Raphael (UK: /ˈræfeɪəl/ RAF-ay-əl, US: /ˈræfiəl, ˈreɪf-/ RA(Y)F-ee-əl; "God has healed")[a] is an archangel first mentioned in the Book of Tobit and in 1 Enoch, both estimated to date from between the 3rd and 2nd century BCE.

He is not named in either the New Testament or the Quran, but later Christian tradition identified him with healing and as the angel who stirred waters in the Pool of Bethesda in John 5:2–4,[5] and in Islam, where his name is Israfil, he is understood to be the unnamed angel of Quran 6:73, standing eternally with a trumpet to his lips, ready to announce the Day of Judgment.

[22] Each was commanded to carry out a specific mission, Gabriel to destroy Sodom, Michael to inform Sarah that she would give birth to Isaac, Raphael to heal Abraham from his recent circumcision and save Lot.

In Midrash Konen, it is revealed that Raphael was originally once named Libbiel[24][25] (Hebrew: לִבִּיאֵל Lībbīʾēl; Meaning: "God is my heart").

Taught by the horrible fate of his predecessors, he warned his troop: "You have seen what misfortune overtook the Angels who said 'What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?'

Thereupon God changed the Archangel Libbiel's name to Raphael, the Rescuer, because his Host of Angels had been rescued by his sage advice.

[26] In the Midrash Tanhuma, Satan becomes envious of the righteous R. Matthew bar Heresh after seeing him sitting occupied in Torah study, without looking at anyone's wife or any other woman.

[30] In the Beginning of Wisdom, an introduction to kabbalistic thought composed by Rabbi Aharon Meir Altshuler (1835–1905) in Warsaw between 1887–1893; Raphael is said to correspond to the Sephirah of Tiphereth (Beauty).

[44] The New Testament names only two archangels, Michael and Gabriel (Luke 1:9–26; Jude 1:9; Revelation 12:7), but Raphael, because of his association with healing, became identified with the unnamed angel of John 5:1–4 who periodically stirred the pool of Bethesda "[a]nd he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water was made whole of whatsoever infirmity he lay under".

[46] Due to his actions in the Book of Tobit and the Gospel of John, Raphael is considered a protector and healer, and so the patron of travelers, the blind, happy meetings, nurses, physicians, medical workers, matchmakers,[47] Christian marriage, and Catholic studies.

On a corner of the Doge's Palace in Venice is a relief depicting Raphael holding a scroll on which is written: "Efficia fretum quietum" ("Keep the Gulf quiet").

On July 8, 1497, when Vasco da Gama set sail from Lisbon with his four-ship fleet to India, the flagship was named São Rafael at the insistence of King Manuel I of Portugal.

When the flotilla reached the Cape of Good Hope on October 22, the sailors debarked and erected a column in the archangel's honor.

With the 1969 revision of the General Roman Calendar, the feast was transferred to September 29 for celebration together with archangels Saints Michael and Gabriel.

[50] Pope Benedict XVI's Summorum Pontificum permitted, within certain limits for public use, the General Roman Calendar of 1960, which has October 24 as Raphael's feast day.

[52] In the Diocese of Warsaw-Praga he is commemorated on 3 October (with Michael and Gabriel); the feast was transferred from 29 September (Dedication of St. Florian's Cathedral).

[citation needed] In the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate Saint Raphael the Archangel is commemorated on 24 October.

Raphael (Arabic: إسرافيل, romanized: ʾIsrāfīl, alternate spellings: Israfel, Esrafil)[citation needed] is a venerated archangel according to Islamic tradition.

In Islamic eschatology, Israfil will blow the trumpet from a holy rock in Jerusalem to announce the Day of Judgment (Yawm al-Qiyāmah).

[57] The name "Israfil" (or "Israfel", "Esrafil") is not specifically written in the Quran, although there is mention of an unnamed trumpet-angel assumed to identify this figure: And the trumpet shall be blown, so all those that are in the heavens and all those that are in the earth shall swoon, except him whom Allah will; then it shall be blown again, then they shall stand up awaiting.Certain Islamic sources indicate that, created at the beginning of time, Israfil possesses four wings, and is so tall as to be able to reach from the earth to the pillars of heaven.

[61] According to Sufi traditions reported by Imam Rafa'il, the Ghawth or Qutb ('perfect human being'), is someone who has a heart that resembles that of the archangel Israfil, signifying the loftiness of this angel.

[62] In another account, Rafāʾīl (Arabic: رفائيل) is mentioned by name in the Islamic tradition narrated by Ath-Tha'labi from Ali.

More recent examples include: Elsewhere: The Arcangelo Raffaello youth confraternity functioned in Florence, Italy from its founding in 1411 to its suppression in 1785.

[64] Raphael, along with many other prominent angels, appears in John Milton's Paradise Lost, in which he is assigned by God to re-warn Adam concerning the sin of eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

In Joseph Haydn's Creation, Raphael (bass) is one of the three angelic narrators, along with Gabriel (soprano) and Uriel (tenor).

In the Yogscast YouTube series Shadow of Israphel, the main antagonist and titular character derives his namesake from that of St.