Rafael Guízar Valencia was born in Cotija, diocese of Zamora in the State of Michoacán (Mexico), on April 26, 1878. His parents, Prudencio and Natividad, fervent Christians, gave their 11 children an excellent religious education. Orphaned by his mother at the age of nine, Raphael made his first studies in the parish school and then in a Jesuit college. During these years he developed his vocation to the priesthood and decided to follow God's call. In 1891, he entered the minor seminary of Cotija and then the major seminary of Zamora in 1896. On June 1, 1901 he was ordained a priest at the age of 23.
In the first years of his priestly ministry, he devoted himself with great zeal to the popular "missions" in the city of Zamora and in various regions of Mexico. Appointed apostolic missionary and spiritual director of the seminary of Zamora in 1905, he worked tirelessly to instill in the seminarians the love for the Eucharist and the tender and filial devotion to Our Lady. In 1911, in order to oppose hostilities against the Church, he established a modern printing house in Mexico City and began to print a Catholic newspaper which was, however, closed down by the revolutionaries after a short time.
Persecuted to death, he lived homeless for a few years, enduring all kinds of danger and deprivation. In order to exercise his ministry he disguised himself as a street vendor, homeopathic doctor or musician. He could then approach the sick, comfort them, administer the sacraments to them and assist the dying. Hunted by enemies and no longer able to stay in Mexico because of the imminent danger of being captured, he took refuge at the end of 1915 in the United States, and the following year in Guatemala where he preached in a large number of missions.
His fame as a missionary also reached the nearby island of Cuba, where he was invited to organize new missions. His missionary apostolate on the island was exemplary and fruitful. On August 1, 1919 he was appointed Bishop of Veracruz. After being ordained in the cathedral of Havana on November 30, 1919, he took possession of his diocese on January 9, 1920. He was occupied for the first two years by personally visiting the vast territory of the diocese, converting the visits into real missions, and working to assist the poor of Veracruz who were victims of a violent earthquake that had brought death and destruction to the area. Furthermore, the Bishop preached in parishes, taught doctrine, formalized illegitimate unions and spent hours at the confessional with the faithful. However, one of his main concerns was the formation of priests.
In 1921, he managed to redeem and restore the old seminary in Xalapa, which had been confiscated in 1914 until the government seized the newly renovated building again. The Bishop then moved the seminary to Mexico City, where it operated underground for 15 years. It was the only seminary to survive, managing up to three hundred seminarians.
Of the 18 years of episcopacy, nine were spent in exile or living in hiding, since he was wanted with the intention of being killed. However he gave proof of a great "fortitude," going in person to one of his persecutors to offer his life in exchange for the restitution of the freedom of worship. In December 1937, while preaching on a mission in the city of Córdoba, he suffered a serious heart attack that forced him to stay definitively in bed. Even though he was seriously ill, he followed the events of the diocese intensely from his bed and was especially concerned about the seminary. In the meantime, he prepared himself for meeting the Lord by celebrating Holy Mass every day. He died on June 6, 1938 in Mexico City. The next day his mortal remains were taken to Xalapa. The funeral procession was a triumph, for everyone wanted to see for the last time the remains of "Holy Bishop Guízar." He was beatified by St. John Paul II on January 29, 1995 in St. Peter's Basilica. On October 15, 2006 he was proclaimed a saint by Pope Benedict XVI, the first canonized Bishop of Latin America. Buried in the cathedral of Xalapa, his tomb is a destination of thousands of pilgrims who ask for his intercession.