Our Lady of Mount Carmel Print

Mount Carmel is a biblical place where the prophet Elijah dwelt.  It rises 1,742 feet above sea level and towers above Israel’s Mediterranean coastline.  It was here where Elijah prayed to God for the salvation of Israel, which was suffering a terrible drought at the time.  He continued to pray and sent his servant up the mountain several times to look for rain.  On the seventh try, Elijah’s servant returned with good news.  “Behold a little cloud arose out of the sea like a man’s foot” (1 Kings 1:44).  Soon thereafter, torrential rains fell upon the parched land and the people of Israel were saved.  Elijah saw the cloud as a symbol of the Virgin mentioned in the prophecies of Isaiah (Isaiah 7:14).  The hermits who lived on Mount Carmel followed Elijah’s example and prayed for the advent of the much-awaited Virgin, who would become the mother of the Messiah.  The origins of the Carmelite Order can be traced back to Elijah and his hermited disciples. In the 13th century, during the Crus