How can we be sure about the archangel Raphael?

[TheWeepingLamb]

I haven’t been able to research this too much, but I’ve read that most Catholic scholars nowadays don’t consider the book of Tobit to be a strictly historical book, but rather a long parable that reveals a religious truth. If it is a parable, then how do we know that Raphael is really one of the archangels, since he’s not mentioned explicitly in scripture except for the book of Tobit? Have there been any miracles attributed to his intercession that have been approved by the Church?

 

[claude1]

I wish I could answer this because I have had a long devotion to St. Raphael and yet I do not think he is mentioned in any other place. But, then, even if it is a parable of some sort, surely there is something to be learned from it, or why is it even in the Bible? I have always thought of St. Raphael as the patron of travelers, and also, the quality of preparing a person for what he or she is about to go through, as St. Raphael told Tobit what to take along, etc. Tobias didn’t know what he was going to need but St. Raphael did. I also think of him as a wonderful guide, on our pathways, when we feel we have gone off the track or got lost.

Even if it’s just a parable, and it does read like a story, the whole point of it seems to be just who is this wonderful person that has come to him? In the translation I read years ago Raphael’s reply contains this phrase which has comforted me many many times, even if I forget what translation it came from: “God lives; I am standing before His face!”

 

[Bookcat]

Well he has been given a feast…

His feast on the Calendar of the Church was yesterday.

Tradition regards the angels as messengers of God, “potent executives of his commands, and ready at the sound of his words” (Ps 103, 20. They serve his salvific plan, and are “sent to serve those who will inherit salvation” (Hb 1, 14).

1. The faithful are well aware of the numerous interventions of angels in the New and Old Covenants. They closed the gates of the earthly paradise (cf. Gen 3,24), they saved Hagar and her child Ishmael (cf. Gen 21, 17), they stayed the hand of Abraham as he was about to sacrifice Isaac (cf. gen 22, 7), they announce prodigious births (cf. Jud 13, 3-7), they protect the footsteps of the just (cf. Ps 91, 11), they praise God unceasingly (cf. Is 6, 1-4), and they present the prayer of the Saints to God (cf. Ap 8, 34). The faithful are also aware of the angel’s coming to help Elijah, an exhausted fugitive (cf. 1 Kings 19, 4-8), of Azariah and his companions in the fiery furnace (cf. Dan 3, 49-50), and are familiar with the story of Tobias in which Raphael, “one of the seven Angels who stand ever ready to enter the presence of the glory of God” (cf. Tb 12, 15), who renders many services to Tobit, his son Tobias and his wife Sarah.

From: vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20020513_vers-direttorio_en.html

 

[Bookcat]

Even if the genre is of a kind of story upon historical things…though not history per se - this does not mean that St. Raphael himself does not exist…

Remember too the Primary author of Sacred Scripture is God…and humm…He certainly knows the names of his angels…

The Church rightly observes his feast…and she is well aware of the writings of exegetes…and the various genres contained in Scripture…

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20070929_episc-ordinations_en.html

(read all…most is towards the bottom…cool meditation)

 

[TheWeepingLamb]

Thank you both for your answers. It’s funny, when I first became a Catholic, I think the first angel I sought the intercession of was Raphael. Then, when all of these questions about Raphael began to bother me, I turned on a Catholic radio station after work and I learned it was his feast day. I feel drawn to pray to Raphael and to seek his intercession, and yet all of these questions about him are bouncing around in my mind.

 

[Cachonga]

I have a question - since the Scriptures make a clear distinction between angels and saints, when did angels become saints? When did the Church officially declare angels (like Michael and Raphael) to be saints, and what was their basis for doing this?

 

[Bookcat]

I have a question - since the Scriptures make a clear distinction between angels and saints, when did angels become saints? When did the Church officially declare angels (like Michael and Raphael) to be saints, and what was their basis for doing this?

Saint means “Holy”…this is a term applied and used in different senses by Scripture and the Church…

For example we have “Canonized Saints” …those set forth as examples of heroic holiness etc…

Angels are Holy…set apart for God…they are thus called “Saints” too…

Christians themselves are called saints…particularly by Paul…we are holy by our being “in Christ”…it is all over the New Testament…Acts 26:10 Romans 16:5 2 Cor 13:13…just to give a very few

“At the beginning of Christianity, the members of the Church were also called “saints”. In his First Letter to the Corinthians, St Paul addresses “those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Cor 1: 2). Indeed, Christians are already saints because Baptism unites them to Jesus and to his Paschal Mystery, but at the same time they must become so by conforming themselves every more closely to him.”

–Pope Benedict XVI

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/angelus/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_ang_20071101_all-saints_en.html

Angels have always been Saints…always been holy.

 

[TheWeepingLamb]

Hi everyone! I found the answer to my question–right here on the Catholic Answers website:

catholic.com/thisrock/2003/0307bt.asp

We know that the seven angels who stand before the Lord–one of whom must be Raphael–are not just some fanciful part of a parable, because the seven angels are also mentioned in Revelation 8:2.

 

[patrick457]

I haven’t been able to research this too much, but I’ve read that most Catholic scholars nowadays don’t consider the book of Tobit to be a strictly historical book, but rather a long parable that reveals a religious truth. If it is a parable, then how do we know that Raphael is really one of the archangels, since he’s not mentioned explicitly in scripture except for the book of Tobit? Have there been any miracles attributed to his intercession that have been approved by the Church?

Well, here’s one answer from a historical POV.

