Saint Raphael
Feast: 29th September
Patronage: the blind, young people, mental illness, against nightmares, doctors, of happy meetings, of nurses, of physicians and of travelers.
Saint Raphael is one of my all time favourite Saints. I often prayer for his intercession, he has helped me in the past especially with keeping my husband to be (at the time) safe, ensuring a ‘happy meeting’ and other prayer requests. As some of you know me personally you would know that my husband and I named our son after this Saint. It was such a special moment to name our son after him. It was an experience of spiritual closeness, peace and contentment.
So, as his feast day is on the 29th Sept I thought it would be fitting to make this Saint of the Week, Saint Raphael the Archangel. Raphael means “God Heals”. One source states that Raphael is mentioned within the book of Enoch and “healed” the earth once it was defiled by the sins of the fallen angels (1).
Saint Raphael is one of the seven Archangels surrounding the throne of God. He is one of the three whom are mentioned by name in the bible, along with Michael and Gabriel.
Saint Raphael helped a man named Tobiah and his soon to be wife Sarah. Sarah was possessed by evil spirits and each of her seven bridegrooms died on the night of their wedding. St Raphael came and helped Tobiah to safely enter into a marriage with Sarah. Raphael took Tobiah and disguised him as another man named Azariah thus overcoming the evil spirits within Sarah. Tobiah credits St Raphael for his intercession which restored his father, Tobit’s, eyesight, allowing him to see the heavens (1).
Saint Raphael, pray for us
Sources:
1 http://www.catholic.org
2 http://www.catholicculture.org
Originally posted 2014-09-29 23:59:30.