El Greco (1541–1614), San Lucas Evangelista / Saint Luke the Evangelist, circa 1602, 100 x 76, Toledo Cathedral
Saint Luc
Évangéliste (Ier siècle)
Un médecin grec,
adorateur des idoles, soucieux de ses malades dont il connaît la faiblesse et
souvent la misère. Jusqu'au jour où il entend saint Paul parler de
Jésus, qui vient apporter le salut et la résurrection. Pendant 18 ans, il ne
quittera plus désormais l'apôtre des nations et le suivit jusqu'à son martyre à
Rome en 67.
Il est l'auteur d'un
évangile et du livre des Actes
des Apôtres. On y trouve plusieurs termes médicaux pour parler de la
maladie de ceux qui s'adressent à Jésus. Soucieux d'authenticité, il nous dit
avoir étudié ses sources, comme le médecin écoute son patient pour mieux dire
un diagnostic. Modeste et compatissant, il retient plus que les autres
évangélistes tout ce qui marque la bonté du Sauveur: l'enfant prodigue, le bon
Samaritain, la brebis perdue, la prostituée qui s'en va pardonnée, le bon
larron. Dante dira de lui «Il est le scribe de la miséricorde du Christ».
Heureux lui-même d'avoir trouvé le salut, il est, à sa manière, le chantre de
l'amour incarné comme saint Jean le
sera de l'amour infini de Dieu Trinité.
C'est lui qui nous a
parlé avec tant de délicatesse de la Mère de Dieu, la toute pure et toujours
Vierge Marie dont il nous dit: «Elle méditait toutes ces choses en son cœur» ce
qui veut dire qu'avec amour Marie relisait dans sa mémoire les faits et gestes
du Seigneur, pour en approfondir toute la signification, comme saint Luc l'a
fait en écoutant saint Paul et en nous transmettant cet évangile de la bonté de
notre Père du ciel.
Homme cultivé, il maniait
le grec avec dextérité et avait étudié la médecine. C'est la raison pour
laquelle il a été, tôt, choisi comme patron des médecins, de même que les deux
frères, saint Côme et saint
Damien, morts martyrs en Syrie. (Diocèse
aux Armées françaises)
Fête de saint Luc,
Évangéliste. Né, comme on le rapporte, à Antioche d'une famille païenne,
médecin, il se convertit à la foi du Christ et devint le compagnon très cher de
l'Apôtre saint Paul. Dans son Évangile, il exposa avec soin tout ce que Jésus a
fait et enseigné, en scribe de la miséricorde du Christ, et, dans les Actes des
Apôtres, il se fit l'historien des débuts de la vie de l'Église jusqu'au
premier séjour de saint Paul à Rome.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/2037/Saint-Luc.html
Nicolas Fouquet, Saint Luc, Heures de Raguier et Robertet, f.15, Pierpont Morgan Library, ms.M834
Saint Luc
Évangéliste
(Ier siècle)
Saint Luc, né à Antioche,
est une des principales gloires de cette ville. On sait peu de chose de ses
premières années; on ignore même si, avant sa conversion, il était païen ou
observait la religion juive; cette dernière opinion est la plus généralement adoptée.
Doué d'un caractère ferme et d'une belle intelligence, il fut, paraît-il, très
habile médecin, et ne dédaignait pas, dans ses loisirs, de cultiver l'art de la
peinture, pour lequel il avait un goût prononcé.
Luc serait sûrement
arrivé à l'une des premières charges de la cité, quand il renonça à son
brillant avenir pour aller voir, en Judée, ce Jésus qui venait d'inaugurer Sa
vie publique, et dont le nom, la doctrine, les miracles, faisaient grand bruit
dans tous les pays voisins. Il Le vit, crut en Sa mission divine, et prenant
pour lui la parole du Maître: Que celui qui veut être Mon disciple quitte tout
et Me suive, il suivit dès lors le Sauveur pas à pas dans Ses courses
apostoliques; il fut témoin de Sa Passion, de Sa Résurrection, de Son Ascension,
reçut le Saint-Esprit au Cénacle, le jour de la Pentecôte, et partit pour
évangéliser Antioche sa patrie.
Plein d'enthousiasme pour
le génie de saint Paul, il le prit pour son maître et se joignit à lui pour
l'aider dans ses travaux; il lui fut si fidèle, qu'il l'accompagna dans tous
ses voyages et supporta patiemment avec lui fatigues, souffrances et
persécutions.
Saint Luc écrivit, sous
l'inspiration de l'Esprit-Saint et avec une compétence personnelle qui est
incontestable, l'Évangile qui porte son nom et les Actes des Apôtres. Son
Évangile est surtout précieux par ses récits assez détaillés des mystères de
l'Incarnation et de la Nativité du Sauveur, de l'Annonciation et de la
Visitation. Les Actes des Apôtres servirent à faire disparaître beaucoup de
mensonges qu'on répandait sur le christianisme naissant, et à confirmer les
fidèles dans la foi.
Qui n'a entendu parler
des Vierges peintes par saint Luc? D'après une tradition, il aurait obtenu de
Marie la grâce de faire Son portrait, et la divine Mère aurait consenti à poser
devant lui; le travail terminé, la Sainte Vierge l'aurait béni en disant:
"Ma grâce sera toujours avec cette image." Les Madones de saint Luc
sont vénérées en plusieurs lieux.
Après la mort du grand
Apôtre, Luc continua son apostolat en Italie, dans les Gaules, la Dalmatie, la
Macédoine. Il répandit son sang pour la foi, soit dans le Péloponèse, soit en
Bithynie. – Les peintres et les médecins le regardent comme leur patron.
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/saint_luc.html
Andrea Mantegna (1431–1506), San Luca Altarpiece, 1453-1455, tempera on wood, 177 x 230, Santa Giustina (Padua), Chapel of Saint Luke; a Brera con le soppressioni napoleoniche, Pinacoteca di Brera. Plusieurs panneaux représentent des saints bénédictins dont le choix est directement lié aux reliques conservés dans la basilique de Sainte Justine depuis sa fondation : Daniel de Padoue (saint-patron de la ville), Jérôme, Maxime (évêque de Padoue), Julien, Luc, Félicité de Padoue, Prosdocime (saint-patron de Padoue), Benoît, Justine de Padoue2,1, avec un Christ de douleur, la Vierge et Jean, témoins directs de la Passion du Christ.
Andrea Mantegna (1431–1506), San Luca Altarpiece, 1453-1455, tempera on wood, 177 x 230, Santa Giustina (Padua), Chapel of Saint Luke; a Brera con le soppressioni napoleoniche, Pinacoteca di Brera.
Andrea Mantegna (1431–1506), San Luca Altarpiece, 1453-1455, tempera on wood, 177 x 230, Santa Giustina (Padua), Chapel of Saint Luke; a Brera con le soppressioni napoleoniche, Pinacoteca di Brera.
SAINT LUC, ÉVANGÉLISTE
Luc veut dire s'élevant
ou montant, ou bien il vient de Lux, lumière. En effet il s'éleva au-dessus de
l’amour du monde, et il a monté jusqu'à l’amour de Dieu. II fut la lumière du
monde qu'il éclaira tout entier : « Vous êtes la lumière du monde », dit J.-C.
(Math., V), or, la lumière du monde est le soleil lui-même. Cette lumière est
située en haut (Eccl., XXVI): « Le soleil se lève sur le monde au haut du trône
de Dieu » ; elle est agréable à voir (Eccl., XI) : « La lumière est douce, et
l’oeil se plait à voir le soleil, elle est rapide dans sa course» (III, Esdras,
c. IV, p. 34) : La terre est grande, le ciel est élevé et la course du soleil
est rapide. » Elle est utile en ses effets, parce que, d'après le Philosophe,
l’homme engendre l’homme, et le soleil en fait autant. De même saint Luc eut cette
élévation par la contemplation des choses célestes; par sa douceur dans sa
(200) manière de vivre, par sa rapidité dans sa fervente prédication et par
l’utilité de la doctrine qu'il a écrite.
Luc, Syrien de nation,
originaire d'Antioche, médecin de profession, fut, selon quelques auteurs, un
des soixante-douze disciples du Seigneur. Puisque saint Jérôme dit, avec
raison, qu'il fut disciple des apôtres et non du Seigneur, et comme la Glose
remarque (sur l’Exode, XXV) qu'il ne s'attacha pas à suivre le Seigneur dans sa
prédication, mais qu'il ne vint à la foi qu'après sa résurrection, il vaut
mieux dire qu'il ne fut pas un des soixante-douze disciples, malgré l’opinion
de certains auteurs. Sa vie fut si parfaite qu'il remplit exactement ses
devoirs envers Dieu, envers le prochain, envers soi-même, et conformément à son
ministère. En raison de ces quatre qualités, il est peint sous quatre faces,
celle de l’homme, du lion, du boeuf et de l’aigle. « Chacun des animaux, dit
Ezéchiel (I), avait quatre faces et quatre ailes. » Et pour mieux comprendre
cela, figurons-nous un animal quelconque ayant une tête carrée, comme un carré
de bois sur chacun de ses côtés figurons-nous une face, sur le devant celle d'un
homme, à droite celle d'un lion, à gauche celle d'un veau, et par derrière la
face d'un aigle. Or, comme la face de l’aigle s'élevait au-dessus des autres en
raison de la longueur de son cou, c'est pour cela qu'on dit que l’aigle était
par dessus. Chacun de ces animaux avait quatre ailes ; car comme nous nous
figurons chaque animal comme un carré et que dans un carré il se trouve quatre
angles, à chaque angle se trouvait une aile. Par ces quatre animaux, (201)
d'après quelques saints, on entend les quatre Évangélistes dont chacun eut
quatre faces dans ses écrits, savoir : celles de l’humanité, de la passion, de
la résurrection et de la divinité; cependant on attribue plus spécialement à
chacun d'eux la face d'un seul animal, D'après saint Jérôme, saint Mathieu est
représenté sous la figure d'un homme, parce qu'il s'appesantit principalement
sur l’humanité du Sauveur; saint Luc sous celle d'un veau, car il traite du
sacerdoce du Christ ; saint Marc, sous celle d'un lion, évidemment parce qu'il
a décrit la résurrection. Les lionceaux, dit-on, restent morts trois jours en
venant au monde, mais ils sont tirés de cet engourdissement le troisième jour;
par les rugissements du lion. En outre, saisit Marc commence son évangile par
la prédication de saint Jean-Baptiste. Saint Jean est représenté sous la figure
d'un aigle, parce qu'il s'élève plus haut que les autres, quand il traite de la
divinité du Christ. Or, J.-C. dont les évangélistes ont écrit la vie eut aussi
les propriétés de ces quatre animaux : il fut homme en tant que né d'une
vierge, veau dans sa passion, lion dans sa résurrection, et aigle dans son
ascension. Par ces quatre faces sous lesquelles est désigné saint Luc, aussi
bien que chacun des évangélistes, on a voulu montrer les quatre qualités qui le
distinguent. En effet par la face d'homme, on montre quelles furent ses
qualités envers le prochain qu'il a dû instruire par la raison, attirer par la
douceur et encourager par la libéralité ; car l’homme est une créature
raisonnable, douce et libérale. Par la face d'aigle on montré ses dispositions
par rapport à Dieu ; parce qu'en lui, l'oeil (202) de l’intelligence regarde
Dieu par la contemplation, son affection s'aiguise par la méditation, comme le
bec de l’aigle par l’usage qu'il en fait, et il se dépouille de sa vieillesse
en prenant un nouvel état de vie. L'aigle en effet a la vue perçante, en sorte
qu'il regarde le soleil sans que la réverbération des rayons de cet astre lui
fasse fermer les yeux; et quand il est élevé au plus haut des airs, il voit: les
petits poissons dans la mer. Son bec est très recourbé pour qu'il ne soit pas
gêné pour saisir sa proie, qu'il écrase sur les pierres de manière qu'elle peut
lui servir de nourriture. Brûlé ensuite par l’ardeur du soleil, il se précipité
avec grande impétuosité dans une fontaine et se dépouille de sa vieillesse. La
chaleur du soleil dissipe les ténèbres qui obscurcissent ses yeux et fait muer
son plumage. — Par la face du lion, on voit qu'il fut parfait en soi, car il
posséda la générosité dans sa conduite, la sagacité nécessaire pour échapper
aux embûches des ennemis, et des habitudes de compassion envers les affligés.
Le lion en effet est un animal généreux, puisqu'il est le roi des animaux : il
a la sagacité, puisque dans sa fuite, il détruit avec sa queue les vestiges de
ses pas afin que personne ne le trouve, il a l’habitude des souffrances, car il
souffre de la fièvre quarte. Par la face de veau ou de boeuf, on voit qu'il
remplit avec exactitude les fonctions de son ministère, qui consista à écrire son
évangile. Il procéda dans ce livre avec circonspection; en commençant par la
naissance du Précurseur, celle du Christ et son enfance, et il décrit ainsi
avec enchaînement toutes les actions du Sauveur jusqu'au dernier sacrifice. Son
récit est fait avec (203) discernement, parce qu'écrivant après deux
évangélistes, il supplée ce qu'ils ont omis et il omet les faits sur lesquels
ils ont donné des renseignements suffisants. Il s'appesantit sur ce qui regarde
le temple et les sacrifices ; ce qui est évident dans toutes les parties qui
composent son livre. Le boeuf est, en effet, un animal lent, aux pieds fendus,
ce qui désigne le discernement dans les sacrificateurs.
Au reste, il est aisé de
s'assurer d'une manière plus exacte encore que saint Luc eut les quatre
qualités dont il vient d'être question, pour peu qu'on examine soigneusement
l’ensemble de sa vie. En effet, il eut les qualités qui lui étaient nécessaires
par rapport à Dieu. Elles sont au nombre de trois, d'après saint Bernard :
l’affection, la pensée et l’intention. 1° L'affection doit être sainte, les
pensées pures, et l’intention droite. Or, dans saint Luc, l’affection fut
sainte, puisqu'il fut rempli du Saint-Esprit. Saint, Jérôme, dans son prologue
de l’évangile de saint Luc, dit de lui qu'il mourut en Béthanie, plein du
Saint-Esprit. 2° Ses pensées furent pures ; car il fut vierge de corps et
d'esprit, ce qui démontre évidemment la pureté de ses pensées. 3° Son intention
fut droite, car, dans tous ses actes, il recherchait l’honneur qui est dû à
Dieu. Ces deux dernières vertus font dire dans le prologue sur les Actes des
Apôtres : « Il se préserva de toute souillure en restant vierge » ; voici pour
la pureté de ses pensées ; « il aima mieux servir le Seigneur », c'est-à-dire,
pour l’honneur du Seigneur, ce qui a trait à la droiture de ses intentions.
Venons à ses qualités par rapport au prochain : Nous remplissons nos devoirs à
son (204) égard quand nous accomplissons envers lui ce à quoi le devoir nous
oblige. Or, d'après Richard de Saint Victor, nous devons au prochain notre
pouvoir, notre savoir et notre vouloir, qui engagent à un quatrième devoir, les
bonnes oeuvres. Nous lui devons notre pouvoir en l’aidant, notre savoir en le
conseillant, notre vouloir en concevant en sa faveur de bons désirs, et nos
actions en lui rendant de bons offices. Or, saint Luc eut ces quatre qualités.
Il donna au prochain ce qu'il put pour le soulager : ce qui est évident par sa
conduite envers saint Paul auquel il resta constamment attaché dans toutes les
tribulations du Docteur des Gentils, qu'il ne quitta jamais, mais auquel il
vint en aide dans la prédication. « Luc est seul avec moi », dit saint Paul à
Timothée (I, IV). Et quand il dit ces mots « avec moi » il veut dire que saint
Luc l’aide, le défend, fournit à ses besoins. Quand il dit : « Luc est seul »,
saint Paul montre qu'il lui est constamment attaché. Saint Paul dit encore dans
la IIe Ep. aux Corinthiens (VIII), en parlant de saint Luc : « Il a été choisi
par les Églises pour nous accompagner dans nos voyages. » Il donna au prochain
son savoir, par les conseils, lorsqu'il écrivit, pour l’utilité du prochain, ce
qu'il avait appris de la doctrine des apôtres et de l’Évangile. Il se rend à
lui-même ce témoignage, dans son prologue, quand il dit : « J'ai cru, très
excellent Théophile, qu'après avoir été informé exactement de toutes ces choses
depuis leur commencement, je devais aussi vous en représenter par écrit toute
la suite, afin que vous reconnaissiez la vérité de ce qui vous a été annoncé. »
Il servit le prochain de ses conseils, (205), puisque saint Jérôme dit en son
prologue, que ses paroles sont des remèdes pour les âmes languissantes. Il fut
plein de bons désirs, puisqu'il souhaita aux fidèles le salut éternel (Coloss.,
IV) : « Luc, médecin, vous salue » — il vous salue, c'est-à-dire qu'il souhaite
le salut éternel. 4° Ses actions étaient de bons services chose évidente par
cela qu'il reçut chez lui Notre-Seigneur qu'il prenait pour un voyageur. Car il
était le compagnon de Cléophas qui allait à Emmaüs, au dire de quelques-uns;
ainsi le rapporte saint Grégoire, dans ses Morales, bien que saint Ambroise
dise que ce fut un autre, dont il cite même le nom, (Saint Ambroise, in Luc.)
Troisièmement il posséda
les vertus requises pour sa propre sanctification. Trois vertus disposent
l’homme à la sainteté, dit saint Bernard : la sobriété dans la manière de
vivre, la justice dans les actes, et la piété du coeur; chacune de ces qualités
se subdivise encore en trois, toujours d'après saint Bernard. C'est vivre sobrement
que de vivre avec retenue, politesse et humilité : les actes seront dirigés par
la justice s'il existe en eux droiture, discrétion et profit : droiture dans
l’intention qui doit être bonne, discrétion s'il y a modération, et profit par
l’édification : il y aura piété de coeur, si notre foi nous fait voir Dieu
souverainement puissant, souverainement sage, et souverainement bon : en sorte
que nous croyons notre faiblesse soutenue par sa puissance, notre ignorance
rectifiée par sa sagesse, et, notre iniquité détruite par sa bonté. Or, saint
Luc posséda toutes ces qualités. 1° Il y eut sobriété dans sa manière de vivre,
en trois (206) choses : a) en vivant dans la continence ; car saint Jérôme dit
de lui en son prologue sur saint Luc, qu'il ne se maria point, et qu'il n'eut
pas d'enfants; b) en vivant avec politesse, comme on l’a vu tout à l’heure en
parlant de Cléophas, supposé qu'il eût été l’autre disciple : « Deux des
disciples de Jésus allaient ce jour-là à Emmaüs. » Il fut poli, ce qui est
indiqué par le mot « deux » ; c'étaient des disciples, donc c'étaient des
personnes bien disciplinées et de bonne conduite; c) en vivant avec humilité,
vertu insinuée en cela qu'il cite Cléophas son compagnon, mais sans se nommer
lui-même. D'après l’opinion de quelques auteurs, il ne se nomme pas par
humilité. 2° Il y eut justice en ses actes et chacun d'eux procéda d'une
intention droite; vertu indiquée dans l’oraison de son office où il est dit
que, « pour la gloire du nom du Seigneur, il a continuellement porté sur son
corps la mortification de la Croix. » : il y eut discernement dans sa conduite
calme; aussi est-il représenté sous la face du boeuf qui a la corne du pied
fendue, c'est le signe de la vertu de discernement. Ses actes produisirent des
fruits d'édification; car il était grandement chéri de tous. Ce qui le fait
appeler très cher par saint Paul en son épître aux Colossiens (IV) : « Luc,
notre très cher médecin, vous salue. » 3° Il eut des sentiments pieux, car il
eut la foi; et dans son évangile il proclama la souveraine puissance de Dieu,
comme sa souveraine sagesse, et sa souveraine bonté. Les deux premiers
attributs de Dieu sont énoncés clairement au chap. IV: « Le peuple était tout
étonné de la doctrine de J.-C., parce qu'il parlait avec autorité. » Le
troisième est (207) énoncé dans le ch. XVIII : « Il n'y a que Dieu seul qui
soit bon. » 4° Enfin, il remplit exactement les fonctions de son ministère qui
était d'écrire l’Évangile. Or, son évangile est appuyé sur la vérité, il est
rempli de choses utiles, il est orné de beaux passages, et confirmé par de
nombreuses autorités. I. Il est appuyé sur la vérité. Il y en a de trois sortes
: la vérité de la vie, de la justice et de la doctrine. La vérité de la vie est
l’équation qui s'établit entre la main et la langue; la vérité de la justice
est l’équation de la substance à la cause; la vérité de la doctrine est
l’équation qui s'établit entre la chose perçue et l’intellect. Or, l’évangile
de saint Lue est appuyé sur ces trois sortes de vérités qui y sont enseignées,
car cet évangéliste montre que J.-C. posséda ces trois sortes de vérités et les
enseigna aux autres; d'abord par le témoignage de ses adversaires : « Maître,
est-i1 dit dans le chap. XX nous savons que vous ne dites et n'enseignez rien
que de juste » : voici la vérité de la doctrine , « et que vous n'avez point
d'égard aux personnes » : voilà la vérité de la justice, « mais que vous
enseignez la voie de Dieu dans la vérité » : voilà la vérité de la vie. La voie
qui est bonne s'appelle la voie de Dieu. Saint Luc montre dans son évangile que
J.-C. a enseigné cette triple vérité : 1° la vérité de la vie qui consiste dans
l’observation des commandements de Dieu. Au chapitre X il est écrit : « Vous
aimerez le Seigneur votre Dieu, de tout votre coeur... Faites cela et vous
vivrez. » Au chapitre XXIII, « un homme de qualité demanda à J.-C. : « Bon
maître, que faire pour que j'obtienne « la vie éternelle? » Il lui est répondu
: « Vous savez (208) les commandements : « Vous ne tuerez point, etc... » 2° La
vérité de la doctrine. Le Sauveur dit en s'adressant à certaines personnes qui
altéraient la vérité de la doctrine : « Malheur à vous, pharisiens, qui payez
la dîme, c'est-à-dire qui enseignez qu'il faut payer la dîme de la menthe, de
la rue, et de toutes sortes d'herbes, et qui négligez la justice et l’amour de
Dieu. (XI) » Il dit encore au même endroit : « Malheur à vous, docteurs de la
loi, qui vous êtes saisis de la clef de la science, et qui n'y étant point
entrés vous-mêmes, l’avez encore fermée à ceux qui voulaient y entrer. » 3 ° La
vérité de la justice est énoncée au chapitre XX : « Rendez donc à César ce qui
appartient à César et à Dieu ce qui appartient à Dieu. » Au chapitre XIX : «
Quant à mes ennemis, qui n'ont point voulu m’avoir pour roi, qu'on les amène
ici, et qu'on les tue en ma présence. » Au chapitre XIII, où il est question du
jugement, quand J.-C. doit dire aux réprouvés: « Retirez-vous de moi, vous tous
qui faites des oeuvres d'iniquité. »
II. Son évangile est
d'une grande utilité. Aussi fut-il médecin pour nous montrer qu'il nous prépara
une médecine très salutaire. Or, il y a trois sortes de médecine: la curative,
la préservative et l’améliorative. Saint Luc montre dans son évangile que cette
triple médecine nous a été préparée par le céleste médecin. La médecine
curative guérit des maladies; or, c'est la pénitence qui guérit toutes les
maladies spirituelles. C'est cette médecine que saint Luc dit nous avoir été
offerte par le céleste médecin, dans le chapitre IV : «J'ai été envoyé par l’Esprit
du Seigneur (209) pour guérir ceux qui ont le coeur brisé; pour annoncer aux
captifs qu'ils vont être délivrés, etc. Je ne suis pas venu appeler tes justes,
mais les pécheurs (V). » La médecine qui améliore fortifie la santé, et c'est
l’observance des conseils qui rend l’homme meilleur et plus parfait. C'est elle
que le grand médecin nous a préparée, quand il dit (ch. XVIII) : « Tout ce que
vous avez, vendez-le et le donnez aux pauvres. » « Si quelqu'un prend votre
manteau, laissez-lui prendre aussi votre robe. » (ch. VI.) La médecine
préservative prévient la chute, et c'est la fuite des occasions du péché et des
mauvaises compagnies qui nous est, enseignée au chapitre XII : « Gardez-vous du
levain des pharisiens, qui est l’hypocrisie » ; par où il nous apprend à fuir
la compagnie des méchants. On peut dire encore que l’Evangile de saint Luc est
fort utile, en ce sens que tous les principes de la sagesse y sont renfermés.
