20 July



Wednesday was one of the patronal feasts of the Carmelite Order, St Elias the Prophet. The medieval Order considered him quite literally the founder and themselves the successors of the sons of the prophets. These days a paper trail is prefered for that sort of claim and so the holy prophet is now just the spiritual founder. Most of what you need to know about St Elias can be found in the third book of Kings.

The old collect for St Elias from the Discalced Carmelite liturgy:

Præsta, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus: ut qui beatum Eliam Prophetam tuuum et Patrem nostrum, igneo curru mirabiliter elevatum esse credimus, eodem interveniente ad cælestia sublevemur, et Sanctorum tuorum consortio gaudeamus. Per Dominum nostrum Ieum Christum. Amen.