences, insights, and writings take on fresh appeal and relevance to the lives of twenty-first century readers.