Elijah in the Early Carmelite Liturgy

Abstract

If we look through the early manuscripts of the Carmelite liturgy, dating before 1500, there is a noticeable absence of any trace of a  liturgical feast for Elijah, even though there are frequent references to a similar feast for Elisha, and even though there was a fervent  devotion to Elijah within the Order from of old. Not without reason was he called, and is, the Father and Leader of the Carmelites. We  can therefore justly ask ourselves why this fervent devotion never found liturgical expression before 1500. In the following pages I  would like to offer a few basic premises which, as hypotheses, can shed some light on this subject.