Noli me tangere ('touch me not') is theLatin version of a phrase spoken, according toJohn 20:17, byJesus toMary Magdalene when she recognized himafter His resurrection. The originalKoine Greek phrase isΜή μου ἅπτου (mḗ mou háptou). The biblical scene has been portrayed in numerous works ofChristian art fromLate Antiquity to the present.[1][2] The phrase has also been used in literature, and later in a variation by military units since the late 18th century.
According toMaurice Zundel (1897–1975), in asking Mary Magdalene not to touch him, Jesus indicates that once the resurrection is accomplished, the link between human beings and his person must no longer be physical, but must be a bond of heart to heart. "He must establish this gap, she must understand that the only possible way is faith, that the hands can not reach the person and that it is from within, from within only, that the we can approach Him."[3] Likewise, later, whenThomas reached out to touch the wounds of Jesus, Christ declares: "blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" [John 20:29] because "He knows it is useless."[3]
Christians of Western Catholic tradition, namelyCatholics,Lutherans, andAnglicans, would say this statement is to be received in relation to theAscension of Jesus. That is, because he had not yet ascended to the right hand of God, it was more of a "not yet" statement rather than a "never" cling to me. Jesus became incarnate for the sake of humanity and is explicitly said to retain his human body. When Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father, he "fills all things" (e.g. Eph. 1:23), and can properly be clung to in the means of grace he provides, such as in theEucharist.
The words are a populartrope inGregorian chant. The supposed moment in which they were spoken was a popular subject for paintings in cycles of theLife of Christ and as single subjects, for which the phrase is the usual title.
In theEastern Orthodox Church andEastern Catholic Churches, the Gospel passage includingNoli me tangere is one of the elevenMatins Gospels read during theAll Night Vigil orMatins on Sunday mornings.
Inmedicine, the words were occasionally used to describe a disease known to medieval physicians as a "hidden cancer" orcancer absconditus; the more the swellings associated with these cancers were handled, the worse they became.[4]
Thetouch-me-not balsam is known by the binominal nameImpatiens noli-tangere; itsseed pods can explode when touched, dispersing the seeds widely.[5]Hibiscus noli-tangere has sharp glass-like needles that detach from its leaves when touched.[6]
Like other significant scenes in the Gospels, this expression was used repeatedly in Christian culture, specifically literature. Following 14th century poetPetrarch,[7] 16th-century poetSir Thomas Wyatt, in his lyric poem "Whoso list to hunt", says the speaker is hunting a hind, who stands for the elusive lover. The doe wears an inscribed collar: "There is written, her fair neck round about: /Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am".[8]Pliny the Elder had an account about deer of "Caesar", which lived 300 years and wore collars with that inscription.[9] In another source,Solinus (fl. 3rd century AD) wrote that afterAlexander the Great collared deer, they survived 100 years. He did not mention any inscription on the collars.[10]
D. H. Lawrence refers to the phrase on several occasions, most notably in his poem "Noli Me Tangere" satirizing cerebralism.[11]
Filipino poet and national heroJosé Rizal used this phrase as the title of hisnovel,Noli Me Tángere (1887), criticizing theSpanish colonization of the Philippines. He writes that ophthalmologists use this phrase in reference to a cancer of the eyelids. It symbolized the people's blindness to the ruling government, which Rizal deemed a social cancer that people were too afraid to touch.
The thirteen-hour version of the experimental filmOut 1 (1971) is sometimes subtitledNoli Me Tangere, as an ironic reference to it being the uncut version favoured by the directorJacques Rivette (as opposed to the edited version,Out 1: Spectre, which is four hours long).[12]
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Historically, the phrase was used byRevolutionary-Era Americans in reference to theGadsden flag—with its derivation "don't tread on me"[13]—and other representations dating to theAmerican Revolutionary War.[14]
In theUnited States military, the phrase is the motto of the US Army's oldest infantry regiment, the3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), located atFort Myer,Virginia. The snake symbol can be found in the coat of arms of the369th Infantry Regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters. "Don't tread on me" is also used in theFirst Navy Jack ofUnited States Navy. It is also the motto of the U.S Army4th Infantry Regiment, located in Hohenfels, Germany. The Royal Air Force adopted this motto for theNo. 103 (Bomber) Squadron.
A piece of forehead flesh covered by skin, previously attached to the alleged skull of Mary Magdalene, is kept in the cathedral ofSaint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume in southern France. The relic is purported to be from the spot above Mary's temple touched by Jesus at the post-resurrection encounter in the garden.[15][16]
The biblical scene of Mary Magdalene's recognizing Jesus Christ after his resurrection was repeatedly represented as the subject in a long, widespread, and continuousiconographic tradition in Christian art from Late Antiquity until today.[2][1]Pablo Picasso, for example, used thec. 1525 paintingNoli me tangere byAntonio da Correggio, stored in theMuseo del Prado, as an iconographic source for his 1903 paintingLa Vie (Cleveland Museum of Art) from his so-calledBlue Period.[17]
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