REV. Dom Raphael Vinciarelli, OSB,  was a remarkable Benedictine monk.  Born in 1897 and Professed in 1916 at the Abbey of St. Andre in Brugge (now SintAndries Zevenkerken) he was sent in 1934 to his monastery's foundation in China, the Priory of Saints Andrew and Peter in Xishan. He remained prior during World War II when the community relocated in 1942 to what become the Priory of St. Benedict in Chengdu, canonically erected in in 1947.  When the exiled community was (yet again) refounded , this time in the High Desert of Southen California, Fr. Raphael served as first Prior of St. Andrew's Priory in Valyermo, now Saint Andrew's Abbey.  Available here are:

Biography

ANGELINO Vinciarelli was born in Tuscany on January 11, 1897, the son of Antonio and Filomena Santelli in the village of Crocifisso, a small locality dependent on Piancastagnaio, in the province of Siena.  At the the age of ten he entered the Benedictine “procura” (house of formation) in the nearby monastery of San Benedetto dell’Acqua Calda

DOM Gérard van Caloen, OSB, abbot of Rio de Janeiro and Vicar-General of the Brazilian Benedictine Congregation, had resolved to opened an Italian procura (house of formation) for the Benedictine “mission” to restore the Brazilian monasteries.  This Italian venture was to be founded not far from Angelino’s home, in the Sienese monastery of San Benedetto dell’Acqua Calda.  In 1898 Van Caloen had received the support of Pope Leo XIII for establishing his Belgian procura of St. Andre on the Van Caloen ancestral estate in Lopphem near Brugge.  The Brazilian Benedictine restoration was going well; VanCaloen was now bishop-elect and had the encouragement of the new pope, Pius X, for the Italian procura.

I began to take serious thought to preparing this foundation in the North of Italy, since the Pope wanted it.  A few days later I woke up with a start at night - it was the night before Christmas - when I heard the voice of God saying to me clearly, inwardly, “Begin at Siena.”  I received the clear intuition that I should start this foundation in the little monastery of San Benedetto all’Acqua Calda, near Siena, which I had seen fifteen years before ...

Having visited the monastery of San Benedetto in Febuary, 1906, Bishop Van Caloen inaugurated the small monastery on June 24, 1906, the feast of Saint John the Baptist, following his consecration on April 18 in the Abbey of Maredsous as Bishop of Phocea.  He then “designated some sick fathers and choir brothers to go to Siena, which is a real sanatorium”. He appointed Dom Wandrille Herpierre, an Alsatian, whom he had recently recalled from Rio de Janeiro, as superior. Beside Dom Wandrille, prior, Mgr van Caloen placed, as “master of the [child-]oblates”, Dom Odilo Otten, whom he had just ordained priest, the brothers André Crèvecoeur, Victor Rotondo and Winoc Barbry; Brother Gaspar Elsenbusch was the cook.

The only original monk of San Benedetto, Dom Placido Gabrielli, disappeared after a month. His superior was Mgr Barbieri, former monk of San Domenico de Siena, then apostolic vicar of Gibraltar. Barbieri had taken a dim view of this Brazilian intrusion into San Benedetto, but he finally agreed. He was not the master of the house: it was loaned by the Italian Cassinese Congregation to the Brazilian Congregation for eighteen years.

Fr. Raphael, “Angelino,” became a [child-] oblate of San Benedetto in 1907 at the age of ten.  In a letter to Fr. Nicolas Huyghebaert dated Dec. 6, 1964, Fr. Raphael wrote:

After my elementary school I left for Acqua Calda in 1907, brought by Father André Crèvecoeur and received by Father Odilo Otten, or rather by the Father (Dom Herpierre) who had preceded as superior, whom I remember very well, but whose name I forgot. Around September or October, the Acqua Calda was closed and I left for Saint-André with Father Odilo Otten.

Having requested to return to Belgium, Dom Odilo had received the order to return to Saint-André. He arrived there accompanied by six Italian Oblates near the end of September 1907.

