The pelican is a traditional symbol of Christ because for thousands of years it was believed that the pelican would feed its offspring by tearing off pieces of its own flesh, sacrificing itself as Jesus sacrificed himself for us and feeds us with his Eucharist, his flesh.

The Latin at the bottom of the card is "Christus dilerit nos et lavit nos en sanguine suo," which translates to, Christ Loves Us and Washes Us in His Blood.

We fell in love with this gorgeous card the minute we saw it. We love the lavender and fuchsia colors of the wild flowers, rich decorative elements typical of around the 1870s. We think the artist was suggesting the trinity in the flowers, one bud with three petals, and the color choices in the red and purple families correlate to the Passion and Kingship of Jesus. Catholic art is typically "written" with a lot of symbols. Our artist perhaps had never seen a pelican, or was using artistic license in giving the bird a swooping neck that is more swan-like than pelican, and resembles the stems of the flowers on the card.

The artist is anonymous, and strangely the publisher is too. That may date it even a decade or so earlier, into the first lithographs, where distribution was not widespread, so that everybody who got this card was local and knew who the publisher was. We're just guessing. It may also be they did not want to mar the beauty of their card with the crass commercial practicalities of their name and location.

** IMPORTANT ** The image is smaller than the paper! There is a white border of about 0.5" inch for 5x7", 1.3" for 8.5x11, or 1.6" for 11x14" pictures. The border gives the prints a finished look, and lets them look good in frames without using a matt.

- Acid-free paper
- Archival pigments, rated to last for generations.
- Cardboard backer
- Above story of the art
- Enclosed in a tight-fitting, crystal clear bag.

Thanks for your interest!
Sue & John

"In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art." ~ St. Pope John Paul II

Original image is out-of-copyright. Descriptive text and image alterations (hence the whole new image) © by Sue Kouma Johnson - Classic Catholic Art.