Guild of St Raphael

Last updated

The Guild of St Raphael , founded in 1915, was a Christian organisation dedicated to promoting, supporting and practicing Christ's ministry of healing as an integral part of the life and worship of the Church. Originating from within the Anglican Communion, it expanded to include members from other Churches and became ecumenical in outlook. It was also international in scope with over one hundred branches throughout the world. The Guild took its name from the Book of Tobit, where Saint Raphael is the angel who helps Tobias find his way. The Guild stated it was: "the Anglican means of teaching the arts and sciences of the ministry of healing by prayer, sacraments and by full co-operation with the medical profession". [1]

Contents

In October 2015 the Guild merged with the Guild of Health - from which it had originally emerged - under the formal title of The Guild of Health and St. Raphael. The remainder of this article contains the text as it appeared before the merger. Information about membership and the publications Guild News and Chrism can now be found at www.gohealth.org.uk

Origins and history

Tobit and the Archangel Raphael; Pietro Perugino Pietro Perugino cat54c.jpg
Tobit and the Archangel Raphael; Pietro Perugino

Some Internet sources place the founding of the Guild by some of the members of the Stella Matutina, including Robert Felkin. [2] There is little documentary evidence available to support this assertion outside of the book by Francis X. King, (1989), [3] and he asserts that the Guild rapidly became completely separate from any of the practices of Stella Matutina. The available evidence suggests it never was connected.

Recent minutes (published in Chrism, 2006) show that the driving personalities behind the foundation of the Guild in 1915 were a Miss Caroline Biggs, recorded as Secretary of the newly formed Guild, with the Reverend Canon R. P. Roseveare of St Paul's Deptford, recorded as its first Warden.

By 1920, under Canon Roseveare's Wardenship, the fourth Annual Report gives the membership as 19 priest members, 26 priest associates, 2 lay members and 248 lay associates. The Guild had already penetrated into Africa, Canada, New Zealand, India and China.

A letter to the Times, published in 1933 by Bishop W. W. Hough, Warden of the Guild, notes that "The movement has grown. There are now over 2,000 lay members, and 300 priest members who are practicing spiritual healing in most of the dioceses in the land."

Works

Its main emphasis is on the actual practice of the healing ministry through its local branches, and this is where its strength lies. Its members observe a simple rule of prayer, study and work for this ministry. Their aim is always to promote Christ's ministry of healing - looking not just for physical healing, but for the healing of the whole person.

The Guild looks too for the healing of communities and of God's creation itself - taking into account those many social and political factors which cause 'dis-ease' in our broken and divided world.

Prayer for healing is at the heart of the Guild's work, as are the sacraments of healing - anointing and the sacramental act of the laying on of hands. But members make use of other healing actions as well - the ministry of listening and silence, counselling, informal liturgies and simple symbolic actions. The Guild has in the past gained a high-profile for its study and recognition of exorcism. In 1960, the Rev. Henry Cooper, Chaplain to the Guild, argued that successful exorcists are people who know something about psychiatry and work well with doctors. They resort to bell, book and candle only when psychiatrists have given up. [4] A Henry Cooper Lecture is given each year in Cooper's memory. [1]

The Guild also engages in extensive theological education and research. In particular through its periodical, Chrism, mentioned below.

In this and in all its activities the Guild has always stood for the closest co-operation with members of the medical profession and others engaged in the work of healing.

Periodical

The Guild publishes a half-yearly periodical, Chrism, in which it endeavours to explore different aspects of the healing scene. Past editions have dealt with diverse topics such as Children and Healing, Touch in a Fearful Society, Animals and Healing, A Theology of Health for Today, M.E. (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), Dementia, Genetic Engineering and Healing, Alcohol and Substance Abuse.

Wardens

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

Anointing of the sick Religious anointing/sacrament

Anointing of the sick, known also by other names, is a form of religious anointing or "unction" for the benefit of a sick person. It is practiced by many Christian churches and denominations.

In some religions, an exorcist is a person who is believed to be able to cast out the devil or performs the ridding of demons or other supernatural beings who are alleged to have possessed a person, or (sometimes) a building or even an object. An exorcist can be a specially prepared or instructed person including: priest, a nun, a monk, a witch doctor (healer), a shaman, a psychic or a geomancer.

Emmanuel Milingo Excommunicated Zambian Archbishop

Emmanuel Milingo is an excommunicated former Roman Catholic archbishop from Zambia. He was ordained in 1958; in 1969, aged 39, Milingo was consecrated by Pope Paul VI as the bishop of the Archdiocese of Lusaka. In 1983, he stepped down from his position as Archbishop of Lusaka after criticism for exorcism and faith healing practices that were not approved by church authorities. In 2001, when Milingo was 71, he received a marriage blessing from Sun Myung Moon, the leader of the Unification Church, despite the prohibition on marriage for ordained priests. In July 2006, he established Married Priests Now!, an advocacy organization to promote the acceptance of married priests in the Roman Catholic Church.

A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion, usually working as a part-time volunteer. Holders of these positions are ex officio members of the parish board, usually called a vestry, parochial church council, or in the case of a Cathedral parish the chapter.