Voici comme en parle saint Ambroise : « Saint Luc embrasse toutes les parties de
la sagesse, dans soli évangile. Il y enseigne ce qui a rapport à la nature,
lorsqu'il attribue au Saint-Esprit l’Incarnation de N.-S. » David avait aussi
enseigné cette sagesse naturelle, quand il dit: « Envoyez votre Esprit et ils
seront créés. » Ce que saint Luc fait encore, en parlant des ténèbres qui
accompagnèrent la Passion de J.-C., des tremblements de terre et du soleil qui
retira ses rayons. Il enseigna la morale, puisqu'il donna une règle de moeurs
dans le récit des Béatitudes. Son enseignement est conforme à la raison, quand
il dit : « Celui qui est fidèle dans les petites choses le sera dans les
grandes. » Sans cette triple science, la (210) naturelle, la morale et la
rationnelle, point de foi, point de mystère de la Trinité possible. » (Saint Ambroise.)
III. Son évangile est
embelli par toutes sortes de grâces : son style, en effet, et son langage sont
fleuris et fort clairs. Or, pour qu'un écrivain atteigne à cette grâce et à cet
éclat, trois qualités sont nécessaires, d'après saint Augustin, plaire,
éclairer et toucher. Pour plaire, il faut un style orné ; pour éclairer, il le
faut clair; pour toucher, il faut. parler avec feu.. Qualités que saint Luc
posséda dans ses écrits et dans sa prédication. Lés deus premières, d'après ce
témoignage de la II° aux Corinthiens : « Nous avons envoyé avec lui un frère
(La Glose entend par ce frère saint Barnabé ou saint Luc) qui est devenu
célèbre dans toutes les églises par son évangile. » Par ces mots « qui est
devenu célèbre », saint Paul fait entendre que son style est orné. Par ceux-ci
« dans toutes les églises », on voit qu'il a parlé avec clarté. Qu'il ait parlé
avec feu, cela est évident, parce qu'il posséda un coeur ardent, selon qu'il le
dit lui-même « Notre cour n'était-il pas embrasé en nous, lorsqu'il nous
parlait dans le chemin et qu'il nous expliquait les Écritures ? »
IV. Son évangile a été
confirmé par de nombreuses autorités : 1° par celle du Père, qui dit dans
Jérémie (XXXI) : « Le temps vient, dit le Seigneur,où je ferai une nouvelle
alliance avec la maison d'Israël et la maison de Juda ; non selon l’alliance
que je fis avec leurs pères, mais voici l’alliance que je ferai avec la maison
d'Israël, après que ce temps-là sera venu, dit le Seigneur : j'imprimerai ma
loi dans leurs entrailles (211) et je l’écrirai dans leur coeur. » A la lettre,
il parle ici de la doctrine évangélique. 2° Il a été corroboré par l’autorité
du Fils, qui dit an chapitre XXI : « Le ciel et la terre passeront, mais mes
paroles ne passeront point. » 3° Son évangile fut inspiré par l’Esprit-Saint,
d'après ces paroles de saint Jérémie dans son prologue sur saint Luc : « Par le
mouvement du Saint-Esprit, il a écrit son évangile dans l’Achaïe. » 4° Il fut
figuré d'avance par les anges ; c'est à ce sujet qu'il est dit dans l’Apocalypse
(XIV) : « Je vis l’ange de Dieu qui volait par le milieu du ciel, portant
l’Évangile éternel. » Or, cet Évangile est appelé éternel, parce qu'il a nue
origine éternelle, c'est-à-dire J.-C. qui est éternel, dans sa nature, dans sa
fin et dans sa durée.
V. Il a été annoncé par
les prophètes. En effet, le prophète Ezéchiel a en vue l’évangile de saint Luc;
quand il dit qu'un des animaux avait une face de veau. Le même prophète veut en
parler encore (II), quand il raconte avoir vu un livre écrit en dedans et en
dehors, et dans lequel on avait écrit des plaintes lugubres, des cantiques et
des malédictions. Ce qui a rapport à l’évangile de saint Luc, qui est écrit, en
dedans par les mystères qu'il renferme, et en dehors, par le récit historique.
On y trouve encore les plaintes de la Passion, le cantique de la Résurrection
et les malédictions de la Damnation éternelle, dans le chapitre XI, où se
rencontrent beaucoup d'imprécations.
VI. Il a été expliqué et
manifesté par la Sainte Vierge, qui en conservait toutes les particularités
dans son cour et les ruminait, est-il dit en saint Luc (II), afin de pouvoir
les faire connaître dans la suite aux (212) écrivains sacrés; d'après ce que
dit la Glose : « Tout ce qu'elle savait des actions et des paroles du Seigneur,
elle le recueillit dans sa mémoire, afin qu'au moment de prêcher et d'écrire
les circonstances de l’Incarnation, elle prît expliquer, d'une manière
satisfaisante, à qui le demanderait, tolet ce qui s'était passé. C'est ce qui
fait que saint Bernard, expliquant pourquoi l’ange annonça à la Sainte Vierge
la grossesse d'Élisabeth, dit : « Si la conception d'Élisabeth est découverte à
Marie, c'est afin que la venue du Sauveur et celle du Précurseur étant connues,
elle pût, en conservant dans son esprit la suite et l’enchaînement des faits,
en révéler, dans la suite la vérité aux écrivains et aux prédicateurs, puisque,
dès le principe, elle fut pleinement instruite miraculeusement de tous ces
mystères. » Aussi croit-on que les évangélistes lui demandaient bien des
renseignements, sur lesquels elle les éclairait.
On a pensé de saint Luc
en particulier qu'il eut recours à elle comme à l’arche du Testament, et qu'il
en apprit avec certitude bien des faits, surtout ceux qui la concernaient
personnellement, comme l’Annonciation de l’ange, la naissance de J.-C. et
autres semblables dont saint Luc est le seul qui fasse état.
VII. L'Évangile lui fut
notifié par les apôtres. Puisque saint Luc ne fut pas témoin de toutes les
actions et des miracles de J.-C. if fut obligé d'écrire son évangile selon les
données et le rapport des apôtres qui avaient été présents : il le donne à
entendre dans son prologue quand il dit : « J'ai écrit sur le rapport que nous
en ont fait ceux qui dès le commencement ont (213) vu ces choses de leurs
propres yeux et qui ont été les ministres de ta parole. » Comme on a coutume de
rendre témoignage soit de ce que l’on a vu, soit de ce que l’on a entendu, dit
saint Augustin; c'est pour cela que le Seigneur a voulu avoir deux témoins qui l’eussent
vu, savoir saint Mathieu et saint Jean, et deux qui eussent entendu, savoir
saint Marc et saint Luc. Mais parce que le témoignage de ce qu'on a vu est plus
sûr et plus certain que celui de ce qu'on a entendu, c'est pour cette même
raison, ajoute saint Augustin, que les deux évangélistes qui ont vu sont l’un
au commencement et l’autre à la fin, et les deux qui ont entendu sont placés au
milieu, afin que, tenant le milieu comme les plus faibles, ils soient protégés
et défendus par ceux qui se trouvent au commencement et à la fin comme étant
plus certains.
VIII. Il fut
merveilleusement approuvé par saint Paul, qui, en preuve de ce qu'il disait,
apportait le témoignage de l’évangile de saint Luc. Ce qui fait (lire à saint
Jérôme, dans son livre des Hommes illustres, que plusieurs estiment que si
saint Paul parle ainsi dans ses épîtres : « Selon mon évangile », il veut
parler de l’ouvrage de saint Luc. Saint Paul approuvait encore merveilleusement
l’évangile de saint Lire quand il écrit aux Corinthiens (II, c. VIII) que «
saint Luc est devenu célèbre dans toutes les églises par son évangile. » — On
lit dans l’Histoire d'Antioche que les chrétiens qui habitaient cette ville
s'étant livrés à d'affligeants et nombreux désordres, furent assiégés par les
Turcs, et en proie à une grande misère et à la famine. Mais étant revenus tout
à fait (214) au Seigneur par la pénitence, il apparut à quelqu'un qui veillait
dans l’église de Sainte-Marie de Tripoli un personnage éclatant de lumière et
revêtu d'habits blancs ; et quand l’homme qui veillait eut demandé à celui-ci
qui il était, il lui fut répondu, qu'il était saint Luc, venu d'Antioche, où le
Seigneur avait convoqué la milice céleste, avec les apôtres et les martyrs,
afin de combattre pour ses serviteurs. Alors les chrétiens, pleins d'ardeur,
taillèrent en pièces l’armée entière des Turcs.
La Légende dorée de Jacques de Voragine nouvellement traduite en français avec introduction, notices, notes et recherches sur les sources par l'abbé J.-B. M. Roze, chanoine honoraire de la Cathédrale d'Amiens, Édouard Rouveyre, éditeur, 76, rue de Seine, 76, Paris mdccccii
SOURCE : http://www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/voragine/tome03/157.htm
Saint Luc, évangéliste
Fête à Rome au IXème
siècle.
(Leçons des Matines)
Du livre de saint Jérôme,
Prêtre : Des écrivains ecclésiastiques.
Quatrième leçon. Luc,
médecin d’Antioche, instruit, comme ses écrits l’indiquent, dans la langue
grecque, fut le disciple de l’apôtre saint Paul, et son compagnon en ses
diverses pérégrinations. Il a écrit un Évangile, et c’est de lui que le même
Apôtre dit : « Nous avons envoyé avec lui un de nos frères dont on fait
l’éloge, à cause de l’Évangile, dans toutes les Églises ; » et aux Colossiens :
« Luc, le médecin bien-aimé, vous salue ; » et à Timothée : « Luc est seul avec
moi. » Il a aussi laissé un autre livre excellent intitulé : Les Actes des
Apôtres, et qui renferme l’histoire de ces temps-là jusqu’à la seconde année du
séjour de Paul à Rome, c’est-à-dire la quatrième de Néron : d’où nous inférons
que l’ouvrage fut composé dans cette même ville.
Cinquième leçon. Aussi regardons-nous
les voyages de Paul, de Thècle et toute la fable du Lion baptisé, comme des
livres apocryphes. Car est-il possible que, parmi tant d’autres choses, un
compagnon de l’Apôtre n’ait oublié que celles-là ? D’ailleurs Tertullien, peu
éloigné de ces temps-là, rapporte qu’en Asie, un certain prêtre, qui
affectionnait l’Apôtre, ayant été convaincu par saint Jean d’être l’auteur de
l’ouvrage et ayant avoué qu’il l’avait fait par affection pour saint Paul, fut
déposé précisément pour ce sujet-là. Au sentiment de quelques-uns, toutes les
fois que Paul, en ses Épîtres, écrit ces mots : « selon mon Évangile, » c’est
de l’Évangile selon saint Luc qu’il entend parler.
Sixième leçon. Et ce n’est pas seulement de l’Apôtre saint Paul, qui n’avait point été avec le Seigneur au temps de sa vie mortelle, mais encore des autres apôtres, que saint Luc recueillit les récits de son Évangile. C’est ce qu’il déclare lui-même au commencement de son livre, en ces termes : « Suivant que ces choses nous ont été transmises par ceux qui, dès le commencement, les ont eux-mêmes vues, et qui ont été les ministres de la parole. » Ainsi donc, il a rédigé son Évangile sur le rapport d’autrui, et les Actes des Apôtres, d’après ce qu’il avait vu lui-même. Il vécut quatre-vingt-quatre ans et ne fut point marié ; on l’ensevelit à Constantinople, ses ossements y ayant été transportés d’Achaïe, avec les reliques de l’apôtre saint André, l’an vingtième de Constantin.
SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/18-10-St-Luc-evangeliste
Jan Gossaert (1478–1532), Hl.
Lukas malt die Madonna /Saint Luke painting the Virgin,
circa 1520 , 110.5 x 83.5, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Saint LUC
Bonne fête aux Luc et aux
Lucas, aux paroisses qui sont sous le patronage de saint Luc, ainsi qu'aux
médecins, infirmières et infirmiers, aux aides-soignantes, aux étudiants en
médecine.
Selon le témoignage de
saint Paul, à la fin de sa Lettre aux Colossiens (4, 14), saint Luc
était médecin. Luc l'Évangéliste : personne n'a autant mérité que lui le titre
de "porteur de la Bonne Nouvelle de Jésus Sauveur" ! Son oeuvre
comporte deux parties reliées par Jérusalem : son évangile en est comme
l'ascension depuis Bethléem et Nazareth (l'évangile de l'Enfance), et le
témoignage des Actes de Apôtres nous conduit de Jérusalem à Rome. Saint Luc
nous a ainsi laissé, avec saint Paul, la plus importante contribution
personnelle au Nouveau Testament ; il est l'historien de l'Église naissante.
Ami et compagnon de saint Paul, il se convertit grâce à lui au christianisme.
Avec Timothée, il sera l'un des amis les plus intimes de l'Apôtre des Nations,
spécialement au cours des 2e et 3e missions, à travers l'Asie mineure, la
Grèce, la Méditerranée et enfin Rome.
Saint Luc, en communion
étroite avec le témoignage des Apôtres et de l'Église de Jérusalem, se fera,
selon l'expression de Dante, "le chantre de la mansuétude du Christ"
! Dans la personne et le visage de Jésus le Sauveur, Luc met d'abord en relief,
avec une très vive sensibilité, l'amour qui est tendresse et miséricorde. C'est
dans son évangile qu'on trouve les récits les plus "forts" : de
l'Agonie de Jésus au Jardin des oliviers, de l'accueil sans limites à tous les
pécheurs, à tous les "malades" d'où qu'ils viennent. On y trouve les
paraboles du publicain et du bon Samaritain et le témoignage du bandit qui
meurt dans la paix, en croix près de Jésus. Les femmes, dans l'oeuvre de saint
Luc, ont une place considérable qui correspond parfaitement aux attitudes du
Seigneur : l'accueil de la pécheresse, l'hospitalité de Marthe et l'écoute de
Marie à Béthanie, les veuves de Naïm et du Temple…et surtout la place faite à
Marie, Mère de Jésus. Luc nous en a laissé la plus belle Icône en témoignant :
"Quant à Marie, elle conservait tous ces évènements, les méditant dans son
coeur".
Le prénom Luc signifie en
grec "pur" (leukos). Pur se dit également katharos en grec, ce qui a
donné naissance au prénom Catherine.
Rédacteur : Frère Bernard Pineau, OP
SOURCE : http://www.lejourduseigneur.com/Web-TV/Saints/Luc-Evangeliste
Hermen
Rode, Winged altar of the Guild of Saint Luke, 1484, 45 x 57, St. Anne's Museum Quarter, Lübeck
Le taureau et saint Luc
l'évangéliste
Le taureau est le symbole
de l'évangéliste saint Luc dans notre tradition chrétienne. C'est une image qui
paraît lui être tout à fait bien adaptée pour plusieurs raisons.
La première raison
consiste dans ce trait biologique propre aux bovins : ils ruminent. Longuement,
pour bien digérer le foin ou toute autre nourriture, ils la mâchent et la
remâchent comme saint Luc l'a fait pour les paroles de Jésus. À lire l'évangile
de Luc, on sent que son auteur a bien assimilé chaque enseignement du Christ.
C'est peut-être pourquoi les phrases sont disposées avec tant d'harmonie, juste
à l'endroit qu'il faut.
De plus, saint Luc a
donné du relief à des personnes qui « ruminaient » la parole de Dieu. Les
personnalités contemplatives ont retenu son intérêt. La Vierge Marie ressort
comme un de ces êtres qui s'attachent à l'approfondissement des événements du
salut. Elle a creusé le sens des paroles de l'ange Gabriel et les a comprises un
peu plus à la naissance de Jésus. Après la visite des bergers à la crèche,
Marie, selon les mots de saint Luc, conservait avec soin toutes ces choses, les
méditant en son coeur (Luc 2,19). L'autre Marie, la sœur de Marthe, appartenait
à la même classe de personnalités contemplatives (Luc 10,39).
Le taureau, dans
l'imaginaire humain de tous les temps, représente également la puissance de
travail. Le regard porte alors sur les bêtes toutes en muscles qui tirent une
charrue ou une charge pesante. Le travail d'écrivain que saint Luc a accompli
révèle sa capacité de réaliser une grande oeuvre fort exigeante. Quand on sait
que l'écrivain antique met trois minutes à écrire une syllabe sur une feuille
rude de papyrus (contre une seconde à notre époque), on évalue ce que
représentent les 24 chapitres de l'évangile et les 28 chapitres des Actes des
Apôtres. Tout un exploit de force morale et de zèle laborieux! Saint Luc, le
taureau, nous donne une leçon bien actuelle de contemplation et de travail.
Pierre Bougie, PSS
Professeur au Grand séminaire de Montréal
SOURCE : http://www.interbible.org/interBible/ecritures/symboles/2002/sym_021112.htm
.jpg)
Juan de
Sevilla (fl. 1425–1450), San Lucas (La obra representa al
evangelista San Lucas curando a un enfermo), circa
1401, 95 x 55, Museo del Prado
Saint Luc, évangéliste
Nous fêtons aujourd’hui
saint Luc évangéliste. Sa personnalité est mal connue. Papias de Hiérapolis en
Asie Mineure vers 120, qui nous renseigne sur les évangiles et leurs auteurs,
demeure muet à son sujet. Le canon de Muratori nous donne sur lui quelques informations
générales : « Le 3ème livre de l’Evangile est selon saint Luc. Luc est ce
médecin, qui après l’ascension du Christ, fut emmené par Paul comme compagnon
de ses voyages et qui écrivit en son nom selon la pensée ; cependant, il ne vit
pas lui-même le Seigneur en chair ; pour cela, il commença son récit à partir
de la naissance de Jean, comme il put l’atteindre. » Irénée, Tertullien et
Origène confirment ces données et y apportent même quelques éléments
supplémentaires sans pour autant être exhaustifs. On apprend d’eux notamment
que Luc était syrien de culture païenne et que dans son évangile, il entend
s’adresser aux grecs. Il est donc bien « l’évangéliste des païens ». En ce
sens, l’évangile de ce jour qui nous décrit l’envoi des soixante-douze disciples
- soixante-douze faisant référence aux soixante-douze nations de Genèse 11 qui
peuplent l’ensemble de la terre – s’applique tout particulièrement à lui.
Si Luc n’a pas de son
vivant croisé la route de Jésus, il a pourtant dans la foi fait l’expérience
personnelle d’une rencontre avec lui qui a bouleversé sa vie et qui fit de lui
son disciple. Luc accueillit la seigneurie du Christ c’est-à-dire la réalité
d’un Dieu venu jusqu’à lui pour le sauver de son péché. « Seigneur » est
d’ailleurs un des titres favoris qu’il utilise pour désigner Jésus. Ne peut
être envoyé en mission que celui qui a reconnu Jésus comme tel et l’a reçu
comme tel au cœur de son histoire : « Parmi ses disciples, le Seigneur en
désigna encore soixante-douze » (Cf. Evangile). Ne portera du fruit que celui
qui aura fait l’expérience de ce Père qui le sauve en son Fils, de ce Dieu qui
vient à sa rencontre pour le prendre sur ses épaules et le ramener à lui, la
source de vie. Les paraboles de la miséricorde du chapitre quinze de saint Luc
en sont le témoignage éloquent ! Dante Alighieri l’avait bien compris, lui qui
appelait saint Luc le « scribe de la mansuétude du Christ », « scriba
mansuetudinis Christi ».
L’œuvre de saint Luc
témoigne aussi qu’il a fait cette expérience de Jésus Seigneur et Sauveur « en
Eglise » et non pas de façon isolée ou solitaire. A travers son évangile et le
récit des Actes, il nous montre que la rencontre avec le Christ se fait à
travers des communautés de témoins concrètes et variées, animées par le dynamisme
de l’Esprit Saint.
« Seigneur, ravive en
nous la mémoire de ce jour où nous t’avons reçu comme le Seigneur de nos vies.
