Commentaria in Tobiam
In St. Augustine, sermon 226, Raphael himself says: “I am the minister of the cure, God is the author of health.” St. Jerome, in the place cited: “Wherever medicine and cure is necessary, Raphael is sent, which is interpreted the cure or medicine of God, the interpretation of the name signifying, namely, that in God is true medicine.” And the text a little below: “The Lord,” he says, “sent the Angel Raphael, prince set over cures, or who is president of healings.” Whence in the Roman Missal, printed at Paris in the year 1520, there is a Mass of St. Raphael, for the sick and for travellers.
Moreover the Hebrew in this place has thus: At that time the prayer of both was heard in the sight of Shekinah himself, and in the sight of the throne of the glory of Jehovah; the prayer indeed of Tobi for the blindness of his eyes; the prayer of Sara for the humiliation of her parents. Shekinah is the Holy Spirit, says R. Elias, so called because he dwells in the saints: for shakan is to dwell.
The Roman Greek has: The prayer of both was heard in the sight of the glory of the great Raphael, that is, of the great God, who is the supreme Raphael, that is, physician and curer, as I have said; or, as if to say: The prayer was heard in the sight of God, as our text translates, who is the glory of the great Raphael. For God is the ornament and glory of all Angels and men, according to that: “my glory, and the lifter up of my head.” Or thirdly and best, as if to say: The prayer of both was heard by God in the sight of the glorious and great Raphael, who had offered it to the divine majesty. For though Raphael were present to Tobias, and therefore absent from Sara, yet he saw and heard the prayers of the absent: indeed he could in the twinkling of an eye fly from Tobias to Sara, and fly back from there to Tobias, and thence to Raphael, who and what he is.
God in the empyrean heaven. For Angels are most swift, and like lightning glide from heaven to earth.
Allegorically the Gloss: “Mystically,” it says, “by Raphael our Lord Jesus Christ can be understood, who is called the Angel of great counsel according to the translation of the 70, Isaias 9. And he came into the world to cure the human race in both sexes.” In the Greek moreover some things are said a little more distinctly: Raphael was sent to heal them both; to wipe away the whiteness of Tobias himself, and to give Sara, daughter of Raguel, to Tobias, son of Tobit, as wife, and to bind Asmodeus, the evil demon, because it pertained to Tobias to receive that inheritance, that is, Sara, who was due to him as an excellent inheritance, and that because, as the Hebrew says, Tobias had the right of kinship, that is, by right of kinship he could claim her for himself.
You will ask of what hierarchy Raphael is: Dominic Bannez, in part 1, question 112, article 4, thinks he is of the lowest order of Angels, because he seems to have been the guardian angel of Tobias; and guardian angels are of the lowest order. Whence St. Thomas, part 1, question 113, article 3, says that Michael is of the order of Principalities, Gabriel of the order of Archangels, Raphael of the order of Angels.
Secondly, Serarius here, question 2, thinks he is of the last but one order, which is of Archangels. For St. Isidore, book 7, Origen, chapter 5, Prosper, part 2 of the Promises, chapter 29, and others call Raphael an Archangel.
Thirdly, others, in John Eck, homily 9 on the feast of St. Michael, hold that Raphael is of the order of Powers. For these exercise the empire of their power over demons, as Raphael did here, binding Asmodeus. Others think he is of the order of Virtues.
Fourthly, and best, many hold that Raphael is of the first order of Seraphim, and so one of the seven first Seraphim. For these stand nearest to God, as Raphael says that he stands, chapter 12, verse 15. So Gregory of Valencia, part 1 on question 112 of St. Thomas, question 6, Viegas, commentary 2, section 17, on Apocalypse chapter 12, Nazianzen and Cyril, whom our Ribadeneira cites and follows on the feast of St. Michael. Hence also the Ethiopic Mass places Raphael as well as Michael and Gabriel among the more excellent Angels. Wherefore the Roman Septuagint in this verse calls Raphael great: Before the glory, they say, of the great Raphael.
