Saint Luke
Evangelist
- Feast Day
- October 18
- Life
- d. 84
- Born
- Antioch, Syria (traditional)
Saint Luke is named three times in the New Testament: as the beloved physician (Colossians 4:14), as Saint Paul's fellow worker (Philemon 24), and again as Paul's companion in his last imprisonment (2 Timothy 4:11). Patristic tradition, attested by the Anti-Marcionite Prologue (c. 160-180), Saint Irenaeus (Adversus Haereses III.1.1), and Eusebius, identifies him as a Gentile Christian from Antioch in Syria, a physician by profession, and the author both of the third Gospel and of the Acts of the Apostles, the latter dedicated like the Gospel to a certain Theophilus.
Internal evidence (the we passages in Acts: 16:10-17, 20:5-15, 21:1-18, 27:1-28:16) shows him accompanying Paul from Troas to Philippi about the year 50, again from Philippi to Jerusalem about 57, and on the dangerous voyage from Caesarea to Rome about 60-61. The Gospel was written in elegant Hellenistic Greek for a Gentile-Christian audience, perhaps about 80-85; Acts followed shortly after.
Patristic tradition adds that Luke was unmarried, lived to the age of eighty-four, and died in Greece (some sources say Boeotia, others Bithynia). The legend that he was a painter, depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary, is medieval and not historical, but reflects the unrivaled prominence of Mary and of women generally in his Gospel. His relics are venerated in the basilica of Santa Giustina at Padua.
Saint Luke gave the Church its most extensive Gospel of mercy, with the Magnificat, the parables of the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, and the Pharisee and the Tax Collector preserved only in his account. In Acts he wrote the first history of the Church, from Pentecost to the proclamation of the Gospel at Rome. The Feast of Saint Luke, kept in red, is a celebration of the apostolic Gospel and of the missionary breadth of the Church.
Patronages
physicians · surgeons · artists · butchers
From Saint Luke
"My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior."
Catholic Churches Named After Saint Luke
20 parishes on Catholic Church Times share Saint Luke's name. Find their Mass times, confession schedules, and adoration hours:
- St. Luke’s Mission — Lupane
- St Luke’s, Noarlunga Downs — Noarlunga Downs, SA
- SS Luke & Teresa — Wincanton, ENG
- Parish of St. Luke the Evangelist — Valderrama, ANTIQUE
- St Luke Catholic Church — Banknock, SCT
- St. Luke the Evangelist — Bellaire, MI
- Saint Luke — Washington, DC
- St. Luke — Belleville, IL
- St. Luke Catholic Church — Mint Hill, NC
- Holy Angels - St. Luke the Evangelist Parish — Plaistow, NH
- St. Luke the Evangelist — Dahlonega, GA
- Saint Luke Catholic Church — Nicholasville, KY
- Saint Luke Church — Walker Springs, AL
- St. Luke — Sandstone, MN
- Saint Luke Roman Catholic Church — Boardman, OH
- Saint Luke Catholic Church — Belleville, IL
- St. Luke the Evangelist Paris - Holy Angels — Nunda, NY
- Crkva sv. Luke
- crkva svetog Luke evanđelista
- St. Luke R.C. Parish — Toms River, NJ
Sources