On October 5, the Claustral School of Saint-André was opened under the direction of the young sub-prior, Dom Théodore Neve, assisted by Dom Gérard Moyaert. Fr. Huyghebaert mused on how the ten-year-old Angelino must have experienced the near-perpetual Belgium gloom:

Fall has charm in Saint-André, but winter? Until his departure for China, Fr. Raphaël retained a pathetic, almost desperate way of looking at our blocked skies, these gray-cloud ceilings: a curse in the eyes of a Sienese. But the vocation of the young Angelino was serious and his character toughened. The Benedictine peace of this brand new and still-modest monastery had a luminous freshness that made him forget the rest. He finished his humanities uneventfully in 1915. The same year he entered the novitiate, November 1, the feast of All Saints.

He made solemn vows on November 1, 1916. After this he began his studies of philosophy, the first year at the Seminary in Bruges, the second at Maredsous. Having escaped, in December 1918, the dreaded Spanish flu, he was sent to Mount Caesar to do his theology; he then completed the cycle the following year at Saint' Anselmo [in Rome].

He had made his solemn profession before his departure for Rome on November 7, 1919, in the afternoon. Why the afternoon? The hour was unusual and in addition, everything was not done correctly, since the good brother Raphaël, exemplary monk if ever there was one, was forced to remake his [solemn] profession four years later.

The canonical obstacle which had arisen seems to have been of a military nature. Because, after having completed his license at Saint' Anselmo, summa cum laude, the cleric Vinciarelli was seized by the Italian carabinieri, and automatically forced into a soldier’s uniform. Military service was neither long nor hard. The conscript hung around in an office for some time and was released after an opportunity had been found to put a gun into his hands at least once . This bellicose experience was later, at the College, the subject of all kinds of good jokes among adults, jokes that Fr. Raphaël seemed to greatly appreciate.

Returning to Saint-André, on October 27, 1923, Brother Raphaël had, in fact, been promoted from the outset to monitor resources at the Abbey School: and from the outset also the pupils had adopted “Rapha”, this Italian monk with his ineffable smile. Authority cannot be conquered: it is a gift from Heaven. Let us add that there was, in the new supervisor, a virile and tender piety which encouraged confidence. Father Raphaël received, I believe, many confidences from students. No one need ever have regretted it; For my part, I have known few men so discreet. A diplomat, but one without deception.

And a touch of diplomacy could not have come at a better time to the College. Something we had occasion  to find out. From 1924 to 1926, the disciplinary prefect was Fr. Robert Meeûs, a very good man and full of zeal, but a bit disorganized and quickly overwhelmed by the little unforeseen events in school life.

At the end of the second year, Fr. Robert was cracking the whip and the college hall resounded with “exasperated superlatives.” Father Raphaël was then summoned to maintain peace and tranquility. In 1928, Father Robert was sent to Katanga, where his apostolic heart had preceded him. As for Father Raphaël, he had taken possession of the prefectorate, at the start of the September 1926 with the majestic calm of a Roman senator inaugurating his consular years.

Fr. Raphaël was also still a professor; he taught Greek, Latin in fourth form, religion in poetry and who knows what else. He was not a brilliant teacher. Curious! this Tuscan was not precisely a humanist: he had returned from Rome stuffed with scholasticism, and scholasticism is certainly not the best preparation for the teaching of letters, or even for the life of a missionary in China. Fortunately, there was always this Botticellian grace which prevented scholasticism from showing its innumerable angles. Maybe I am being a little harsh on my old teacher. I remember that he relished Italian poetry, that he praised Dante and Carducci, but he certainly suffered from having lived between two worlds, from having to comment on Corneille when he relished Tuscan poets.

LET’S go back to the good old days when we knew Father Raphael in college. He had arrived there in 1926, interrupting his doctoral studies in theology to become a 4th grade teacher. He was athletic, a great football player. We remember Father Raphaël leaving like an arrow, the ball hidden in the folds of his cassock, dribbling everyone, waving to the far left to expect to receive the ball and sending it, chuckling, on the far right. We were furious and breathless. Mr. Neckers, who later became Father Odilo, was sometimes there to save the opposing team from disaster. A tireless skater, [Fr. Raphael] led us in winter on the Canal de l’Ecluse to Sluis.