Merci pour ceux que tu as mis sur notre route et qui nous ont conduits jusqu’à
toi. Seigneur, que devant l’abîme de ta miséricorde nos yeux s’ouvrent sur la
profondeur de notre misère. Car nous ne pourrons être des témoins authentiques
de toi que dans la mesure où nous recevrons ton Amour qui tout en nous comblant
nous dépouillera de ce qui nous rendait grands (Lc 9, 46) à nos propres yeux. »
SOURCE : http://viechretienne.catholique.org/homelie/21606-saint-luc-evangeliste
.jpg)
Moretto da Brescia (1498–1554). San Luca evangelista
1. LUC, médecin d’Antioche comme le mentionnent
ses écrits, n’était pas ignorant du grec (1) ; disciple de l’apôtre Paul et le
compagnon de tous ses voyages (2), il écrivit un Évangile dont Paul
parle aussi : « Nous avons envoyé avec lui un frère dont on trouve
l’éloge dans l’évangile adressé à toutes les Églises » (2 Co 8, 18) ; il
dit aussi dans sa Lettre aux Colossiens : « Luc, notre très cher
médecin, vous salue » (Col 4, 14), et dans sa Lettre à Timothée : «
Luc seul est avec moi » (2 Tm 4, 11) (3). 2. Luc publia aussi un
autre ouvrage remarquable qui a comme titre les Actes des Apôtres et
qui raconte l’histoire de ce temps jusqu’à la deuxième année du séjour de Paul
à Rome, c’est-à-dire jusqu’à la quatrième année du règne de Néron. Cela nous
fait conclure qu’il a écrit ce livre dans cette ville (4). 3. Aussi
devons-nous compter parmi les écrits apocryphes les Voyages de Paul et de
Thècle, ainsi que l’histoire entière du lion baptisé (5). En effet, comment le
compagnon inséparable de l’apôtre Paul aurait-il pu ignorer ce fait seul alors
qu’il avait connaissance de tous les autres ? Et Tertullien aussi, proche de
cette époque, rapporte (6) qu’un prêtre en Asie, admirateur de l’apôtre Paul,
convaincu par Jean d’être l’auteur de ce livre et ayant avoué qu’il l’avait
composé par amour pour Paul, fut destitué de sa charge. 4. Certains
supposent que, chaque fois que Paul dit dans ses Lettres : «
selon mon évangile (7) », il fait allusion au livre de Luc, et que
Luc a appris son évangile non seulement de l’apôtre Paul, qui n’avait pas
fréquenté personnellement le Seigneur, mais aussi de tous les autres apôtres
(8). 5. C’est ce que lui-même déclare aussi au début (9) : «
Comme nous l’ont rapporté ceux qui dès les débuts ont été des témoins oculaires
et des serviteurs de la Parole » (Lc 1, 2). Par conséquent, il écrivit
son Évangile selon ce qu’il avait entendu raconter et composa
les Actes des Apôtres, selon ce qu’il avait lui-même vu.
6.Il est enterré à Constantinople, ville dans laquelle, la vingtième année du règne de Constantin, ses ossements furent transférés avec les reliques de l’apôtre André (10).
(1) Luc, qui usait d’une langue
très élaborée, faisait un usage très précis des temps et des modes. Il
recherchait aussi un style très raffiné.
(2) Paul le rencontra lors de son
second voyage missionnaire à Troas et l’emmena avec lui jusqu’à Philippes. Plus
tard Luc l’accompagna jusqu’à Jérusalem, puis à Rome depuis Césarée – si du
moins les passages des Actes des Apôtres usant du « nous » sont
bien à interpréter comme un témoignage personnel de Luc et non comme la
trace du journal de voyage, utilisé par Luc, d’un compagnon de Paul non
identifié.
(3) Paul, pressentant sa mort
prochaine, déplore que ses compagnons l’aient abandonné et appelle Timothée à
son secours.
(4) Les Actes auraient
donc, selon Jérôme, été rédigés en 62-63. Cela supposerait que l’évangile selon
Luc ait déjà été écrit à cette date, alors que les exégètes situent maintenant
cet évangile vers 70 au plus tôt. Luc était aux côtés de Paul lors de son
premier emprisonnement à Rome, ainsi que lorsque l’apôtre attendait la mort. Il
aurait ensuite quitté Rome.
(5) Ces écrits apocryphes très lus à
l’époque de Jérôme racontent l’histoire de la rencontre entre sainte Thècle et
saint Paul. La jeune femme vivait à Iconium quand Paul la convertit : elle
le suivit dans ses voyages et fut condamnée à subir le martyre. Sa foi l’en
sauva à trois reprises, dont la première fois par une lionne, qui devint, avec
le temps, un lion baptisé, cf. Écrits apocryphes chrétiens, t. 1,
1127-1142.
(6) Tertullien, Du Baptême,
17, 5.
(7) Rm 2, 16 ; 16, 25 ; 2 Tm 2,
8.
(8) Les exégètes débattent la
question de savoir si Matthieu et Luc disposaient du même texte de Marc, ou
d’un texte narratif plus ancien suivi de près par Marc.
(9) On doit remarquer que
Jérôme utilise le même terme – principium – pour désigner aussi bien
le début de l’évangile de Luc que le début de la vie publique du Christ.
(10) Jérôme vit sans doute cette information confirmée lors de son séjour à Constantinople en 381. Saint JÉRÔME. Les hommes illustres. Paris, Migne. « Les pères dans la foi, 2010, 67-69 (notes de Delphine Vieillard )
Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574), Saint
Luc peignant la Vierge Marie, circa 1565, fresco, Basilica della Santissima Annunziata (Basilica of the Annunciation of
Mary), Florence
Redécouvrir l’évangéliste Saint Luc (historien, médecin, peintre et évangéliste)
« Luc est né à Antioche. L’on ignore s’il était païen ou juif non croyant. Il exerçait la profession de médecin. Cet homme cultivé connaissait la langue grecque. Il se présente comme écrivain, soucieux de vérité historique. La visée théologique d’un missionnaire de la fin du 1e siècle apparaît cependant derrière la construction littéraire de ses écrits. Luc a réalisé un travail d’écrivain qui révèle sa capacité d’écrire une œuvre harmonieuse. Sur le plan de l’écriture, Luc est l’écrivain le plus doué des évangélistes.
Ses écrits, parus dans les années 60, font partie des trois évangiles dits « synoptiques ». Les deux autres évangiles ont été réalisés par Matthieu et Marc. »
Luc, un homme avec plusieurs cordes à son arc, mais qui ne dit rien de lui.
Qui est Luc ?
Historien, médecin, peintre… Luc, un homme avec plusieurs cordes à son arc, mais qui ne dit rien de lui. Luc est le compagnon de Paul. Il est l’auteur du 3e évangile et des Actes de Apôtres. Il adresse ces deux textes à un certain Théophile. C’est aussi l’évangéliste qui raconte la naissance et l’enfance de Jésus.
Luc historien
Luc n’a pas connu Jésus pendant sa vie terrestre. Son évangile et les Actes des Apôtres qui s’achèvent avec l’arrivée de Paul à Rome forme un tout. Ils ont été rédigés autour des années 60. Luc écrit une biographie de Jésus, puis l’histoire des premiers chrétiens.
Dans le prologue de son évangile, il présente la manière dont il travaille. Comme un historien, il a mené l’enquête de manière à présenter des faits reconnus dans lesquels, il veut que son lecteur reconnaisse l’œuvre de Dieu. «Puisque beaucoup ont entrepris de composer un récit des événements qui se sont accomplis parmi nous, d’après ce que nous ont transmis ceux qui furent dès le début des témoins oculaires et serviteurs de la Parole, après m’être informé exactement de tout depuis les origines, d’en écrire pour toi l’exposé suivi, excellent Théophile, pour que tu te rendes bien compte de la sûreté des enseignements que tu as reçus.»
Il recommence dans le
prologue des Actes des Apôtres. Toujours dans les Actes, il présente les
différents lieux où le christianisme est annoncé : à Jérusalem, en Judée, en
Samarie jusqu’aux extrémités de la terre (Actes 1,8). Il agit en reporter : il
énonce des faits, les illustrent et montrent leurs cohérences.
Celui qui raconte
l’enfance de Jésus
Luc donne une place
importante à Marie. Les récits de l’enfance de Jésus sont racontés de son point
de vue. Elle est celle qui a vu l’amour de Dieu. Il fait d’elle la première messagère
de la Bonne Nouvelle.
Luc commence par raconter
la naissance de Jean-Baptiste parce que, pour lui, l’histoire de Jésus commence
avec celui qui le précède. Puis vient l’annonce faite à Marie : «Voici que tu
vas concevoir et enfanter un fils : tu lui donneras le nom de Jésus» (Luc 1,
31). Marie questionne, dialogue avec l’ange et finalement dit oui : «je suis la
servante du Seigneur. Qu’il m’advienne selon sa parole» (Luc 1, 38). Le signe
donné à Marie est la naissance proche attendue par Elisabeth. Elle part la
rejoindre. Les histoires de Jean-Baptiste et de Jésus se mêlent quand Elisabeth
et Marie se rencontrent (la Visitation). De cette rencontre surgit une prière :
le Magnificat, le chant d’action de grâce de Marie. A cette prière, une autre vient
comme en écho : celle de Zacharie, mari d’Elisabeth, lors de la naissance de
Jean-Baptiste.
Luc nous donne ensuite
quelles informations sur Joseph. Il est issu de la maison et de la famille de
David. C’est la raison pour laquelle il quitte Nazareth où il est installé,
pour Bethléem, ville de David, pour se faire recenser comme le demande
l’empereur César Auguste.
Jésus naît à Bethléem. Ce
sont les bergers gardant leurs troupeaux qui seront les premiers à recevoir la
nouvelle : «Aujourd’hui, vous est né un Sauveur» (Luc 2, 11). On apprend
également que huit jours après sa naissance, Jésus est circoncis, puis, un peu
plus tard présenté au temple. C’était la coutume de consacrer le premier d’une
famille au Seigneur.
Le récit de Jésus à douze
ans qui discute avec les docteurs de la loi du Temple de Jérusalem est fait
uniquement par Luc. Cela lui permet de marquer une étape dans la vie de Jésus
et de montrer qu’il est humain. «Il croissait en sagesse, en taille et en grâce
devant Dieu et devant les hommes» (Luc 2, 52). Il est à la fois vrai homme et
vrai Dieu.
Luc a vécu au cours du
1er siècle, il est grec. Il est né à Antioche (dans l’actuelle Turquie), ville
connue à cette époque pour ses écoles dans tout l’Orient.
Luc rencontre Paul et se
convertit. Il devient son fidèle collaborateur et l’accompagne dans ses
déplacements à partir de 51. Paul le décrit comme un éminent médecin : «notre
cher médecin» (lettre aux Colossiens 4, 14). Vers l’an 56, Luc est envoyé à Corinthe
par Paul. Lorsque Paul est mis en prison à Rome, une première fois en 61, une
seconde en 65 ou 66, Luc partage sa captivité. Quand Paul est décapité, Luc
quitte Rome. On ne sait plus grand chose de sa vie ensuite.
Luc, médecin
Il est le seul des quatre
Evangélistes à décrire les maladies avec une précision médicale, pour désigner
par exemple la localisation d’une paralysie et pour utiliser des termes
médicaux. Vers la fin du Moyen-Age, les médecins l’adoptent comme leur saint
patron. A partir du 15ème siècle, la rentrée en Faculté de Médecine se fait le
jour de la fête de saint Luc, le 18 octobre. Les médecins militaires, aussi
bien dans leurs hôpitaux qu’en opérations, fêtent la saint Luc.
Luc est renommé également
comme peintre de la Vierge, peut-être parce qu’il est celui qui décrit avec le
plus d’attention Marie. Certains tableaux en Syrie et à Rome, sont dit peints
par lui. Il arrive que sur des gravures ou des peintures du XVe siècle, Luc
soit représenté à la fois en écrivain (évangéliste) et en peintre ; et
quelquefois, avec les habits du médecin. Actuellement quelques établissements
médicaux et quelques galeries de peintures portent le nom de Luc.
Les représentations de
Luc
Les plus anciennes
représentations de Luc le montrent écrivant son évangile. La tradition a donné
comme symbole à Luc, un taureau. Le début de son évangile (Luc 1, 9) s’ouvre
sur Zacharie au temple – lieu dans la Bible des sacrifices.
On le représente aussi,
selon une tradition, en train de peindre la sainte Vierge.
Par Geneviève Pasquier,
le 10/01/2007
http://www.etdieudanstoutca.com/bible/luc/qui-est-luc
Francesco Primaticcio (1504–),
Saint Luke the Evangelist, fresco, Chaalis
Abbey, Fontaine-Chaalis, Ermenonville,
Oise.
L’œuvre de Saint Luc :
L’oeuvre de Luc, calquée
sur les livres des Rois ?
Dans le Nouveau
Testament, c’est l’évangéliste Luc qui raconte le plus nettement l’ascension de
Jésus. Il le fait même à deux reprises : une fois à la fin de son évangile (Lc
24, 50-53), puis au début des Actes des Apôtres, second tome, en quelque sorte,
de son évangile.
Depuis longtemps, les
exégètes ont remarqué la proximité entre l’oeuvre de Luc et ce que l’on nomme
les cycles d’Elie et d’Elisée aux livres des Rois (1R 17 – 2 R 1 pour Elie, 2 R
2-13 pour Elisée). Luc aime calquer ses récits, ou certains de ses récits, sur
ces grands modèles bibliques. Et la figure d’Elie, dans son immense stature de
prophète, lui permet une approche du mystère de Jésus. Mais Jésus est plus
grand qu’Elie, Luc ne cessera de le montrer. Ainsi trouve-t-on, dans la finale
de l’évangile de Luc et le début des Actes, des récits qui reprennent les
grands et beaux textes concernant Elie et son disciple.
L’ascension de Jésus
Nous tenons ainsi de Luc
deux récits de l’Ascension de Jésus. Le premier, à la fin de son évangile, est
christologique : il parle de Jésus. Venu de Dieu, il repart vers lui. Il est le
Fils. L’accent du texte porte donc sur l’identité de Jésus : « Il les emmena
jusque vers Béthanie et, levant les mains, il les bénit. Et il advint, comme il
les bénissait, qu’il se sépara d’eux et fut emporté au ciel. Pour eux, s’étant
prosternés devant lui, ils retournèrent à Jérusalem en grande joie, et ils
étaient constamment dans le Temple à louer Dieu » (Luc 24, 50-53).
Le second récit ouvre les
Actes des Apôtres. Il raconte encore l’Ascension de Jésus, mais porte un accent
différent. La pointe du récit est alors ecclésiologique : il dit qui est le
disciple et quelle est sa mission. Il parle de la naissance de l’Eglise,
constituée de disciples fragiles, que l’Esprit de Dieu emporte dans son souffle
pour les envoyer jusqu’au bout du monde (Actes 1, 8). Telle est en effet la
mission que Jésus leur donne au moment de son départ. Désormais ils sont
pleinement apôtres, c’est-à-dire envoyés : « Vous allez recevoir, dit Jésus,
une force, celle de l’Esprit Saint qui descendra sur vous. Vous serez alors mes
témoins à Jérusalem, dans toute la Judée et la Samarie, et jusqu’aux extrémités
de la terre » (Actes 1, 8). Le relais leur est passé, c’est désormais le temps
de l’Eglise.
Un langage théologique
Après ces paroles,
poursuit le récit des Actes, ils le virent s’élever et disparaître à leurs yeux
dans une nuée. Et comme ils fixaient encore le ciel où Jésus s’en allait, voici
que deux hommes en vêtements blancs se tenaient devant eux et disaient : « Galiléens,
pourquoi restez-vous là à regarder vers le ciel ? Jésus, qui a été enlevé du
milieu de vous, reviendra de la même manière que vous l’avez vu s’en aller vers
le ciel » (Actes 1, 9-11).
Ainsi Jésus s’élève et
disparaît dans une nuée. L’image de la nuée est présente tout au long de la
Bible pour évoquer la présence mystérieuse de Dieu auprès de son peuple. C’est
dans une nuée que le Seigneur accompagne son peuple à la sortie d’Egypte, dans
le passage de la mer et la marche au désert. Et sous la forme d’une colonne de
feu, la nuit ! Une nuée entoure Jésus et ses disciples à la Transfiguration.
C’est le signe de la présence et d’une révélation de Dieu. Et c’est bien sûr
aussi vers le ciel que Jésus est emporté, puisque le ciel est ce lieu d’en
haut, le lieu de Dieu.
Le langage des peintres
Notre habitude du langage
des évangiles nous met aussi en alerte lorsque le récit évoque deux hommes
vêtus de blanc. Comme à la résurrection ! Le blanc est la couleur de Dieu, le
chiffre deux celui du témoignage parfait, confirmé par cette double présence.
L’Assomption de Marie
Ce que la Bible exprime
dans une dimension spatiale est avant tout une vision ou une compréhension
théologique. La théologie s’exprimera en termes semblables pour évoquer le
mystère de Marie. Comprenant que Marie, mère de Jésus, est en même temps Mère
de Dieu, elle exprimera en des images forgées au creuset biblique, sa proximité
infinie de Dieu. Marie sera dite Immaculée conception, épargnée absolument par
le péché. Et le langage de la foi dira de même que Marie ne meurt pas, mais
qu’elle est emportée auprès de Dieu.
L’Assomption n’est pas
plus un voyage stratosphérique que l’Ascension de Jésus. La théologie
orientale, utilisant d’autres images, parle de la Dormition de Marie. Les
peintres l’ont également magnifiquement représentée, à grand renfort de fleurs
printanières surgissant en abondance : Marie n’est pas morte, elle dort, de ce
sommeil dans lequel veille la vie de Dieu tout entière.
http://www.croire.com/Themes/Fetes-religieuses/Ascension/Dans-l-Ecriture/Les-deux-recits-de-Luc
Luca Giordano (1634–1705), San
Lucas pintando a la Virgen, circa 1650, 285,2 x 186.1, Museo de Arte de Ponce
L’Évangile selon saint
Luc
L’Évangile selon saint
Luc (kata Lukas, où kata signifie selon) a pour auteur Luc (médecin et, selon
la légende, peintre, compagnon de saint Paul). Il n’a pas connu lui-même le
Christ, durant son ministère public. Il a également composé les Actes des
Apôtres, qui sont la suite de son évangile. Les deux livres sont pareillement
dédiés à « Théophile » (personnage réel, ou peut-être fictif, figure de l’ «
ami de Dieu », Théo-phile).
Les deux ouvrages ont été
rédigés probablement dans les années 60, avant la destruction du Temple (en
70), et avant le martyre des saints apôtres Pierre et Paul à Rome (en 64 ou
67).
Avec l’Évangile selon
saint Marc et l’Évangile selon saint Matthieu, il fait partie des évangiles
dits synoptiques. C’est le plus long de nos quatre évangiles, retenus dans le
Nouveau Testament.
Il y a deux traditions
relatives à l’auteur du Troisième Évangile.
L’une, orale, fut
transmise par Gégoire le grand puis Théophylacte jusqu’à Jacques de Voragine et
Anne Catherine Emmerich: L’évangéliste n’était autre que le compagnon anonyme
de Cléopas. Épiphane de Salamine lui donnait pour nom Nathanaël [1]
L’autre, scripturaire,
voyait en lui le compagnon de Paul. Saint Irénée note dans son Adversus
Haereses (vers 180): « De son côté, Luc, le compagnon de Paul, consigna en un
livre l’Évangile que prêchait celui-ci. » (Adv. Hae. III, Prologue)
Un ancien prologue grec
de l’évangile de Luc, daté de la fin du second siècle, décrivait ainsi la
genèse de cet évangile, et son auteur: « Luc était un syrien d’Antioche,
médecin de profession, disciple des apôtres, et plus tard un accompagnateur de
Paul jusqu’à son martyre. Il servit le Seigneur sans divertissement, sans femme
et sans enfants. Il mourut à l’âge de 84 ans, en Béotie, rempli du Saint
Esprit. » Ce prologue poursuit: « Quoique des évangiles existassent déjà, celui
selon Matthieu, composé en Judée, et celui selon Marc en Italie, il fut incité
par le Saint Esprit, et composa cet évangile entièrement dans la région
avoisinant l’Achaïe; il rend très clair dans le prologue que les autres
(évangiles) avaient été écrits avant le sien [...] Plus tard le même Luc
écrivit les Actes des Apôtres. » (Cf. Joseph A.Fitzmyer, The Gospel according
to Luke, I-IX, 1981, page 38-39).
De même le Canon de
Muratori (document romain du milieu du IIe s.) : « Troisièmement, le livre de
l’évangile selon Luc. Ce Luc était médecin. Après l’Ascension du Christ, Paul
l’ayant pris pour second à cause de sa connaissance du droit, il écrivit avec
son assentiment ce qu’il jugeait bon. » Il continue: « Cependant lui non plus
ne vit pas le Seigneur dans la chair. Et par conséquent selon ce dont il avait
pu s’informer il commença à le dire à partir de la Nativité de Jean. »
Saint Paul de Tarse se
réfère à Luc en Col 4,14 où il l’appelle « le cher médecin »; de même dans
l’épître à Philémon (24) où Luc se trouve en compagnie de Marc, pendant la
première captivité romaine de Paul, et dans la deuxième à Timothée (4,11): «
Seul Luc est avec moi. » Luc pourrait avoir été, sous les directives de Paul,
le rédacteur des épîtres dites pastorales (1 Tm ; 2 Tm ; Tt). En effet, on
croit y reconnaître son style.
Les trois cantiques
C’est dans Luc que l’on
trouve les trois célèbres cantiques, repris dans la liturgie des heures :
• Le Benedictus (ou
cantique de Zacharie)
• Le Magnificat (ou
cantique de Marie)
• Le Nunc dimittis (ou
cantique de Siméon)
Marie livrant ses
souvenirs, soit à l’apôtre Jean soit directement à l’évangéliste Luc, affirme à
deux reprises qu’« elle conservait avec soin toutes ces choses, les méditant en
son cœur. » (Lc 2,19; cf. 2,51). Si elle a conservé tous ces souvenirs, c’était
pour la postérité. Si elle les a médités, c’est qu’elle a dû chanter bien
souvent dans son cœur les cantiques qui y sont contenus. Toute cette poésie est
emplie de réminiscences bibliques. Effectivement, si de tels souvenirs sont
parvenus à la connaissance de Luc, et à la nôtre, ce ne peut être que par
Marie.
Luc, l’évangéliste de la
miséricorde
L’analyse des sources de
l’Évangile selon saint Luc met en évidence son originalité.
Saint Irénée a
puissamment résumé, dans une page célèbre (cf. Adv. Hae. III, 14, 3), la
nouveauté de l’évangile de Luc. Il recoupe notre exposé du précédent titre.
Luc en personne, dans son
Prologue, a précisé sa méthode et sa préoccupation première.
