Scripture:  Mark 10:13-16, Matt 19:13-15, Luke 18:15-17

 

NOTE:  Apostles in background, just chastised by Jesus for sending the children away.

 

Top Window:  Symbol of the Pelican.  From the ealiest Christian era, the pelican has been a symbol of the Church or even of Christ.  The pelican is depicted pecking its chest usually while sitting atop her brood of hatchlings.  When the pelican gathers food for the young, the adult stores the fish in its bill and then opens the bill by pressing it against its chest:  This creates the illusion of the chest being opened and the young feeding on the body and blood of the parent.  The legend grew beyond fact and by the end of the Middle Ages the Pelican became a standard symbol of the Eucharist in Baroque art and as ornamentation on altars, chalices, tabernacles and vesture.