Noli me tangere (small box)
The Noli me tangere box (Latin: “Don't touch me!”) Was a small silver-gold-plated box in the Aachen Cathedral Treasure (L: 15.2 cm, H: 3.7 cm, D: 4.8 cm). Until the beginning of the 19th century it was kept in the Marian shrine of Aachen Cathedral together with the Aachen shrines . The box remained in the possession of the Aachen Cathedral Treasury until it was destroyed during the Second World War .
History of origin
The Aachen Cathedral Treasure includes u. a. the four so-called “great sanctuaries”: the dress of Mary , the diaper of Jesus , the decapitation cloth of John and the loin cloth of Christ. From 1349 onwards, these cloths were displayed and venerated as fabric relics in Aachen every seven years during the Aachen sanctuary tour . A legend tells that during such a journey to the shrine a pilgrim succeeded in separating and stealing small particles from each of the fabrics , despite the strict guarding of the cloth relics . When this pilgrim died years later, he is said to have regretted his deed and he returned the stolen pieces of cloth to the Aachen cathedral chapter . This matter is said to have been so embarrassing to the canons that in 1356 they commissioned the manufacture of a small silver box to safely store the relic parts they had bought back. After closing the box, they wrapped a green silk ribbon around it, sealed it and added a piece of parchment that said:
- " Anno domini M CCC LVI in festo magne dedicacionis ecclesie beate marie virginis Aquensis fuit ordinatum per capitulum dicte ecclesie ad hoc indictum quod presens sarculum cui hec scedula est appensa de cetero non apperiatur et hoc propter specialem statum etlesie utilitated ecclesie "
- “In the year of the Lord 1356, on the feast of the consecration of the large church, it was determined by the chapter of the Aachen Marienkirche that the present shrine to which this note is attached should no longer be opened, taking into account the special circumstances and the benefits of the named ones Church."
Because of this inscription, the silver box was popularly called Noli me tangere . The expression goes back to the Gospel of John , where Mary Magdalene is prevented by these words from the risen Christ from touching him ( Jn 20.17 EU ).
content
For the next 448 years nothing changed in the condition of the box. Every seven years it was removed from the Marian shrine together with the relics , blessed and then returned to the shrine. At the end of the late Middle Ages , there was often a deeply rooted tendency towards the mystical , which led to the fact that the box itself was viewed as a valuable reliquary and its contents, precisely because of its special significance as a relic, could not be viewed by anyone. Reports of an Aachen dean who is said to have opened the box out of curiosity and who was consequently blinded to death increased the secret of the small box.
opening
It is said that the actual contents of the box became known by accident. Aachen and the Rhineland were under French occupation at the beginning of the 19th century, and so, in 1804, Empress Joséphine , Napoleon's wife at the time , visited Aachen. On this occasion, the first Aachen bishop Marc-Antoine Berdolet showed the empress part of the Aachen relics - as was customary when visiting high-ranking personalities. Among other things, the box Noli-me-tangere was handed to her, and when it was touched the lock gave way and the box opened. Fragments of fabric from the Aachen sanctuaries had come to light. The empress was very shocked, having been told the story of the blind dean beforehand. When the box was opened, the secret that had been kept for centuries about its contents was finally revealed.
Whereabouts
During the Second World War, most of the Aachen Cathedral treasure was relocated several times, most recently to Siegen , from where it found its way back to Aachen after the war. However, a few parts of the treasure remained in Aachen, including the so-called “ pectoral cross of Charlemagne ” and the Noli me tangere box. Both items were kept in his cellar by the then cathedral treasurer, Msgr. Johannes Crumbach , during the bombing raids on the city . A phosphorus bomb hit the house on July 10, 1941 and destroyed the box and its contents.
literature
- Johannes Crumbach, Peter Lentz: The box “Don't touch me!” In the Aachen Cathedral Treasury. (= Publications of the Episcopal Diocesan Archive Aachen 3) Verlag Johannes Volk, Aachen 1937.
- Ernst Günther Grimme : The Aachen Cathedral Treasure. (= Aachener Kunstblätter 42). 2nd edition, Schwann, Düsseldorf 1972, pp. 75-76.
- Dieter PJ Wynands: On the history of the Aachen sanctuary trip. Einhard Verlag, Aachen 2000, ISBN 3-930701-73-1 .