Great Christian/Catholic Symbol - the Pelican
Many animals and fowl have special symbolic meaning to the early Christian church especially when Christians were an “underground society” worshiping in secret meeting places to avoid persecution.
We’ve already looked at the ICHTHUS Fish symbol in a previous post. Other great symbols of early Christianity included the Lamb, Dove, Peacock, Phoenix and even the unicorn. Today we will look at the symbolism behind the Pelican.
The Pelican is a Christian symbol of Christ as the Redeemer having shed His blood on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. The pelican was believed to draw blood from her chest and feed the blood to its young. In the hymn Pelican of Mercy, St Thomas Aquinas wrote “Pelican of Mercy, cleanse me in Thy Precious Blood.
Similarly, the Pelican symbolizes the Eucharist, where the bread and wine is transfigured into the body and blood of Christ.
Today, the emblems of both Corpus Christi College in Cambridge and Corpus Christi College in Oxford are pelicans. Corpus Christi means “the body of Christ”.
