Overview

Like all his brothers, Raphaël is a prince of Heaven and is highly respected by other angels, even if his popularity will never get as big as Prince Michel's. However, he is more of a modest prince, and doesn't take that much pride in his position as royalty.
Being the most compassionate of the archangels, Raphaël tries to help people with any of their health problems, be it physical or psychological. The only disease he can't heal is, well, death. Even though angels cannot get injured or sick, they can still benefit from Raphaël aid when it comes to their psychological problems. Because of that, he is usually trusted, and seen as a good confident.

Raphaël has the most "human" personality of all the Archangels. Laidback and playful, he can hang out with pretty much anyone as long as they have a good heart.
When possible, he likes to disguise as a human, "Azarias" around strangers on Earth. He also finds it easier to find genuine friends that way, and avoid people that are only interested in him for the fact that he is an angel or a prince. His brothers have a tendency to complain about it, as they don't see the point and think he should stop playing around. As Michel says, a prince shouldn’t behave like that!

Thanks to his extensive experience and knowledge on Earth, Raphaël is seen as the main reference when it comes to human culture. Guardian angels especially look up to him and many see him as a role model. Raphaël is also the one who selects to-be guardian angels, and chooses who their protégés will be, taking both their needs and personalities into account. It is said he never makes a bad choice.

Meeting with Tobie

One day in Spring 1940, Raphaël was relaxing in a forest next to the little village of Griesbach-le-Bastberg. Surrounded by beautiful nature and adorable animals, he couldn’t help but play the flute out of joy and bliss.

Suddenly, Raphaël was interrupted by the voice of a sobbing child. Quickly, he hid his wings, ready to pretend to be nothing but a regular human once more. The boy’s name was Tobie, and lived next to the forest. Raphaël, on the other hand, introduced himself as Azarias, a traveller from a far-away land. After exchanging a few words about the weather and the interesting flora and fauna one can find in the forest, Tobie told Azarias he was lost and asked for the way back home. Azarias offered to lead him there.

Tobie’s parents were incredibly thankful to Azarias and touched by his gentle and humble personality. When asked who he was, again, Azarias replied that he came from far away and had “no relatives in his world”. Interpreting those words as those of a wandering orphan, Tobie offered to claim Azarias as his brother, which Tobie’s parents immediately approved of. He was now part of the family.

Azarias sometimes comes at their house, spends quality time with Tobie and his family, teaching him useful skills such as fishing, differentiating edible berries from poisonous ones, and how to never get lost in forests anymore. But Azarias sometimes still leaves for a while. He loves his liberty. Several times, Azarias has tried to tell Tobie that he actually was the Archangel Raphaël, but the child has trouble fully grasping this concept and its ins and outs, even after seeing Raphaël’s beautiful white wings. Maybe it’s better this way. He doesn’t want their relationship to change, and that’s also why he has never told the truth to Tobie’s parents; he knows that would heavily affect the way they treat and view him.

In La saison des doryphores

Raphaël, most of the time disguised as Azarias, is an archangel who lives not-so-secretly among humans in the town of Hijacque-les-Bois with his brothers. More exactly, he works there as a physician, often helped by a reserved nurse named Suzanne.

Recently, his brother Gabriel brought two unconscious teenagers into his clinic. They were found in a field, after what seems to be a train accident.