An origin for the Carmelites: the tiles of the prophet Elias in the Church of Nossa Senhora do Carmo in Paraíba Colonial.

Abstract

Appeared in century XI, the Order of the Carmo adopts as its founder one of the figures most important of the Old Testament and history catholic: Elias Prophet. The secular lapse enters the effective sprouting of the Armelites and the appearance of the prophet excited diverse debates in the Church Catholic on the affirmation of the prophet as founding of the Armelites. The present article looks for to carry through a iconologic study of two panels of tiling of the Church of Ours Lady of the Carmo in the city of the “Paraiba colonial” – current João Pessoa – PB – that they portray important tickets of the life of Elias Prophet. Connecting these images to other imagetic elements of the church it is possible to visualize, inside of the Carmelite historical culture, the importance that the figure of Elias prophet has as warranter of the priority of the antiquity of the Carmelite Order.