Pelican

Pelican is a bird, the effigy of which was used in the Middle Ages to symbolise charity. It is generally represented as wounding its breast to feed its young with its own blood, and which became the image of the Christ who shed His blood for His people. The image is called “Pelican in her Piety”.

However, it should be noted that the mother Pelicans actually crush the fishes into their beaks with support of their breasts and they feed their young fledglings. In this process the blood of the fish naturally stain their feathers of their breasts, which gives an impression to the onlookers that blood is coming out of their breast, hence the traditional imagery originated and used to express the dedication of the mothers to their children.

Nearby pages
Pelides, Pelion, Pelissier, Pella, Pellegrino Rossi, Pelopidas, Peloponnesian War