Saint Raphael was born in 1835 in present-day Lithuania as Joseph, the son of Andrew and Josepha Kalinowski. Despite feeling called to the priesthood at a young age, Saint Raphael chose to finish his schooling. He attended the Academy of Military Engineering in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and the Institute of Agronomy in Hory Horki, Russia, where he studied biology, chemistry, agriculture, and apiculture.

In 1857, Saint Raphael joined the Russian Military Engineering Corps as a Lieutenant. While employed there, he oversaw the planning and building of the railway between Kursk and Odessa. In 1862, he received a promotion to captain and was assigned to Brest-Litovsk. He established, taught, and paid for a Sunday school in Bret-Litovsk that welcomed anyone who was interested.

He backed the Polish uprising in 1863. After leaving the Russian army, he was appointed minister of war for the Vilna region of the insurgency. He only accepted the commission knowing that he would never execute a prisoner or give a death sentence. Soon after, Russian officials detained him, and in June 1864, he was given a death sentence for his involvement in the uprising. They mitigated his sentence to ten years of forced labour in the Siberian salt mines out of fear that they would be producing a political martyr.

After being freed in 1873, he was banished from his native Lithuania. He relocated to Paris, France, where he spent three years as an instructor. He eventually responded to the long-heard call to monastic life in 1877 when he became a member of the Carmelite Order in Graz, Austria, under the name Raphael. He entered the Carmelite monastery in Czama, Poland, after completing his studies in theology in Hungary. The date of his ordination was January 15, 1882.

Saint Raphael fought for church unity and the return of the Discalced Carmelites to Poland. In Wadowice, Poland, he established a monastery in 1889 and collaborated with Blessed Alphonsus Mary Mazurek. He was a well-known spiritual guide for Orthodox and Catholics alike. He spent many hours in the confessional with his parishioners and was regarded as an energetic parish priest. He passed away on November 15, 1907. He was beatified on June 22, 1983, in Krakow, Poland and was canonized on November 17, 1991, in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.

Other Saints of the Day
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St. Ermenberga
St. Mechtildis of Helfta
St. Nerses the Great
St. James of Sasseau