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Raphael (
Standard Hebrew רָפָאֵל, Rāfāʾēl, "It Is God Who Heals", "God Heals", "God, Please Heal") is an
Archangel of
Judaism and
Christianity, who, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, performs all manner of healing. In
Islam, Raphael is the same as
Israfil. Raphael is mentioned in The
Book of Tobit, which is accepted as Canonical by Catholics, Orthodox, and some Anglo-Catholics, and as useful for public teaching by Lutherans and Anglicans.
The Angels, mentioned in The
Torah, the older books of The
Hebrew Bible, are without names. Rabbi
Shimon ben Lakish of Tiberias (230 A.D. – 270 A.D.), asserted that all the specific names for the Angels were brought back by the Jews from Babylon, and modern commentators would tend to agree.
Raphael is named in several Jewish apocryphal books (see below).
Raphael bound
Azazel under a desert called
Dudael, according to
Enoch 10:4–6:
And again the Lord said to Raphael: 'Bind Azazel hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert, which is in Dudael, and cast him therein. And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there for ever, and cover his face that he may not see light. And on the day of the great judgment he shall be cast into the fire.
[Editor: Pope Benedict XV extended The Feast Day of Saint Raphael
to the whole of The Catholic Church in 1921.]
Français: Photo de Benoît XV prise vers 1915.
Source: Library of Congress.
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Of seven Archangels in The
Angelology of post-Exilic Judaism, only
Michael, mentioned as Archangel (Daniel 12:1; Jude, verse 9), and
Gabriel, are mentioned by name in The Scriptures that came to be accepted as Canonical by all Christians.
The name of the Angel Raphael, appears only in The
Deuterocanonical Book of Tobit. The Book of Tobit is considered Canonical by Catholics, Orthodox, and some Anglicans. Raphael first appears disguised in human form as the travelling companion of Tobit's son, Tobiah (
Greek:
Τωβίας/Tobias), calling himself "Azarias, the son of the great Ananias". During the course of the journey, the Archangel's protective influence is shown in many ways, including the binding of a demon in the desert of Upper Egypt. After returning, and the healing the blind Tobit, Azarias makes himself known as "the Angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before The Lord" (Tobit 12:15). He is often Venerated and Patronised as Saint Raphael The Archangel.
Regarding the healing powers attributed to Raphael, we have his declaration to Tobit (
Tobit, 12) that he was sent by The Lord to heal him of his blindness and to deliver Sarah, his future daughter-in-law, from the demon
Asmodeus, who kills every man she marries, on their wedding night, before the marriage can be consummated.
English: Tobias and the Angel (Tob. 6:1-18).
Русский: Товия и ангел (Тов. 6:1-18).
Date: 1866.
Source: Doré's English Bible.
(Wikimedia Commons)
In The
New Testament, only the Archangels Gabriel and Michael are mentioned by name (Luke 1:9-26; Jude 1:9). Later manuscripts of John 5:1-4 refer to the Pool at
Bethesda, where the multitude of the infirm lay, awaiting the moving of the water, for "an Angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond; and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond, after the motion of the water, was made whole of whatsoever infirmity he lay under". Because of the healing role assigned to Raphael, this particular Angel is generally associated with the Archangel.
Raphael is sometimes shown as standing atop a large fish, or holding a caught fish at the end of a line. This is a reference to the Book of Tobit (Tobias), where he told Tobias to catch a fish, and then uses the gall-bladder to heal Tobit's eyes, and to drive away Asmodeus by burning the heart and liver.
Due to his actions in the Book of Tobit and the Gospel of John, Saint Raphael is accounted Patron of travellers, the blind, happy meetings, nurses, physicians, medical workers, matchmakers, Christian marriage, and Catholic studies.
Saint Raphael's Roman Catholic Church
Photo: 26 November 2008.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)
As a particular enemy of the devil, he was revered in Catholic Europe as a special protector of Catholic sailors: on a corner of Venice’s famous Doge’s Palace, there is a Relief, depicting Raphael holding a scroll, on which is written:
Efficia fretum quietum (“Keep the Gulf quiet”).
On 8 July 1497, when Vasco Da Gama set forth from Lisbon, Portugal, with his four-ship fleet to sail to India, the flagship was named, at the King of Portugal’s insistence,
Saint Raphael. When the flotilla reached the Cape of Good Hope on 22 October 1497, the sailors disembarked and erected a column in the Archangel’s honour. The little statue of Saint Raphael, that accompanied Da Gama on the voyage, is now in the Naval Museum in Lisbon, Portugal.
English: Church of Saint Raphael The Archangel,
Montreal, Canada.
Français: Église Saint-Raphael-Archange,
495, rue Cherrier, île Bizard. Montreal, Canada. info.
