Saint’s Life Story

His Early Life

Rafael Arnáiz Barón was born in Burgos, Spain, on April 9, 1911, to Rafael Arnáiz Sánchez de la Campa and Mercedes Barón Torres, a wealthy family. His father was a a forestry engineer while his mother was a society chronicler and music critic in some newspapers and magazines. Rafael was baptized in the church of Santa Águeda in Burgos twelve days after his birth, the eldest of the four children in his family.

A year later after making his first communion in October 25, 1919, Rafael entered the Jesuit school in that city, where he was a member of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate and received awards for his study and good conduct. As a boy, Rafael attended several schools run by Jesuits and his sensitivity to spiritual topics and to art was apparent from boyhood. These qualities were remarkably well balanced giving him an open, joyful attitude to the world, combined with exuberant good humor, respect and humility.

Painter

Bouts of fever and pleurisy interrupted his education. When Rafael had recovered, his father took him to Zaragoza to consecrate him to Our Lady of the Pillar. Eventually, due to the father’s job transfer, his family moved to Oviedo, Spain where Rafael entered the San Ignacio de Loyola school, also Jesuit, as an extern.

In 1926, Rafael asked to take drawing and painting classes, taught by the painter Eugenio Tamayo. With the paintings Rafael created, he collaborated in his mother’s charitable works.

Architectural Student

In 1930, Rafael embarked on architectural studies in Madrid. It was in this year that his deeper commitment to Christ began. After completing his secondary schooling, that summer he had spent a holiday near Ávila at the home of his uncle, Leopoldo, and aunt, the Duke and Duchess of Maqueda.

After passing the first subjects of the preparation for Architecture, Rafael made an excursion through Castile, stopping mainly in Salamanca to admire the architectural works of the city. Later, back in Ávila, he painted stained glass windows for the chapel of his uncles.

It was his aunt and uncle who introduced Rafale to the Trappist Monastery of San Isidoro de Dueñas,(also known as La Trapa) in Palencia, Castilla y León, Spain. The monastic beauty and prayerful atmosphere attracted him. In October 1930, Rafael came to La Trapa to meet it, a visit that awakened in him the monastic vocation.

Called

Rafael was called up but after three months was declared unfit for active duty. He decided to abandon his architectural studies in Madrid and seek the mystery of the “Absolute” in this Cistercian Monastery of the Strict Observance.

On January 16, 1934 at the age of 23, Rafael entered La Trapa monastery and joyfully received the white habit adopting the name of Fray María Rafael (Brother Mary Rafael). Rafael said upon entering that this decision had not been prompted by suffering or disappointments, but rather by God who, “in his infinite goodness” had given him far more in life than he deserved. In his own words, he chose it by “following the dictates of his heart toward God and the desire to be filled with Him.”

On this day writing to his mother, Rafael stated:

“I am more and more convinced that God created the Trapa for me and me for the Trapa. It is unmistakable: the only true insight in the world is to take the place that God for us.”

Rafael felt deeply suited to the monastic rhythm of Gregorian chant and the Liturgy of the Hours. He wrote many letters to his mother, who after his death collected them in a book, and to his uncle and aunt with whom he had a close friendship.

Acute Diabetes

Four months after entering the monastery, after an austere Lent, Rafael was smitten by a serious form of diabetes mellitus which forced him to go home for treatment. This condition that plagued him throughout his life making him travel back and forth between his home and the monastery again and again between 1935 and 1937. It was at the height of the Spanish Civil War.

Despite the challenges posed by his illness, he demonstrated an unwavering commitment to his religious life. His illness necessitated occasional departures from the monastery for medical treatment, but as soon as he regained sufficient health, Rafael returned to the monastic community. At the monastery, Rafael needed two daily injections of insulin and to follow a strict diet.

On Easter Sunday, April 17, 1938, Félix Alonso, the abbot, symbolically imposed on him the black scapular and the Trappist cowl, fulfilling his wish to be able to die with it. Thus, on his final return to the monastery, Rafael was made an oblate, taking the last place and living on the fringes of the community. Canon law at the time did not permit a person in his condition of poor health to take monastic vows.

Monastic Life

During his time in the monastery, Rafael strived for holiness through prayer, contemplation, and extreme ascetic practices. He fervently sought to be united with God and to offer himself in sacrifice for the salvation of souls. Despite his physical frailty, he sought to deepen his spiritual life by embracing the rigorous monastic disciplines intrinsic to his order. Rafael’s devotion to his faith and his profound spirituality touched and inspired those around him. His spiritual writings, particularly his letters and reflections, speak of his ardent desire for union with God.

His Death

In the La Trapa’s monastery infirmary at only the age of 27, on April 26, 1938, Rafael died in Dueñas, Palencia, Spain after a diabetic coma. In his Homily at the beatification Mass, the late Pope Saint John Paul II said of this Spanish Trappist that he set an example, especially for young people, “of a loving and unconditional response to the divine call”. Today, his writings have been translated, in whole or in part, into French, English, German, Japanese, Portuguese, and Polish.

Born:                    April 9, 1911 in Burgos Spain

Died:                    April 26, 1938 age 27 in Dueñas, Palencia, Spain

Beatified:            September 27, 1992 by Pope John Paul II

Canonized:         October 11, 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI

Feast Day:          April 26

Patron Saint:     Against Diabetes; Diabetics; World Youth Day 2011

Source:

• • CatholicSaints.Info » Saint Rafael Arnáiz Barón
  • Rafael Arnáiz Barón – Ecumenical Encyclopedia of Saints (translated from German)
  • Saint Rafael Arnáiz Barón – Saint for a Minute: Saints & Blesseds
  • St Rafael Arnáiz Barón (1911-1938) – Biography – Vatican
  • Rafael Arnaiz Barón – Wikipedia

Prayers

Video Link

Saint Rafael Arnáiz Barón – The Contemplative Mystic of Spain – YouTube Video (Forgotten Catholic Saints – Unsung Heroes of Faith)