Seal of the New Jersey Sisters of Charity
  The symbolic PELICAN forms the main emblem in the  
  Community seal, representative at once of the spirit of sacrifice
  and love for others, indicated by the Pelican's feeding its
  young from its own substance: This symbol was adopted by
  the Community after its formal incorporation and grant of its
  charter by the State of New Jersey.

  The significance of the number of birds in the nest recalls the
  Seven Founders of the Community in 1859. Beneath the nest is the year; the lettering about the rim of the seal, Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, New Jersey. Above the Pelican, in a scroll, the Community motto, Deus est Caritas (God is Love).

From The New Jersey Sisters of Charity by Sister Mary Agnes Sharkey, New York, 1933, Volume III, page 29.