Born lucky

Source: http://www.caulbearersunited.webs.com

It turns out that the Russian expression родиться в рубашке (literally - to be born in a shirt), meaning to be lucky especially in happily avoiding accidents, implies a very special kind of "shirt". There is an equivalent in English (but I guess not widely used) - to be born with a caul (on one' s head). Caul refers to the membrane on the head of some (very very few!) new-born infants - remains of the embryonic amnion, that is removed at birth. It is held to be a charm, especially against death by drowning. They were once advertised for sale and frequently sought after by mariners. Sometimes it is also referred to as veil.
Different languages have similar terms as either a shirt (as in Russian mentioned above, Italian -  camisia) or a headdress (in German Galea - helmet, Polish czepek - a bonnet). In Polish the idiom "w czepku urodzony/a" (literally "born in a bonnet"). In the same vein, the French say etre né coiffé, but the Spanish are more practical with their Nacer con un pan bajo el brazo (born with bread under his arms). An interesting list of these expressions in various languages can be found here.
To be born with a caul was the Romans tantamount to being born with a silver spoon in one's mouth. This expression however refers more to luck in a sense of wealth, to be born in a well-off family.

So-called caulbearers have had troubled times, especially in Middle Ages, when they were persecuted. A number of historical persons, e.g. Napoleon Bonaparte, were known to be born with caul. Also fictional characters, such as Salinger' s Catcher in the Rye's Holden Caulfield  even has it in his name. An excerpt from Charles Dickens'  David Copperfield (1850) to finish off -

"I was born with a caul, which was advertised for sale, in the newspapers, at the low price of fifteen guineas. Whether sea-going people were short of money about that time, or were short of faith and preferred cork jackets, I don't know; all I know is, that there was but one solitary bidding, and that was from an attorney connected with the bill-broking business, who offered two pounds in cash, and the balance in sherry, but declined to be guaranteed from drowning on any higher bargain. Consequently the advertisement was withdrawn at a dead loss ... and ten years afterwards, the caul was put up in a raffle down in our part of the country, to fifty members at half-a-crown a head, the winner to spend five shillings. I was present myself, and I remember to have felt quite uncomfortable and confused, at a part of myself being disposed of in that way. The caul was won, I recollect, by an old lady with a hand-basket.... It is a fact which will be long remembered as remarkable down there, that she was never drowned, but died triumphantly in bed, at ninety-two."