There were also the famous ten minutes of reading at the end of the Greek or Latin class, if the class had been quiet. He read to us from The Red Virgin of the Kremlin, a thrilling novel from the life of the Russians hunted down by the Cheka. The sound of the bell invariably interrupted a building climax. Father Raphaël would stop [reading] and looked at us with a sly smile. “Go on, go on, Father Raphael,” Alas, the bell had rung and the rest would not come until the next day, if we were good.

We also remember the two veins that swelled on his forehead in moments of anger or severity: “Go and compose a translation into Greek!” Who does not remember Father Raphaël’s episodes of laryngitis. We didn’t like it because we looked forward to the reading of the novel at the end of the class. The climate of St. Andre was not the splendid climate of Siena nor that of China.

But maybe it was our fault. “Silence, Silence,” he would often have to call in the great hall, followed by a shrill whistle . It was not a cure for laryngitis. In China, these episodes of laryngitis stopped completely.

Father Raphaël also held the office of prefect of clerics at the Abbey. He aimed at solid intellectual training . He organized the “little course” preparatory to philosophy . We had excellent teachers and, among others, Father Luc Rorrunens. He sent Father Cyprian (Vagaggini) to studies in Rome;  Father Théodore  (later Abbot Théodore Ghesquière) and Father Eleuthère took their doctorates in Louvain. Father Gabriel Roux, whom many remember, accused him of being too rationalist, but I believe that Father Raphaël was rather a balanced humanist. Father Ambroise, prefect of the clerics of Mont-César, admired his prudence, his good judgment and his great self-control.

Father Raphaël left for China in 1934. He had a premonition of his departure, because without being aware of Father Abbot’s decisions, he said to Father Baudouin Standaert, at the time when he was embarking on the Congo liner in Antwerp: “The next departure will be mine”. Father Raphaël had told confidentially to Father Thaddée (Yang An-Yuen): “I had started among the young monks of St. André a movement to convert the Missionary Abbey into a center for liturgical studies and intellectual research. I was considered a revolutionary, deserving of exile”. He made this comment without the slightest bitterness but he laughed heartily. In fact, after his departure for China, this tendency towards studies intensified very strongly in St. André. After the war, the abbey became an important center of liturgical studies while maintaining a great missionary spirit.

A few weeks before his departure for China [in 1934] , Father Raphaël called me to his office: “You are interested in China, you like Chinese art”. “Yes,” I tell him. He continued, “Come join me at Xishan?”  - “Willingly, if Father Abbot consents”. - “Read about China, learn the history of China, the history of Chinese art. I will ask Father Abbot to send you to learn the goldsmith’s work. We will need a silversmith in Xishan “. I learned goldsmithing at Devroye in Brussels and, in 1939, Father Abbot sent me to join the community of monks in China.

While Father Raphaël presided over the discipline at the Abbey School, the monks of Saint-André had introduced monastic life in China.  The College had already given its procurator, Father Hildebrand Marga, to the priory of Xishan.

All was not going well in the distant monastery, where different tendencies clashed over questions of observance and problems of adaptation.

L.D.: THE founder and first Prior of XiShan, Fr. Jehan Joliet, was a monk of Solesmes who believed that a long period of study and inculturation would be required before the monks could meaningfully engage traditional Chinese culture and undertake teaching.  Abbot Neve, on the contrary, advocated immediate commitment to an educational apostolate.  Joliet had also hoped to minimize if not eliminate the class distinction between ordained and well-educated “choir monks” on the one hand and artisan or manual-laborer “laybrothers” on the other.  However, in this matter both he and Abbot Neve were hampered by the requirements of canon law and explicit warnings against innovations from the Benedictine Abbot Primate, Fidelis Von Stotzingen.

Exhausted to the point of insubordination, depressed by these controversies, and thwarted in his efforts to implement experimental solutions to them, Joliet was removed as prior by Abbot Neve and commanded to return to Europe.  However, on learning of Joliet's deibitated physical and psychological state Abbot Neve commuted his sentence to permission for Joliet to withdraw as an exclaustrated hermit to the mountains of Ho-Pa-Chang near Chengdu under the supervision and authority of Bishop Rouchouse.

