Last updated: 04/11/2006
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St Raphael
Feast day: 24th October
Raphael is the leader of the Guardian Angels. Because of his association with healing, he is sometimes thought to be the angel who stirred the water of the pool of Bethesda (John 15.1-15), where Jesus healed a man with paralysis. The name Raphael means "God heals" and so he is a very suitable patron saint for our Guild.
He is not mentioned in the Old and New Testaments but he is mentioned in the Book of Tobit and in Enoch, both books in the Apocrypha, the 40 books that are not officially part of the bible, but sometimes are found lurking between the two Testaments. The story goes that Tobit was a faithful Jew who lived in exile. He became blind and sent his son Tobias to reclaim some of his money and possessions from his former homeland. Tobias meets up with a stranger, who agrees to go with him. They have various adventures on the way, one in which a monster sprang out of a river and tried to eat Tobias! His life was saved by his new companion. Eventually they return home safely, and the same companion cures Tobit's blindness before revealing himself as the Angel Raphael.
The Book of Enoch speaks of fallen angels defiling the earth, which is then healed by Raphael.