Raphael Kalinowski

Raphael of Saint Joseph Kalinowski OCD (1 September 1835 – 15 November 1907) was a Polish Carmelite, social activist, participant in the January Uprising, and a saint of the Catholic Church. Before his conversion, he served in the Imperial Russian Army, fought in the January Uprising in Lithuania and was exiled to Siberia.

He was born as Józef Kalinowski in Vilnius into a noble family bearing the Kalinowa coat of arms. After completing his education at the Institute for Nobles in Vilnius, he became a military engineer in the Russian army, where he engaged in pro-independence conspiracy. After the outbreak of the January Uprising, he left the army; he did not take part in the fighting himself, but supported the insurgents. For this activity, in 1864 he was sentenced to death, later commuted to ten years of hard labor in Siberia.

During his exile he underwent a religious conversion and became a devout Catholic. After returning in 1874, he settled in Warsaw. In 1877 he entered the Carmelite novitiate in Graz, taking the religious name Raphael of Saint Joseph Kalinowski. He professed his solemn vows in 1881 and settled in the monastery in Czerna near Kraków, where he soon became prior. He gained renown as a confessor, theologian, translator, and founder of monastic houses.

He died on 15 November 1907 in the odour of sanctity. His informative process was opened in 1934. On 22 June 1983 in Kraków, John Paul II beatified Raphael Kalinowski, and on 17 November 1991 in Rome, canonized him. The liturgical memorial of St. Raphael Kalinowski is celebrated on 20 November. He is the patron saint of Catholics in Siberia, as well as soldiers, engineers, and railway workers.