ChristStory Bestiary

PELICAN

Self Sacrifice

This bird exemplifies the sacrificial love of a parent for its offspring. The mother pelican's habit of reaching into her pouch to extract food for her young led to some misunderstanding amongst early peoples. They believed that the parent bird was tearing open its breast to feed its babies on its own blood.

Legends abound in which the father pelican revives his deceased young by tearing open his heart and drenching them with his life's blood. In some, the mother inadvertently smothers the children with her abundant caresses. In others, the babies die of weakness, are killed by snakes, or treat the father so insolently that he murders them in a rage. In each case, the father, seeing that his children are dead, mourns them loudly for three days and then revives them at the cost of his own life. The resurrected young awake full of health and goodness. These legends serve as allegories for the resurrection of mankind in Christ and the purifying sacrifice of blood and water which flowed from the wound in His side (Jn 19:31-37). Inspired by these legends, Thomas Aquinas wrote, "Pelican of mercy, Jesu, Lord and God, cleanse me, wretched sinner, in thy precious Blood; Blood, whereof one drop for humankind outpoured, might from all transgression have the world restored." During the Middle Ages, many artists placed a pelican with its nest on top of the cross.

St. Gertrude had a vision of Christ in the form of a pelican feeding humankind with His blood. Her vision has Eucharistic connotations. Jesus told His astonished followers, "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life" (Jn 6:54).

Until the 18th century, the Christ-pelican was almost always portrayed piercing itself on the right side of its breast. This imagery was drawn from a vague interpretation of Ezekiel's prophecy, "...the water [Christ's blood and water] was flowing from under the right side of the temple [Christ's body]... and it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live..." (Ezek 47:1, 9). Later, Freemasons would use a pelican piercing its left side as a symbol of the self-sacrifice required of its members. Many artists and craftsmen were unaware of the significance of the right side of the breast, and the pelican of the Free Masons began appearing in Christian art and churches.

Just as Christ's sacrifice was the ultimate act of charity, so too, is the pelican's gift of life to its undeserving young an emblem of this Christian virtue which is ever ready to lay down its life for a friend or the sheep (Jn 10:11, 15; 15:12-13). Its antithesis is the vampire (representative of the heretic) who prolongs his own life by taking blood (eternal life) from its victims.

In the Bible, the destruction and utter desolation of nations is summed up by saying that the pelican, along with other wild beasts and birds, shall dwell in their place (Isa 34:11; Zep 2:14). Through the psalmist, Christ also called Himself "a pelican of the wilderness" (Psa 102:6). This phrase refers to His rejection by His people and abandonment by His followers during His Passion (Mt 26:56; Lk 55-62; Mk 14:50-52). The "pelican of the wilderness" has also been associated with Christ's fast in the wilderness after His baptism in the River Jordan (Mt 4:1-11).

Another pelican myth is that it would eat only the smallest amount of food necessary to maintain life. It therefore became symbolic of those who fast and/or strive for spiritual purification.

All scripture quotes are from the NKJV Bible.