“Pentecost”, Giotto di Bondone, 1305, Capella Scrovegni, Padua.
Giotto frescoed the walls of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua with 38 scenes drawn from the life of Christ, the Virgin, and her parents, Joachim and Anna. He arranged them in chronological order, so that, scene by scene, the viewer follows the story which begins with Joachim and ends with this scene of Pentecost. Each scene is populated with various characters, but none of them look at the viewer. Their focus is on the story unfolding within the fresco. But in this fresco alone, St Peter who is seated on the left, looks out at the viewer. so that he or she is no longer an onlooker. Moreover, the room where the disciples were gathered has become a church-like structure, which seems to project out from the wall into the viewer’s space. With its open lattice of gothic arches, it must have looked like a lantern when light made the now dull rays and the halos shine out. St Peter, who was nicknamed the rock, looks at the viewer who has followed the whole story from the beginning as if to say, “like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). Others have noted the singularity of St Peter’s gaze. Some quote C.K Barrett who wrote: “In Luke’s thought, the end of the story of Jesus is the Church.” And so, this final fresco, puts before us an amazing truth, that despite our unworthiness, by our baptism we are made part of Christ’s story and enter into his Life.
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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