In Saint-André, some [including Abbot LouTseng-Tsiang] criticized the choice of location [of Xishan] and recommended opening a second monastery closer to the coast. Eventually a foundation in Nanjing was envisaged and Fr. Yang and Fr. Raphaël were assigned to [investigate and] inaugurate it.

Father Abbot Nève decided to conduct a canonical visitation and examine in person the problems of implanting Benedictine ideals in the Far East.  He took with him both Fr. Raphael and Fr. Thaddeus Yang, later of Valyermo. The travelers embarked on November 12, 1934 in Marseilles, on the liner Sibajak of the Rotterdamsche United. They disembarked at Weihsien on the following December 19.

[As a result of the visitation] Abbot Neve formally appointed Fr. Gabriel Roux as Prior: Roux had been subprior and thus acting superior since Joliet's withdrawal.  However, less than two years later Fr. Gabriel died of a fever, a martyr to both his duty and his charity.  A telegram from Abbot Nève, received on May 7 1936, designated Fr. Raphaël to succeed Roux as Prior of Xishan.

In 1936 Father Raphaël succeeded Father Gabriel Roux as prior of Xihan. Father Gabriel had died of typhus contracted during an apostolic trip. Father Raphaël immediately instituted a very strict monastic observance. The traditional customs were observed but he knew how to temper their rigidity and adapt to the needs of a monastery in mission countries. One day Father Raphaël, dressed in his tunic, his belt and his monastic scapular, came down to town to visit the bishop of Shunking. He was walking fast and the scapular was flying in the wind, when he heard this remark from an onlooker: “He must be very rich to wear a garment that covers nothing”. Some time later the simpler and more convenient Chinese habit became our monastic habit . It was, moreover, the habit that has been adopted by missionaries ever since.

N.B. Actually, the question of a simpler monastic habit had been raised by Fr. Joliet several years earlier, and he, too, had recommended the simpler Chinese tunic.  However, modification of the traditional Benedictine habit was one of the innovative practices Abbot President Fidelis had warned Abbot Neve not to implement.

Faithful to his plan to develop the intellectual level of the monks, he sent all the young monks to learn the Chinese language in an environment where they would not hear a word of French. He also suggested that we learn the language by following the cycle of school-books, starting with the first books from primary schools to those of secondary schools . It was humiliating to put yourself on the same level as a small child, but the results were excellent because the method was practical.

His rather intellectual conception of monasticism did not prevent Father Raphaël from being very realistic as prior of Xishan. He immediately gave an apostolic direction to the monastery. He opened a dispensary for the poor and a free school for local children. The school soon had 300 students and 15 lay teachers.

This school and the dispensary gave us the opportunity to practice genuine, positive Christian virtues. On a winter day, Father Raphaël met a half- naked beggar on the road, doubled over, shivering with cold and with frozen feet. Without further ado, Father Raphaël brought him to the monastery, asking Father Hildebrand, the Guestmaster, to care for him him, to serve him a good meal, to give him warm clothes and a room. The beggar stayed at the monastery and became our doorman, Lao Fong. As a porter he had the gift of discerning and dismissing suspicious people by telling each visitor that we had a magic device capable of detecting any wrongdoer . It was his way of expressing his gratitude to Father Raphaël and the community.

Father Raphaël undertook the major seminary in Xishan in a gesture of free assistance to the new Chinese diocese in which we found ourselves: the task was fraught with hardship but created great friendships in the Chinese clergy. He also had the breadth of mind to permit the monks leave [the monastery] to help their adopted homeland [of China] during the war. This gesture had numerous repercussions in the country because the Church thus no longer appeared as a foreign power but rather as grafted onto Chinese life. Father Thaddée in Chungking worked in journalism, Father Wilfrid became the French teacher of Song Mei-Ling, the President’s wife , and Father Vincent became the first Catholic chaplain in the Chinese army together with Father Lebbe.

The Second World War cut off our relations with the outside world. The seminary and the school had to be closed for lack of resources . As the war continued, Xishan’s situation became more and more precarious. We no longer had even $30.00 in the bank account. The bishop [Wang], whom Father Raphaël had so generously helped, refused to help us in our need. Because Father Raphael was Italian [and Italy was allied to Germany at that time], the bishop, for unknown reasons, feared an encroachment by the State on the property of the Church. The Generalissimo [Chiang Kai-shek], however, had sent a letter to the local authorities, urging them to protect us.

