The Resurrection

Something you will not see in Edinburgh Jesuit Church today is the huge mural of the Resurrection of Christ painted on the Apse arch in 1952.

The mural was painted by Edinburgh artist Derek Clarke (1912-2014).

Clarke painted in the style of the Renaissance murals at the Collegiata di Santa Maria at San Gimignano in Tuscany. At the top of the apse arch, Christ steps out of his tomb holding the eucharistic bread he shared with his apostles at the Last Supper. Beneath are the words Resurrexit sicut dixit - “He is risen as he said” - the angel’s proclamation on Easter morning (Matthew 28:6).

On either side are witnesses to his resurrection. Each of these is a real person, just as at San Gimignano. We can recognize St John Ogilvie, Cardinal Gray (then Archbishop of St Andrews & Edinburgh), members of the Jesuit community and St Catharine’s Convent, as well as parishioners.

Sadly, the work did not meet with approval from the congregation and was covered up only a couple of years later.