Luke, Evangelist

Biography

It is believed that he came to know Jesus Christ through the Apostle Saint Paul, to whom he will always feel linked and will be one of the favorite disciples of the Apostle of the Gentiles. He was a doctor by profession. He was well prepared in the knowledge of his time and knew the Greek language and literature well. Once converted to the faith of Christ, perhaps in the 1940s, his life was closely linked to that of Saint Paul and with him he went on missions to various countries: Macedonia, Jerusalem, Rome. Paul's teachings penetrate the heart and mind of Luke. Teachings that with some other sources that will reach your hands, inspired by the Holy Spirit, will pass into Scripture, and thanks to him we will have the third Gospel and the precious book of Acts: the first history of the Church. In San Lucas we can highlight two facets, both very important: Lucas HISTORIAN and Lucas MISSIONARY. Among the synoptics, Luke can be called the evangelist of Salvation History. He has written a two-volume history about the origins of Christianity: THE GOSPEL AND THE FACTS. He can accurately be called the historian among the other evangelists, not because the others do not make history, but rather because he has a broader intuition of history. Luke knows the stories of his time. He knows that they usually put a prologue to the stories of their time and he does so. He pays special attention to the chronology of events and brings references from secular history more than the others. But above all he has written the history of salvation. As a MISSIONARY he has not been considered so much and yet it is enough to remember his adventures for him to deserve this honorable title. Saint John Chrysostom called him: "tireless in work, eager to know and suffer." Another facet that stands out in the Gospel of Saint Luke is his love when it comes to the Virgin Mary. He deals more than the other three evangelists with the Marian theme. For this reason he has been called "PAINTER OF MARY", not because he has painted on canvas - as some attribute to him - some ancient paintings of the Virgin, but because he painted her wonderfully in his Gospel. Perhaps it was the Virgin Mary herself who told him the charming scenes of the Childhood of Jesus. An ancient tradition says that he died martyred in Achaia, hanging from a tree. He is the patron saint of doctors and surgeons.