Archbishop Raphael Cheenath was born on 30 December 1934, hails from the parish of Pallissery of the Archeparchy. After school education he joined the Society of Divine Word and was ordained priest on 20 September, 1963. He became the Bishop of Sambalpur on 18 May, 1974 and he was appointed as archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar on 1 July 1985.
Archbishop Cheenath, as the senior metropolitan archbishop in the region, gave leadership to the Church in Odisha when the anti-Christian wave swept the eastern Indian state. Kandhamal district, which comes directly under his archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, was the most hit in 2008 when the worst anti-Christian violence in India’s modern history swept the state.
Archbishop Cheenath “died a winner” since the Supreme Court of India 2 Aug 2016 granted his petition for enhanced relief to the victims of the violence against the Christian community of Kandhamal. He stoutly fought for justice.
He was retired on 11 February 2011 and he was spending his retirement days under the care of his confreres of Divine Word Congregation and he died on 14 August, 2016.