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The saints

St. Luke

The doctor who interviewed eyewitnesses and gave us the Christmas story.

Feast: 18 October · 1st century · The early Church · Antioch, and the travels of Paul

Read the story 1 min read
Manuscript painting of St. Luke enthroned, holding a small painting of the Virgin Mary, with an ox beside him.

Jean Bourdichon, 2013. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Home / The saints / St. Luke

On the road with Paul

Luke opens his Gospel by telling us he checked everything carefully from the beginning.1

Paul calls him the beloved physician.2

Without Luke we would have no Annunciation, no shepherds, and no prodigal son.

Patron of physicians and surgeons3; artists and painters3

01St. Luke

The careful writer

Luke wrote both his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, and parts of Acts say we, because he was there.3

His Gospel is full of the poor, women, outsiders and mercy.3

02St. Luke

Faithful to the end

When Paul was in prison near the end, he wrote that only Luke was with him.4

An old tradition says Luke painted Mary, which is why artists claim him as their patron.3

Live it this week

Get the story right

Luke checked everything before he wrote. Before you repeat anything about someone this week (good or bad), ask yourself if you actually know it’s true. If you don’t, don’t pass it on.

Notes

How we know · 4 sources for this page
  1. Luke 1:3, World English Bible. read the chapter
  2. Colossians 4:14, World English Bible. read the chapter
  3. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “Saint Luke”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org
  4. 2 Timothy 4:11, World English Bible. read the chapter

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.