Raoul de St. Trond, a Belgian monastic, was born at Moutier-sur-Sambre, in the diocese of Liege, studied at Liege, and then entered the Benedictine or- der at Aix-la-Chapelle. He was there made sacristan, master of a school, and grand provost. He was a very devout man ; and, dissatisfied with the lax condition of the monastery at Aix, he left for St. Trond, where, af- ter two years, he was made prior, and introduced the reforms of the Clugniacs. In 1108 he was elected ab- bot, and took part in the quarrel for the pope which agitated the Liege diocese and resulted in its division. He went twice to Rome, where he was warmly received and had much influence. He died March 6, 1138. He wrote: Gesta Abbatum Trudonensium Orel. Sancti Bene- dicti, in D'Achery's Sjiirikgium, vii, 344 sq. : — De Sus- ceptione Puerorum in Monasteriis.'m Mabillon's Analec- ta: — Contra Simoniacos, Lib. VII, which is still in MS. See Gallia Christiana, iii, 958 -960 ; Ceillier, Hist, des A ut. Eccles. xxii, 68. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generate, s. v.
Raoul de Vaucelle, a French monastic, was born probably at Merston, in England, and flourished in the first half of the 12th century, first a monk at Clairvaux, and later as abbot of the new monastery founded at Vaucelle, in the diocese of Cambray, by St, Bernard. Raoul is renowned both for his magnificence and for his charity. In the time of want, he supported for months as many as five thousand paupers. Charles de Visch, in his Bibtiotheque Cistercienne, counts him among the learned writers of his time, and attributes to him many works; but, according to Pastoret, these works are lost, He died in 1152.— Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Gene- rale, s. v.
Rapaport, Salomo Jehuda Low, a noted Jewish scholar, was born at Lemberg, in Austrian Galicia, in 1790. He first attracted attention among his corelig- ionists by notes to a Talmudical work of his father-in- law, and subsequently rose to the highest rank among the Hebrew writers of the age by critico-biographical sketches of Saadia Gaon, Rabbi Nathan, Hai Gaon, the poet Eleazar Kalir, etc., in the Bikkure ha-Ittim (Vien- na, 1828-31); by contributions to the Kerem Chemed (Vienna and Prague, 1833-43); and by numerous other dissertations in Hebrew and German, inserted in vari- ous other publications. He translated into Hebrew verse Racine's Esther, entitled iTTliT rmSO (Vien-
na, 1827). He also published, under the title of *p" 6 ■pS". a linguistic and archaeological lexicon, of which only one part has as yet appeared (Prague, 1852). His poetical contributions in the Bikkure may be identified by the cipher "PU.\ Having officiated for some time as rabbi at Tamopol, he was elected, in 1840, to till a similar office at Prague, where he died, Oct. 16, 1867. Besides his numerous essays, which are to be found in the different reviews and periodicals, he published, in. 1861, a criticism on Frankel's Darke ha-Mishna, enti- tled Dibre Shalom ve-Emeth. See Fttrst, Bill. Jiul. iii, 131 sq.; Etheridge. Introduction to Hebrew Literature, p. 482; Gratz, Gesch. d. Juden, xi, 485 sq.; Jost, Gesch. d. Judenth. u. s. Secten, iii, 343 sq. ; Stern, Gesch. d. Juden- thums, p. 218 sq. ; Dessauer. Gesch. d. Israelite)!, p. 533 sq. ; Geiger, Jiid. Zeitschrift (1867), p. 241 sq.; id. Nachge- lassene Schriften (Berlin, 1875), ii, 262; Zunz, Die Mo- natstage des Kalenderjahres (Eng. transl. by the Rev. B. Pick, in the Jewish Messenger, N. Y., 1874-75) ; Cassel, Leitfaden zur jiid. Gesch. u. Literatur (1872), p. 114; Delitzsch, Zur Gesch. d. jiidischen Poesie, p. 102, 118, 155 ; Kurlunder, S. L. Rapaport : eine biograjihische Skizze (Pesth, 1868). (B. P.)
Raper, William H., a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was bom in Western Pennsylvania, Sept, 24, 1793. He was first brought to notice by the service he rendered his country in the second war with England. In 1819 he was received on trial in the Ohio Conference, and remained in the effective ranks for about thirty years. He served the Church in various posi- tions, and always acceptably. He was honored by be- ing sent to several general conferences, and had many admirers and friends. He died while travelling with bishop Morris to Aurora, Ind., Feb. 1 1, 1852. Mr. Paper was a profound theologian, of amiable social qualities, fearless and earnest. — Minutes of A nnual Corf, of M. E. Ch. 1852, p. 123.
Ra'pha (Heb. Kapha', NE'n. as in 1 Chron. viii, 2), or Ra'phah (Heb. Rap/iah', ~S", as in 2 Sam. xxi, 16, meaning giant [q. v.], as translated in 1 Chron. xx, 4, 6, 8; 2 Sam. xxi, 16, 18, 20, 22; Sept. 'Pa^/'/c, v. r. 'Va<pd and 'Pa>paia), the name of two men. See also Beth-Rapiia.
1. The last of the five sons of Benjamin, son of Ja- cob (1 Chron. viii, 2, " Rapha"). B.C. post 1927. The name does not occur in the original register of the family (Gen. xlvi, 21) ; but at Numb, xiii, 9, Raphu was the name of the father of the person chosen from Ben- jamin to spy out the land of Canaan — showing the name, or something similar, to have belonged to the tribe. Raphah is apparently but a variation of the name of Posh (q. v.). See Jacob.
2. The son of Binea, and father of Eleasah; eighth in lineal descent from David's friend Jonathan (1 Chron. viii, 37, "Raphah"). B.C. post 1000. He is called Rephaiah in 1 Chron. ix, 43.