Pelican of Lavenham

One of the carvings at Lavenham Church, Suffolk, depicts a bird plucking its own breast. This is a pelican, and medieval folk thought it fed its young with its own blood. This belief, which is untrue, might have arisen from the bird’s habit of resting its beak downwards, and some of them having red breaks and white feathers. Either way, the pelican is rich medieval image of Christ, who feeds life to His people with His own life blood. Likening the Lord to a bird might seem rather demeaning, but He Himself uses fowl imagery:

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! (Luke 13:34)

The Hen that gathers the chicks also saves and feeds them with precious life blood.

Image by john Ioannidis from Pixabay