The whole science of angelology developed during the Exile and in post-exilic Judaism, when there was apparently a serious interest in the up-to-then still rather vague idea of the anonymous messengers of God that fleetingly appear in older texts. As a result, certain angels came to take on a more particular significance and developed unique personalities and roles, even names (the 3rd century rabbi Simeon ben Lakish once said that all the specific names for the angels were brought back by the Jews from Babylon). These angels were generally believed to have rank amongst the heavenly host: thus, they are known as ‘arch-angels’.

What’s interesting is, many Jewish sources from this period and afterwards - aside from Tobit, you also have the Dead Sea Scrolls, rabbinic and Kabbalistic tradition, the Book of Enoch, the Life of Adam and Eve (aka Apocalypse of Moses), as well as a number of amulets and talismans - give the number of these high-ranking messengers as seven. Most agree on the names of at least three: Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. This was one of the things that we Christians have inherited from our Jewish forebears.

There is some confusion about the rest, as many sources do not agree on their names: you have angels like Uriel, Sariel, Raguel, Remiel, Zadkiel, Jophiel, Haniel or Chamuel in Jewish tradition; later Christian sources expand the list of candidates further by giving other names such as Phanuel, Simiel, Zarachiel, Barachiel, Jegudiel/Judiel, etc. (!!) So at least we can safely say that most people already called one of the seven ‘Raphael’ from the earliest days.

 

[patrick457]

Well he has been given a feast…

His feast on the Calendar of the Church was yesterday.

Trivia: St. Raphael was only given a proper feast in the Roman Rite around 1921. Before the 1969 reform of the General Calendar, he was alloted to October 24.
St. Michael once both had May 8 (The Apparition of St. Michael) and September 29 (The Dedication of the Basilica of St. Michael), while St. Gabriel had March 24, the day before the Annunciation (he was also only included in the General Roman Calendar in 1921).
During the reforms, the May 8 feast was struck out, while September 29 became dedicated to all three archangels.

 

[Cachonga]

Bookcat:

Saint means “Holy”…this is a term applied and used in different senses by Scripture and the Church…

Let me rephrase the question - Since the Scriptures never call an angel a saint, why are angels now addressed as saints (like ‘St. Michael the Archangel’, instead of ‘Michael the archangel’ as found in Jude 1:9)? In other words, since the Scriptures make a clear distinction between saints and angels (such as in Rev 7, where we see a great multitude of saints in verse 9 and all the angels in verse 11), when and on what basis did the Church decide that angels were also saints? Stating that “saint” means ‘Holy’, doesn’t work, because the Scriptures still make a clear distinction between saints and angels.

 

[Bookcat]

Let me rephrase the question - Since the Scriptures never call an angel a saint, why are angels now addressed as saints (like ‘St. Michael the Archangel’, instead of ‘Michael the archangel’ as found in Jude 1:9)? In other words, since the Scriptures make a clear distinction between saints and angels (such as in Rev 7, where we see a great multitude of saints in verse 9 and all the angels in verse 11), when and on what basis did the Church decide that angels were also saints? Stating that “saint” means ‘Holy’, doesn’t work, because the Scriptures still make a clear distinction between saints and angels.

Holy= saint.

It all depends on the translation.

Scripture when it refers to Christians as saints…such could be translated as “holy” …etc some translations do. Such as “God’s holy people”…or holy ones…

Angels too are called “holy angels” …for example: Jesus uses the term in Mark 8:38 and Luke 9:26…or you find it in Rev. 14:10

Stating saint means holy actually does work…Scripture does not have the usage of calling any human “St. So and so” either…such developed in time…but again meaning holy. (Latin Holy: Sanctus)

Scripture also does not refer to “Canonized Saints” …they did not exist yet…(they were not canonized…though calling very holy persons “st.” began long before formal canonization…)

The terms are largely determined by usage …to denote the holiness of the person…(angels are persons). In our common speech and in other places such as liturgy etc we use the term “Angel” for angel or Holy Angels etc…and Saint for human persons of great holiness…to distinguish and further emphasize who we are talking about. For example we will use the phrase “The Saints and Angels” to point out that there are human persons involved and angels involved…but if we address a particular angel …we will say “St. Michael” often…to point out that he is holy…

In the Eastern Catholic Churches…they can have more “elaborate” way of addressing some of the Saints and Angels…

 

[Light1111]

I haven’t been able to research this too much, but I’ve read that most Catholic scholars nowadays don’t consider the book of Tobit to be a strictly historical book, but rather a long parable that reveals a religious truth. If it is a parable, then how do we know that Raphael is really one of the archangels, since he’s not mentioned explicitly in scripture except for the book of Tobit? Have there been any miracles attributed to his intercession that have been approved by the Church?

I don’t suppose it’s ever easy to take someone else’s experience as a proof of an angelic intervention, yet your question moved me to share mine.

I have prayed to Archangels Raphael, Michael and Gabriel throughout my life. I have a sort of “sense” about each one of them, as I feel as though they are with me, when I do my prayers. Over time I’ve developed an idea about whom you pray to, for which purpose. I pray to Archangel Raphael when I am concerned about others; to Archangel Michael in matters of the heart and of the faith; and to Archangel Gabriel when feelings and emotions are upset or confused.

Time and again, I have “received signs” that each of these Archangels have received my prayers and have answered them. It would be difficult to put into words why I believe this to be so. But these three are available to us when we are in need. My sense of being pulled towards them began when I was only a child, and has endured throughout my life. I am grateful for their guidance, protection and support.

Peace!
Light1111

 

[oneGODoneCHURCH]

the way it was explained to me is that a saint is someone in heaven since the angels are in heaven they are saints. The chruch cannization is just offical reconnition of those whom have gone to heaven even if some has not been cannoizied if they are in heaven they are a saint.