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EDUCATION AND FORMATION

Birds in Legend

and Symbol

BY EILEEN CLARE GRANT

any birds, even though they do not appear by
name in Scripture, were adopted as Christian
symbols or became associated with Saints or
Mcharacters in the Bible. The raven, for example
is often to be found in paintings of the prophet Elijah,
bringing him food in the wilderness.
It is also depicted in a favourable light in relation to several
saints: God is said to have sent another raven to guard the
martyred body of St Vincent of Saragossa when it was thrown
into a field. It ‘drove away all other birds and fowls, greater than
he was, and chased away also a wolf with his bill and beak.’ The
raven is also associated with St Antony Abbot and St Paul the
Hermit as it brought them a loaf of bread each day when they
lived together in the desert. As the raven symbolises solitude, it
is often associated with hermit saints. It is connected also with
St Benedict who fed a raven when he lived as a hermit in a cave
and continued this practice in community. On one occasion, a
malicious monk tried to kill St Benedict with a poisoned piece of
bread which Benedict called on his raven to dispose of.
The dove frequently appears in Christian paintings, as the
symbol of the Holy Spirit, as described in the Gospels. Just as
the Spirit hovered over the waters at the dawn of Creation, so the
dove is seen hovering over the head of Jesus at his baptism in the
Jordan. He is pictured regularly in paintings of the Annunciation
to Mary – ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power
of the Most High will overshadow you.’ – either hovering above
her head or zooming down from Heaven in a stream of light
or shower of gold, as artists attempted to depict the miraculous
conception of the Son of God. The dove of the Holy Spirit also
appears in paintings of the ‘Mourning Trinity’ – the Father
holding the crucified Son in his arms and the dove hovering
between them.
Peacocks were symbols of immortality in ancient Greece when
people believed the beautiful feathers didn’t decay after the
peacock died. Early Christians adopted this symbol and so we
often find a peacock in Christian art representing resurrection
and eternal life. The Catacombs of Saint Gennaro in Naples
contain a vault in which Mass was celebrated, with images of
the peacock decorating it. It was also carved on sarcophagi.
The thought of spiritual immortality would have been a great
consolation to Christians during the early persecution.
The goldfinch became known as a symbol of the Passion
because of both its markings and its supposed diet. Because the
goldfinch was believed to eat thorns, like those on Jesus’ crown
as he was crucified, it became linked to the Passion. Legends also
appeared that described this lovely bird pecking at the crown of
thorns as Jesus walked to Calvary. As the goldfinch flew around
Jesus’s head, a drop of his blood fell onto the goldfinch’s head
and thus appeared the striking red markings on its head and
face. Paintings and sculptures of the Virgin and Child sometimes Our Lady of Tintern by the sculptor Philip Chatfield
depict the Child Jesus holding a goldfinch. When held by Our Tintern Abbey [Ethan Doyle White, Wikimedia Commons]

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