the crucified orator 716 teacher of the virtues, confirms this with the most brilliant testimony. The young Tobias was going with Archangel Raphael, hidden under the human form of the most faithful Achates,71 into the Rages in Media. When they followed the road near the river Tigris, Tobias desired to enter the river, perhaps to refresh his weary feet in the water. When he did so [acting] with more eagerness than caution, “A fish leaped from the river and would have swallowed the young man (Tob 6:2). Scared to death, the noble youth fell into despair. But as assistance was near at hand in this instance, he called out to his companion: “Sir, he cometh upon me” (Tob 6:3) [DRB]. Raphael, giving courage to the thoroughly frightened boy, ordered him to immediately and bravely seize the fish, pull it ashore, kill it, disembowel it, and keep its heart, liver, and gall. The boy, having survived such a great danger, eagerly did as commanded and [then] asked in a more familiar manner his wiser companion: What purpose do the innards of the fish serve? Raphael, explaining their extraordinary powers, said: “As for the heart and liver, if a demon or evil spirit gives trouble to any one, you make a smoke rise from these before the man or woman, and that person will never be troubled again” (Tob 6:8). Finally, it was proved true when Tobias — joined by the bond of marriage to Sarah, the daughter of Raguel (to whom he came with the purpose of collecting a debt) —with the smoke rising from the burnt heart of the fish, chased from her the very powerful demon that had triumphed over the several youths before him.72 Nicholas of Lyra, an eminent exegete of Sacred Scripture, after considering this matter, quite aptly interprets this smoke in a way that harmonizes with our topic. Here are Nicholas’s words: “That smoke arising from the fire signifies the power of prayer of 71 St. Stanislaus is here referring to Achates, the companion of Aeneas, appearing in the Aeneid, whose faithfulness became proverbial. The name Raphael uses in the book of Tobit is actually Azariah. 72 Cf. Tob 6:14.
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