Heather and I took them to our favorite pub, The Candelite in north Chicago. Afterwards we went to Techny in Northbrook, IL. Techny used to be the home of the Divine Word Missionaries. Basically, it was a place where they trained men who were preparing to go into seminary for the priesthood. Now it's mainly a retirement facility for older priests and also a retreat center. We didn't visit due to our interest in Catholicism or the Divine Word Missionaries. We were visiting because several years ago I visited the cathedral located there and remembered that it was just an amazing place nestled in the suburbs of Chicago. And I wanted to share it. I also really wanted to see it again. It's such a visual surprise, especially as you are driving along in the repetition and monotony of traffic lights, gas stations, malls, and fast food restaurants.
We walked through the lobby area and into the narthex, which is kind of like a foyer for all of you protestants out there. The nave (the sanctuary) was incredible. Relatively simple pews, but along the right and left were statues of the disciples. Each disciple was on a column and spaced between each column was a station of the cross. There were vaulted ceilings had ornate curves that met at a center. And I can't think of what that center piece is called, but I think I used to know. There were also beautiful stain glass windows of other saints. Of course these stain glass windows are nothing like the ones I've seen in England, but they were beautiful nonetheless. Unlike most stain glass windows in Europe, American stain glass windows in churches were not really used to tell the stories to illiterate people. That's not a judgement on the people, but it was a reality at the time.
Go to Techny Towers to find out more about the cathedral and area. If you would like a short primer on the cathedral layout, go here. The Techny Towers Cathedral was laid out very similarly to the one in the article.
Near the front of the Crossing or Apse (see article above), there was an image of a large white bird with two of its chicks. The adult bird was picking its breast, and the blood was dropping down to the open-mouthed fledglings. I remembered that that was an image of Christ, and I knew it was adopted at some point in the early church, but I didn't know when. At first I thought it was an ibis.
Well, of course I had to look it up. It's a pelican. During the middle ages, the pelican became a symbol for Christ, virtually replacing the image of a lamb and flag. The pelican was thought to be a sacrificial and pious bird because it looked as if the mother picked her breast to feed her young with her own blood. While the image of them picking their breast to feed the young their blood, is a potent Christological image, it is an incorrect reading. Pelicans have never been known to pick their breasts to feed the young.
So how did this come about misperception come about? Well, based on my limited research, there are a few reasons. First, pelicans have rather large pouches on the bottom of their bills. When they are trying to get their catch out of their mouth to feed their young, they often have to press the pouch against their breast to push the rest of the food out. From a distance and from an unscientific mindset, it might look like its picking its breast. The second reason is that the pelican is simply resting its head, and this also looks like it might be wounding its breast for blood.
Regardless of whether or not the pelican was picking its breast to provide brood droplets, or if it was simply pushing any remaining fish out of its pouch, it was providing for its children in a sacrificial manner. I have always thought the image was rather haunting and beautiful. When I hear all this language referring to God and my faith in militant or legalistic terminology, it's nice to see God compared to a nurturing mother Pelican caring for her young. It's not the first time God is compared to a bird, though. The Old Testament speaks of God and his characteristics in many bird and bird-related ways: doves, eagles, and hens; wings and pluck. I'm sure there are others.
I really don't have a point to make. Just some observations. God bless.
