San Rafael is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 61,271, up from 57,713 in 2010.
Image: San Rafael California Canal Area aerial view (cropped)
Image: Mission San Rafael 2 (cropped)
Image: St. Vincent's Church in Marinwood, CA (cropped) (cropped)
Image: Mission San Rafael Arcángel, San Rafael CA USA panoramio (12) (cropped)
Raphael is an archangel first mentioned in the Book of Tobit and in 1 Enoch, both estimated to date from between the 3rd and 2nd century BCE. In later Jewish tradition, he became identified as one of the three heavenly visitors entertained by Abraham at the Oak of Mamre. He is not named in either the New Testament or the Quran, but later Christian tradition identified him with healing and as the angel who stirred waters in the Pool of Bethesda in John 5:2–4, and in Islam, where his name is Israfil, he is understood to be the unnamed angel of Quran 6:73, standing eternally with a trumpet to his lips, ready to announce the Day of Judgment. In Gnostic tradition, Raphael is represented on the Ophite Diagram.
Saint Raphael the Archangel by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Abraham with the Three Angels by Rembrandt
Tobias and the Angel by Gustave Doré
Raphael, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, detail