St. Luke

Biography

St. Luke (1st century) wrote both the Gospel that bears his name and the Acts of the Apostles, together more than a quarter of the New Testament. St. Paul calls him 'the beloved physician' (Colossians 4:14), and he appears to have been a Gentile convert. Early tradition, recorded by Eusebius, says he came from Antioch in Syria. The 'we' passages in Acts suggest that Luke traveled with Paul on parts of his missionary journeys, and when Paul was imprisoned near the end of his life he wrote, 'Luke alone is with me' (2 Timothy 4:11). Luke tells us that he carefully investigated everything from the beginning (Luke 1:3). His Gospel alone preserves the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Magnificat, the birth of Christ in Bethlehem with the shepherds, and parables such as the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. It gives special attention to prayer, the Holy Spirit, women, the poor, and God's mercy to sinners. In Acts he traces the spread of the Gospel from Jerusalem to Rome. Little is known with certainty of his later life; an early tradition says he died at the age of eighty-four in Greece. A later tradition also holds that he painted an image of the Virgin Mary.

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Symbols