CHYLINSKI, RAFAŁ MELCHOIR, BL.

Baptized Melchoir, Conventual Franciscan priest and musician; b. Buk in Wysoczka near Poznán, Poland, Jan. 8, 1694; d. Łagiewniki near Łodz, Poland, Dec. 2,1741. Melchoir completed three years of military service and exited as an officer. Although he had studied with the jesuits, he entered the Conventual Franciscans at Krakow (1715). He received the name Rafał (Raphael) and studied theology and philosophy. Because of a shortage of priests, his studies were cut short, and he was ordained in 1717. After being assigned to nine parishes in different cities, he was appointed to Łagiewniki, Poland, where he remained, except for a short period, until his death thirteen years later.

Chylinski's simple, powerful preaching, commitment to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and life of self-sacrifice drew people of all classes. He enhanced liturgical worship by playing the harp, lute, and mandolin. For twenty months (1736–37), he ministered to victims of a Warsaw flood and the resultant epidemic without considering the risk to his own health. Before his death at age forty-seven, he became known as the patron of the poor, whom he would supply from his own resources. His body rests in the Franciscan church at Łagiewniki and has becomme a pilgrimage site. He was beatified by John Paul II, June 9, 1991, in Warsaw, Poland.

Feast: Dec. 2 (Franciscans).

Bibliography: l. j. bernatek, Rafał Chylinski: studium z dziejów zycia religijnego w epoce saskiej (Warsaw 1971); Blogoslawiony Rafał Chylinski z Łagiewnik (Niepokalanów 1991).

[k. i. rabenstein]