« Puisque plusieurs ont
entrepris de composer un récit des événements qui se sont accomplis parmi nous,
d’après ce que nous ont transmis ceux qui furent dès le début témoins oculaires
et serviteurs de la Parole, j’ai décidé, moi aussi, après m’être informé exactement
de tout depuis les origines d’en écrire pour toi l’exposé suivi, excellent
Théophile. » (Lc 1,1-3).
Théophile devait être un
éditeur de Rome par lequel Luc a publié son double ouvrage de l’évangile et des
Actes (cf. Ac 1,1), mais aussi un chrétien fervent qui, en l’espèce, nous
représente tous.
Luc a décidé de suivre
l’exemple de plusieurs confrères : Matthieu l’apôtre qui (en hébreu ?), avait
publié l’enseignement du Seigneur et plusieurs de ses faits et gestes. Marc
l’interprète et le confident de Pierre et qui lui-même avait assisté, au sortir
de l’enfance, à la Passion du Sauveur et qui avait fréquenté, chez sa mère, les
apôtres et la première communauté chrétienne.
Philippe enfin, le diacre
et compagnon d’Étienne, qui, selon une hypothèse, entreprenait avec l’aide de
Luc de confectionner un évangile original reprenant les logia de Matthieu, mais
qu’il n’écrirait et ne publierait qu’après le départ pour Rome de Luc et de
Paul.
Luc a interrogé les «
témoins oculaires et [les] serviteurs de la Parole », ceux de la première
génération qui avaient connu le Seigneur: avant tous Jean, l’apôtre, et même la
mère de Jésus, ainsi que les « frères du Seigneur »: Jacques, Simon et Jude, et
avec eux toute l’Église de Jérusalem, héritière au premier chef de la pensée et
de la mémoire de Jésus le Nazaréen. Il enquêta sur place en Palestine,
profitant de son séjour forcé et prolongé dans la patrie du Christ. Philippe et
Luc, dans leurs investigations, travaillèrent en commun avec Paul, puisqu’il
nous est précisé que ce dernier pouvait recevoir librement dans sa prison (cf.
Ac 24,23).
Luc est allé aux sources,
ainsi qu’aux documents originaux, comme lui-même l’affirme avec insistance. Il
l’a fait en historien consciencieux, même si son œuvre demeure artisanale à
bien des égards, comme l’analyse l’a montré.
Si l’on poursuit dans le
détail la comparaison de Luc avec les autres synoptiques, on observe sur le vif
l’activité d’un écrivain qui excelle à présenter les choses d’une manière qui
lui est propre, évitant ou atténuant tout ce qui peut froisser, ou bien ce qui
serait peu compréhensible au lecteur, ménageant les personnes des apôtres, ou
les excusant, interprétant les termes obscurs, ou précisant la géographie.
En vrai « scriba
mansuetudinis Christi », écrivain de la mansuétude du Christ (Dante), il aime à
souligner la miséricorde de son Maître pour les pécheurs (15,1.7.10), à
raconter des scènes de pardon (7,36-50). Il insiste volontiers sur la tendresse
de Jésus pour les humbles et pour les pauvres, tandis que les orgueilleux et
les riches jouisseurs sont sévèrement traités (16,19-31).
Cependant même la juste
condamnation ne se fera qu’après les délais patients de la miséricorde
(13,6-9). Il faut seulement qu’on se repente. Ici Luc tient à répéter l’exigence
d’un détachement décisif et absolu des richesses (14,25-33).
On notera les passages
propres au troisième évangile sur la nécessité de la prière (18,1-8) et
l’exemple qu’en a donné Jésus (6,12).
Enfin comme chez saint
Paul, et dans les Actes (suites de l’évangile), l’Esprit Saint occupe une place
de premier plan que Luc seul souligne (4,1; 24,49).
Ceci avec l’atmosphère de
reconnaissance et d’allégresse spirituelle qui enveloppe tout le troisième
évangile achève de donner à l’œuvre de Luc cette ferveur qui touche.
Extraits
Lc 1,26-28 : Au sixième
mois, l’ange Gabriel fut envoyé par Dieu dans une ville de Galilée appelée
Nazareth, vers une vierge qui était fiancée à un homme de la maison de David,
nommé Joseph ; et le nom de la vierge était Marie. Etant entré où elle était, il
lui dit : » Salut, pleine de grâce ! Le Seigneur est avec vous… »
Lc 2,4-7 : Joseph aussi
monta de Galilée, de la ville de Nazareth, en Judée, à la ville de David, qui
s’appelle Bethléem, parce qu’il était de la maison et de la famille de David,
pour se faire recenser avec Marie son épouse, qui était enceinte. Or, pendant
qu’ils étaient là, le temps où elle devait enfanter s’accomplit, et elle mit au
monde son fils premier-né, l’emmaillota et le coucha dans une crèche, parce
qu’il n’y avait pas de place pour eux dans l’hôtellerie.
Lc 2,44-47 : Pensant
qu’il était avec la caravane, ils marchèrent tout un jour, puis ils le
cherchèrent parmi leurs parents et leurs connaissances. Ne l’ayant point
trouvé, ils s’en retournèrent à Jérusalem en le recherchant. Or, au bout de
trois jours, ils le trouvèrent dans le temple, assis au milieu des docteurs,
les écoutant et les interrogeant ; et tous ceux qui l’entendaient étaient ravis
de son intelligence et de ses réponses.
Lc 13,34-35 : «
Jérusalem, Jérusalem, qui tues les prophètes et lapides ceux qui te sont
envoyés ! Que de fois j’ai voulu rassembler tes enfants comme une poule sa
couvée sous ses ailes, et vous n’avez pas voulu ! Voici que votre maison va
vous être laissée (déserte). Je vous le dis, vous ne me verrez plus que ne
[soit venu quand] vous direz : Béni celui qui vient au nom du Seigneur ! «
Lc 22,60-62 : Pierre dit
: » Homme, je ne sais ce que tu dis. » Et à l’instant, comme il parlait encore,
un coq chanta. Et le Seigneur, s’étant retourné, arrêta son regard sur Pierre,
et Pierre se souvint de la parole du Seigneur, comme il lui avait dit : » Avant
que le coq ait chanté aujourd’hui, tu me renieras trois fois. » Et étant sorti,
il pleura amèrement.
Voir : https://fr.orthodoxwiki.org/%C3%89vangile_selon_saint_Luc
Luca Giordano (1634–1705), Saint
Luc peignant la Vierge Marie, 1692, 203 x 262, Brest’s Museum of Fine Arts
Saint Luc évangéliste,
historien et peintre
Luc est né à Antioche.
L’on ignore s’il était païen ou juif non croyant. Il exerçait la profession de
médecin. Cet homme cultivé connaissait la langue grecque. Il se présente comme
écrivain, soucieux de vérité historique. La visée théologique d’un missionnaire
de la fin du 1e siècle apparaît cependant derrière la construction littéraire
de ses écrits. Luc a réalisé un travail d’écrivain qui révèle sa capacité
d’écrire une oeuvre harmonieuse. Sur le plan de l’écriture, Luc est l’écrivain
le plus doué des évangélistes.
Ses écrits, parus dans
les années 60, font partie des trois évangiles dits « synoptiques ». Les deux
autres évangiles ont été réalisés par Matthieu et Marc.
Luc est l’auteur du livre
des Actes des Apôtres qui suit les quatre Evangiles dans le Nouveau Testament.
Il distingue clairement le temps de Jésus et celui des débuts de l’Église et
est le seul évangéliste qui apporte des précisions sur l’enfance de Jésus.
L’évangile selon Saint Luc peut être divisé en trois grandes parties :
- Le ministère de
Jésus en Galilée
- De la Galilée à
Jérusalem
- A Jérusalem.
Luc veut montrer que
l’histoire de Jésus et celle de l’Église constituent l’accomplissement des
promesses qui avaient été faites dans l’Ancien Testament.
Sa conversion fit suite à
sa rencontre avec Paul de Tarse dont il devint le principal disciple. Il
accompagna Paul de Tarse lors de son deuxième voyage missionnaire aux environs
de l’an 49. Ils se retrouvent ensuite à Philippes. Lorsque Paul de Tarse fut décapité,
Luc quitta Rome.
Luc fut également peintre
et iconographe de la Vierge Marie. Plusieurs artistes l’ont représenté ainsi et
nous vous invitons à lire, page suivante, l’histoire de la vierge noire vénérée
en Pologne.
Le taureau est le symbole
de l’évangéliste saint Luc dans notre tradition chrétienne.
Cet animal représente la
puissance de travail dans l’imaginaire humain.
Pour prendre connaissance
du texte concernant Paul de Tarse.
http://www.capsizun.com/luc_evangeliste.htm
SAINT LUC : L’Évangéliste
(Patron des peintres et des médecins) fêté le 18 octobre
LUC naquit à Antioche en
Syrie. Il était grec de naissance et médecin de profession.
Luc fut un des premiers à
être convertis. Plus tard, il devint le compagnon missionnaire de saint Paul
pendant une partie de son deuxième et troisième voyage. Il prit soin de Paul
lors de son incarcération à Césarée et à Rome. Paul en parle comme étant « le
plus attentionné des médecins » et comme étant aussi « un travailleur acharné
». Avec Paul, il s’embarqua sur un bateau les menant de Troas à la Macédoine et
demeura pendant sept ans à Philippes, partageant les naufrages et les périls du
voyage jusqu’à Rome. En lisant les épîtres de Paul, nous apprenons que Luc est
demeuré son compagnon fidèle.
Luc est l’auteur du
troisième Evangile écrit avant l’an 63. Il a aussi écrit les Actes des Apôtres.
Son symbole est le boeuf car celui-ci représente l’animal du sacrifice et on le
retrouve dans son Evangile avec l’histoire de Zacharie le prêtre, offrant le
sacrifice à Dieu. Luc parle de la prêtrise du Christ. Il mentionne aussi les
oeuvres merveilleuses de Dieu lors de la construction de son Eglise et des
événements et miracles qui eurent lieu de par saint Paul et auxquels il fut
lui-même témoin.
Les icônes de Saint Luc
(Biographie selon le Monastère Orthodoxe des Saints Elie et Elisée)
D’après la tradition, ce
fut Saint Luc qui, le premier, exécuta trois Images de la sainte Mère de Dieu
portant dans ses bras l’Enfant Dieu. Il les soumit à l’approbation de la Sainte
Vierge, alors qu’elle était encore en vie. Celle-ci accueillit avec joie ces
Saintes Images et dit: « Que la grâce de Celui qui a été enfanté par moi, soit
en elles! ». Par la suite, Saint Luc, représenta en Image les Saints Apôtres et
transmit à l’Eglise cette pieuse et Sainte Tradition de la vénération des
Icônes du Christ et de ses Saints.
Saint Luc était
originaire de la ville d’Antioche la Grande. De noble naissance, il excellait
en particulier dans les domaines de la science médicale et de l’art pictural.
Sous le règne de l’empereur Claude (vers 42 ap. J.C.), alors qu’il dispensait
ses soins aux malades de la région de Thèbes en Béotie, il rencontra l’Apôtre
Paul, dont les paroles de feu le convainquirent que la vérité absolue qu’il
recherchait depuis tant d’années se trouvait effectivement chez les disciples
de Jésus-Christ. Après avoir été séparé de son maître, Luc retourna en Grèce
pour y proclamer l’Evangile. Il se fixa à nouveau dans la région de Thèbes, où
il mourut dans la paix à l’âge de quatre-vingts ans.
Voulant rendre gloire à
son fidèle serviteur, Dieu fit couler de son tombeau un liquide miraculeux, qui
guérissait les maladies des yeux de ceux qui s’en oignaient avec foi. C’est
ainsi que même après sa mort, Saint Luc continua d’exercer la médecine. De
longues années plus tard (3 mars 357), l’empereur Constance, fils du Grand
Constantin fit transporter la Relique du Saint à Constantinople par
l’intermédiaire de Saint Artémios, duc d’Egypte, et la fit déposer sous l’Autel
de l’église des Saints-Apôtres, auprès des Saintes Reliques des Apôtres André
et Timothée.
Selon des traditions,
Saint Luc a peint à trois reprises la Vierge, ouvrant la voie aux icônes
peintes. C’est à l’une de ces icônes, acquise en Palestine par la femme de
Théodose II et rapportée à Constantinople, que remonterait le type, très
populaire, de la « Vierge Hodigitria », Vierge qui indique la Voie (le Christ
enfant sur le bras gauche, la main droite ramenée devant le buste, désignant le
Christ).
Plusieurs icônes sont
traditionnellement attribuées à Saint Luc. Entre autres, les icônes Russes de
la Vierge de Vladimir, de Jérusalem, de Tikhvine, de Smolensk, ainsi que, en
Pologne, la Vierge de Czestochowa. Les icônes russes de la Vierge correspondent
à des compositions iconographiques différentes. (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ic%C3%B4ne_(religion))
http://apotres.amour.free.fr/page4/luc.htm
SOURCE : http://www.paixetdeveloppement.net/religion-chretienne-redecouvrir-levangeliste-saint-luc-historien-medecin-peintre-et-evangeliste/
_-_James_Tissot.jpg)
James Tissot (1836–1902), Saint Luke the Evangelist, circa 1886, gouache over graphite on gray wove paper, 13.8 x 10, Brooklyn Museum
St. Luke
St. Luke’s name – of Latin origin – indicates that he apparently was not of Jewish derivation. The earliest surviving testimony describes him as a Syrian from Antioch. His abundant acquaintance with the Antiochean Church, as well as his knowledge of literary Greek, both illustrated in his writings, supports this testimony. Tradition and one text of St. Paul’s (Colossians 4:14) say that St. Luke was a trained physician. His Gospel exhibits a Greek literary style absent from the other Gospels and documents of the New Testament. Luke, apparently, was a well-educated man. His Greek was as polished as that of such classical writers as Xenophon.
Luke’s association with the disciples of Jesus probably began after Christ’s death, in the early 30s of the 1st century. His Gospel reveals a special acquaintance with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and tradition describes him as a friend and companion of St. Paul and of St. Mark. When St. Paul began his second missionary journey, about 49 A.D., St. Luke became a member of the party, joining St. Paul at the town of Troas and traveling to Macedonia with him (Acts 16: 11-12). Luke then probably remained at Philippi, rejoining St. Paul when he had finished his third missionary journey and was returning to Jerusalem (Acts 20:5, 26:18).
The Acts further say that St. Luke accompanied St. Paul when St. Paul was taken as a prisoner to Rome to be judged by Caesar (Acts 27:1, 28:26). The contents of St. Paul’s letters to Philemon (24) and Timothy (II, 4:11) reveal that St. Luke probably stayed with St. Paul until St.Paul’s death. A document called the Anti-Marcionite Prologue, which dates from the end of the 2nd century, says that St. Luke died unmarried in Boeotia or Bithynia at the age of 84 toward the end of the 1st century.
St. Luke’s authorship of the Third Gospel has not been seriously disputed. Nor has the attribution of the Acts of the Apostles to him been questioned. Luke’s Gospel is clearly related to the Gospels of St. Mark and St. Matthew both in content and in structure; all three drew on a common source. St. Luke, however, used a second source unknown to either St. Matthew or St. Mark. Scholars have surmised that this source may have been Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her closest friends, all of whom knew Jesus intimately.
The story of Jesus is presented by St. Luke within a tripartite view of human history. According to his view, the lifetime of Jesus occupied the central position, being preceded by the time of the Law and the Prophets and being followed by the time of the Christian Church. Scholars have assigned the composition of St. Luke’s Gospel to between 70 and 80. Both internal and external evidence indicates that it was composed outside Palestine and intended for use by non-Jews.
SOURCE : http://www.ucatholic.com/saints/saint-luke/
Saint Luke on a 17th century painting by unknown
artist in the choir of Sankta Maria kyrka in Åhus, Sweden.
Evangelisten Lukas på en 1600-talsmålning i av okänd
konstnär i koret i Sankta Maria kyrka i Åhus. Category:Images by David Castor
20 June (translation
of relics)
13
October in the martyrology by Mabillon
21
September on some calendars
26
September on some calendars
27
November on some calendars
Profile
Born to pagan Greek parents,
and possibly a slave.
One of the earliest converts to Christianity. Physician,
studying in Antioch and Tarsus. Probably travelled as
a ship‘s doctor;
many charitable societies of physicians are
named for him. Legend has that he was also a painter who
may have done portraits of Jesus and Mary, but
none have ever been correctly or definitively attributed to him; this story,
and the inspiration his Gospel has always given artists,
led to his patronage of
them. He met Saint Paul
the Apostle at Troas, and evangelized Greece and Rome with
him, being there for the shipwreck and
other perils of the voyage to Rome,
and stayed in Rome for Paul‘s
two years of in prison. Wrote the Gospel
According to Luke, much of which was based on the teachings and writings
of Paul,
interviews with early Christians,
and his own experiences. Wrote a
history of the early Church in the Acts of the Apostles.
Born
at Antioch
some stories say he was martyred,
others that he died of
natural causes
Name Meaning
bringer of light (= luke)
Worshipful
Company of Butchers
Worshipful
Company of Painters
—
Petrovac,
Bosnia and Herzegovina
brush (refers
to the tradition that he was a painter)
man accompanied by a winged ox
man painting an icon of Blessed Virgin
Mary
palette (refers to the tradition that he was a painters)
Additional Information
A
Garner of Saints, by Allen Banks Hinds, M.A.
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Catholic
Encyclopedia: Gospel of Saint Luke
Lives
of Illustrious Men, by Saint Jerome
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Francis
Xavier Weninger
Lives
of the Saints, by Sabine Baring-Gould
Patron
Saint of the Worshipful Company of Painters, by Walter Hayward Pitman
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
Short
Lives of the Saints, by Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other sites in english
1001 Patron Saints and Their Feast Days, Australian
Catholic Truth Society
Catholic Cuisine: Artist’s Palate Cookies
Christian Biographies, by James Keifer
Jimmy Akin: 10 Things to Know and Share
images
video
e-books
Saint Luke: His Life, Character and Teaching, by McVeigh
Harrison, OHC
sitios en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
sites en français
Abbé Christian-Philippe Chanut
fonti in italiano
nettsteder i norsk
Canonical
Gospel According to Luke
Canonical
Acts of the Apostles
MLA Citation
“Saint Luke the Evangelist“. CatholicSaints.Info.
31 August 2021. Web. 18 October 2021.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-luke-the-evangelist/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-luke-the-evangelist/
Evangelist Lukas, deesis icon 14 th century, Hilandar
Saints of the
Day – Luke the Evangelist
Article
1st century. Saint Luke was a gentile (not mentioned
as a Jew by Saint Paul in Colossians 4:10-11), a Greek (according to Saint
Jerome), perhaps born in Antioch (per Eusebius), and a medical man by
profession – Saint Paul speaks of him as ‘our beloved Luke, the physician’
(Colossians 4:14). He was the author of the Gospel the bears his name and of
its continuation – the Acts of the Apostles. The Gospel was definitely written
by a Gentile Christian for Gentile Christians. Though Jesus lived and worked
almost entirely among Jews, He also reached out to others. Whenever Jesus has
dealings with, for example, Syrians, or praises a Roman centurion, Luke tells
us about it. He also shows Jesus’ special friendship with the outcasts of
society and his love of the poor.
One of the interesting aspects of Luke’s Gospel is his
frequent juxtaposition of a story about a man and then another about a woman.
For example, the cure of the demoniac (Luke 4:31-37) is followed by the cure of
Peter’s mother-in-law (4:38-39); the centurion’s slave is healed (7:1-10), then
the widow of Nain’s son is raised (7:11-17); the Gerasene demoniac is healed
(8:26-39) followed by the raising of Jairus’s Daughter and healing of the woman
with the hemorrhage (8:40-56).
Luke also mentions the women who followed and assisted
Jesus in His ministry (e.g., 8:1-3). Thus, in a way that no other evangelist
does, Luke depicts a Jesus who cares for the status and salvation of women
quite as much as He does for men. Perhaps this is because Luke probably learned
much about Jesus from the Blessed Virgin herself. Only he and Matthew record
elements about the hidden life of the Lord before his public ministry.
Luke stresses God’s mercy and love of all mankind. He
alone records the parables of the lost sheep, the Good Samaritan, the prodigal
son, the Pharisee and the publican, the barren fig tree, Dives and Lazarus. He
is also the only one to record Jesus’ forgiveness of Mary Magdalen (?) (Luke
7:47), His promise to the good thief (Luke 23:43), and His prayer for his
executioners (Luke 23:34). And he is also the only evangelist to record the Ave
Maria the Magnificat, the Benedictus, and the Nunc Dimittis, which are all used
in the Liturgy of the Hours (Night, Evening, Morning, and Night Prayer
respectively). Luke also emphasizes the call to poverty, prayer, and purity of
heart, which comprise much of his specific appeal to the Gentiles.
Luke also wrote the Acts of the Apostles, which might
more appropriately be known as the Acts of the Holy Spirit. This is a
continuation of his Gospel account, though the Acts may have been written first.
According to Eusebius and Jerome, Acts was written during Paul’s imprisonment,
though Saint Ireneaus says after Paul’s death c.66. Eusebius says that the
Gospel was set down before Paul’s death, Jerome says after, and an early
tradition records it as being composed shortly before Luke’s death.
Legend has him as one of the 72 disciples, and some
scholars identify him with Lucius of Cyrene, a teacher and prophet at Antioch
(Acts 13:1) and with Lucius, Paul’s companion at Corinth (Rom. 16:21). We don’t
know exactly when he was converted; perhaps in 42 when Saint Paul and Saint
Barnabas came to preach at Antioch, or possibly even earlier when the
Christians fled from Jerusalem to Antioch after the stoning of Saint Stephen.
Certain passages of Acts, written in the first person
plural, are usually held to show that the writer was with Saint Paul on parts
of his second and third missionary journeys and on the voyage to Italy, when
the ship was wrecked off the coast of Malta (Acts 16:10ff; 20:5ff; 27-28). He
was with Paul during both his first and second imprisonments. In his letters,
Paul thrice (AD 61-63) refers to Luke’s presence in Rome, writing to Timothy,
‘Luke is my only companion.’
Between the two missionary journeys (AD 51-57), he
stayed at Philippi as a leader of the Christian community. Then he rejoined
Saint Paul on the third trip, meeting him in Macedonia and accompanying him to
Jerusalem. Thereafter, he was Paul’s constant companion. He was with Paul after
his arrest in the Temple and during the two years (57-59) of his imprisonment
at Caesarea. When Paul appealed to Caesar, Luke went with him and was
shipwrecked with Paul on the coast of Malta. Until Saint Paul’s martyrdom in
67, Luke never left his side.
