November 19: Saint Raphael Kalinowski 

Saint Raphael Kalinowski(1835- 1907) was a Polish Discalced Carmelite friar. He was a teacher, engineer, prisoner of war, royal tutor, and priest who founded many Carmelite monasteries around Poland after their suppression by the Russians.

He was born in Vilnius as the second son of Andrew Kalinowski, an assistant superintend professor of Mathematics at the local Institue for Nobles. From the age of 8, Kalinowski attended the Institute for Nobles at Vila and graduated with honors in 1850. in 1853 he enlisted in the Imperial Russian Army and entered the Nicholayev Engineering Academy. On 24 March 1864, Russian Authorities arrested Kalinowski and in June condemned him to death by firing squad. After imprisonment and other years of exile, he returned to Warsaw in 1874.

In 1877, he joined the Carmelite Church. He was ordained a priest on 15 January 1882 in Poland. The very next year the saint was appointed superior of the monastery there. In the later years, we see, the zealous work of the saint. During these periods the saint established many monasteries. In this way, he was able to attract many to the monastic life. He visited the Carmelite monasteries in Poland to revive his monastic life, which had been in turmoil for many centuries, and revived his monastic life there.

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