At the end of his resources, and without consulting either Father Abbot [Neve] of St. Andre or the Congregation of Religious in Rome, - since this was also impossible - and invited by Monsignor Rouchouse, the bishop of Chengtu, Father Raphael decided to transfer the little monastery on the mountainous site of Xishan to the opulent capital of Szechwan. Father Raphael stated,“This is the ruin of our work in China: we must save the monastery and start over ab ovo. We will make arrangements later with Father Abbot [Neve].”

In reflecting many years later on the difficulties encountered in XiShan Fr. Raphel noted:

In fact, Monsignor Rouchouse wanted us to found a University in Chengtu. Father Raphaël quickly realized that such an enterprise was impossible for our small community as well as for the diocese or even for the combined dioceses of Szechwan. He proposed instead to open a “Institute for Research on Eastern and Western Civilization”. The purpose of the Institute was above all religious: to find common ground between Buddhists, Taoists, Confucians, Protestants and Catholics, and to tear down prejudices. Buddhist and Taoist monks, Confucian teachers, Protestant and Catholic professors soon became members of the Institute and met to discuss common philosophical problems . The work resulted in several publications.

In the meantime, Father Raphaël had obtained a chair at the University of Yen King. He taught the history of the Church, and was very influential A current of sympathy developed for the Catholic Church. When his name was presented to the University’s Board of Directors to renew his term, several American members opposed his candidacy: “If we let Father Raphael teach at the University, in five years the university will become Catholic”. These words were reported by one of the board members, Professor Kuo. Thanks to the Chinese members of the council, Father Raphaël’s term was renewed. The university did not become Catholic because the Communists seized it.

Other fathers taught at Szechwan University, Hwa Si Pa University and the Szechwan Academy of Fine Arts. It was a new method of evangelization, very daring at that time (i.e. teaching in public, non-Catholic schools), forbidden until then by missionaries. After the war, the Apostolic Nuncio in China, Monsignor Riberi, congratulated Father Raphaël on his initiative and, in a public letter, asked religious and missionaries to seek appointments in the state-run universities and in Protestant universities. At the same time, and always with the aim of improving the intellectual level of the clergy, Father Raphaël opened a Catholic bookshop in Chengtu for the clergy and Christians.

The future historian of the Benedictines in China will discover much useful information when the papers of F. Raphael are studied Here is a story from his diary, briefly describing the first Christmas party under the Chinese communist regime .

“Christmas Eve: The monastery and the chapel were decorated to celebrate the birth of Our Lord. Besides the monks, there are the lay employees of the house and all the families around the monastery. As in the past, around twenty university and middle school students are there to celebrate the Christmas Party. Among them, an equal number of Catholics and non-Catholics. Our joy is mixed with anxiety. Communist armies surround the city, some units have managed to penetrate the enclosure. Despite everything, we are joyful because the Savior is coming and will soon be among us ... The meeting ends at 11:30 PM, and we all go to the chapel where baptism is administered to a university professor and to a student. At midnight, Solemn Mass and communion.

CHRISTMAS: Another baptism before the Mass of Dawn: a whole family, father mother and children. In the afternoon, large reception and dinner in the dining room. There are more than 100 guests, Catholics, non-Catholics, young and old, rich and poor. The bishop, Monsignor Pinaud, presides. The Reds control the city. We eat behind “the bamboo curtain”; the city walls are covered with posters and slogans: “Freedom of expression” - “Freedom of thought” -     “Religious freedom” - “Protection of private property” - “Protection against bandits” - “Protection of foreigners and their properties”.

For two years we lived under the red regime. Father Raphaël defended the monastery as much as he could against police interference. One day he was summoned to a people’s court trying the owners and the church. For an hour he suffered the insults of the peasants accusing the church of being rude and dishonest in his dealings with the tenants. No longer able to do so, Father Raphael stood up and, in chastised language , apologized and said to the president: “I think there is a mistake. I have nothing to say here because I do not own rice fields. Please excuse me”. Thereupon Father Raphael left, to the great amazement of the court. He had an answer to all the arguments of the police and party agents. “Be careful,” they said, “he is a cunning politician and diplomat.” Father Raphaël never denied this Italian diplomacy, which was second nature to him. In fact, they never succeeded in coercing significant sums or goods from the monastery . This was not the case for the other Chengtu missions.

