A sense of humor in the midst of sickness brought him closer to God.

Madrid, April 26, 2011.- Rafael Arnaiz Barón was born into a deeply religious, well-to-do family, on April 9, 1911--this year marks the 100th anniversary of his birth. While attending a Jesuit primary school, he fell sick with a fever and had to interrupt his studies. After his recovery, his father, thankful to the Blessed Virgin, took him to Zaragoza and consecrated him to Our Lady of Pilar.

Later Rafael moved to Madrid where he enrolled in a school for architecture. Despite the intensity of his studies, he took time to go and pray in the Oratory of the Caballero de Gracia and to take turns in night adoration.

In the Spanish capital he was in contact with the Cistercian Trappist Monastery of St. Isidro de Duenas (Palencia), a place which greatly attracted him, and in which he immediately entered after receiving God’s call in 1934. He fell sick with diabetes mellitus, causing him to leave the monastery three times. On each occasion however he returned, because he knew God would help him and would never leave him alone.

Even In the most difficult and tragic moments of his life, Rafael continued to have the sense of humor that always characterized him. For this saint the love of the Father was everything, and he was sure that “all things proceed from the love of God.” His last words before dying were “take me, and give Yourself to the world.”

Always faithful to his monastic life, Rafael died at dawn on April 26, 1934, when he was only 27 years old. He was beatified on September 27, 1992, and on October 11, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI canonized him. His feast is celebrated on April 26.

Sanctity is not perfectionism
One of the great teachings of St. Rafael’s life is that sanctity should not be confused with perfectionism. Perfectionism is characterized by focusing all of one’s efforts into working without any failures or mistakes. Holiness however, does not consist so much in material perfection, but in the acceptance, for the love of God, of our strengths and little “achievements,” as well as of our limitations and errors. Rafael dreamed of entering the Trappists in order to become a perfect monk. In the end, God granted instead that he become…a holy monk!

There is a passage in his personal writing that illustrates this idea very well:

    “There once was a clown that fell every time he entered the ring…, he went to and fro, dragging his enormous shoes, and only after a great effort managed to sort everything out with the floor. Just when he thought everything was in order, he would trip over it… the mat would crumple up again, and he would fall to the ground sweating.

    I know a Trappist in the monastery who is the same as this clown. Everything he does comes down to “making do”---just dragging his feet and drying up his sweat. This poor man gives the angels, watching the spectacle of the world from heaven, something to laugh at.  Although he isn’t doing risky work like the rest of the performers, neither deadly jumps nor flips on the trapeze…who cares? If he doesn’t know anything else, let him unfold the mats and with that, win the applause of the angels!”


A contemporary model for the youth of today

In 1989, motivated by World Youth Day in Santiago de Comostela, John Paul II proposed Rafael Arnaiz as a model for young people. On the day of his canonization, Benedict XVI said, “Brother Rafael, living so close to our time, continues with his example and works to offer us an attractive way, especially for young people who are not only satisfied with little, but who aspire to the full truth, to the most unspeakable joy, which is achieved through the love of God.”

More information (in Spanish):

Special St. Rafael Arnaiz on St. Isidro de Dueñas website: includes a time line, photo gallery, and citations…