Pelican Nationalism Pin - 1"

This beautiful 1" pin of a Pelican feeding her young is an historical reproduction of a stained glass window in Bedingfield church, Suffolk, England, circa 1878 (probably designed by Heaton, Butler and Bayne). 

"The Pelican is a Christian symbol of the atonement and the Redeemer, and is often found in Christian murals, frescos, paintings and stained glass throughout Christendom. The pelican was believed to wound itself in order to feed its young with its own blood. In the hymn "Adoro Te," St. Thomas Aquinas addresses the Savior with the following:

"Deign, O Jesus, Pelican of heaven, me, a sinner, in Thy Blood to lave, 
to a single drop of which is given all the world from all its sin to save."

Allusion is even made to this belief in "Hamlet" (act iv): "To his good friend thus wide I'll ope my arms And, like the kind, life-rendering pelican, Repast them with my blood."