A writer perhaps as early as the late second century
declares that, having served the Lord constantly and written his gospel there,
According to a less reliable tradition, Luke died, unmarried, in Boeotia,
Greece, at the age of 84, ‘full of the Holy Spirit.’ He is said to have been
martyred, which is very doubtful, but we have no record of his history after
the time he was in Rome with Paul.
Though Luke may never have known Our Lord in the
flesh, it is possible that he did know the Mother of God and Saint John. He was
in Rome at the same time as Saints Peter and Mark and, while in the company of
Paul, must surely have known many of the disciples.
Translations of his relics were claimed by
Constantinople and Padua (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney,
Encyclopedia, Farmer, Green-Armytage, Walsh, White).
Perhaps one of the best novels about Saint Luke is
Taylor Caldwell’s Dear and Glorious Physician, which is especially good in
portraying extant pagan heralds to the coming of Christ.
Saint Luke is the patron saint of physicians and
surgeons, and also of guilds of artists, art schools, and painters of pictures
because later tradition in the Greek Church claims that Luke was also an
artist. Reputedly Luke carried a portrait of the Blessed Mother with him and
that it was the instrument of many conversions. Indeed, he was a great artist
in words, and his narratives have inspired many masterpieces of art; but the
existing pictures of the Blessed Virgin, which he is said actually to have
painted, are all works of a much later date, including that of Our Lady of
Perpetual Help. Unfortunately, a rough drawing in the catacombs inscribed as
“one of seven painted by Luca” confirmed the Greek legend in the popular mind.
Additionally, he is considered the patron of
sculptors, bookbinders, goldsmiths, lacemakers, notaries (because of his
account of Christ’s life), and butchers (because of his emblem, the winged ox)
(Appleton, Roeder, Tabor).
Saint Irenaeus is credited with having first assigned
the mysterious winged ox, described in Ezekiel and by Saint John in Revelation,
to Saint Luke. The first known usage of the emblems of the apocalyptic
creatures is in the apse mosaic of Saint Pudentiana in Rome dating to the end
of the 4th century, although they were not specifically associated with any one
of the Evangelists. Nevertheless, since the time of Saints Jerome (died 420)
and Augustine (died 430), the winged ox has been assigned to Saint Luke. This
may be an allusion to the sacrifice in the Temple at the beginning of his
Gospel, and to Saint Luke’s emphasis on the atonement made by Christ’s
suffering and death (Appleton).
In art he appears (1) as a bishop or a physician with
a book or scroll, often accompanied by a winged ox; (2) painting the Virgin
(anonymous, at Saint Isaac of Syria Skete, Boscobel, Wisconsin, USA) (this
subject is especially used in 15th and 16th- century Flemish paintings); (3) in
a doctor’s cap and gown, holding a book; (4) occasionally present in scenes of
the Annunciation or angel’s message to Zacharia; (5) giving his book to Saint
Theophilus B; or (6) as an evangelist, writing (14th century French
illumination) (Roeder, White). Exceptional painting of Saint Luke include those
of Roger van der Weyden in the Pinacoteca, Munich; Jean Grossaert in Prague;
and the School of Raphael in the Accademia di San Luca in Rome (Tabor).
MLA Citation
Katherine I Rabenstein. Saints
of the Day, 1998. CatholicSaints.Info.
3 August 2020. Web. 19 October 2021.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-day-luke-the-evangelist/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-day-luke-the-evangelist/
Saints of the Day – Luke the
Evangelist
Article
1st century. Saint Luke was a gentile (not mentioned
as a Jew by Saint Paul in Colossians 4:10-11), a Greek (according to Saint
Jerome), perhaps born in Antioch (per Eusebius), and a medical man by
profession – Saint Paul speaks of him as ‘our beloved Luke, the physician’ (Colossians
4:14). He was the author of the Gospel the bears his name and of its
continuation – the Acts of the Apostles. The Gospel was definitely written by a
Gentile Christian for Gentile Christians. Though Jesus lived and worked almost
entirely among Jews, He also reached out to others. Whenever Jesus has dealings
with, for example, Syrians, or praises a Roman centurion, Luke tells us about
it. He also shows Jesus’ special friendship with the outcasts of society and
his love of the poor.
One of the interesting aspects of Luke’s Gospel is his
frequent juxtaposition of a story about a man and then another about a woman.
For example, the cure of the demoniac (Luke 4:31-37) is followed by the cure of
Peter’s mother-in-law (4:38-39); the centurion’s slave is healed (7:1-10), then
the widow of Nain’s son is raised (7:11-17); the Gerasene demoniac is healed
(8:26-39) followed by the raising of Jairus’s Daughter and healing of the woman
with the hemorrhage (8:40-56).
Luke also mentions the women who followed and assisted
Jesus in His ministry (e.g., 8:1-3). Thus, in a way that no other evangelist
does, Luke depicts a Jesus who cares for the status and salvation of women
quite as much as He does for men. Perhaps this is because Luke probably learned
much about Jesus from the Blessed Virgin herself. Only he and Matthew record
elements about the hidden life of the Lord before his public ministry.
Luke stresses God’s mercy and love of all mankind. He
alone records the parables of the lost sheep, the Good Samaritan, the prodigal
son, the Pharisee and the publican, the barren fig tree, Dives and Lazarus. He
is also the only one to record Jesus’ forgiveness of Mary Magdalen (?) (Luke
7:47), His promise to the good thief (Luke 23:43), and His prayer for his
executioners (Luke 23:34). And he is also the only evangelist to record the Ave
Maria the Magnificat, the Benedictus, and the Nunc Dimittis, which are all used
in the Liturgy of the Hours (Night, Evening, Morning, and Night Prayer
respectively). Luke also emphasizes the call to poverty, prayer, and purity of
heart, which comprise much of his specific appeal to the Gentiles.
Luke also wrote the Acts of the Apostles, which might
more appropriately be known as the Acts of the Holy Spirit. This is a
continuation of his Gospel account, though the Acts may have been written
first. According to Eusebius and Jerome, Acts was written during Paul’s
imprisonment, though Saint Ireneaus says after Paul’s death c.66. Eusebius says
that the Gospel was set down before Paul’s death, Jerome says after, and an
early tradition records it as being composed shortly before Luke’s death.
Legend has him as one of the 72 disciples, and some
scholars identify him with Lucius of Cyrene, a teacher and prophet at Antioch
(Acts 13:1) and with Lucius, Paul’s companion at Corinth (Rom. 16:21). We don’t
know exactly when he was converted; perhaps in 42 when Saint Paul and Saint
Barnabas came to preach at Antioch, or possibly even earlier when the
Christians fled from Jerusalem to Antioch after the stoning of Saint Stephen.
Certain passages of Acts, written in the first person
plural, are usually held to show that the writer was with Saint Paul on parts
of his second and third missionary journeys and on the voyage to Italy, when
the ship was wrecked off the coast of Malta (Acts 16:10ff; 20:5ff; 27-28). He
was with Paul during both his first and second imprisonments. In his letters,
Paul thrice (AD 61-63) refers to Luke’s presence in Rome, writing to Timothy,
‘Luke is my only companion.’
Between the two missionary journeys (AD 51-57), he
stayed at Philippi as a leader of the Christian community. Then he rejoined
Saint Paul on the third trip, meeting him in Macedonia and accompanying him to
Jerusalem. Thereafter, he was Paul’s constant companion. He was with Paul after
his arrest in the Temple and during the two years (57-59) of his imprisonment
at Caesarea. When Paul appealed to Caesar, Luke went with him and was
shipwrecked with Paul on the coast of Malta. Until Saint Paul’s martyrdom in
67, Luke never left his side.
A writer perhaps as early as the late second century
declares that, having served the Lord constantly and written his gospel there,
According to a less reliable tradition, Luke died, unmarried, in Boeotia,
Greece, at the age of 84, ‘full of the Holy Spirit.’ He is said to have been
martyred, which is very doubtful, but we have no record of his history after
the time he was in Rome with Paul.
Though Luke may never have known Our Lord in the
flesh, it is possible that he did know the Mother of God and Saint John. He was
in Rome at the same time as Saints Peter and Mark and, while in the company of
Paul, must surely have known many of the disciples.
Translations of his relics were claimed by
Constantinople and Padua (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia,
Farmer, Green-Armytage, Walsh, White).
Perhaps one of the best novels about Saint Luke is
Taylor Caldwell’s Dear and Glorious Physician, which is especially good in
portraying extant pagan heralds to the coming of Christ.
Saint Luke is the patron saint of physicians and
surgeons, and also of guilds of artists, art schools, and painters of pictures
because later tradition in the Greek Church claims that Luke was also an
artist. Reputedly Luke carried a portrait of the Blessed Mother with him and
that it was the instrument of many conversions. Indeed, he was a great artist
in words, and his narratives have inspired many masterpieces of art; but the
existing pictures of the Blessed Virgin, which he is said actually to have
painted, are all works of a much later date, including that of Our Lady of
Perpetual Help. Unfortunately, a rough drawing in the catacombs inscribed as
“one of seven painted by Luca” confirmed the Greek legend in the popular mind.
Additionally, he is considered the patron of sculptors,
bookbinders, goldsmiths, lacemakers, notaries (because of his account of
Christ’s life), and butchers (because of his emblem, the winged ox) (Appleton,
Roeder, Tabor).
Saint Irenaeus is credited with having first assigned
the mysterious winged ox, described in Ezekiel and by Saint John in Revelation,
to Saint Luke. The first known usage of the emblems of the apocalyptic
creatures is in the apse mosaic of Saint Pudentiana in Rome dating to the end
of the 4th century, although they were not specifically associated with any one
of the Evangelists. Nevertheless, since the time of Saints Jerome (died 420)
and Augustine (died 430), the winged ox has been assigned to Saint Luke. This
may be an allusion to the sacrifice in the Temple at the beginning of his Gospel,
and to Saint Luke’s emphasis on the atonement made by Christ’s suffering and
death (Appleton).
In art he appears (1) as a bishop or a physician with
a book or scroll, often accompanied by a winged ox; (2) painting the Virgin
(anonymous, at Saint Isaac of Syria Skete, Boscobel, Wisconsin, USA) (this
subject is especially used in 15th and 16th- century Flemish paintings); (3) in
a doctor’s cap and gown, holding a book; (4) occasionally present in scenes of
the Annunciation or angel’s message to Zacharia; (5) giving his book to Saint
Theophilus B; or (6) as an evangelist, writing (14th century French
illumination) (Roeder, White). Exceptional painting of Saint Luke include those
of Roger van der Weyden in the Pinacoteca, Munich; Jean Grossaert in Prague;
and the School of Raphael in the Accademia di San Luca in Rome (Tabor).
MLA Citation
Katherine I Rabenstein. Saints
of the Day, 1998. CatholicSaints.Info.
3 August 2020. Web. 18 October 2021.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-day-luke-the-evangelist/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-day-luke-the-evangelist/
Gospel of Saint
Luke
The subject will
be treated under the following heads:
VIII.
Who Spoke the Magnificat?
The name Lucas (Luke) is probably
an abbreviation from Lucanus, like Annas from Ananus, Apollos from
Apollonius, Artemas from Artemidorus, Demas from Demetrius, etc. (Schanz,
"Evang. des heiligen Lucas", 1, 2; Lightfoot on "Col.", iv,
14; Plummer, "St. Luke", introd.)
The word Lucas seems to have been unknown
before the Christian
Era; but Lucanus is common in inscriptions, and is found at
the beginning and end of the Gospel in some Old Latin manuscripts (ibid.).
It is generally held that St. Luke was a native of Antioch. Eusebius (Church
History III.4.6) has: Loukas de to men genos on
ton ap Antiocheias, ten episteuen iatros, ta pleista suggegonos to Paulo,
kai rots laipois de ou parergos ton apostolon homilnkos--"Lucas vero
domo Antiochenus, arte medicus, qui et cum Paulo diu
conjunctissime vixit, et cum
reliquis Apostolis studiose versatus est." Eusebius has
a clearer statement in his "Quæstiones Evangelicæ", IV, i,
270: ho de Loukas to men genos apo tes
Boomenes Antiocheias en--"Luke was by birth a native of the
renowned Antioch" (Schmiedel, "Encyc.
Bib."). Spitta, Schmiedel, and Harnack think this is a quotation
from Julius
Africanus (first half of the third century). In Codex
Bezæ (D) Luke is introduced by a "we" as early as Acts
11:28; and, though this is not a correct reading, it represents a very
ancient tradition. The writer of Acts took a
special interest in Antioch and
was well acquainted with it (Acts
11:19-27; 13:1; 14:18-21, 14:25, 15:22,
23, 30, 35; 18:22).
We are told the locality of only one deacon,
"Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch", 6:5;
and it has been pointed out by Plummer that, out of eight writers who describe
the Russian campaign of 1812, only two, who were Scottish,
mention that the Russian general, Barclay de Tolly, was of Scottish extraction.
These considerations seem to
exclude the conjecture of Renan and Ramsay that St. Luke was a native of Philippi.
St. Luke was not a Jew.
He is separated by St.
Paul from those of the circumcision (Colossians
4:14), and his style proves that he was a Greek. Hence he
cannot be identified with Lucius the prophet of Acts
13:1, nor with Lucius of Romans
16:21, who was cognatus of St.
Paul. From this and the prologue of the Gospel it follows
that Epiphanius errs when he calls him one of the Seventy Disciples;
nor was he the companion of Cleophas in the journey
to Emmaus after the Resurrection (as
stated by Theophylact and the Greek
Menologium). St. Luke had a great knowledge of
the Septuagint and
of things Jewish, which he acquired either as a Jewish proselyte (St.
Jerome) or after he became a Christian,
through his close intercourse with the Apostles and disciples.
Besides Greek, he had many opportunities of acquiring Aramaic in his native Antioch,
the capital of Syria.
He was a physician by profession, and St.
Paul calls him "the most dear physician" (Colossians
4:14). This avocation implied a liberal education,
and his medical training is evidenced by his choice
of medical language. Plummer suggests that he may have studied medicine at
the famous school of Tarsus,
the rival of Alexandria and Athens,
and possibly met St.
Paul there. From his intimate knowledge of
the eastern Mediterranean, it has been conjectured that he had lengthened
experience as a doctor on board ship. He travailed a good deal, and sends greetings
to the Colossians, which seems to indicate that he had visited them.
St. Luke first appears in the Acts at Troas (16:8
sqq.), where he meets St.
Paul, and, after the vision, crossed over with him to Europe as
an Evangelist,
landing at Neapolis and going on to Philippi,
"being assured that God had
called us to preach the Gospel to them" (note especially the
transition into first person plural
at verse
10). He was, therefore, already an Evangelist.
He was present at the conversion of Lydia and her companions, and
lodged in her house. He, together with St.
Paul and his companions, was recognized by the pythonical spirit:
"This same following Paul and us, cried out, saying:
These men are the servants of the most
high God, who preach unto you the way of salvation"
(verse
17). He beheld Paul and Silas arrested, dragged before
the Roman magistrates, charged with disturbing the city,
"being Jews", beaten with rods and thrown into prison.
Luke and Timothy escaped, probably because they did not look
like Jews (Timothy's
father was a gentile).
When Paul departed from Philippi,
Luke was left behind, in all probability to carry on the work of Evangelist.
At Thessalonica the Apostle received highly appreciated
pecuniary aid from Philippi (Philippians
4:15-16), doubtless through the good offices of St. Luke. It is not
unlikely that the latter remained at Philippi all
the time that St.
Paul was preaching at Athens and Corinth,
and while he was travelling to Jerusalem and back to Ephesus,
and during the three years that the Apostle was engaged
at Ephesus. When St. Paul revisited Macedonia, he again met St. Luke at Philippi, and there wrote his Second Epistle to
the Corinthians.
St.
Jerome thinks it is most likely that St. Luke is "the brother,
whose praise is in the gospel through all the churches" (2
Corinthians 8:18), and that he was one of the bearers of the letter
to Corinth. Shortly afterwards, when St.
Paul returned from Greece,
St. Luke accompanied him from Philippi to Troas,
and with him made the long coasting voyage described in Acts
20. He went up to Jerusalem, was present at the uproar, saw the attack
on the Apostle, and heard him speaking "in
the Hebrew tongue" from the steps outside the fortress Antonia
to the silenced crowd. Then he witnessed the infuriated Jews,
in their impotent rage, rending their garments, yelling, and flinging dust
into the air. We may be sure that he was a constant visitor to St.
Paul during the two years of the latter's imprisonment at Cæarea.
In that period he might well become acquainted with the circumstances of the
death of Herod
Agrippa I, who had died there eaten up by worms" (skolekobrotos), and
he was likely to be better informed on the subject than Josephus.
Ample opportunities were given him, "having diligently attained to all
things from the beginning", concerning the Gospel and
early Acts, to write in order what had been delivered by those "who
from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of
the word" (Luke
1:2, 3). It is held by many writers that the Gospel was written
during this time, Ramsay is of opinion that the Epistle to the
Hebrews was then composed, and that St. Luke had a considerable share in
it. When Paul appealed to Cæsar, Luke and Aristarchus
accompanied him from Cæsarea, and were with him during the stormy voyage
from Crete to Malta. Thence they went on to Rome,
where, during the two years that St.
Paul was kept in prison,
St. Luke was frequently at his side, though not continuously, as he is not
mentioned in the greetings of the Epistle to the
Philippians (Lightfoot, "Phil.", 35). He was present when
the Epistles to
the Colossians, Ephesians and Philemon were written,
and is mentioned in the salutations given in two of them: "Luke the most
dear physician, saluteth you" (Colossians
4:14); "There salute thee . . . Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and
Luke my fellow labourers" (Philem., 24). St. Jerome holds that it was during these two
years Acts was written.
We have no information about St. Luke during the
interval between St.
Paul's two Roman imprisonments, but he must have met several
of the Apostles and disciples during his various journeys.
He stood beside St.
Paul in his last imprisonment;
for the Apostle, writing for the last time to Timothy, says: "I
have fought a good fight, I have finished my course. . . . Make haste
to come to me quickly. For Demas hath left me, loving this world. . .
. Only Luke is with me" (2
Timothy 4:7-11). It is worthy of note that, in the three places where he is
mentioned in the Epistles (Colossians
4:14; Philemon
24; 2
Timothy 4:11) he is named with St. Mark (cf. Colossians
4:10), the other Evangelist who
was not an Apostle (Plummer), and it is clear from
his Gospel that he was well acquainted with
the Gospel according to St. Mark; and in
the Acts he knows all the details of St.
Peter's delivery—what happened at the house of St.
Mark's mother, and the name of the girl who ran to the outer door
when St. Peter knocked. He must have frequently met St. Peter,
and may have assisted him to draw up his First Epistle in Greek,
which affords many reminiscences of Luke's style. After St.
Paul's martyrdom practically
all that is known about him is contained in the ancient "Prefatio vel
Argumentum Lucæ", dating back to Julius
Africanus, who was born about A.D. 165. This states that he was unmarried,
that he wrote the Gospel, in Achaia,
and that he died at the age of seventy-four in Bithynia (probably a
copyist's error for Bœotia),
filled with the Holy Ghost. Epiphanius has it that he preached
in Dalmatia (where
there is a tradition to that
effect), Gallia (Galatia?), Italy,
and Macedonia.
As an Evangelist,
he must have suffered much for the Faith, but it is controverted whether
he actually died a martyr's death. St.
Jerome writes of him (De Vir. III., vii). "Sepultus
est Constantinopoli, ad quam urbem vigesimo Constantii anno,
ossa ejus cum reliquiis Andreæ Apostoli translata sunt [de Achaia?]."
St. Luke its always represented by the calf or ox,
the sacrificial animal, because his Gospel begins with the
account of Zachary, the priest,
the father of John
the Baptist. He is called a painter by Nicephorus Callistus (fourteenth
century), and by the Menology of Basil II,
A.D. 980. A picture of the Virgin in S. Maria Maggiore, Rome,
is ascribed to him, and can be traced to A.D. 847 It is probably a copy of that
mentioned by Theodore
Lector, in the sixth century. This writer states that the
Empress Eudoxia found a picture of the Mother
of God at Jerusalem,
which she sent to Constantinople (see "Acta SS.", 18 Oct.).
As Plummer observes. it is certain that
St. Luke was an artist, at least to the extent that his graphic descriptions of
the Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Shepherds. Presentation, the Shepherd and lost sheep, etc., have
become the inspiring and favourite themes of Christian painters.
The internal evidence may be briefly summarized as
follows:
The author of Acts was a companion of Saint
Paul, namely, Saint Luke; and
the author of Acts was the author of
the Gospel.
The arguments are given at length by Plummer,
"St. Luke" in "Int. Crit. Com." (4th ed., Edinburgh, 1901); Harnack, "Luke the
Physician" (London, 1907); "The Acts of the Apostles" (London,
1909); etc.
(1) The Author of
Acts was a companion of Saint Paul, namely, Saint Luke
There is nothing
more certain in Biblical criticism than this proposition.
The writer of the "we" sections claims to be a companion of St.
Paul. The "we" begins at Acts
16:10, and continues to 16:17 (the action is
at Philippi).
It reappears at 20:5 (Philippi),
and continues to 21:18 (Jerusalem).
It reappears again at the departure for Rome, 27:1 (Greek
text), and continues to the end of the book.
Plummer argues that these sections are by the same
author as the rest of the Acts:
from the natural way in which they fit in;
from references to them in other parts; and
from the identity of style.
The change of person seems natural and true to
the narrative, but there is no change of language. The characteristic
expressions of the writer run through the whole book, and are as frequent in
the "we" as in the other sections. There is no change of style
perceptible. Harnack (Luke the Physician, 40) makes an
exhaustive examination of every word and phrase in the first of the
"we" sections (xvi, 10-17), and shows how frequent they are in the
rest of the Acts and the Gospel, when compared with the
other Gospels. His manner of dealing with the first word
(hos) will indicate his method: "This temporal hos is
never found in St. Matthew and St. Mark, but it occurs
forty-eight times in St. Luke (Gospels and Acts),
and that in all parts of the work." When he comes to the end of his study
of this section he is able to write: "After this demonstration those who
declare that this passage was derived from a source, and so was not composed by
the author of the whole work, take up a most difficult position. What may we
suppose the author to have left unaltered in the source? Only the 'we'. For, in
fact, nothing else remains. In regard to vocabulary, syntax, and style, he must
have transformed everything else into his own language. As such a procedure is
absolutely unimaginable, we are simply left to infer that the author is here
himself speaking." He even thinks it improbable, on account of the
uniformity of style, that the author was copying from a diary of his own, made
at an earlier period. After this, Harnack proceeds to deal with the remaining
"we" sections, with like results. But it is not alone in vocabulary,
syntax and style, that this uniformity is manifest. In "The Acts of the
Apostles", Harnack devotes many pages to a detailed consideration of the
manner in which chronological data, and terms dealing with lands,
nations, cities, and houses, are employed throughout the Acts, as well as
the mode of dealing with persons and miracles,
and he everywhere shows that the unity of authorship cannot be denied
except by those who ignore the facts. This same conclusion is corroborated by the recurrence of medical language
in all parts of the Acts and the Gospel.
That the companion of St.
Paul who wrote the Acts was St. Luke is the unanimous voice
of antiquity. His choice of medical language proves that
the author was a physician. Westein, in his preface to
the Gospel ("Novum Test. Græcum", Amsterdam,
1741, 643), states that there are clear indications of
his medical profession throughout St. Luke's writings; and in the
course of his commentary he points out several technical expressions
common to the Evangelist and
the medical writings of Galen. These were brought together by
the Bollandists ("Acta
SS.", 18 Oct.). In the "Gentleman's Magazine" for June, 1841, a
paper appeared on the medical language of St. Luke. To the instances
given in that article, Plummer and Harnack add several others; but the great
book on the subject is Hobart "The Medical Language of St.
Luke" (Dublin, 1882). Hobart works right through
the Gospel and Acts and points out numerous words and
phrases identical with those employed by such medical writers as
Hippocrates, Arctæus, Galen, and Dioscorides. A few are found in Aristotle,
but he was a doctor's son. The words and phrases cited are either
peculiar to the Third Gospel and Acts, or are more frequent than
in other New
Testament writings. The argument is cumulative, and does not give way
with its weakest strands. When doubtful cases
and expressions common to the Septuagint,
are set aside, a large number remain that seem quite unassailable. Harnack
(Luke the Physician! 13) says: "It is as good as certain from
the subject-matter, and more especially from the style, of this great work that
the author was a physician by profession. Of course, in making such a statement
one still exposes oneself to the scorn of the critics, and yet the arguments
which are alleged in its support are simply convincing. . . . Those, however,
who have studied it [Hobart's book] carefully, will, I think, find it
impossible to escape the conclusion that the question here is not one of
merely accidental linguistic coloring, but that this
great historical work was composed by a writer who was either a
physician or was quite intimately acquainted with medical language
and science.
And, indeed, this conclusion holds good not only for the 'we'
sections, but for the whole book." Harnack gives the subject special
treatment in an appendix of twenty-two pages. Hawkins and Zahn come
to the same conclusion. The
latter observes (Einl., II, 427): "Hobart has proved for everyone who can appreciate proof that the author of the Lucan work was a man
practised in the scientific language of Greek medicine--in
short, a Greek physician" (quoted by Harnack, op. cit.).
In this connection, Plummer, though he speaks more
cautiously of Hobart's argument,
is practically in agreement with these writers. He says that
when Hobart's list has been well sifted a considerable number of
words remains. "The argument", he goes on to say "is cumulative.
Any two or three instances of coincidence with medical writers may be
explained as mere coincidences; but the large number of coincidences renders
their explanation unsatisfactory for all of them, especially where the word is
either rare in the LXX,
or not found there at all" (64). In "The Expositor" (Nov. 1909,
385 sqq.), Mayor says of Harnack's two above-cited works: "He
has in opposition to the Tübingen school of critics,
successfully vindicated for St. Luke the authorship of the
two canonical books ascribed to him, and has further proved that,
with some few omissions, they may be accepted as trustworthy documents. . . . I
am glad to see that the English translator . . . has now
been converted by Harnack's argument, founded in part, as he
himself confesses, on the researches of English scholars,
especially Dr. Hobart, Sir W. M. Ramsay, and Sir
John Hawkins." There is a striking resemblance between the prologue
of the Gospel and a preface written by Dioscorides,
a medical writer who studied at Tarsus in
the first century (see Blass, "Philology of the Gospels"). The
words with which Hippocrates begins his treatise "On Ancient Medicine"
should be noted in this connection: 'Okosoi epecheiresan peri iatrikes
legein he graphein, K. T. L. (Plummer, 4). When all these considerations
are fully taken into account, they prove that the companion of St.
Paul who wrote the Acts (and the Gospel) was a
physician. Now, we learn from St.
Paul that he had such a companion. Writing to
the Colossians (iv, 11), he says: "Luke, the most dear
physician, saluteth you." He was, therefore, with St.
Paul when he wrote to the Colossians, Philemon,
and Ephesians; and also when he wrote the
Second Epistle to Timothy. From the manner in which he is spoken of, a long
period of intercourse is implied.
(2) The Author of
Acts was the Author of the Gospel
"This position", says Plummer, "is so
generally admitted by critics of all schools that
not much time need be spent in discussing it." Harnack may be
said to be the latest prominent convert to this view, to which he
gives elaborate support in the two books above mentioned. He claims to have
shown that the earlier critics went hopelessly astray, and
that the traditional view is the right one. This opinion is fast gaining
ground even amongst ultra critics, and Harnack declares that the others
hold out because there exists a disposition amongst them to ignore the facts
that tell against them, and he speaks of "the truly
pitiful history of the criticism of the Acts".
Only the briefest summary of the arguments can be given here.
The Gospel and Acts are
both dedicated to Theophilus and the author of the latter
work claims to be the author of the former (Acts
1:1). The style and arrangement of both are so much alike that the
supposition that one was written by a forger in
imitation of the other is absolutely excluded. The required power
of literary analysis was then unknown, and, if it were possible,
we know of no writer of that age who had the wonderful skill necessary to
produce such an imitation. It is to postulate a literary miracle,
says Plummer, to suppose that one of the books was a forgery written
in Imitation of the other. Such an idea would
not have occurred to anyone; and, if it had, he could not have carried it out
with such marvellous success. If we take a few chapters of
the Gospel and note down the special, peculiar, and characteristic
words, phrases and constructions, and then open the Acts at random,
we shall find the same literary peculiarities constantly recurring.
Or, if we begin with the Acts, and proceed conversely, the same
results will follow. In
addition to similarity, there are parallels of description, arrangement, and
points of view, and the recurrence of medical language, in both
books, has been mentioned under the previous heading.
The proof in
favour of the unity of authorship, derived from the
internal character of the two books, is strengthened when taken in
connection with the external evidence. Every ancient testimony for
the authenticity of Acts tells equally in favour of
the Gospel; and every passage for the Lucan authorship of
the Gospel gives a like support to
the authenticity of Acts. Besides, in many places of the
early Fathers both books are ascribed to St. Luke. The external
evidence can be touched upon here only in the briefest manner. For external evidence in favour of Acts, see ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
The many passages in St.
Jerome, Eusebius,
and Origen,
ascribing the books to St. Luke, are important not only as testifying to
the belief of
their own, but also of earlier times. St.
Jerome and Origen were
great travellers, and all three were omnivorous readers. They had access to
practically the whole Christian literature of
preceding centuries; but they nowhere hint that the authorship of
the Gospel (and Acts) was ever called in question. This, taken
by itself, would be a stronger argument than can be adduced for the majority of
classical works. But we have much earlier testimony. Clement
of Alexandria was probably born at Athens about
A.D. 150. He travelled much and had for instructors in
the Faith an Ionian, an Italian, a Syrian,
an Egyptian,
an Assyrian, and a Hebrew in Palestine. "And these men, preserving the true tradition of the blessed teaching
directly from Peter and James, John and Paul,
the holy Apostles, son receiving it from father, came by God's providence even unto us, to deposit among us those seeds
[of truth] which were derived from their ancestors and
the Apostles". (Stromata I.1.11; cf. Euseb., Church History V.11). He holds that St. Luke's Gospel was written before that of St. Mark, and he
uses the four Gospels just as any modern Catholic writer. Tertullian was born at Carthage, lived some time in Rome, and then returned to Carthage. His quotations
from the Gospels, when brought together by Rönsch, cover two hundred
pages. He attacks Marcion for mutilating St. Luke's Gospel. and writes: "I say then that among them, and
not only among the Apostolic Churches, but among all
the Churches which are united with them in Christian fellowship, the Gospel of Luke, which
we earnestly defend, has been maintained from its first publication"
(Adv. Marc., IV, v).
The testimony
of St. Irenæus is of special importance. He was born in Asia Minor, where he heard St. Polycarp give his reminiscences of St. John the Apostle, and in his numerous writings he frequently mentions
other disciples of the Apostles. He was priest in Lyons during the persecution in 177, and was the bearer of the letter of
the confessors to Rome. His bishop, Pothinus, whom be succeeded, was ninety years
of age when he gained the crown of martyrdom in 177, and must have been born while some of
the Apostles and very many of their hearers were still
living. St. Irenæus, who was born about A.D. 130 (some say much earlier),
is, therefore, a witness for the early tradition of Asia Minor, Rome, and Gaul. He quotes
the Gospels just as any modern bishop would do, he calls
them Scripture, believes even in their verbal inspiration;
shows how congruous it is that there are four and only four Gospels; and
says that Luke, who begins with the priesthood and sacrifice of Zachary, is the
calf. When we compare his quotations with those of Clement of Alexandria, variant readings of text present themselves. There
was already established an Alexandrian type of text different
from that used in the West. The Gospels had been copied and
recopied so often, that, through errors of copying, etc., distinct families of text had time to establish
themselves. The Gospels were so widespread that they became known
to pagans. Celsus in his attack on the Christian religion was acquainted with
the genealogy in St. Luke's Gospel, and his quotations show the same phenomena of
variant readings.
The
next witness, St. Justin Martyr, shows the position of honour the Gospels held in the Church, in the early portion of the century. Justin was born in Palestine about A.D. 105,
and converted in 132-135. In his "Apology" he speaks of the
memoirs of the Lord which are called Gospels, and which were
written by Apostles (Matthew, John) and disciples of
the Apostles (Mark, Luke). In connection with
the disciples of the Apostles he cites the verses of St.
Luke on the Sweat of Blood, and he has numerous quotations from all
four. Westcott shows that there is no trace in Justin of the use of any written document on
the life of Christ except our Gospels. "He [Justin] tells us that Christ was descended
from Abraham through Jacob, Judah, Phares,
Jesse, David--that the Angel Gabriel was sent to announce His birth to the Virgin Mary—that it was in fulfillment of
the prophecy of Isaiah . . . that His parents went thither [to Bethlehem] in consequence
of an enrolment under Cyrinius--that as they could not find a lodging in the
village they lodged in a cave close by it, where Christ was born, and
laid by Mary in a manger", etc. (Westcott, "Canon",
104). There is a constant intermixture in Justin's quotations of the narratives of St.
Matthew and St. Luke. As usual in apologetical works, such as
the apologies of Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Cyprian, and Eusebius, he does not name his sources because he was
addressing outsiders. He states, however, that the memoirs which were
called Gospels were read in
the churches on Sunday along with the writings of
the Prophets, in other words, they were placed on an equal rank with
the Old Testament. In the "Dialogue", cv, we have a passage
peculiar to St. Luke. "Jesus as He gave up His Spirit upon
the Cross said, Father, into thy hands I commend my Spirit?'
[Luke, xxiii. 46], even as I learned from the Memoirs of this fact also."
These Gospels which were read every Sunday must be the same as our four, which soon after,
in the time of Irenæus, were in such long established honour, and regarded by him as inspired by
the Holy Ghost. We never hear, says Salmon, of any revolution dethroning
one set of Gospels and replacing them by another; so we may be sure
that the Gospels honoured by the Church in Justin's day were the same as those to which the same
respect was paid in the days of Irenæus, not many years after. This
conclusion is strengthened not only by the nature of Justin's quotations, but by the evidence afforded by his
pupil Tatian, the Assyrian, who lived a long time with him
in Rome, and afterwards compiled his harmony of
the Gospels, his famous "Diatessaron", in Syriac, from our
four Gospels. He had travelled a great deal, and the fact that he uses
only those shows that they alone were recognized by St. Justin and the Catholic Church between 130-150. This takes us back to
the time when many of the hearers of the Apostles and Evangelists were still alive; for it is held by many
scholars that St. Luke lived till towards the end of the first century.
Irenæus, Clement, Tatian, Justin, etc., were in as good a position for
forming a judgment on the authenticity of
the Gospels as we are of knowing who were the authors of
Scott's novels, Macaulay's essays, Dickens's early
novels, Longfellow's poems, no. xc of "Tracts for the
Times" etc. But the argument does not end here. Many of the heretics who flourished from the beginning of the second
century till A.D. 150 admitted St. Luke's Gospel as authoritative. This proves that it
had acquired an unassailable position long before these heretics broke away from the Church. The Apocryphal Gospel of Peter,
about A.D. 150, makes use of our Gospels. About the same time
the Gospels, together with their titles, were translated into Latin;
and here, again, we meet the phenomena of variant readings, to be found
in Clement, Irenæus, Old Syriac, Justin, and Celsus, pointing to a long period of
previous copying. Finally, we may ask, if the author of the two books were not
St. Luke, who was he?
The Gospel was
written, as is gathered from the prologue (i, 1-4), for the purpose of
giving Theophilus (and others like him) increased confidence in the
unshakable firmness of the Christian truths in which he had been instructed, or
"catechized"--the latter word being used, according to Harnack, in
its technical sense. The Gospel naturally falls into four
divisions:
Gospel of the
infancy, roughly covered by the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary (ch. i, ii);
ministry in Galilee, from the preaching of John the Baptist (iii, 1, to ix, 50);
journeyings
towards Jerusalem (ix, 51-xix, 27);
Holy Week: preaching in and near Jerusalem, Passion, and Resurrection (xix, 28, to end of xxiv).
The best
information as to his sources is given by St. Luke, in the beginning of
his Gospel. As many had written accounts as they heard them from
"eyewitnesses and ministers of the word", it
seemed good to him also, having diligently attained to all things
from the beginning, to write an ordered narrative. He had two sources of
information, then, eyewitnesses (including Apostles) and written documents
taken down from the words of eyewitnesses. The accuracy of these documents he
was in a position to test by his knowledge of the character of the writers, and
by comparing them with the actual words of the Apostles and other
eyewitnesses.
Very few writers
have ever had their accuracy put to such a severe test as St. Luke, on account
of the wide field covered by his writings, and the consequent liability
(humanly speaking) of making mistakes; and on account of the fierce attacks to
which he has been subjected.
It was the
fashion, during the nineteenth century, with German rationalists and their imitators, to ridicule the
"blunders" of Luke, but that is all being rapidly changed by the
recent progress of archæological research. Harnack does not hesitate
to say that these attacks were shameful, and calculated to bring discredit, not
on the Evangelist, but upon his critics, and Ramsay is but voicing
the opinion of the best modern scholars when he calls St. Luke a great and
accurate historian. Very few have done so much as this latter writer, in his
numerous works and in his articles in "The Expositor", to vindicate
the extreme accuracy of St. Luke. Wherever archæology has afforded
the means of testing St. Luke's statements, they have been found to be correct;
and this gives confidence that he is equally reliable where no such
corroboration is as yet available. For some of the details see ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, where a very full bibliography is given.
For the sake of
illustration, one or two examples may here be given:
(1) Sergius
Paulus, Proconsul in Cyprus
St. Luke says (Acts 13) that when St. Paul visited Cyprus (in the reign of Claudius)
Sergius Paulus was proconsul (anthupatos) there. Grotius asserted
that this was an abuse of language, on the part of the natives, who wished
to flatter the governor by calling him proconsul, instead
of proprætor (antistrategos), which he really was; and that St. Luke
used the popular appellation. Even Baronius (Annales, ad Ann. 46) supposed that,
though Cyprus was only a prætorian province, it was honoured by being ruled by the proconsul of Cilicia, who
must have been Sergius Paulus. But this is all a mistake. Cato
captured Cyprus, Cicero was proconsul of Cilicia and Cyprus in 52 B.C.; Mark Antony gave the island to
Cleopatra; Augustus made it a prætorian province in 27
B.C., but in 22 B.C. he transferred it to the senate, and it became again a
proconsular province. This latter fact is not stated by Strabo, but it is
mentioned by Dion Cassius (LIII). In Hadrian's time it was once
more under a proprætor, while under Severus it was again
administered by a proconsul. There can be no doubt that in the reign of Claudius, when St. Paul visited it, Cyprus was under a proconsul (anthupatos), as stated by
St. Luke. Numerous coins have been discovered in Cyprus, bearing the head and name of Claudius on
one side, and the names of the proconsuls of Cyprus on the other. A woodcut engraving of
one is given in Conybeare and Howson's "St. Paul", at the end
of chapter v. On the reverse it has: EPI KOMINOU PROKAU
ANTHUPATOU: KUPRION--"Money of the Cyprians under Cominius Proclus,
Proconsul." The head of Claudius (with his name) is figured on
the other side. General Cesnola discovered a
long inscription on a pedestal of white marble, at Solvi, in the
north of the island, having the words: EPI PAULOU
ANTHUPATOU--"Under Paulus Proconsul." Lightfoot, Zochler,
Ramsay, Knabenbauer, Zahn, and Vigouroux hold that this was the actual
(Sergius) Paulus of Acts 13:7.
(2) The Politarchs
in Thessalonica
An excellent
example of St. Luke's accuracy is afforded by his statement that rulers
of Thessalonica were called "politarchs"
(politarchai--Acts 17:6, 8). The word is not found in
the Greek classics; but there is a large stone in the
British Museum, which was found in an arch in Thessalonica, containing an inscription which is
supposed to date from the time of Vespasian. Here we find the word used by St. Luke together with
the names of several such politarchs, among them being names identical with
some of St. Paul's converts: Sopater, Gaius, Secundus.
Burton in "American Journal of Theology" (July, 1898) has drawn
attention to
seventeen inscriptions proving the existence of
politarchs in ancient times. Thirteen were found in Macedonia, and five were discovered in Thessalonica, dating from the middle of the first to the end of
the second century.
(3) Knowledge of
Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe
The geographical,
municipal, and political knowledge of St. Luke, when speaking of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, is fully borne out by recent
research (see Ramsay, "St. Paul the Traveller", and other
references given in EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS).
(4) Knowledge of
Philippian customs
He is equally sure
when speaking of Philippi, a Roman colony, where
the duumviri were called "prætors" (strategoi--Acts 16:20, 35), a lofty title
which duumviri assumed in Capua and elsewhere, as we learn from Cicero and
Horace (Sat., I, v, 34). They also had lictors (rabsouchoi), after
the manner of real prætors.
(5) References to
Ephesus, Athens, and Corinth
His references
to Ephesus, Athens, Corinth, are altogether in keeping with everything that is
now known of these cities. Take a single instance:
"In Ephesus St. Paul taught in the school of Tyrannus, in the city of Socrates he discussed moral questions in the
market-place. How incongruous it would seem if the methods were transposed! But
the narrative never makes a false step amid all the many details as the scene
changes from city to city; and that is the conclusive proof that it is a picture of real life"
(Ramsay, op. cit., 238). St. Luke mentions (Acts 18:2) that when St. Paul was at Corinth the Jews had been recently expelled from Rome by Claudius, and this
is confirmed by a chance statement of Suetonius. He tells us (ibid.,
12) that Gallio was then proconsul in Corinth (the capital
of the Roman province of Achaia). There is no direct evidence that he was proconsul
in Achaia, but his brother Seneca writes
that Gallio caught a fever there, and went on a voyage for his
health. The description of the riot at Ephesus (Acts 19) brings together, in the space of eighteen
verses, an extraordinary amount of knowledge of the city, that is fully corroborated by
numerous inscriptions, and representations on coins, medals, etc., recently discovered. There are
allusions to the temple of Diana (one of the seven wonders
of the world), to the fact that Ephesus gloried in being her
temple-sweeper her caretaker (neokoros), to the theatre as the place
of assembly for the people, to the town clerk (grammateus), to the Asiarchs,
to sacrilegious (ierosuloi), to proconsular sessions, artificers,
etc. The ecclesia (the usual word in Ephesus for the
assembly of the people) and the grammateus or town-clerk (the title
of a high official frequent on Ephesian coins) completely puzzled Cornelius a Lapide, Baronius, and other commentators,
who imagined the ecclesia meant a synagogue, etc. (see Vigouroux, "Le
Nouveau Testament et les Découvertes Archéologiques", Paris, 1890).
(6) The Shipwreck
Gfrörer, B. Bauer, Hilgenfeld, Keim, and Holtzmann
assert that St. Luke perpetrated a gross chronological blunder of
sixty years by making Lysanias, the son of Ptolemy, who lived 36 B.C., and
was put to death by Mark Antony, tetrarch of Abilene when John the Baptist began to preach (iii, 1). Strauss says: "He
[Luke] makes rule, 30 years after the birth of Christ, a certain Lysanias, who
had certainly been slain 30 years previous to that birth--a
slight error of 60 years." On the face of it, it is
highly improbable that such a careful writer as St. Luke would have gone out of
his way to run the risk of making such a blunder, for the mere purpose of
helping to fix the date of the public ministry. Fortunately, we have a
complete refutation supplied by Schürer, a writer by no means over friendly to
St. Luke, as we shall see when treating of the Census of Quirinius.
Ptolemy Mennæus was King of the Itureans (whose kingdom embraced
the Lebanon and plain of Massyas with the capital Chalcis, between
the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon) from 85-40 B.C. His territories
extended on the east towards Damascus, and on the south embraced Panias,
and part, at least, of Galilee. Lysanias the older succeeded his father Ptolemy about 40 B.C. (Josephus,
"Ant.", XIV, xii, 3; "Bell Jud.", I, xiii, 1), and is
styled by Dion Cassius "King of the Itureans" (XLIX, 32). After
reigning about four or five years he was put to death by Mark Antony, at the instigation of Cleopatra,
who received a large portion of his territory (Josephus, "Ant.", XV,
iv, 1; "Bel. Jud.", I, xxii, 3; Dion Cassius, op. cit.).
