The Old Testament prophet and disciple of Elijah, remembered for a ministry of miracles among the people of ancient Israel.

Saint Elisha was the prophet of ancient Israel who received Elijah’s mantle and continued his ministry through a series of miracles recorded in the Second Book of Kings, including healings, provision for the poor, and guidance to kings. His place and exact dates are not fully fixed in the historical record, but his role as Elijah’s chosen successor is clear from Scripture itself.

Quick Facts

• Era: 9th century BC
• Venerated as: Prophet
• Relationship: Disciple of Saint Elijah
• Scriptural record: 2 Kings

Who Was Saint Elisha?

Elisha appears in Scripture as the young farmer whom Elijah calls to discipleship by casting his mantle over him, and who later receives “a double portion” of Elijah’s spirit at his master’s ascension. The Second Book of Kings records an extended ministry of Elisha’s own, including the healing of Naaman the Syrian leper, the multiplication of a widow’s oil, and his involvement in the political affairs of the northern kingdom of Israel across several reigns.

Historical Setting

Elisha’s ministry unfolds across the ninth century BC in the northern kingdom of Israel, continuing the prophetic confrontation with the Omride dynasty that Elijah had begun. Unlike Elijah’s often solitary, dramatic interventions, Elisha’s recorded miracles are frequently domestic and communal — feeding, healing, restoring — making him a somewhat different prophetic figure even as Scripture presents him as Elijah’s direct heir.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Elisha

The Church honors Elisha as a prophet whose ministry showed God’s compassion reaching into the ordinary needs of ordinary people — widows, lepers, farmers — and not only into royal courts. His healing of Naaman is cited by Christ himself in the Gospel of Luke as an example of God’s mercy reaching beyond Israel to a foreigner.

Canonization and Feast Day

As a scriptural rather than post-biblical figure, Elisha has no canonization date; his standing in Christian veneration comes from his place in the biblical canon and the Church’s continuous liturgical memory of the prophets.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

Elisha’s readiness to leave his plough and family the moment Elijah called him is a lasting image of the cost, and the immediacy, that a genuine vocation can ask — and his subsequent ministry of quiet, practical mercy shows that following God is not always dramatic; often it looks like meeting the needs right in front of you.

A Prayer to Saint Elisha

Saint Elisha, prophet who received a double portion of your master’s spirit, obtain for us the readiness to answer God’s call without delay, and hearts attentive to the ordinary needs of those around us. Amen.

Sources

• 2 Kings 2-13 (Sacred Scripture)
• Butler’s Lives of the Saints
• New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia