In the Roman sanctoral calendar there is a day for St. Elijah, the Prophet. Now, of course, we do not have such a day on our Lutheran calendar but the comparison is not about which days made it and which did not (or which became merely commemorations). It is about the riches of propers which are tuned to the day. The Roman proper preface for St. Elijah is:
Right indeed it is and just, proper and for our welfare, that we should always and everywhere give thanks to you, holy Lord, almighty Father, eternal God; and that we should triumphantly praise, bless, and proclaim you on this solemn feast of blessed Elijah, your Prophet and our father: who, at your word, arose like fire, closed the sky, raised the dead, smote the tyrants, killed the impious, and laid the foundations of the monastic life; who, fed with bread and drink by the ministry of an angel, walked in the strength of that food as far as the holy mountain; who was carried off in a whirlwind of fire, to return as a herald of the second coming of Jesus Christ our Lord; through whom your majesty is praised by the Angels and the Archangels, by the Cherubim too and the Seraphim, who lift up their endless hymn, day by day, with one voice singing:
Don't you just love how the preface itself is filled with the primary details of the life of Elijah in a poetic way which invites us to know him of whom the day is set apart to remember? I do. I miss the abundance of propers in our Lutheran orders and wish we had utilized more rather than less. Less is more is not a good principle in just about anything, much less rites and texts. Though our Lutheran inclination is to tend toward simpler rather than elaborate, I wish we had expanded rather than reduced such examples of liturgical riches.
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