As the latter
and Porphyry call him "king", it is doubtful whether the coins bearing the superscription "Lysanias
tetrarch and high priest" belong to him, for there were one or more later
princes called Lysanias. After his death his kingdom was gradually
divided up into at least four districts, and the three principal ones were
certainly not called after him. A certain Zenodorus took on lease
the possessions of Lysanias, 23 B.C., but Trachonitis was
soon taken from him and given to Herod. On the death of Zenodorus in 20 B.C., Ulatha
and Panias, the territories over which he ruled, were given by Augustus to Herod. This is called the tetrarchy of Zenodorus by Dion
Cassius. "It seems therefore that Zenodorus, after the death of Lysanias,
had received on rent a portion of his territory from Cleopatra, and that after
Cleopatra's death this 'rented' domain, subject to tribute, was continued to
him with the title of tetrarch" (Schürer, I, II app., 333, i). Mention is
made on a monument, at Heliopolis, of "Zenodorus, son of the tetrarch
Lysanias". It has been generally supposed that this is the Zenodorus just
mentioned, but it is uncertain whether the first Lysanias was ever called
tetrarch. It is proved from the inscriptions that there was
a genealogical connection between the families of Lysanias and Zenodorus, and the same name may
have been often repeated in the family. Coins for 32, 30, and 25 B.C., belonging
to our Zenodorus, have the superscription, "Zenodorus tetrarch and
high priest.' After the death of Herod the Great a portion of the tetrarchy of Zenodorus went
to Herod's son, Philip (Jos., "Ant.",
XVII, xi, 4), referred to by St. Luke, "Philip being tetrarch of
Iturea" (Luke 3:1).
No portion of
the New Testament has been so fiercely attacked as Luke 2:1-5. Schürer has brought together, under six heads, a
formidable array of all the objections that can he urged against it. There is
not space to refute them here; but Ramsay in his
"Was Christ born in Bethlehem?" has shown that they
all fall to the ground:--
(1) St. Luke does
not assert that a census took place all over the Roman Empire before
the death of Herod, but that a decision emanated from Augustus that regular census were to be made.
Whether they were carried out in general, or not, was no concern of St. Luke's.
If history does not prove the existence of such
a decree it certainly proves nothing
against it. It was thought for a long time that the system
of Indictions was inaugurated under the
early Roman emperors, it is now known that they owe their
origin to Constantine the Great (the first taking place fifteen years after his
victory of 312), and this in spite of the fact that history knew nothing of the matter. Kenyon holds that it
is very probable that Pope Damasus ordered the Vulgate to be regarded as the only authoritative edition
of the Latin Bible; but it would be difficult to Prove it
historically. If "history knows nothing" of
the census in Palestine before 4 B.C. neither did it know anything of the fact that under
the Romans in Egypt regular personal census were held
every fourteen years, at least from A.D. 20 till
the time of Constantine. Many of these census papers
have been discovered, and they were called apographai, the name used
by St. Luke. They were made without any reference to property or taxation. The head of the household gave his
name and age, the name and age of his wife, children, and slaves. He
mentioned how many were included in the previous census, and how many born
since that time. Valuation returns were made every year. The fourteen years'
cycle did not originate in Egypt (they had a different system before 19 B.C.),
but most probably owed its origin to Augustus, 8 B.C., the fourteenth year of his tribunitia
potestas, which was a great year in Rome, and is called the year I in some inscriptions.
Apart from St. Luke and Josephus, history is equally ignorant of the second enrolling in Palestine, A.D. 6. So
many discoveries about ancient times, concerning which history has
been silent, have been made during the last thirty years that it is
surprising modern authors should brush aside a statement of St. Luke's, a
respectable first-century writer, with a mere appeal to
the silence of history on the matter.
(2) The
first census in Palestine, as described by St. Luke, was not made
according to Roman, but Jewish, methods. St. Luke, who travelled so
much, could not be ignorant of the Roman system, and his
description deliberately excludes it. The Romans did not run counter
to the feelings of provincials more than they could help. Jews, who were proud of being able
to prove their descent, would have no objection to the enrolling
described in Luke 2. Schürer's arguments are vitiated throughout by the
supposition that the census mentioned by St. Luke could be made only
for taxation purposes. His discussion of imperial taxation learned but beside
the mark (cf. the practice in Egypt). It was to the advantage of Augustus to know the number of possible enemies in Palestine, in
case of revolt.
(3) King Herod was not as independent as he is described for
controversial purposes. A few years before Herod's death Augustus wrote to him. Josephus, "Ant.", XVI, ix., 3, has: "Cæsar
[Augustus] . . . grew very angry, and wrote to Herod sharply. The sum of his epistle was
this, that whereas of old he used him as a friend, he should now use him as his
subject." It was after this that Herod was asked to number his people. That some such
enrolling took place we gather from a passing remark of Josephus, "Ant.", XVII, ii, 4, "Accordingly,
when all the people of the Jews gave assurance of
their good will to Cæsar [Augustus], and to the king's [Herod's] government, these very men [the Pharisees] did not swear, being above six thousand." The
best scholars think they were asked to swear allegiance to Augustus.
(4) It is said
there was no room for Quirinius, in Syria, before the death of Herod in 4 B.C. C. Sentius Saturninus was
governor there from 9-6 B.C.; and Quintilius Varus, from 6 B.C. till
after the death of Herod. But in turbulent provinces there were sometimes
times two Roman officials of equal standing. In the time
of Caligula the administration of Africa was divided in such a way that the military
power, with the foreign policy, was under the control of the lieutenant of the
emperor, who could be called a hegemon (as in St. Luke), while the
internal affairs were under the ordinary proconsul. The same position was held
by Vespasian when he conducted the war in Palestine, which belonged to
the province of Syria--a province governed by an officer of equal
rank. Josephus speaks of Volumnius as being Kaisaros
hegemon, together with C. Sentius Saturninus, in Syria (9-6 B.C.): "There was a hearing
before Saturninus and Volumnius, who were then the presidents
of Syria" (Ant., XVI, ix, 1). He is
called procurator in "Bel. Jud.", I, xxvii, 1,
2. Corbulo commanded the armies of Syria against the Parthians,
while Quadratus and Gallus were successively governors of Syria. Though Josephus speaks of Gallus, he knows nothing
of Corbulo; but he was there nevertheless (Mommsen, "Röm.
Gesch.", V, 382). A similar position to that of Corbulo must
have been held by Quirinius for a few years between 7 and 4 B.C.
The attempt
to prove that St. Luke used Josephus (but inaccurately) has completely broken down.
Belser successfully refutes Krenkel in "Theol.
Quartalschrift", 1895, 1896. The differences can be explained only on the
supposition of entire independence. The resemblances are sufficiently accounted
for by the use of the Septuagint and the common literary Greek of
the time by both. See Bebb and Headlam in Hast.,
"Dict. of the Bible", s. vv. "Luke, Gospel" and "Acts
of the Apostles", respectively. Schürer (Zeit. für W. Th., 1876)
brushes aside the opinion that St. Luke read Josephus. When Acts is compared with the Septuagint and Josephus, there is convincing evidence that Josephus was not the source from which the writer
of Acts derived his knowledge of Jewish history. There are numerous
verbal and other coincidences with the Septuagint (Cross in "Expository Times", XI,
5:38, against Schmiedel and the exploded author of "Sup.
Religion"). St. Luke did not get his names from Josephus, as contended by this last writer, thereby making the
whole history a concoction. Wright in his "Some New
Test. Problems" gives the names of fifty persons mentioned in St. Luke's Gospel. Thirty-two are common to the other
two Synoptics, and therefore not taken from Josephus. Only five of the remaining eighteen are found in
him, namely, Augustus Cæsar, Tiberius, Lysanias, Quirinius, and Annas.
As Annas is always called Ananus in Josephus, the name was evidently not taken from him. This is
corroborated by the way the Gospel speaks of Caiphas. St. Luke's employment of the other four names shows
no connection with the Jewish historian. The mention of numerous
countries, cities, and islands in Acts shows complete independence of
the latter writer. St. Luke's preface bears a much closer resemblance to those
of Greek medical writers than to that of Josephus. The absurdity of concluding that St. Luke
must necessarily be wrong when not in agreement with Josephus is apparent when we remember the
frequent contradictions and blunders in the latter writer.
Appendix: Biblical
Commission decisions
The following
answers to questions about this Gospel, and that of St. Mark, were
issued, 26 June, 1913, by the Biblical Commission. That Mark, the disciple and
interpreter of Peter, and Luke, a doctor, the assistant and companion
of Paul, are really the authors of the Gospels respectively
attributed to them is clear from Tradition, the testimonies of
the Fathers and ecclesiastical writers, by quotations in their writings, the
usage of early heretics, by versions of the New Testament in the most ancient and common manuscripts, and by intrinsic evidence in the text of
the Sacred Books. The reasons adduced by
some critics against Mark's authorship of the last twelve
versicles of his Gospel (xvi, 9-20) do not prove that these
versicles are not inspired or canonical, or
that Mark is not their author. It is not lawful to doubt of
the inspiration and canonicity of the narratives of Luke on
the infancy of Christ (i-ii), on the apparition of
the Angel and of the bloody sweat (xxii, 43-44); nor can
it be proved that these narratives do not belong to the
genuine Gospel of Luke.
The very few
exceptional documents attributing
the Magnificat to Elizabeth and not to the Blessed
Virgin should not prevail against the testimony of nearly all the codices of the original Greek and of the
versions, the interpretation required by the context, the mind of
the Virgin herself, and the constant tradition of the Church.
It is according to
most ancient and constant tradition that after Matthew, Mark wrote his Gospel
second and Luke third; though it may be held that the second and third Gospels
were composed before the Greek version of the first Gospel. It is not lawful to
put the date of the Gospels of Mark and Luke as late as the
destruction of Jerusalem or after the siege had begun. The Gospel of Luke
preceded his Acts of the Apostles, and was therefore composed before the end of the
Roman imprisonment, when the Acts was finished (Acts 28:30-31). In view of Tradition and of internal evidence it
cannot be doubted that Mark wrote according to the preaching of
Peter, and Luke according to that of Paul, and that both had at their disposal
other trustworthy sources, oral or written.
Aherne, Cornelius. "Gospel of Saint
Luke." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910.28 Oct.
2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09420a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Ernie Stefanik.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2020
by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09420a.htm
.jpg)
Maestro de Villahermosa (1362–1396). San Lucas recibiendo de la Virgen su Verónica,
circa 1370, tempera on wood, 71 x 45, Museu de Belles Arts de València
Weninger’s Lives of the Saints –
Saint Luke, Evangelist
Article
Among the holy men whom the Almighty chose to write
the Gospel, or the history of the life and death, the teachings and miracles of
Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, was Saint Luke, the third of those who are
called Evangelists. He is represented with an ox near him, according to the
mysterious revelation made to the Prophet Ezekiel; because he begins his Gospel
with the revelation of what happened to Zachary in the Temple, where oxen,
sheep and other animals were offered, according to the Old Covenant, in
sacrifice to the Almighty. Saint Luke is said to have been born at Antioch, in
Syria, and his occupation, in his youth, was the study of the liberal arts,
especially rhetoric, physic, sculpture and painting. It is believed that Saint
Paul himself instructed him in the Christian faith; hence, Saint Jerome calls
him a spiritual son of that holy Apostle. It is quite certain that he
accompanied Saint Paul in the many and laborious travels which the holy Apostle
undertook to convert the infidels. Hence he had a part in all the labors,
dangers, hardships and persecutions which the Apostle endured. This, however,
caused him to be most warmly beloved and highly esteemed by Saint Paul, who
mentions him in several of his epistles, and among other praises, calls him an
Apostle.
At the desire of Saint Paul, Luke wrote the Gospel in
Greek, as the Apostle was at that time preaching to the Greeks, and also,
because this language was very much disseminated. Saint Luke relates, in his
Gospel, much that is but slightly mentioned by the other Evangelists, for
instance, the mystery of the Annunciation and the Incarnation of Christ: from
which the holy Fathers conclude that he must have been on very friendly terms,
not only with the Apostles, but also with the Divine Mother, as she could give
him the best information concerning these mysteries. Another reason is, that
Saint Luke lived in chastity, and earnestly endeavored to guard and preserve
this virtue. The commentators of Holy Writ have also observed, that Saint Luke,
more than the other Evangelists, gives sinners the hope of divine mercy, and
encourages them to repentance, as is seen in the parable of the Prodigal Son,
so lovingly received by his father, as also in that of the Good Shepherd, who
with great solicitude sought the lost sheep, and brought it back to the fold;
again in the history of the sinner who so mercifully receives pardon: in the
Samaritan who cares so kindly for the wounded traveller; but above all, in the
wonderful conversion of the thief crucified with Christ, to whom, when he had
humbly and penitentially begged to be remembered, our kind Saviour promised
Paradise. Saint Anselm gives the reason for this in the following words:
“Luke was at first a physician of the body; hence it
is that he speaks more than the other Evangelist, of the mercy of our Saviour,
who heals and frees men from diseases of the soul.” Besides the Gospel, Saint
Luke also wrote a book on the labors of the Apostles, which is called the Acts
of the Apostles. In it he first relates the ascension of Christ and the coming
of the Holy Ghost; and after this what and where the Apostles preached, the
miracles they wrought, and the sufferings they endured for Christ’s sake. He
further describes the life of the first Christians, and the martyrdom of Saint
Stephen and Saint James. He then relates the conversion of Saint Paul, the
labors and sufferings of this holy Apostle, which no one could know better than
Saint Luke, who was his constant companion. During the two years of Saint
Paul’s imprisonment at Caesarea, Luke aided him in every manner; he also
accompanied him to Rome, when Saint Paul had appealed to the emperor. At Rome,
where the holy Apostle was again imprisoned for two years, Saint Luke left him
not, and allowed no persecution to separate him from his beloved master. When
Saint Paul was set at liberty, Saint Luke accompanied him as before, wherever
the unwearied Apostle preached the Gospel. Saint Epiphanius relates, that,
after the death of the two Apostles, Peter and Paul, Saint Luke preached the
Gospel of Christ in Italy, France, Dalmatia and Macedonia, with apostolic zeal.
The Greeks assure us that he did the same in Egypt, Thebais and Lybia, and that
he had great success in converting the infidels. It is easy to conceive what
hardships, dangers and persecutions the holy Evangelist must have suffered in
these many wearisome travels and in consequence of his zealous preaching. Yet
he was never discontented, never desponding, but always cheerful; because he
always thought of Him for whom he labored and suffered, and of the recompense
that was awaiting him. Saint Jerome writes that the Saint continued his
apostolic labors until he had reached his 84th year. Saint Gregory of
Nazianzum, Saint Paulinus and Saint Gaudentius maintain that he ended his life
by martyrdom. Nicephorus writes that the heathens hung him to an olive-tree,
and that thus he died a martyr. It is certain that his life, full of cares and
hardships, was a continued martyrdom, the severity of which he increased by
severe fasting and other penances. Hence the Church says of him, in the prayer
which she offers up today at Holy Mass, that he bore the mortification of the
cross ceaselessly in his body, for the love and honor of Christ. He ended his
glorious labors and sufferings at Patras in Achaia. His holy relics, with those
of Saint Andrew were brought to Constantinople at the time of Constantine the
Great. Long afterwards, they were removed to Pavia; but the head had, some time
before, been taken by Gregory the Great to Rome, and placed in Saint Peter’s
Church. There is a tradition that Saint Luke painted several likenesses of
Christ and the Blessed Virgin, and left them to the Christians to comfort them.
To this day several pictures of the Blessed Virgin are shown, which are supposed
to be his works. One of these is at Rome, in the Church of Saint Mary Major,
and another is at Loretto; both of these are venerated by the whole Christian
world.
Fresque de
Saint Luc,
Practical Considerations
• How usefully and beneficially did Saint Luke employ
his pencil, his chisel, his pen, and his tongue – the tongue to preach the word
of Christ, the pen to narrate the Lord’s life and death, the pencil and chisel
to make so many edifying likenesses of Jesus and Mary. Happy those who follow
him in the good use of their limbs and the art they have learned! Unhappy,
however, those who make their pencil and chisel instruments for pictures which
give scandal to others; and who use their pen for sensational, slanderous, or
otherwise sinful books and writings; who with their tongues, utter lying,
slanderous, unchaste or other sinful speeches, and who greedily stretch out
their hands to forbidden objects. The same may be said of those who offend God
with eyes, ears, lips, feet or other limbs, and thus misuse members which God,
in His mercy, gave them only for good. O how much pain such ungrateful beings
will suffer in these members, which they now use only as instruments of
wickedness! I call them, not without reason, ungrateful beings; for, I ask you,
from whom has man his eyes, ears, tongue, hand, and feet? From none but God,
the Lord, who gave them out of the abundance of His mercy. This is a great
grace, and if you wish to come to the full knowledge of it, look at those who
possess not these members, or have not the use of them; at those who are blind,
deaf, dumb or lame. How miserable they are! Hence by giving these members to
man, and the full use of them, God has surely shown great kindness to him; and
man ought to be duly grateful. If man, however, misuses these members to offend
God, he commits a horrible deed of ingratitude. He is not worthy to have the
use of his limbs; for, as Saint Bernard says: “He is not worthy to live, who
will not live for Thee, O Jesus!” So is he unworthy to have tongue, ears,
hands, or feet, who uses them as means to offend the Majesty of God. Are you
one of this kind of men? Ask your conscience, and correct, while time is left
to you, what you have done wrong.
• Saint Luke bore always the mortification of the
Cross in his body. He was always cheerful in his work and in his sufferings;
never weary or desponding. The love of Christ, and the hope of an eternal
reward made everything light and easy to him. If you love Christ with your
whole heart, and think frequently on the future recompense, I am confident that
you will not become weary at your work, that you will not despond while
suffering. Therefore, in future, think often how your Lord suffered for you,
and how great a reward He has promised you for your labors and sufferings.
“When I see my Lord and God laden with suffering and pain/* says Saint Bernard,
“it becomes impossible for me not to bear with an easy mind and a cheerful
countenance, every evil that assails me.” Saint Augustine writes: “If you
consider the reward which will be given to you, all that you have to endure
will be but trifling.” You will be astonished that so great a recompense is
given for so little work; for, in truth, to gain eternal rest, one should
perform a long work, and earn eternal joys by long suffering. As, however, the
Al- mighty requires of us only a short work and a short suffering, who dares to
complain or murmur? Should we not much rather work and suffer cheerfully? Let
us work then, as long as we live, and suffer all that God sees fit to send us.
MLA Citation
Father Francis Xavier Weninger, DD, SJ. “Saint Luke,
Evangelist”. Lives of the Saints, 1876. CatholicSaints.Info.
11 May 2018. Web. 19 October 2021. <https://catholicsaints.info/weningers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-luke-evangelist/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/weningers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-luke-evangelist/
Theodoric of Prague, Luke the Evangelist, collection
of the National Gallery Prague, National Gallery Prague
Golden Legend –
Life of Saint Luke
Here
followeth of Saint Luke the Evangelist, and first of his name.
Luke is as much to say as arising or enhancing
himself. Or Luke is said of light, he was raising himself from the love of the
world, and enhancing into the love of God. And he was also light of the world,
for he enlumined the universal world by holy predication, and hereof saith
Saint Matthew, Mathei quinto: Ye be the light of the world. The light of the
world is the sun, and that light hath height in his seat or siege. And hereof
saith Ecclesiasticus the twenty-sixth chapter: The sun rising in the world is
in the right high things of God, he hath delight in beholding. And as it is
said Ecclesiastes undecimo: The light of the sun is sweet, and it is
delightable to the eyes to see the sun. He hath swiftness in his moving as it
is said in the Second Book of Esdras the fourth chapter. The earth is great and
the heaven is high and the course of the sun is swift, and hath profit in
effect, for after the philosopher, man engendereth man, and the sun. And thus
Luke had highness by the love of things celestial, delectable by sweet
conversation, swiftness by fervent predication and utility, and profit by
conscription and writing of his doctrine.
Of Saint Luke Evangelist.
Luke was of the nation of Syria, and Antiochian by art
of medicine, and after some he was one of seventy-two disciples of our Lord.
Saint Jerome saith that he was disciple of the apostles and not of our Lord,
and the gloss upon the twenty-fifth chapter of the Book of Exodus signifieth
that he joined not to our Lord when he preached, but he came to the faith after
his resurrection. But it is more to be holden that he was none of the seventy-two
disciples, though some hold opinion that he was one. But he was of right great
perfection of life, and much well ordained as toward God, and as touching his
neighbour, as touching himself, and as touching his office. And in sign of
these four manners of ordinances he was described to have four faces, that is
to wit, the face of a man, the face of a lion, the face of an ox and the face
of an eagle, and each of these beasts had four faces and four wings, as it is
said in Ezechiel the first chapter. And because it may the better be seen, let
us imagine some beast that hath his head four square, and in every square a
face, so that the face of a man be tofore, and on the right side the face of
the lion, and on the left side the face of the ox, and behind the face of the
eagle, and because that the face of the eagle appeared above the other for the
length of the neck, therefore it is said that this face was above, and each of
these four had four pens. For when every beast was quadrate as we may imagine, in
a quadrate be four corners, and every corner was a pen. By these four beasts,
after that saints say, be signified the four evangelists, of whom each of them
had four faces in writing, that is to wit, of humanity, of the passion, of the
resurrection, and of the divinity. How be it these things be singularly to
singular, for after Saint Jerome, Matthew is signified in the man, for he was
singularly moved to speak of the humanity of our Lord. Luke was figured in the
ox, for he devised about the priesthood
of .Jesu Christ. Mark was figured in the lion, for he wrote more clearly of the
resurrection. For as some say, the fawns of the lion be as they were dead unto
the third day, but by the braying of the lion they been raised at the third
day, and therefore he began in the cry of predication. John is figured as an
eagle, which fleeth highest of the four, for he wrote of the divinity of Jesu
Christ. For in him be written four things. He was a man born of the virgin, he
was an ox in his passion, a lion in his resurrection, and an eagle in his
ascension. And by these four faces it is well showed that Luke was rightfully
ordained in these four manners. For by the face of a man it is showed that he
was rightfully ordained as touching his neighbour, how he ought by reason teach
him, draw him by debonairly, and nourish him by liberality, for a man is a
beast reasonable, debonair, and liberal. By the face of an eagle it is showed
that he was rightfully ordained as touching God, for in him the eye of
understanding beheld God by contemplation, and the eye of his desire was to him
by thought or effect, and old age was put away by new conversation. The eagle
is of sharp sight, so that he beholdeth well, without moving of his eye, the
ray of the sun, and when he is marvellous high in the air he seeth well the
small fishes in the sea. He hath also his beak much crooked, so that he is let
to take his meat, he sharpeth it and whetteth it against a stone, and maketh it
convenable to the usage of his feeding. And when he is roasted by the hot sun,
he throweth himself down by great force into a fountain, and taketh away his
old age by the heat of the sun, and changeth his feathers, and taketh away the
darkness of his eyes. By the face of the lion it is showed how he was ordained as
touching himself. For he had noblesse by honesty of manners and holy
conversation, he had subtlety for to eschew the Iying in wait for his enemies,
and he had sufferance for to have pity on them that were tormented by
affliction. The lion is a noble beast, for he is king of beasts. He is subtle,
he defaceth his traces and steps with his tail when he fleeth, so that he shall
not be found; he is suffering, for he suffereth the quartan. By the face of an
ox it is showed how he was ordained as touching his office, that was to write
the gospel. For he proceeded morally, that is to say by morality, that he began
from the nativity and childhood of Jesu Christ, and so proceeded little and
little unto his last consummation. He began discreetly, and that was after other
two evangelists, that if they had left any thing he should write it, and that
which they had suffciently said he should leave. He was well mannered, that is
to say well learned and induced in the sacrifices and works of the temple, as
it appeareth in the beginning, in the middle, and in the end. The ox is a moral
beast and hath his foot cloven, by which is discretion understood, and it is a
beast sacrificeable. And truly, how that Luke was ordained in the four things,
it is better showed in the ordinance of his life. First, as touching his
ordinance unto God. After Saint Bernard, he was ordained in three manners, that
is by affection and desire, by thought and intention. The affection ought to be
holy, the thought clean, and intention rightful. He had the affection holy, for
he was full of the Holy Ghost, like as Jerome saith in his prologue upon Luke:
He went into Bethany full of the Holy Ghost. Secondly, he had a clean thought,
for he was a virgin both in body and mind, in which is noted cleanness of thought.
