On Ramos Sunday night, a solemn silence flooded the narrow streets of the center of Seville at the passage of the Holy Christ of Love, one of the most characteristic images of Holy Week processions.
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In this great show of popular piety in which art and devotion live together, a large multitude of faithful accompanied the crucified Christ, a size of the seventeenth century of the architect and sculptor Juan de Mesa.
Among the golden candlesticks flanked by angels and the striking mound of red flowers, a curious image is seen at the feet of Jesus: that of a pelican who feeds his three offspring with the blood of his own heart.
The sculpture of this pelican that opens his chest with his peak while wrapping his offspring is 1694 and is the work of the architect Francisco Antonio Ruiz Gijón.
The Pelican, if necessary, feeds his young with his own flesh to keep them alive, symbol of the Eucharistic sacrifice.
The magnanimous delivery of this bird that hurts itself for love symbolizes the sacrifice that Christ made for men, by shedding his blood for our salvation.
Therefore, throughout history, the image of the Pelican has established itself in Christianity as a sign of the passion of Christ.
In fact, Santo Tomás de Aquino, in his anthem Adoro te devotehe referred to Jesus as “good pelican.” San Isidoro de Sevilla also referred to this symbolism in his work Etymologies.
Almudena Martínez-Bordiú
Graduated in journalism and advertising from the CEU San Pablo University of Madrid. Specialized in religious information in Spain since 2015. It has been a senior correspondent for ACI Press and Ewtn News at the Vatican for two years and is currently a correspondent for Europe based on Spain.