Teresa was born February 21, 1894, one of 10 children born to Henry and Frances Clark Hayden in Owensboro, Ky. Her parents were devout Catholics and trained their children to love for God and serve their neighbor. Teresa attended grade school in Owensboro. In 1911, she enrolled at Mount Saint Joseph Academy for high school. At age 19, she entered the novitiate. On August 5, 1913, Teresa received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Raphael.
Sister Raphael taught at Mount Saint Joseph Academy until 1918. She was then assigned to St. James School at Wynot, Neb., where she remained teacher and principal for 10 years. She was also superior for eight of these years. Next, she taught high school students at St. Catherine School in New Haven, Ky., and also served as principal and superior. Sister Raphael’s next assignment was St. Joseph School in Owensboro. While there, she completed the work for a master’s degree from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Following this, she began teaching in public high schools in Kentucky for more than 20 years: Fredericktown, Flaherty, St. Charles, and St. Francis.
In 1965, Sister Raphael returned to Mount Saint Joseph. After much reading and many hours of prayer, she spent the rest of each day working in crafts, dressing dolls and creating patterns of various types. She died peacefully on May 21, 1969. A nephew, Father Lucian Hayden, Msgr. Albert Thompson and Father Bernard Powers, chaplain, concelebrated the funeral Mass on May 23, 1969. Sister’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery. Among her survivors was her Ursuline sister, Sister Gabriel. Her brother, Father Jolly Paschal Hayden, preceded her in death in 1941.