A Pelican in the Wilderness

My friend Cynthia Large is an accomplished artist whose work in diverse media has focused on women in history who have broken out of the traditional role assigned to them by patriarchy, in part at least through their mystical religious fervor or ability to prophecy or receive information from the Divine...

Above is St Christina the Astonishing, who was referred to as "a pelican in the wilderness," quoting from Psalm number 102:

⁶I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.

⁷I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.

⁸Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me.

⁹For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping.

Let's hope poor Christina has had better luck since then!