Luke
was not a Jew but a Gentile, and thought to have been a Greco-Syrian,
probably born in Antioch. Though one of the four Gospel writers – known
as the Evangelists – he was not one of Christ's Twelve Apostles. Whether
he converted to Christianity from Judaism or paganism is not certain.
He
was a disciple and companion of the Apostle Paul who mentions that he
was also a medical man, “Luke, the most dear physician” and he probably
helped St. Paul with his much-tried health. Luke was certainly with the
great apostle in his first two imprisonments in Rome.
According
to tradition, the physician and Evangelist was also an artist and
painted several pictures of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. Among the most
famous is the Salus Populi Romani enshrined in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome.
Not
only is the third Gospel, written in Koine Greek, attributed to Luke by
the early fathers, but Biblical scholars are in wide agreement that he
also wrote the Acts of the Apostles. While traditional Christian
scholarship dates the writing of his Gospel to the 60’s, others place it
in the last decades of the first century.
St. Luke is believed to have died a martyr though accounts of his death vary.
He
is venerated as St. Luke the Evangelist and his symbol is the bull. He
is patron saint of artists, physicians, surgeons, students, and
butchers.
Sunday, October 18, 2020
St. Luke the Evangelist
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