| 20th Century Trappist Monk Canonized
Brother Rafael Arnaiz y Baron OCSO was canonized in Rome on October 11, 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI. This, just a little over 70 years since his death from diabetes in Spain at the age of 27 in 1938, is the first canonization of a Cistercian monk in many centuries and the first-ever of one of the monks of the 17th century Trappist reform of the 900-year old monastic order of Cistercians. Rafael was first brought to the attention of the Catholics of the world by Pope John Paul II when, at the International Youth Congress of 1988 in Santiago (St. James) de Compostela, Spain, he strongly recommended Rafael as a model for contemporary young people. Four years later the same Pope beatified the young architect-become-monk, who, through his often illustrated writings, was already quite well known among Spanish-speaking Catholics. Now his life and some of his writings are beginning to be translated into other languages such as French, Italian, English, Japanese, Indonesian and even Chinese, so Catholics all over the world can come to know him and his down-to-earth spirituality. 
Born into a fairly well-off, devout Catholic family in 1911 in Burgos, the ancient capital of the kingdom of Castile in north-central Spain, Rafael was the oldest of four children. The others were two brothers, Fernando, who became a Carthusian monk, and Leopoldo, who married, and one sister, Mercedes, who became an Ursuline nun but died at the age of 29 in 1946. Theirs was a happy family, with the strong faith and genuine piety of the parents being passed on to the children: frequent Mass and Communion and the nightly family rosary were taken for granted. Rafael received his sense of good artistic taste and his love for nature from his engineer father, and his abilities in leadership and constancy amidst tribulation from his musician mother.
When he was nine, Rafael fell ill with a very serious pleurisy infection, so his parents took him to the Spanish capital of Madrid for treatment. There he responded well and recuperated quickly, to his family’s relief. The following August, 1921, his father, as a gesture of thanksgiving for his recovery, took Rafael on a pilgrimage to the famous shrine of the Virgin of the Pillar in Saragossa. While there, his father consecrated the 10-year old Rafael to Our Lady; later, his mother attested that it was from this time on that there grew in Rafael the especially ardent devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary which would become one of the characteristics of his spirituality. 
From his earliest years, Rafael’s personality was marked by affability, serenity, and playfulness. He had a lively imagination and was full of joy. He was pleasant to be with, compassionate towards those having troubles, and mixed well with all around him regardless of their social standing; so he had many friends. In a word, Rafael loved people, and it was this, plus his intense piety, which enabled him to exercise a good influence on many, even while a young student. Later on, he put these qualities to practical use as a member of the Catholic Action and St. Vincent De Paul Society movements.
Rafael was educated under the Jesuits, in Burgos and later in Oviedo. He was an intelligent and serious student, distinguishing himself in Mathematics and especially talented in art. With these two academic strengths, it was no surprise that he chose to study Architecture at University, and was readily accepted at Spain’s premier School of Architecture in Madrid in 1930.
Later that same year, on a visit to his Uncle in Avila, Rafael, at his Uncle’s suggestion, made his first visit to a Trappist monastery, the nearby San Isidro Abbey. For Rafael, it was ‘love at first sight!’ When he encountered the Trappist simplicity, austerity, and silence, his spirit soared and he became keenly aware of his thirst for God. The aesthetic beauty of the monastery, its liturgy, and its surroundings likewise touched his maturing artistic sensibilities. After speaking with the monks of his promptings to follow their way of life, he took their advice and went back to Madrid to finish his studies before taking such a step. The following three and a half years were purposeful ones for Rafael. Prayer and penance became a regular part of his routine, adding to the joyful friendship of his companions and the diligent attention to his studies that already marked his days. Surely his resolve to belong to God as a monk was tested, both in innocent pursuits like partying and dancing and in more serious temptations against his virtue. He stayed on course. In 1933, he had to interrupt his studies to do six months of compulsory military service. It was not long after that that he wrote to the Father Abbot of San Isidro seeking admission to the monastery. He was accepted to enter as a ‘choir monk’ (which meant he would go on to be a priest-monk), and his father took him there to do so in January 1934.
The next 4 years were a veritable spiritual roller-coaster ride for Rafael. The early heights of the “sweet times of love” were all too soon rudely interrupted by the onset of the diabetes that abruptly brought him low and eventually affected every aspect of his life and led to his early death. After his initial entrance to the monastery, Rafael had to leave three times, twice because of illness and once when called up to fight in the Spanish civil war (he was rejected on medical grounds!). Each time he left, his family welcomed him back, later testifying that he was the same Rafael they knew and loved, congenial, flexible, and spending time with his music and art; but they also admitted that he was different: he spent a lot of time alone reading the Bible, and he spent “hours and hours”, as his younger brother Leopoldo put it, in Church doing his spiritual exercises and visiting with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Each time, Rafael ended up returning to San Isidro, his “la Trapa” as he liked to call it. He asserted in his writings that he knew that he would be happy only there, that his cross, tailor-made for him by God, was there, and that his life of love could be carried out only there – that for him, a life devoted to God alone was the only way to stay on track. 
His last two years in the monastery, Rafael had the status of an Oblate, the lowest position in the community: no vows, no community life, no priesthood – a real trial for a vivacious and intelligent young man. This was a real test of his humility, of his abandonment to God’s Will, and of his sincerity in his wish to love God alone – indeed he did make a private vow to love only Jesus during the last months of his life. He spent all of his time in the monastery infirmary, and that was how, with his Spiritual Director’s encouragement, he took to writing down his spiritual experiences. Now it is apparent that, as usual, God knew what He was doing! Rafael proved to be an excellent writer, and that plus his accompanying illustrations contributed to his quick fame and wide influence after his death in April 1938. Some of Rafael’s ideas on simplicity speak especially to us nowadays, as when he says: “We want to seek greatness in complexity and think that only when things are difficult have they anything worthwhile to offer…. I have seen that to achieve anything in the spiritual life, I need to be free from complexity and contortion, from clever speculation and technicalities. I have seen that we reach God by just the opposite. True knowledge of him comes through simplicity of heart and integrity….
If anybody were to spell out to me just what I had to do to be pleasing to God, I think that with the help of God and his Blessed Mother, I would just do it!” St. Rafael, be our guide in our efforts to love God, in Himself and in all around us. M. Theophane Young OCSO, 2009 |
