Unusual Altar Symbol

[Chesterton]

TC said it was on the altar cloth.

I might be wrong about it being on the the cloth. It was on the altar somehow, facing the congregation.

 

[AMDG]

Here's a brief clip of the altar during a Mass at Hanceville. Is it this?

YouTube - Solemn High Mass, Hanceville, Alabama clip03

 

[Chesterton]

Yep, that's it.

 

[Rhamiel]

This is really interesting, never heard of this before nor was I aware of such practices of pelicans either.

I am not sure if pelicans really do this
but it was a common story in the roman empire

 

[Andrew Ryan]

I am not sure if pelicans really do this
but it was a common story in the roman empire

Indeed.

I tried researching such practices but haven't found anything to confirm it, either way, I like the imagery and symbolism.

 

[ebia]

This is really interesting, never heard of this before nor was I aware of such practices of pelicans either.

They don't in reality. But it still makes an interesting symbol.

 

[Andrew Ryan]

They don't in reality. But it still makes an interesting symbol.

Agreed, though I'm still curious as to whether or not this is true. Even still, if it's not, I just find the symbolism and imagery powerful and inspiring, call me morbid but I do.

 

[JoabAnias]

Agreed, though I'm still curious as to whether or not this is true. Even still, if it's not, I just find the symbolism and imagery powerful and inspiring, call me morbid but I do.

I don't know about actual blood but I know most birds regurgitate their food to feed their young and pelicans have a throat pouch.

More info here, it appears "real" blood is a legend:

Symbolism and popular culture

In medieval Europe, the pelican was thought to be particularly attentive to her young, to the point of providing her own blood when no other food was available. As a result, the pelican became a symbol of the Passion of Jesus and of the Eucharist (see for example the hymn "Adoro te devote", or "Humbly We Adore Thee", by Saint Thomas Aquinas, where in the second to last verse he makes reference to Christ, the loving divine pelican). It also became a symbol in bestiaries for self-sacrifice, and was used in heraldry ("a pelican in her piety" or "a pelican vulning (wounding) herself"). Another version of this is that the pelican used to kill its young and then resurrect them with its blood, this being analogous to the sacrifice of Jesus. Thus the symbol of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) is a pelican, and for most of its existence the headquarters of the service was located at Pelican House in Dublin, Ireland.

The emblems of both Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Oxford and the medical faculties of Charles University in Prague are pelicans, showing its use as a medieval Christian symbol ('Corpus Christi' means 'body of Christ').

Likewise a folktale from India says that a pelican killed her young by rough treatment but was then so contrite that she resurrected them with her own blood.[1]

These legends may have arisen because pelicans look as if they are stabbing themselves as they often press their bill into their chest to fully empty their pouch. Other possibilities are that they often rest their bills on their breasts, and that the Dalmatian Pelican has a blood-red pouch in the early breeding season.[1]

The symbol is used today as the national bird of Sint Maarten and features on its coat of arms.[10] It is also used on the Louisiana state flag and Louisiana state seal, as the Brown pelican is the Louisiana state bird. The pelican is featured prominently on the seals of Louisiana State University and Tulane University, and is also the mascot of Tulane. A pelican logo is used by the Portuguese bank Montepio Geral.[1]
Pelican - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[JohntheTheologian]

They don't really do it. It's something which turns up in late antique zoological works, and was a favourite symbol in Latin Christain art up until the Reformation. You see it quite often in medieval parish churches in the Church of England.