Page "Mount Carmel" Paragraph 20

A Carmelite monastery was founded at the site shortly after the order itself was created, and was dedicated to Mary, in her aspect of Star of the Sea ( stella maris in Latin )-a common medieval presentation of Mary ; although Louis IX ( of France ) is commonly referred to as the founder, he was not, and had merely visited it in 1252.

The Carmelite order grew to be one of the major Catholic religious orders worldwide, although the monastery at Carmel had a less successful history.

During the Crusades the monastery often changed hands, frequently finding itself to have become a mosque ; under Islamic control, the location came to be known as El-Maharrakah, meaning place of burning, in reference to the account of Elijah's challenge to the priests of Hadad.

In 1799 the building was finally converted into a hospital, by Napoleon, but in 1821 the surviving structure was destroyed by the pasha of Damascus.

A new monastery was later constructed directly over a nearby cave, after funds were collected by the Carmelite order for restoration of the monastery ; the cave, which now forms the crypt of the monastic church, is termed Elijah's grotto by the monks.