Elias the Prophet – I – July 20
Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

Biographical selection: Elias was the first man who had devotion to Our Lady. He founded the Carmelite Order and transmitted this devotion to it. He also fought against the polytheism that was contaminating the Israelite religion, as well as the bad customs of his people. He prepared his disciples to continue the same fight to preserve the true Faith in Israel. Elias the Prophet by Fra Angelico In the bulls In Apostolicae dignitatis and Dominici gregis cura, Pope Clement VIII declared that conversion of souls is a part of the mission of Elias inherited by the Carmelites. In one of his epistles St. Athanasius advised a hermit to dedicate himself to the conversion of his fellow man following the example of Elias. In her revelations, St. Bridget of Sweden saw the Mother of God offer Elias and St. John the Evangelist to men as models for preachers. St. Ambrose also acknowledged the exceptional gift of Elias for conversion, and St. Ephrem affirmed that the Prophet led the way in the conversion of the Israelites to the true God, from Whom they had distanced themselves. St. John Chrysostom stated that Elias was the guide of peoples and the guardian of sacred things. St Gregory the Great saw in Elias the model of the true Doctor. St. Gregory Nazianzen pointed to him as an example for Prelates. St. Simeon Metaphrastes advised that one who wants to know the spirit of a religious order should study the spirit of its founder, since he is the spiritual father of all its followers. In Elias, he concludes, his burning fire and zeal of soul was so intense that they were transmitted as primary characteristics of the Carmelite Order. Fr. Cornelius a Lapide spoke these inspired words about him: “Elias was the symbol of all the Prophets in consideration not only of his perfection, liberty and efficacy in preaching but also of the glory of his great actions. He was the sentinel, the prophet, the master, the protector and the apostle of the Chosen Nation, and he was the mirror of the preachers of the Divine Word, since his spirit, tongue, and gestures were but one single flame turned toward converting peoples.”  Comments of Prof. Plinio:  These are profound thoughts that show Elias as a kind of Prince of the Prophets. Prince of the Prophets, because he had a broader mission than the others, he converted more people, and his action was more profound for the Israeli nation. He was a true guide of God’s People, who saved it from disaster. The Chosen People had strayed from the true Godand were worshipping the false gods of their neighbors He came to fight against heresies in a time when the Chosen Nation had completely deteriorated. Divine Providence chose Elias to found a religious order, to communicate to it his spirit and then to sustain this spirit in the whole Israeli nation. His spirit encompassed all the gifts God wanted to give to Israel. The synagogue had deteriorated because it had accepted the errors of neighboring religions. At that moment Elias came to fight, to expel heresy, to restore the kingdom of God in the people of God, to found a family of followers, and to thus begin to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. This was the grandiose mission of Elias. It is beautiful to see how God is traditionalist. How He loves the continuity in His own works. One of the proofs of this is that in the far distant past He sent two men, Enoch and Elias, to guarantee that nothing would change from that model He had established in the early times. That same continuity exists between the things He taught Enoch and Elias then and in end times, when they will again come to confirm those truths and convert those who are able to be converted, or to fight against those who have deviated from the truth. Therefore Elias and Enoch are the bridges God established between His marvelous work in early times and His marvelous work to come in the end times. Both Prophets – Elias and Enoch – did not die, but probably live in the terrestrial Paradise, where they contemplate the things of Heaven and follow the course of events on earth. They are awaiting the clock of History to strike their hour to return. Then the Angels will transport them to earth to fight against the Antichrist. They will come to fight the last battle of History. That is really a beautiful thing! Having lived in the early days of time, they will return to link the beginning of History to its end, like a kind of clasp that connects and gives unity to all of History. Elias was the first man to have devotion to Our Lady. In a small cloud in the distance he saw from Mount Carmel, he understood a symbol of Our Lady. The small cloud grew larger and larger and gave origin to a rain that saved the Israeli nation from a terrible drought. Our Lady was the