RAPHAEL, ARCHANGEL

The angel who is one of the chief figures in the story of Tobit. The Book of tobit (Tobias) is the only book in the Bible that mentions him. In Hebrew his name r^epā’ēl (cf. 1 Chr 26.7) means "God has healed."

The stature of Raphael attained in pre-Christian Jewish and Christian belief as an instrument of divine intervention. Raphael appears as God's envoy, sent to answer Tobit's and Sarah's separate prayers by healing Tobit's blindness and by providing a husband for Sarah [Tb 3:16–17 (3.26 in Vulgate)]. Tobias, Tobit's son, is guided to Rages, Media, by Raphael, now disguised as a fellow Israelite. He leads Tobias to a happy marriage with Sarah (thus answering her prayer), collects Tobias' inheritance as a wedding gift, and finally brings the happy couple back to Tobit, whose blindness he then cures. Before returning to the heavenly court, he reveals himself to be "one of the seven Angels who are ever ready to enter into the presence of the Lord's glory" (12.12, 15).

The Bible mentions by name only three angels, Raphael, michael, and gabriel. Apocryphal works supply other names but usually in legendary fashion.

A cultus of Raphael appeared rather late and then only infrequently. A Venetian church was dedicated to him in the 7th century. Isolated references appeared honoring him on various dates, but only in the 17th century did Masses in his honor become more numerous. In 1921 Benedict XV instituted a universal feast for him, to be celebrated on October 24. The post-Vatican II reform of the Roman liturgical calendar created a combined Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael on September 29. In the Eastern Christian Tradition, the Feast of the Archangels is celebrated on November 8.

Images of Raphael before the 16th century are rare, but since then he has been widely depicted as the patron of travelers.

Bibliography: d. keck, Angels and Angelology in the Middle Ages (New York 1998).

[t. l. fallon/eds.]