Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Change of Name : The Catholic Pelican Blog

We are changing our name from the "Christian Sparrow" to "The Catholic Pelican Blog". We didn't know that the Christian Sparrow was already a popular name for many blogs. So it became hard for friends to find us on a search engine.


Hopefully this will be better.



We wanted to stay with a bird theme for consistency, and with a relatively less popular symbolic bird. The Pelican is an ancient symbol of Christ, and of sacrificial love. There was a legend, long before Christ, that a pelican would pierce its breast in time of famine to feed its young, and even by this blood bring their children back to life. The early Christians adopted this symbol for Christ as far back as the 2nd century.

The legend went something like this as inscribed on an ancient drawing:

“This pelican lives near the Nile river and marshes in Egypt. It loves its young so much that when snakes kill them, it strikes its sides until blood comes out and with its blood brings them back to life.”

Even though this legend is not true, the pelican can still symbolize  Christ artistically--  whose blood and sacrifice gives us life. It became a very popular symbol in the many churches all the way up until the 17th. century.

Other parts of the symbolism were that they were protective symbols against snakes, and were great fishing birds--I mean, it can dive into the water headfirst from 40 feet in the air – with its mouth open – to catch a fish, symbolizing God's search for souls.

The symbol is called: “Pelican in her Piety.”-- the sacrificial love for her children.

https://www.stfrancisdesales.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/pelican.png

No comments:

Post a Comment

A PROTESTANT HISTORIAN CONVERTS TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

  A. David Anders, PhD Protestant Historian I grew up an Evangelical Protestant in Birmingham, Alabama. My parents were loving and devoted, ...