Melchior Chyliński

After entering the novitiate, Brother Raphael made his solemn vows on April 26, 1716, in Piotrków Trybunalski. He continued his theological studies and was ordained a priest in June 1717 in Poznań by Bishop Piotr Tarło. Father Raphael Chyliński then began an intense pastoral ministry. He was sent successively to several convents of his order in Poland, notably in Radziejów, Pyzdry, Poznań, Warsaw, Kalisz, Gniezno, Warka, Krakow, and Łagiewniki (today a district of the city of Łódź). Wherever he went, he distinguished himself by his dual vocation as a great contemplative and an apostle of charity. He spent long hours in the confessional, becoming a spiritual director and a confessor highly sought after by the faithful of all social conditions, from peasants to nobles. His sermons were simple, direct, and deeply evangelical, calling for penance and conversion. But it was above all among the most destitute that his work shone. Affectionately nicknamed the "protector of beggars" (dziadowski opiekun) or the "bishop of beggars," he distributed food, clothing, and everything he possessed to the poor, sometimes going so far as to empty the convent's reserves or give away his own cloak and his portion of food. A talented musician, he played the harp, the lute, and the mandolin to accompany liturgical chants and console the afflicted. In 1736, when a terrible plague epidemic struck Krakow, Father Raphael went there without hesitation to care for the sick and spiritually assist the dying, at the risk of his own life. After this period of heroic dedication, he returned to Łagiewniki, where he spent the last years of his life, exhausted by privations and penances.

The life of Father Raphael Chyliński was marked by rigorous asceticism and constant union with God through prayer. He practiced harsh penances, wearing a hair shirt, fasting rigorously, and sleeping on the floor of an unheated cell. His reputation for holiness, firmly established during his lifetime due to his heroic charity and spiritual gifts, spread rapidly after his death on December 2, 1741, in Łagiewniki. As early as 1761, a diocesan informative process was opened to examine his life and virtues. In 1772, the cause for beatification was officially introduced to the Roman Curia by the Diocese of Warsaw. However, the successive partitions of Poland and the political upheavals in Europe interrupted the process for many decades. The case was revived in the 20th century. On May 13, 1949, Pope Pius XII signed the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, thereby conferring upon him the title of Venerable.

The path to beatification reached its decisive stage with the official recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession. On January 22, 1991, the decree approving this miracle (the unexplained healing of a sick person) was promulgated by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. On June 9, 1991, during his apostolic journey to Poland, Pope John Paul II celebrated the beatification mass of Father Raphael Chyliński in Warsaw (on the esplanade of Agrykola Park). Before a vast crowd, the Sovereign Pontiff presented him as a model of evangelical charity and prayer, a man with a great heart for the poor. His liturgical feast is set for December 2, the day of his birth into heaven.

The spirituality of Blessed Raphael Chyliński is deeply rooted in the Franciscan ideal of poverty, humility, and universal fraternity. He lived the evangelical beatitudes in a radical way, stripping himself of everything to identify with the poor and suffering Christ. His love for God was expressed through a fervent devotion to the Passion of Christ and the Virgin Mary, as well as through a daily and recollected celebration of the Eucharist. His legacy remains alive in Poland, particularly in Łódź-Łagiewniki, where his body rests in the Franciscan sanctuary of Saint Anthony of Padua, which has become an important place of pilgrimage. He is invoked as the patron of soldiers, the poor, the sick, and people in distress. His life reminds the contemporary Church of the primacy of the commandment of love and the importance of selfless service to the most abandoned in society.