Carmelite Sisters of the Child Jesus
Biography
Saint Raphael was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, in September 1835 (Lithuania was then part of Russia). His birth name is Joseph Kalinowski. Two months after his birth, his mother passed away. His father remarried, taking her sister Victoria as his wife. He was a professor at a gymnasium. Joseph consequently came from a family of nine children. In June 1845, he received his first holy communion. At that time, his second mother, who instilled in him a great love for God, also passed away. Joseph began studying at the Noble Institute in Vilnius. After completing his studies in 1852, he moved to St. Petersburg and began studying transport engineering at the Nikolaev Academy. He then entered the imperial service. During this period, Joseph scarcely prayed and seldom attended church. This caused significant distress to his third mother, who, like Saint Monica for her son Augustine, prayed tirelessly for him. Even during this time, God did not abandon him: He sent a roommate who often offered him a prayer book, allowing Joseph to rekindle his relationship with the Mother of God.
In September 1861, a pro-Russian uprising broke out in Warsaw. Joseph Kalinowski, who maintained close contact with his family throughout his life, returned to Vilnius. He abandoned his position as captain and devoted himself to serving his nation. He led the uprising in Lithuania. Soon he learned that his friends had been imprisoned. This prompted him to approach the sacrament of reconciliation after many years and to frequently attend mass.
This was a time of his conversion, during which he found peace and trust in God once more. When he was later arrested, the soldiers guarding him and his fellow prisoners would say that he was a saint. He was sentenced to death, but his family succeeded in having the sentence commuted. However, he had to go to Siberia, where he spent nine years. Among others, his brother Gabriel was also there. Even in those harsh conditions, Joseph shared money with those in need. Additionally, he taught children from families of other prisoners. Following an amnesty, he returned to Vilnius. At that time, he was already contemplating entering a monastery. He was thinking of the Capuchins. However, he decided to work as a tutor for two more years to help his family partially repay the financial costs associated with his previous imprisonment. He accepted an offer from Prince Wladyslaw Czartoryski and moved to Paris, where he became a tutor to his son Augustus.
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| Altar of St. Raphael in Czerná, where his body is buried |
By coincidence – or rather, by divine will – Joseph met Sister Mary Xavera of Jesus, the aunt of young Prince Augustus, who entered the convent of the Discalced Carmelites in Krakow after the death of her husband. At that time, the order of Discalced Carmelite in Poland was struggling and had no new vocations. This woman saw in Joseph the hope for the renewal of the Polish Carmel.
And so it happened. After several months, Joseph entered the convent of the Discalced Carmelites and on November 26, 1877, made his religious vows. He took the new name – Brother Raphael of St. Joseph. Saint Raphael of St. Joseph became the restorer of the Discalced Carmel in Poland. He served through his personal example, preaching, sacramental reconciliation, and spiritual guidance. He was elected superior of the monastery in Czerná near Krakow several times, at the pilgrimage site of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. He also served as superior in Wadowice, where he built a lower seminary.
After a long illness, he died in Wadowice on November 15, 1907, and was buried in the monastery in Czerná. Today, his relics are kept in the side chapel of the local church. In 1983 he was beatified, and in 1991, Pope John Paul II canonized him. His feast day is celebrated on November 19.
Spiritual Legacy
St. Raphael was raised from childhood to a sense of responsibility, piety, and Marian devotion, as well as love for his homeland. Later, when he became a soldier, his military vocation reflected in his spiritual life. He diligently sought the truth, and although he distanced himself from practicing the Catholic faith for a time and immersed himself in secular life, he felt an unfulfilled longing within himself. From St. Petersburg, he wrote to his brother Gabriel:
“I try to distract myself in other ways and I indulge in the vanities of this world, seeking a remedy there. However, I have not found much to gain inner peace this way; ... I seek the spirit, but I find only matter.”
His sensitivity to discipline was evident during his imprisonment. He set a daily schedule for himself, including time for prayer, and adhered to it faithfully. Despite the death sentence imposed on him (which he escaped only because the then governor of Vilnius did not want to make him a public martyr), he was a messenger of peace. In a letter sent to his loved ones from Siberia, he wrote:
“I earnestly ask you not to worry about me, my character has not changed. I am still united with you in prayer. I could never boast of cheerfulness, nor can I now, but God gives me inner peace: with His grace, I can endure everything, and I accept my current state as atonement for my serious sins.”
He was a person of prayer. Prayer was the most essential aspect for him. They said about him that he was better suited to be a bishop than an officer.
“Apart from prayer, I have nothing to offer to God: I can consider it my only gift. I cannot fast, there isn’t much to give as alms, and I lack the strength for work. All I have left is to suffer and pray. However, I have never possessed greater treasures, nor do I wish to.”
Similarly, he wrote at another time:
“The world can deprive me of absolutely everything, but one refuge will always remain inaccessible to it: prayer! In it, the past, present, and future can be embraced in hope.”
Later in the monastery, his fellow brothers referred to him as “a walking prayer.” He drew strength for his spiritual life from the sacraments. He called the Eucharist the invention of divine love. In Siberia, he prepared children for their first holy communion. He was so diligent in this regard that he postponed his departure from Siberia to Lithuania during a partial amnesty just for this purpose. He once confided to his loved ones:
“I must admit that when I bow before the Lord Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament, I find and always find the source of patience, perseverance, strength, and comfort. To put it in one word – it is fons vitae, the fountain of life. Without this mystery of love that our Savior left us in the church, I would have drowned a long time ago!”
Those who were imprisoned with him admired him. When necessary, he took upon himself the faults of others. Even in his self-discipline, he was human and genuinely tolerant of others' opinions. In Siberia, his fellow prisoners prayed: “Through the intercession and by the merits of Joseph Kalinowski, save us, Lord.” The well-known Polish professor Dybowski, who was in exile with him, remembered him with the words:
“...His angelic tolerance, his love for people, his understanding, his respect for others' opinions, etc., made him an extraordinary person, such as we do not commonly meet today...”
In the harsh conditions of exile, his great love for others became remarkably apparent. He adhered to the principle:
“Moral values stand above material ones; the good of another is above one’s own.”
In one letter, he asked his family for financial help, justifying:
“It is much easier for us to find some coins than it is in Siberia, and it is impossible to remain indifferent here,”
and immediately, as this help arrived, he distributed everything to those in need. Once, he wished to delight his father by buying and sending him a box of green tea, which he loved very much. On his way to the store, however, he encountered a poor exile from Lithuania who was dying of hunger. Joseph later explained to his family:
“I sacrificed your pleasure and my self-love and donated the amount for the tea to this true Lazarus, thinking that God has the power to nourish you with far more invigorating drink from the source of His grace and that He will accept this small sacrifice of ours.”
He was able to share even from the last of what he had. St. Raphael was a person of reconciliation and unity. He was deeply troubled by the schism between the Catholic and Orthodox churches and fervently prayed for the conversion of Moscow. He saw in the Virgin Mary and in the living devotion to her – both in the Catholic and Orthodox churches – a sort of “bridge” of unity. He was internally convinced that Carmel is the order through which this unity is to be realized. Therefore, he sent large quantities of scapulars to Romania and Russia and spread devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel there.
He had a special charisma for confession and spiritual guidance, spending long hours in the confessional. During his time in Czerná, the church was filled with believers, and people began to confess more often. He had the gift of restoring peace to hearts troubled by anxieties and fears.
For example, this testimony is simple:
A girl from a village near Wadowice was surprised by the joyful mood with which her parents returned from church. When she asked them about the reason, her mother replied, “Today we met a great saint and were allowed to confess to him.”