cloud and Our Lord was the rain. So, this same man who first glorified the Holy Virgin will be the last one to sing her praises at the end. We can understand how magnificent this saint is. The trumpet will sound, Elias and Enoch will return to battle The Chosen People indisputably was a pre-figure of the Catholic Church. This is something St. Paul often taught. The crisis Elias resolved in his time has countless analogies with the crisis we are witnessing today in Holy Mother Church. Therefore, Elias is also the patron of those who combat the Progressivist Revolution inside the Catholic Church and fight to maintain the tradition God established in His Church. Our analogous situation draws the love of Elias to us, Catholics who have dedicated our lives to this fight. Also our devotion to the Holy Virgin is another factor that attracts his benevolence. What should we ask Elias on his feast day? I would suggest asking him for three graces:1. To increase our devotion to Our Lady;  2. To help us see more clearly both in its supernatural and natural aspects our vocation of serving the Catholic Church;  3. To transform us into true Apostles of the Last Times, and for this to give us a fiery spirit, coherence, combativeness and a love for celestial things, so admirably described by St. Louis Grignion de Monfort as characteristic of the Apostles of the Last Times.With these three supernatural gifts I am certain we can accomplish our vocation and, doing this, attain celestial happiness after having had an earthly happiness. Because in this life true happiness comes from knowing and realizing what we were born to do. It is the only true happiness. I hope Our Lady will give to all of us this happiness. Elias, the Prophet – II – July 20  Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira I received a gift from a friend in Buenos Aires, a printed image representing Elias the Prophet distributed by the Maronite Catholics there. This picture is venerated by both the Catholics of Lebanon and those who live close to Mount Carmel. The Maronites report an interesting fact about this picture. It is one of these legendary episodes, which expresses well the ambience where the devotion of Elias developed among them. There was a man who had stolen some goods and was caught. Brought before the authorities, he insistently denied the charge. So, the Maronites brought the man, an unbeliever, before this image of St. Elias and ordered him: “Now, look into Elias’ eyes and deny again that you are the thief.” When the man looked directly into the face of this figure of Elias, he became so frightened that he confessed his crime. Elias after slaying the prophets of BaalThis image caught my attention because of its dignified and majestic presentation of the Prophet. It is a magnificent rendition, in my opinion, of how we can imagine the Prophet Elias. I believe that it could be good to disseminate this picture among us. You can see that it is a quite Eastern figure. The gesture he is making has the emphasis – I would say the pomp – that can characterize a Prophet of the Old Testament. He is a powerful man who reminds me a little of the painting of Charlemagne by Dürer. His face has a light complexion, the gaze is fixed on one point and is penetrating. There is a great coherence in the expression of his physiognomy, in the position of his body and in the gestures of his arms. You see the firmness with which he holds this sword. He is supporting himself on the sword, but at the same time this arm is in fully readiness to raise and use it. Dr. J.F.C. is reminding me that in this picture Elias had just finished killing the 400 priests of Baal. If you recall, the Prophet Elias challenged more than 400 prophets of Baal to a contest to see whose God could send down fire from Heaven to consume a sacrificed bull. The false prophets prayed to Baal but their god was unable to start a fire. Elias built an altar and dug a trench around it, filling it with water. Then, he prayed and God sent down a fire that consumed the holocaust and even the stones of the altar. Elias slew all the false prophets of Baal and commanded the people to abandon their idolatry. So, all those men were beheaded with that sword. The least we can say is that this sword had worked a lot…  You see that the other arm takes a position of declamation, of recrimination. He is accusing the prophets of Baal – so it appears if we consider the fire at left and the slain man to his right. Or he is recriminating the people who are not faithful, represented by these three men at the right who are cringing before him. He is a fighter! The warrior in him is also noticeable in his body. It is solid, even slightly heavyset. For my taste, it could have been represented a little more slender. He gives the impression of a man planted in the ground, rooted in