Extraordinary minister of Holy Communion A lay person who distributes Holy Communion in the Catholic Church

An extraordinary minister of Holy Communion in the Catholic Church is, under the 1983 Code of Canon Law, "an acolyte, or another of Christ's faithful deputed", in certain circumstances, to distribute Holy Communion. The term "extraordinary" distinguishes such a person from the ordinary minister of Holy Communion, namely a bishop, priest or deacon.

Exorcism Evicting spiritual entities from a person or area

Exorcism is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be done by causing the entity to swear an oath, performing an elaborate ritual, or simply by commanding it to depart in the name of a higher power. The practice is ancient and part of the belief system of many cultures and religions.

Cathedral Church of Saint Matthew (Dallas) Church in Texas, United States

The Cathedral Church of Saint Matthew, known simply as St. Matthew's Cathedral, is an Episcopal cathedral church located at 5100 Ross Avenue in Dallas, Texas, in the United States.

Euchologion Liturgical works of Eastern Christian Churches

The Euchologion is one of the chief liturgical books of the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches, containing the portions of the services which are said by the bishop, priest, or deacon. There are several different volumes of the book in use.

Anglican ministry

The Anglican ministry is both the leadership and agency of Christian service in the Anglican Communion. "Ministry" commonly refers to the office of ordained clergy: the threefold order of bishops, priests and deacons. More accurately, Anglican ministry includes many laypeople who devote themselves to the ministry of the church, either individually or in lower/assisting offices such as lector, acolyte, sub-deacon, Eucharistic minister, cantor, musicians, parish secretary or assistant, warden, vestry member, etc. Ultimately, all baptized members of the church are considered to partake in the ministry of the Body of Christ.

John Pritchard (bishop)

John Lawrence Pritchard is a Church of England bishop. He was the Bishop of Oxford from 2007 to 2014. He is in the Open Evangelical tradition.

United Episcopal Church of North America

The United Episcopal Church of North America (UECNA) is a church in the Anglican tradition and is part of the Continuing Anglican movement. It is not part of the Anglican Communion.

Consecrations in Eastern Christianity can refer to either the Sacred Mystery (Sacrament) of Cheirotonea of a bishop, or the sanctification and solemn dedication of a church building. It can also be used to describe the change of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ at the Divine Liturgy. The Chrism used at Chrismation and the Antimension placed on the Holy Table are also said to be consecrated.

Glossary of the Catholic Church Wikipedia glossary

This is a glossary of terms used within the Catholic Church.

Christopher Neil-Smith (1920–1995) was an Anglican priest who served as vicar of St Saviour's Hampstead and is best known for his practice of exorcism and his parapsychological interests.

Exorcism in Christianity Practice of casting out one or more demons from a person

In Christianity, exorcism involves the practice of casting out one or more demons from a person whom they are believed to have possessed. The person performing the exorcism, known as an exorcist, is often a member of the Christian Church, or an individual thought to be graced with special powers or skills. The exorcist may use prayers and religious material, such as set formulas, gestures, symbols, icons, or amulets. The exorcist often invokes God, Jesus, angels and archangels, and various saints to aid with the exorcism. Christian exorcists most commonly cast out demons in Jesus' name.

Exorcism in the Catholic Church The use of exorcism in the Catholic Church

The Catholic Church authorizes the use of exorcism for those who are believed to be the victims of demonic possession. In Roman Catholicism, exorcism is a sacramental but not a sacrament, unlike baptism or confession. Unlike a sacrament, exorcism's "integrity and efficacy do not depend ... on the rigid use of an unchanging formula or on the ordered sequence of prescribed actions. Its efficacy depends on two elements: authorization from valid and licit Church authorities, and the faith of the exorcist." The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "When the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called exorcism."

Sacraments of the Catholic Church Catholic visible rites

There are seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, which according to Catholic theology were instituted by Jesus and entrusted to the Church. Sacraments are visible rites seen as signs and efficacious channels of the grace of God to all those who receive them with the proper disposition.

Christian laying on of hands Symbolic and formal method of invoking the Holy Spirit

In Christianity, the laying on of hands is both a symbolic and formal method of invoking the Holy Spirit primarily during baptisms and confirmations, healing services, blessings, and ordination of priests, ministers, elders, deacons, and other church officers, along with a variety of other church sacraments and holy ceremonies.

Minor exorcism in Christianity

The expression minor exorcism can be used in a technical sense or a general sense. The general sense indicates any exorcism which is not a solemn exorcism of a person believed to be possessed, including various forms of deliverance ministry. This article deals only with the technical sense which specifically refers to certain prayers used with persons preparing to become baptised members of the churches which makes use of such rites. These prayers request God's assistance so that the person to be baptised will be kept safe from the power of Satan or protected in a more general way from temptation.

Keith Graham Riglin is an Anglican bishop in the Scottish Episcopal Church. Having ministered from 1983 within Baptist and Reformed churches, he took holy orders in the Church of England in 2008. In January 2021 he was elected Bishop of Argyll and The Isles.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Chrism; vol. XXV, 1985-87
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-03-04. Retrieved 2007-02-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ↑ Modern Ritual Magic: the rise of western occultism. Bridport: Prism ISBN   1853270326 (previous ed. Ritual Magic in England, 1970
  4. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-10-08. Retrieved 2007-02-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.