Photo: 30 July 2011.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Archangel Raphael is said to have appeared in Cordoba, Spain, during the 16th-Century; in response to the City’s appeal, Pope Innocent X allowed the local celebration of a Feast in the Archangel’s honour on 7 May, the date of the principal apparition. Saint
John of God, founder of the Hospital Order that bears his name, is also said to have received visitations from Saint Raphael, who encouraged and instructed him. In tribute to this, many of the Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God’s facilities are called “Raphael Centres”, to this day. The 18th-Century Neapolitan Nun, Saint
Maria Francesca of the Five Wounds, is also said to have seen an apparition of Raphael.
Raphael is honored in
Islam as one of the great
Archangels and is known more commonly as "
Israfil" or "Israfel" in Islamic history.
Deutsch: Aleksandrów Łódzki, römisch-katholische Kirche
der Hl. Erzengel Rafael und Michael.
English: Aleksandrów Łódzki, Roman Catholic Church
of the Holy Archangels Raphael and Michael.
Italiano: Aleksandrów Łódzki, Chiesa romana-cattolica
dei SS. Arcangeli Raffaele e Michele.
Русский: Александрув-Лодзинский, костёл Св.
Архангелов Рафаила и Михаила.
Photo: 26 May 2007.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)
According to the
hadith, he is the Angel responsible for signalling the coming of
Judgment Day by blowing the trumpet (namely
Sûr). According to tradition, the trumpet will be blown three times. The first blow of the trumpet will signal the beginning of The
Last Day and the second blow will signal the death of all living things, and the third blow will signal the time when all the Souls from all ages will be gathered for The
Last Judgement. According to the
Quran, an unnamed Trumpet-Angel, assumed to be Israfel, has been holding his breath, waiting for Allah's order to blow the
Sûr.
The Angel Raphael, along with many other prominent Angels, appears in
John Milton's Paradise Lost, in which he is assigned by God to re-warn Adam concerning the sin of eating of the
Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He also expounds to Adam the War in Heaven, in which
Lucifer and the demons fell, and the creation of the
Earth.
Saint Michael's Church,
Ballinasloe, County Galway, Ireland.
East Window, behind the Altar,
and an Angel blowing the Last Trumpet (upper row),
The Tracery matches that of the
(see small picture).
Photo: 15 September 2010.
Source: Own work.
Reference: 2010/9614.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The following Text is from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
Saint Raphael The Archangel.
Feast Day 24 October.
Double.
White Vestments.
Introit:
Benedicite Dominum, omnes Angeli ejus . . .
Bless the Lord, all ye His Angels . . .
Saint Raphael is one of The Seven Spirits who always stand before The Lord (Antiphon at The Magnificat) and offer Him the Incense of their Adoration and that of men (Offertory).
"While thou didst Pray with tears," he declared to Tobias, "and didst bury the dead, and didst leave thy dinner to conceal the dead in thy house by day, and by night didst bury them, I presented thy Prayer unto The Lord. And because thy wast agreeable to The Lord, it was necessary that temptation should try thee" (Second Lesson at Matins).
Tobias became blind. "The loss of his eye-sight," says Saint Augustine, "was the occasion for the old man to receive an Angelical physician" (Fourth Lesson at Matins).
Deutsch: Katholische Pfarrkirche St. Michael in Lutzingen,
einer Gemeinde im Landkreis Dillingen an der Donau (Bayern),
zentrales Chorfenster mit der Darstellung des
Erzengels Raphael, der Tobias begleitet.
English: The Archangel Raphael, together with Tobias.
Photo: 2 December 2010.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Saint Raphael, a name meaning "God heals", was sent by God to cure Tobias, as He sent the Angel who moved the water in the pool called Probatica (Gospel). He told the younger Tobias what remedy he was to use to restore his father's sight, accompanied and protected the young man on his journey, helped him to find a wife, and warded off the wiles of the devil.
"We praise with sentiments of veneration," the Church sings, "all the Princes of the Heavenly Court, but in a special manner the Archangel Raphael, healer and faithful companion, who chained down the devil under his power.
Deutsch: Katholische Pfarrkirche St. Michael in Lutzingen,
einer Gemeinde im Landkreis Dillingen an der Donau (Bayern),
Innenraum mit Blick zum Chor.
English: The Church of St. Michael in Lutzingen, Germany.
Saint Raphael is depicted in one of the Stained-Glass Windows in this Church.
Photo: 2 December 2010.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)
"O Christ, King of all goodness, by giving us such a guardian, make it impossible for the enemy to do us harm" (Hymn).
"May the Angel Raphael, physician of our Salvation, help us from the heights of Heaven, heal all diseases and guide our faltering steps towards the True Life" (Hymn at Lauds).
Pope Benedict XV extended Saint Raphael The Archangel's Feast Day to The Universal Church in 1921.
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