Finally he was accused of being a member of the legion of Mary and was thrown in prison, where he spent his last months in China. In March 1952 he was expelled from China and taken to the Hong Kong border, under military escort, with Father Eleuthère and several other missionaries.

Nicolas on the Move to Chengdu

In an article published in 1947 Fr. Raphael succinctly summarized his experiences:

We required more money to support the monks. At the invitation of Archbishop Rouchouse, I left for Chengtou, where I arrived, I believe, on August 15, 1942. A few weeks later, I was invited to teach history at a Protestant university in Chengtou  - a promising influence from the Catholic point of view. Mgr Rouchouse was welcoming and Chengtou seemed to offer a future to the monks, with the possibility of earning a living by teaching in university establishments in the city.

Following a visit by the prior of Saint-André, Dom Jean Delacroix, the transfer from Si-Shan to Chengtou was approved The new buildings rose in 1948.(Cahiers de Saint-André, V, 1948, p. 154-164.).

 The following year at Christmas the Communists entered Chengtou and the persecution began. I was put in prison on November 9, 1951 for having organized the Legion of Mary at the monastery, for the three books I had published in Chinese (Problems Relating to Human Life, Religion and Philosophy, and Life, all three published by the Catholic Truth Society of Hong Kong), and for our opposition to the “Chinese” Church . Judged by the Communist court on February 5, 1952, I was expelled from Chengtou the next day”.

From: the “Letter from Szechwan” by Raphaël Vinciarelli, Cahiers de Saint-André, IV, 1947, p. 49-54

The prior of Chengtou arrived in Hong Kong on February 21, 1952, after an exhausting sixteen-day trip. He stayed there for about four months with one of his colleagues, Father Gaétan Loriers, “to see what was to be done”. He wrote to Abbot Neve proposing the transfer of the community to California. Abbot Neve suggested Japan. “Finally it was agreed that I would go to Japan, then to California and that I would make a report [to the Abbot and Chapter] on my return to Belgium”.  Father Raphaël returned Saint-André on November 22, 1952, determined to make the Californian solution prevail.

The transfer of the community of Chengtou to the United States was approved by the Sacred Congregation for Religious in 1954. The property of [Hidden Springs Ranch,] Valyermo was acquired on October 17, 1955. Father Raphaël was confirmed in his office as prior and remained as superior of Saint Andrew's Priory until 1965.

A renewal of leadership became necessary at that time, which is normal once vocations have become steady.  Abbot Neve had died in 1963; so it was the [third abbot of St. Andre,] Abbot Theodore Ghesquière [who conducted the canonical a visitation] of Saint Andrew’s Priory, Valyermo in December of 1965.   He appointed the former prior of Saint-André, Father Philippe Neri Verhaegen, to lead the community as conventual prior[: The community had been elevated from dependent to (independent) conventual priory following the visitation]. Fr. Raphael graciously stepped down [from leadership], unable, however, to completely conceal his suffering: the memory of previous success elsewhere made harder the disappointments of America.

He devoted his remaining years to preaching and leading the oblates of the monastery. In 1971 a heat attack warned him to prepare for his last journey. And, as it happened, death surprised him while travelling. He was buried on November 17, 1972 in the Mission Cemetery of San Fernando.

Fr. Werner on the Transfer to Valyermo

On our arriving in Hong Kong, Father Raphaël met us in a war council. What shall we do? Go to the Philippines, Formosa, Indochina, Singapore or Japan? The situation in the Far East seemed very precarious to us; our two foundations in China had been severely shaken. We did not want to found a monastery in a new unstable climate. On the other hand, we had many friends in the United States, and Father Raphaël, after taking our advice, decided to concentrate our efforts on California, to work among the Chinese of California, while waiting for the bamboo curtain to lift. “We will return to China, please God”.

