The symbol of the self-sacrificing pelican bird is one well-known to Christian artists down the centuries – but, as usual, when Margaret Rope uses it, she puts her own spin on it.
The millennia-old legend, adopted by Christianity, was that in times of famine the female pelican would tear open her breast, and feed her young with her own blood – and thus she became a symbol for Jesus’ sacrifice, as He atoned for the sins of the world. The pelican’s sacrifice reflects the Passion of Christ – and the image has become known formally as the ‘Pelican in her Piety‘.
Lanark
Marga’s most well-known pelican is the one in Lanark RC Church (see pic below). Fittingly, her pelican is set in tracery, above a light showing the events of Easter (Passion) Week and the Crucifixion.
Interestingly she gives her pelican a halo and – doubly unusual – she gives it an orange-coloured halo. (Having said that, Marga’s use of orange is quite striking).
A fellow enthusiast for Marga’s work, Ms R Moody, writes in her comments on Margaret’s pelican in Lanark Church: “…a halo is unusual in itself – the pelican in art doesn’t usually have a regular halo. Concerning haloes, it either has none or a tripartite one.”
Poignantly, as Ms Moody further writes, the pelican symbol opened up in the nineteenth century to come to mean ‘sacrifice-for-others’ generally, and so is often seen on war memorials remembering soldiers ‘who died that others may live’.
And, though there is no direct reference to the conflict, this Lanark window was installed in 1915, right in the middle of World War One.
Vibrancy
In fact, the year 1915, when Margaret was 33 years old, was in a period when Marga was at her creative best.
Unsurprisingly then, this particular pelican scene in Lanark has a thrilling vibrancy to it (especially when the light comes shining through it). Marga gives us a variation of shining colours: putting a green nest and a bright blue stream into the mix, as well as the orange halo and scarlet blood.
The shape behind the pelican has not been definitely identified – is it a rising sun? However, the shapes in the air – those that could be pointed leaves – are probably flames of fire, as they resemble other flames by Marga elsewhere.
Why flames should be there though at all is another puzzle. (All suggestions welcome!)
Curiously, Marga’s other pelican (in Clapham Church, 1930s) is rather dull and doesn’t bear a second glance…
Ornithology
A last observation: Marga likes to be exact in her depictions even to the extent in this scene of showing the chicks as they really would have been – rather unattractive!
She has also resisted the urge to give the pelican a long, swan-like neck, even though other artists do do just that. Margaret was very keen on birds and would likely have disapproved strongly of anything so anatomically incorrect – though that fact didn’t stop Burne-Jones…! (see below).
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Celebrating Margaret Rope - stained glass-artist 
The Halo The image of the pelican in her piety is indeed a symbol of Christ’s sacrifice, the pelican herself representing Christ. This identification is made clear by Marga in the halo of her third pelican (which you didn’t mention), in her window at Upholland Chapel. There she has given the pelican a cruciform halo, a type reserved for the three Persons of the Holy Trinity.
The Tongues of Fire These represent the Holy Spirit, as they did at Pentecost when the Spirit came down onto the apostles (see Acts 2:1-4). As the pelican in her piety is a symbol of Christ’s once and for all sacrifice it is also a symbol of the Eucharist, in which his sacrifice is made present and actual.
It is the action of the Holy Spirit, together with the words of Christ at the Last Supper as spoken by the priest, which effect the transformation of the bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood.
The Sun Christ is ‘the Sun of Righteousness’, rising ‘with healing in its wings’ (see Malachi 4:2 and the last verse of ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’). He died on the cross ‘so that we, free from sins, might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.’ (1 Peter 2:24), so this is an appropriate inclusion in a representation of Christ’s sacrifice.
Roger Hall
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It’s not the ‘Pelican in its Piety’ (that title is formed by opinion only). The symbol of the Pelican injuring itself to feed its young from its own blood is the symbol for Christ our Redeemer (taken directly from the 18th Degree ritual of Freemasonry). Hence why it has a halo.
The Pelican became the symbol of Sacrifice, more specifically Self-Sacrifice for the sake of others, because it’s the only creature observed in nature to give its own flesh and blood so that its young may survive (as observed in Egypt in times of famine).
This symbol found its way into churches after United Grand Lodges were formed and the traditional history of the symbol became known to Christians who joined Freemasonry (because one must be a Christian in order to take the 18th degree). That’s why the Pelican is not in the Bible, yet it’s depicted in churches all over the world (I have at least 100 pictures of this symbol). All because the traditional history account of the origin of the symbol was a secret preserved by ancient Masons.
Anon
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