As penance, he and his wife travelled to Rome as pilgrims seeking absolution. On his way home, to continue his penance, he built a hospice beside a river, cared for the poor and sick, and rowed travellers across the river for free.
Once, after having helped many, many travellers, Julian gave his own bed to a pilgrim leper who had nearly frozen to death. When they had him safely settled, the man suddenly revealed himself to be an angel. The visitor announced that Christ had accepted Julian's penance; the angel then disappeared.
Immensely popular in times past; scholars today think the story is likely to be pious fiction, mistaken for history.
