photo - St. Peter Cathedral collection

rom the accounts given by Herodotus and Plutarch, the phoenix would seem to have been a mythical bird of matchless splendor and extraordinary longevity which came from Ethiopia and, having been cremated upon a funeral pyre, had the power to be reborn from its own ashes.  When the time of its death drew near, it built a nest of aromatic twigs in which it burned from the heat of its own body.  This clearly displays the aspects of its symbolism - the cycle of regeneration, resurrection and immortality. This is why, throughout the Middle Ages, the phoenix was made the symbol of Christ's resurrection and sometimes that of his divine nature, as the pelican was of his human nature.