The Hebrews, as is in Lyranus, Genesis chapter 18, call the three Angels seen by Abraham under a human form Michael, Gabriel, Raphael.
The first they said was sent to announce to Isaac the begetting of a son; the second to destroy the impure cities with flames; the third to cure Abraham of the wound of circumcision: but the Hebrews are refuted by Tostatus, Genesis chapter 18. Moreover Raphael presides over health; and therefore was sent to remove the blindness of Tobias; hence his name sounds medicine of God: Michael was set over the prayers and offerings of the faithful, Gabriel over the battles of men. Toletus on Luke chapter 1, annotation 46, treats of Gabriel as set over wars, as St. Jerome on Daniel chapter 8 and Rupert on Apocalypse chapter 7.
Again Raphael is the president of journeys and guide of travellers; whence in the itinerary of the Church he is invoked by them. On which matter Peter de Natalibus, bishop of Aquileia, book 4, chapter 112, recounts a notable example of a certain pilgrim of Orleans from enemies.
You will ask secondly, whether Raphael was properly the guardian angel of Tobias? Dominic Bannez affirms it in the place cited. He proves it because the office of a guardian angel is to offer prayers to God; and this Raphael did. Again, he himself accompanied Tobias through the whole journey and guarded him, and rescued him from all dangers. He was therefore his guardian. But I say with Serarius and Gregory of Valencia that he was not properly the guardian of Tobias: first, because the guardian is of the ninth and lowest order of Angels; but Raphael is of the first order of Seraphim; secondly, tutelary Angels are given by God to men from the beginning of life, or (as some prefer) from conception; but Raphael was sent from heaven when Tobias was in the years of adolescence; thirdly, he was not chiefly sent to guide and protect the younger Tobias, but to heal the father Tobias and to free Sara from the demon, as is clear from chapter 12. Hence the answer to the argument is clear; for not only Angels but Seraphim also offer our prayers to God; “for they are all ministering spirits, sent to minister,” as the Apostle says, Hebrews 1, last verse.
Finally, as Asmodeus is king of demons and president of lust, so his antagonist St. Raphael is king of Angels and president of chastity and tutelary of the chaste, as he was here of Tobias and Sara. Whence he or his attendants girded St. Thomas Aquinas with the cincture of chastity, as his life has it, and rewarded St. Equitius with the gift of chastity, as it were by castrating him, as St. Gregory relates, Dialogues book 1, chapter 4.
Tropologically, learn here how great is the dignity of the soul, and how great the condescension of God and the Angels, even of the Seraphim (such as Raphael is), by which they deign to take such great, and so particular and provident, care of men, sinful, vile and wretched, as Raphael here took of Tobias and Sara. Read St. Bernard on Psalm 90, sermon 17, where among other things he says in amazement: “He hath given his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. Let them give glory to the Lord for his mercies, and his wonderful works to the children of men. Let them confess, and say among the Gentiles, that the Lord hath done great things with them. Lord, what is man, that thou hast made thyself known to him, or why dost thou set thy heart upon him? Thou settest thy heart upon him, thou takest anxious care for him, thou hast care of him. Finally, thou sendest him thy only-begotten, thou sendest thy Spirit, thou promisest even thy countenance. And that nothing in heaven may be idle from the work of our care, those blessed spirits thou sendest for our sake, appointest to the ministry of our guardianship, orderest to become our tutors.” And after some interjections: “A wonderful condescension, and truly great love of charity, etc. The supreme Majesty therefore commanded the Angels, and commanded his Angels: those lofty ones, so blessed, so near to him and cleaving to him, so familiarly adhering, and truly domestics of God. He commanded concerning thee. Who art thou, Lord? what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou makest account of him? as though man were not rottenness, and the son of man a worm? But what dost thou think he commanded concerning thee?” etc.