Father Raphaël sent me back to Belgium: “Get a good rest, you need it. There will be a great deal of work in California”. Father Raphaël also returned to Belgium via the United States, in order to establish preliminary contacts. Father Abbot approved the plan and in 1954, after serving as prior in St. André, Father Raphaël left for California. Two years later the monastery of Valyermo was founded in the desert, not far from Los Angeles. At 58, Father Raphaël had lost none of his enthusiasm.

Under his leadership the monastery grew rapidly and became an integral part of the church in Southern California . Catholics and religious communities eager for Christian teaching soon discovered Father Raphael. He became a much sought-after retreat preacher and spiritual director of many religious communities. He was known everywhere. He made many friends. His death affected everyone. Here are some extracts from letters sent to the monastery on the occasion of his death.

“We are so grateful to have known him; we recall the Christmas vigils, when I had the privilege of assisting at midnight mass celebrated by Father Raphael. It is a memory that I will never forget. I am grateful to have met him and to have counted him among my friends.”

“It is difficult to forget Father Raphaël. He often comes to my mind. He is one of those rare personalities met in my life, outside my family, who has exerted a major influence on my existence. I’m sure other people feel the same. He was a man of God, and his beautiful personality overflowed on all those with whom he came into contact.”

Can we praise Father Raphaël more beautifully?

Nicolas on the Move to Chengdu

We required more money to support the monks. At the invitation of Archbishop Rouchouse, I left for Chengtou, where I arrived, I believe, on August 15, 1942. A few weeks later, I was invited to teach history at a Protestant university in Chengtou  - a promising influence from the Catholic point of view. Mgr Rouchouse was welcoming and Chengtou seemed to offer a future to the monks, with the possibility of earning a living by teaching in university establishments in the city.

Following a visit by the prior of Saint-André, Dom Jean Delacroix, the transfer from Si-Shan to Chengtou was approved The new buildings rose in 1948.(Cahiers de Saint-André, V, 1948, p. 154-164.).

 The following year at Christmas the Communists entered Chengtou and the persecution began. I was put in prison on November 9, 1951 for having organized the Legion of Mary at the monastery, for the three books I had published in Chinese (Problems Relating to Human Life, Religion and Philosophy, and Life, all three published by the Catholic Truth Society of Hong Kong), and for our opposition to the “Chinese” Church . Judged by the Communist court on February 5, 1952, I was expelled from Chengtou the next day”.

From: the “Letter from Szechwan” by Raphaël Vinciarelli, Cahiers de Saint-André, IV, 1947, p. 49-54

The prior of Chengtou arrived in Hong Kong on February 21, 1952, after an exhausting sixteen-day trip. He stayed there for about four months with one of his colleagues, Father Gaétan Loriers, “to see what was to be done”. He wrote to Abbot Neve proposing the transfer of the community to California. Abbot Neve suggested Japan. “Finally it was agreed that I would go to Japan, then to California and that I would make a report [to the Abbot and Chapter] on my return to Belgium”.  Father Raphaël returned Saint-André on November 22, 1952, determined to make the Californian solution prevail.

The transfer of the community of Chengtou to the United States was approved by the Sacred Congregation for Religious in 1954. The property of [Hidden Springs Ranch,] Valyermo was acquired on October 17, 1955. Father Raphaël was confirmed in his office as prior and remained as superior of Saint Andrew's Priory until 1965.

A renewal of leadership became necessary at that time, which is normal once vocations have become steady.  Abbot Neve had died in 1963; so it was the [third abbot of St. Andre,] Abbot Theodore Ghesquière [who conducted the canonical a visitation] of Saint Andrew’s Priory, Valyermo in December of 1965.   He appointed the former prior of Saint-André, Father Philippe Neri Verhaegen, to lead the community as conventual prior[: The community had been elevated from dependent to (independent) conventual priory following the visitation]. Fr. Raphael graciously stepped down [from leadership], unable, however, to completely conceal his suffering: the memory of previous success elsewhere made harder disappointments of America.

He devoted his remaining years to preaching and leading the oblates of the monastery. In 1971 a hear attack warned him to prepare for his last journey. And, as it happened, death surprised him while travelling. He was buried on November 17, 1972 in the Mission Cemetery of San Fernando.