St. Raphael

the Archangel

St. Raphael is of the seven Archangels who worship before the throne of

God, and one of three mentioned by name in the Sacred Scripture. We

find reference to St. Raphael in the Book of Tobit. Under the appearance

of a human in the, St. Raphael refers to himself as "Azarias the son of

the great Ananias" and travels with Tobit's son, Tobiah. After Raphael

returns with Tobiah, he reveals to Tobit his mission from the God to heal

his blindness and deliver Tobiah’s soon to be wife Sarah from the demon

Asmodeus. Here St. Raphael unveils his true nature saying, I’m "the

angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord” (Tobit

12:15).

Each man Sarah married, on the night of the wedding, where brought to

death by the demon Asmodeus before the marriage could be

consummated. St. Raphael removed the demon from Sarah allowing for

the her marriage and consummation to Tobiah. Also, Tobit’s vision was

healed from fish liver, which Raphael lead Tobiah to find on their

journey, St. Raphael, taken from the the Hebrew language, translates to

“God heals”, “Divine Healer”, or “Remedy of God”. His feast of St.

Raphael is celebrated universally on September 29th and he his the

patron saint of the blind, travelers, and bodily ills.