'The Pelican in her Piety' A4 Linocut Print

'The Pelican in her Piety', an original lino print by a UK based Christian artist.

This piece uses the Christian symbolism of a mother pelican who feeds her young, representing Christ who feeds his children with the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist. Medieval mythology about the pelican held that she would feed her chicks with her own blood, pecked from her breast, just as Christ gives us the gift of his own Body and Blood in the Eucharist. I chose to depict my pelican in a thorny nest with its evocations of the crown of thorns, looking towards the ultimate self-giving sacrifice of Christ on the Cross.

This is an original design, hand printed using premium oil-based ink on white 200gsm paper (A4). Every print is different and subject to small amounts of variation, showcasing the unique nature of printmaking.

'Pie Pelicane, Jesu Domine,
Me immundum munda tuo Sanguine:
Cujus una stilla salvum facere
Totum mundum quit ab omni scelere.'
(from St Thomas Aquinas' hymn Adoro te devote)

English:
Pious Pelican, Lord Jesu,
Cleanse me, unclean, with your Blood,
One drop of which can heal
the entire world of all its sins.