the earth. And, no one can move him from the place where he stands. There is nothing here, however, of a purely physical fighter. The flame in his gaze and the polemical demeanor of his whole physiognomy mark him much more than his muscular structure and the position of his body. His soul is more combative than his body and explains the combativeness of the body. Although it is an Eastern image, it curiously follows a Western pattern with the colorful panorama [Note from the editor: Unfortunately in the copy we have at hand the original colors have faded significantly]. It has something of the freshness of a painting of Fra Angelico, at least in my opinion. One finds this, for example, in the small red hat of the one man to the right. If his hat were brown, the painting would lose some of its freshness. Note also the diaphanous light, the green of the plants, the blue sky and the beautiful fire. These are aspects that bring to my mind Fra Angelico. Naturally, the apparel is typically Eastern: the turban topped by a small diadem, the mantle that covers the tunic. It is a discrete mantle, but it immediately catches the attention. The diadem contributes to the majesty of the personage and adds a picturesque Eastern detail: In the West it is very rare to represent a Prophet with a crown and, even rarer, with a diadem. It conforms quite well to the ensemble of Elias’ personality. His thick beard and the full mustache fortify the idea of a virile man. This is one of the most interesting images I have seen depicting the Prophet Elias, which is why it seemed opportune to make a slide of it to show you and comment on it tonight. God sends fire from Heaven at Elias’ prayerPainting by Lucas Cranach, 16th century Elias the Prophet – Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Biographical selection:  The renowed exegete and Jesuit theologian Fr. Cornelius a Lápide made the following exegesis on this verse from Scriptures: Then stood up Elias the prophet as fire, and his word burned like a lamp (Eccles 48:1): “After the reign of Solomon, Elias became eminent among the heroes and illustrious men of Israel. With his zeal and strength of soul, he extinguished the idolatry and wickedness introduced by Solomon. God raised up Elias, who burned with zeal for God and for the true religion. … Indeed, by his zeal Elias slew more idolaters than he converted.”  Comments of Prof. Plinio:  It is the middle-of-the-road mentality that causes men to say that it is better for Catholics to build than to destroy. Following this line, it is also more appropriate for man to convert than to combat. And, therefore, it is better to have a spirit of conciliation, kindness, friendliness, that is, one of confusion and surrender for this is what it lead to – and not to fight the adversary as he must be fought. Elias the Prophet pictured with a bloody sword, after killing 400 prophets of Baal This was an objection that was often made against the old Legionario [the Catholic newspaper directed by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira in the 1930s and 1940s] and against Catholic Action at the time I presided over it. Unfortunately, at that time I did not know Cornelius a Lápide. But Cornelius, whose authority has the weight of law, deals with this topic very well and praises Elias, saying “He killed more idolaters than he converted.”  One might object: “But how can this praise of Elias be justified? Isn’t it better to convert than to fight?”  The answer is evident. If a person can be converted by a good argument instead of by splitting his head with the sword, one should prefer to convert him. This is something anyone can see; only a barbarian would think otherwise. The point is, however, that there are numerous cases of persons who are spreading every type of evil. If these people will not convert, it is necessary to fight them, because otherwise they will harm others. In epochs of great evil, times of immense decadence, the hearts of men become hardened and obstinate against any argument or good deed, and men spread evil. To prevent them from continuing to do this great harm, that is to say, out of hatred for the evil they do and out of love for the good that is being lost, it is necessary to fight them. There is no other remedy. It was not Elias who was guilty of repression; it was Solomon who favored sin, who brought sin into the bosom of Israel. So, if a middle-of-the road man is outraged by the severity of Elias, we can refute him by saying: You should become indignant over the prevarication of Solomon. Elias was the doctor, the surgeon who, through amputation, cut out the gangrene that Solomon had instilled in Israel. That is the crux of the matter! Disclaimer: We are not responsible for the content of externally-linked web pages. 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