“Noli Me Tangere”, Fra Angelico, 1440-1, Museo Nazionale di San Marco, Florence.
This beautiful fresco was painted on the wall of a friar’s cell at the Dominican Priory of San Marco in Florence. A strong light shines almost horizontally from the right, but it is not the golden light of dawn. There is something ethereal about it. It is not quite of this world. It shines upon the Risen Jesus and Mary Magdalene. The composition divides into two halves. The palm tree in the background marks the line of division. On the left Mary Magdalene kneels the ground in front of the rock face from which the tomb was hewn. On the right, Jesus is turning towards Mary but is moving away; his feet barely touching the ground. The two sides are unified by green carpet of grass and flowers and the fence in the background. Mary reaches across our invisible line with her outstretched hand. “Noli me tangere”. She reaches from the solid and static to the dynamic movement of the Risen Lord; from the darkened empty tomb into the into light and the fullness of life. It is so strikingly simple. The palate of colours is deceptively simple: off-white, green and ochre in harmony. It is easy to forget how different this work is most to other depictions of this scene before and after. There is no heaviness. It has a lightness to it and, as a fresco, a translucence. Each element speaks. For example the palm tree in the centre can be a symbol of the passion but it also recalls the tree in the Garden of Eden from which Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. This reminds the viewer that Christ is now the new Adam. There are flowers among the green grasses. Some are white but there are also dots of red pigment to suggest flowers. Similar dots of the same pigment are used for the wounds which can be seen in Jesus’ hands and feet. This beautiful garden is alive with the saving presence of the Risen Jesus. Mary had thought him to be the gardener. May the divine gardener tend to us now, so by the power of his death and resurrection, we may grow in faith, hope and love.
The Catholic Chaplaincy serves the students and staff of the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University and Queen Margaret University.
The Catholic Chaplaincy is also a parish of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh (the Parish of St Albert the Great) and all Catholic students and staff are automatically members of this parish.
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