Thirdly, he had rightful intention, for in all things that he did he sought the
honour of God. And of these two last things it is said in the prologue upon the
Acts of the Apostles: He was without sin and abode in virginity, and this is
touching the cleanness of thought. He loved best to serve our Lord, that is to
the honour of our Lord, this is as touching the rightful intention. Fourthly,
he was ordained as touching his neighbour. We be ordained to our neighbour when
we do that we ought to do. After Richard of S.Victor, there be three things
that we owe to our neighbour, that is our power, our knowledge, and our wild,
and let the fourth be put to, that is all that we may do. Our power in helping
him, our knowledge in counselling him, our will in his desires, and our deeds
in services. As touching to these four, Saint Luke was ordained, for he gave
first to his neighbour his power in aiding and obsequies, and that appeareth by
that he was joined to Paul in his tribulations and would not depart from him,
but was helping him in his preachings, like as it is written in the second
epistle of Paul in the fourth chapter to Timothy, saying: Luke is only with me.
In that he saith, only with me, it signifieth that he was a helper, as that he
gave to him comfort and aid, and in that he said only, it signifieth that he
joined to him firmly. And he said in the eighth chapter to the II Corinthians:
He is not alone, but he is ordained of the churches to be fellow of our
pilgrimage. Secondly, he gave his knowledge to his neighbour in counsels. He
gave then his knowledge to his neighbour when he wrote to his neighbours the
doctrine of the apostles, and of the gospel that he knew. And hereof he beareth
himself witness in his prologue; saying: It is mine advice, and I assent, good
Theophilus, to write to thee, right well of the beginning by order, so that
thou know the truth of the words of which thou art taught. And it appeareth
well that he gave his knowledge in counsels to his neighbours, by the words
that Jerome saith in his prologue, that is to wit, that his words be medicine
unto a sick soul. Thirdly, he gave his will unto the desires of his neighbour,
and that appeareth by that, that he desireth that they should have health
perdurable, like as Paul saith to the Colossians: Luke the leech saluteth you;
that is to say, Think ye to have health perdurable, for he desireth it to you.
Fourthly, he gave to his neighbour his deed in their services. And it appeareth
by that that he supposed that our Lord had been a strange man, and he received
him into his house and did to him all the service of charity, for he was fellow
to Cleophas when they went to Emmaus, as some say. And Gregory saith in his
Morals, that Ambrose saith it was another, of whom he nameth the name. Thirdly,
he was well ordained as touching himself. And after Saint Bernard, three things
there be that ordain a man right well as touching himself, and maketh him holy,
that is to live soberly, and rightful labour, and a debonair wit. And after
Saint Bernard each of these three is divided into three, that is, to live
soberly, if we live companionably, continently, and humbly. Rightful work is,
if he be rightful, discreet, and fruitful. Rightful by good intention, discreet
by measure, and fruitful by edification. The wit is debonair, when our faith
feeleth God to be sovereign good, so that by his puissance we believe that our
infirmity be holpen by his power, our ignorance be corrected by his wisdom, and
that our wickedness be defaced by his bounty. And thus saith Bernard: In all
these things was Saint Luke well ordained. He had, first, sober living in
treble manner, for he lived continently. For as Saint Jerome witnesseth of him
in the prologue upon Luke, he had never wife ne children. He lived
companionably, and that is signified of him, where it is said of him and
Cleophas in the opinion aforesaid: Two disciples went that same day, etc.
Fellowship is signified in that he saith, two disciples, that is to say, well
mannered. Thirdly he lived humbly, of which humility is showed of that he
expressed the name of his fellow Cleophas and spake not of his own name. And
after the opinion of some, Luke named not his name for meekness. Secondly, he
had rightful work and deed, and his work was rightful by intention, and that is
signified in his collect where it is said: Qui crucis mortificationem jugiter
in corpore suo pro tui nominis amore portavit: he bare in his body
mortification of his flesh for the love of thy name. He was discreet by
temperance, and therefore he was figured in the form of an ox, which hath the
foot cloven, by which the virtue of discretion is expressed; he was also
fruitful by edification; he was so fruitful to his neighbours that he was
holden most dear of all men, wherefore, Ad Colossenses quarto, he was called of
the apostle most dearest: Luke the leech saluteth you. Thirdly, he had a meek
wit, for he believed and confessed in his gospel, God to be sovereignly mighty,
sovereignly wise, and sovereignly good. Of the two first, it is said in the
fourth chapter: They all were abashed in his doctrine, for the word of him was
in his power. And of the third, it appeareth in the eighteenth chapter, where
he saith: There is none good but God alone. Fourthly, and last, he was right
well ordained as touching his office, the which was to write the gospel, and in
this appeareth that he was ordained because that the said gospel is ennoblished
with much truth, it is full of much profit, it is embellished with much honesty
and authorised by great authority. It is first ennoblished with much truth. For
there be three truths, that is of life, of righteousness, and of doctrine.
Truth of life is concordance of the hand to the tongue, truth of righteousness
is concordance of the sentence to the cause, and truth of doctrine is concordance
of the thing to the understanding, and the gospel is ennoblished by this treble
verity and this treble verity is showed in the gospel. For Luke showeth that
Jesu Christ had in him this treble verity, and that he taught it to others, and
showeth that God had this truth by the witness of his adversaries. And that
saith he in the twenty seventh chapter: Master, we know well that thou art
true, and teachest and sayest rightfully that is the verity of the doctrine,
but thou teachest in truth the way of God, that is the truth of life, for good
life is the way of God. Secondly, he showeth in his gospel that Jesu Christ
taught this treble truth. First, he taught the truth of life, the which is in
keeping the commandments of God, whereof it is said: Thou shalt love thy Lord
God, do that and thou shalt live. And when a Pharisee demanded our Lord: What
shall I do for to possess the everlasting life? He said: Knowest thou not the
commandments? Thou shalt not slay, thou shalt do no theft, ne thou shalt do no
adultery? Secondly, there is taught the verity of doctrine, wherefore he said
to some that perverted this truth, the eleventh chapter: Woe be to you
Pharisees, that tithe the people, et cetera, and pass over the judgment and
charity of God. Also in the same: Woe be to you wise men of law, which have
taken the key of science. Thirdly, is taught the truth of righteousness, where
it is said: Yield ye that longeth to the emperor, and that ye owe to God, to
God. And he saith the nineteenth chapter: They that be my enemies and will not
that I reign upon them, bring them hither and slay them tofore me. And he saith
in the thirteenth chapter, where he speaketh of the doom, that he shall say to
them that be reproved: Depart from me, ye that have done wickedness. Secondly,
his gospel is full of much profit, whereof Paul and himself write that he was a
leech or a physician, wherefore in his gospel it is signified that he made
ready for us medicine most profitable. There is treble medicine, curing,
preserving, and amending. And this treble medicine showeth Saint Luke in his
gospel that, the leech celestial hath made ready. The medicine curing is that
which cureth the malady, and that is penance, which taketh away all maladies
spiritual. And this medicine saith he that the celestial leech hath made ready
for us when he saith: Heal ye them that be contrite of heart, and preach ye to
the caitiffs the remission of sins. And in the fifth chapter he saith: I am not
come to call the just and true men, but the sinners to penance. The medicine
amending is that which encreaseth health, and that is the observation of
counsel, for good counsel maketh a man better and more perfect. This medicine
showeth us the heavenly leech when he saith in the eighteenth chapter: Sell all
that ever thou hast and give to poor men. The medicine preservative is that
which preserveth from falling, and this is the eschewing of the occasions to
sin, and from evil company. And this medicine showeth to us the heavenly leech
when he saith in the twelfth chapter: Keep you from the meat of the Pharisees,
and there he teacheth us to eschew the company of shrews and evil men. Or it
may be said that the said gospel is replenished with much profit, because that
all virtue is contained therein.
And hereof saith Saint Ambrose: Luke compriseth in his
gospel all the virtues of wisdom in history, he enseigned the nativity when he
showed the incarnation of our Lord to have been made of the Holy Ghost. But
David enseigned natural wisdom when he said: Send out the Holy Ghost, and they
shall be created, and when he enseigned darkness made in the time of the
passion of Jesu Christ, and trembling of the earth, and the sun had withdrawn
her light and rays. And he taught morality when he taught manners in his
blessedness. He taught reasonable things when he said: He that is true in
little things, he is true in great things. And without this treble wisdom, the
mystery of the Trinity, ne of our faith, may not be, that is to wit, wisdom
natural, reasonable, and moral. And this is that Saint Ambrose saith. Thirdly,
his gospel is embellished and made fair with much honesty, so that the style
and manner of speaking is much honest and fair. And three things be convenient
to this, that some men hold in his dictes honesty and beauty, the which Saint
Austin teacheth, that is to wit, that it please, that it appear and move. That
it please, he ought to speak ornately; that it appear, that he ought to speak
appertly; that it move, that he speak fervently. And this manner had Lucas in
writing and in preaching. Of the two first it is said in the eighth chapter of
the II Corinthians: We sent with him a brother, the gloss Barnabas or Luke, of
whom the praising is in all churches of the gospel. In this that he said the
praising of him, is signified that he spake ornately; in this that he said in
all churches, it is signified that he spake appertly. And that he spake
fervently it appeared when he said: Was not then our heart burning within us in
the love of Jesu when he spake with us in the way? Fourthly, his gospel is
authorised by authority of many saints. What marvel was it though it were
authorised of many, when it was authorised first of the Father? whereof Saint
Jerome saith in the thirty-first chapter: Lo, the days shall come, our Lord
saith: I shall make a new covenant with the house of Israel and of Judah, not
after the covenant that I made with their fathers, but this shall be the
covenant, saith our Lord: I shall give my law into the bowels of them. And he
speaketh plainly to the letter of doctrine of the Gospel. Secondly, it is
enforced of the Son, for he saith in the same gospel, the one-and-twentieth
chapter: Heaven and earth shall pass and my word shall not perish. Thirdly, he
is inspired of the Holy Ghost, whereof Saint Jerome saith in his prologue upon
Luke: He wrote this gospel in the parts of Achaia by the admonishment of the
Holy Ghost. Fourthly, he was tofore figured of the angels, for he was
prefigured of the same angel of whom the apostle saith in the fourteenth
chapter of the Apocalypse: I saw the angel flying by the midst of heaven, and
had the gospel perdurable. This is said perdurable, for it is made perdurable,
that is, of Jesu Christ. Fifthly, the gospel was pronounced of the prophets,
that Ezechiel the prophet pronounced tofore this gospel, when he said that one
of these beasts should have the face of an ox, wherefore the gospel of Saint
Luke is signified as it is said tofore. And when Ezechiel said in the second
chapter that he had seen the book that was written without and within, in which
was written the lamentation song, by this book is understood the gospel of Luke
that is written within for to hide the mystery of profoundness, and without for
the showing of the history. In which also be contained the lamentation of the
passion, the joy of the resurrection, and the woe of the eternal damnation as
it appeareth the eleventh chapter, where many woes be put. Sixthly, the gospel
was showed of the virgin. For the blessed Virgin Mary kept and heled diligently
all these things in her heart, as it is said, Luce secundo, to the end that she
should afterward show them to the writers, as the gloss saith, that all things
that were done and said of our Lord Jesu Christ she knew and retained them in
her mind. So that when she was required of the writers or of thee preachers of
the incarnatio and of all other things, she might express the sufficiently,
like as it was done and were in deed. Wherefore Saint Bernard assigned the
reason why the angel of our Lord showed to the blessed Virgin the conceiving of
Elizabeth. The conceiving of Elizabeth was showed to Mary because of the
coming, now of our Saviour, and now of his messenger that came tofore him. The
cause why she retained the ordinance of these things was because that she might
the better show to writers and preachers the truth of the gospel. This is she
that fully from the beginning was instructed of the celestial mysteries, and it
is to be believed that the evangelists enquired of her many things, and she
certified them truly. And specially that the blessed Luke had recourse to her
like as to the ark of the Testament, and was certified of her many things, and
especially of such things as appertained to her, as of the salutation of the
angel Gabriel, of the nativity of Jesu Christ, and of such other things as Luke
speaketh only. Seventhly, the gospel was showed of the apostles. For Luke had
not been with Christ in all his acts and miracles, therefore he wrote his
gospel after that the apostles that had been present showed and reported to
him, like as he showeth in his prologue, saying: Like as they that had seen him
from the beginning, and had been ministers with him and heard his words,
informed and told to me. And because it is accustomed in double manner to bear
witness, it is of things seen and of things heard Therefore saith Saint Austin:
Our Lord would have two witnesses of things seen, they were John and Matthew,
and two of things heard, and they were Mark and Luke. And because that the
witness of things seen be more firm and more certain than of things heard,
therefore saith Saint Austin: The two gospels that be of things seen be set
first and last, and the others, that be of hearing, be set in the middle, like
as they were the stronger and more certain of, and by the other twain.
Eighthly, this gospel is marvellously approved of Saint Paul, when he bringeth
the gospel of Luke to the confirmation of his sayings and dictes, whereof Saint
Jerome saith in the Book of Noble Men, that some men have suspicion that always
when Saint Paul saith in his epistles: Secundum Evangelium meum, that is, after
my gospel, that is signified the volume of Luke. And he approved his gospel
when he wrote of him (Secundo ad Corintheos octavo): Of whom the laud and
praising is in the gospel in all the church. It is read in the history of
Antioch that the christian men were besieged of a great multitude of Turks, and
did to them many mischiefs, and were tormented with hunger and ill hap. But
when they were plainly converted to our Lord by penance, a man full of
clearness in white vestment appeared to a man that woke tn the church of our
Lady at Tripoli, and when he demanded him who he was, he said that he was Luke
that came from Antioch, where our Lord had assembled the chivalry of heaven and
his apostles for to fight for his pilgrims against the Turks. Then the
christian men enhardened themselves and discomfited all the host of the Turks.
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/golden-legend-life-of-saint-luke/
Robert
Campin (1375/1379–1444), Triptyque de saint Luc.
Introduction
Dedicated by
Special Permission to the Master, Wardens, and Court of Assistants of the
Worshipful Company of Painters, otherwise Painter-Stainers.
In presenting An Account of the Life and Works of
Saint Luke to by brother Liverymen of the Painter-Stainer’s Company, I
desire to ask their kind forbearance for venturing to undertake such a task. I
can claim to possess no special qualifications for it; the subject, indeed, is
one that does not permit of original information, but only of research and
enquiry. Saint Luke being the patron saint of the Company, personally I
was desirous of being acquainted with reasons which would justify us in
claiming for our profession the high honour of Saint Luke’s attachment, and
also of learning some details concerning those pictures which are claimed as
his handiwork. Believing that the results of an investigation would also be a
matter of interest to the members of the Company generally, I have pleasure in
asking their perusal of the following pages. Though I have not been able to
discover any novel facts, the compilation of this monograph in leisure, has
enabled me amply to verify the words of Sir Frederick Leighton (P.R.A. and a
Liveryman of our Company) when proposing at a recent Royal Academy Banquet,
“The Interests of Science and of Literature.” He said,
“In letters, no province, perhaps, exercises wider
fascination than that of biography. Men turn ever with unslaked curiosity to
the inspiring record of the lives of those who have been prominent among their
fellows.”
I am anxious to express my obligations and sincere
acknowledgments to
Sir Edward Thornton, K.C.B., late Her Britannic
Majesty’s Ambassador to the Sublime Porte
Sir F W Burton, National Gallery
The Rev Canon Curtis, Constantinople
The Rev Sabine Baring-Gould, M.A.
Charles Browne, Esq., M.A., Lincoln’s Inn
Athelstan Riley, Esq., M.A., F.R.G.S.
Charles Welch, Esq., The Library, Guildhall.
George C. Williamson, Esq., F. R. Hist. Soc., etc.,
and Others, who have most kindly mentioned works of
reference, and have suggested various sources of information.
– Walter Hayward Pitman, Easter, 1889
Saint
Luke
The name of Saint Luke is only three times mentioned
in the New Testament –
Colossians 4:14
2nd Timothy 4:11
Philemon 24
He must not be confounded with Lucius (Romans 16:21),
whom Saint Paul the Apostle calls his kinsman.
Saint Luke is recognized and accepted as an
Evangelist, a Physician, and a Painter. His “praise is in the Gospel throughout
all the churches.” (2nd Corinthians 8:18) He is renowned in Art – the handmaid
of Religion. Holy Scripture, to which one naturally turns for information,
tells us of his works as an evangelist – a little of his position as a
physician – but nothing of his capability as a painter. Legend and tradition,
nevertheless, largely supply and fill up details – especially as to the
last-mentioned talent. It is unfortunate that many of the statements made in
the patristic literature are at variance with one another, and with earlier
documents, etc., thus rendering them confusing and often greatly conflicting.
Combining, however, all sources of information, it is possible to learn
something of the life and work of Saint Luke, to whom the Church, and indeed
all men, owe so great a debt of gratitude.
On the testimony of Eusebius and Saint Jerome, Saint
Luke was born in Antioch, the metropolis of Syria. Its delightful situation,
its beautiful climate, its extent, its population and its commerce, rendered it
famous; it was not less celebrated for its learning and wisdom. It is
interesting to remember that at Antioch men were first called “Christians.”
Saint Luke was most probably not of Jewish parentage; Saint Paul in his Epistle
to the Colossians, separates the names of his fellow labourers who are “of the
circumcision” from the names of others who follow. Saint Luke is among these
latter. (Colossians 4:14)
Saint Jerome mentions that Saint Luke was more
conversant with Greek than Hebrew, and this also may lead to the inference that
he was a Gentile. His family or condition of life cannot be exactly stated.
From his name Luca (which is a contraction of Lucanus, and the
full form appears in some early manuscripts), one may gather that he was
Italian (Lucanian) descent.
Of his early days and training we have no record,
though it appears clear that he was equipped with what we should now call a
“liberal education,” and that he was acquainted with the best Greek classical
authors. His writing are in the purest Greek, and are evidence of his finished
erudition. He was essentially a man of letters and skilled in composition.
Saint Luke, in his writings, describes in detail
Jewish rules, feasts, fasts, and the like. This has led to the idea that he
(being a Gentile as has been already mentioned) was first of all converted to
Judaism.
Saint Epiphanius makes Saint Luke to have been a
disciple of our Lord – one of the seventy. The portion of Holy Scripture
selected to the Gospels on Saint Luke’s day, Luke 10:1, tends to confirm this,
and he alone makes special mention of their mission. It is also asserted that
he was one of the two who journeyed to Emmaus with the Risen Saviour. Certain
it is that he alone records the particulars of that wonderful journey, when the
hearts of the two companions “burned” while He talked with them by
the way. (Luke 24:32) These suggestions are, however, inconsistent, and at
variance with Tertullian and the Muratorian fragment, and are only conjectural,
for we have Saint Luke’s own testimony, in the preface to his Gospel, that he
wrote from information conveyed to him by those who “from the beginning were
eye-witnesses and ministers of the word.” (Luke 1:2) Saint Luke therefore wrote
not from his own observation (except say from the early days of the Church),
and thus we may fairly conclude that he, like Saint Mark, became a Christian
only after our Lord’s Ascension into Heaven. The Muratorian fragment says
distinctly that Saint Luke did not see the Lord in the flesh. Some ascribe to
Saint Paul the credit of Saint Luke’s conversion, and fix the place of it at
Antioch; but others consider this improbable since Saint Paul nowhere calls him
the “son”, as he frequently does his converts.
We may well be content to render to God all Praise for
giving to the Church such a faithful and diligent “son” as Saint Luke
proved himself to be.
Physician
Saint Paul speaks of Saint Luke as the “beloved
physician.” (Colossians 4:14) That he was taught the science of medicine does
not support the inference that he was of high birth or fortune since the
practice and science of medicine in Saint Luke’s day was often managed by
slaves who were educated and trained in its mysteries. Great personages had
their slaves instructed in medicine; hence some have conceived that Saint Luke
was of humble birth, and that possibly he had lived with some noble family in
the capacity of physician until he obtained his freedom. We have evidence of
his medical knowledge by his correct use of medical terms, and because he
describes diseases as only a physician world, e.g., when mentioning in his
Gospel the woman having an issue of blood (Luke 8:43), and in the Acts of the
apostles the cure of the father of Publius at Melita (Acts 28:8).
The language employed in the latter example is
distinctly descriptive, if not technical. Saint Jerome tells us that Saint Luke
was very imminent in his profession as a physician. Eminence is not to be
obtained in a day; thus, it may have been that Saint Luke followed his calling
all his life, exercising it in whatever place he may have happened to be at the
time. A curious and interesting coincidence is that when Saint Luke is first
mentioned as being in company with Saint Paul, it is immediately after a
sojourn of the latter in Galatia (Acts 16:6,10), due to severe bodily sickness
(Galatians 4:13). Indeed, this illness of Saint Paul may have necessitated the
calling in or medical skill, and may thus have been the cause of their first
meeting.
It has also been surmised that Saint Luke was a
medical attendant on board one of the ancient vessels; they were not rapid in
their movements, and some, not infrequently, were very large, thus requiring a
considerable staff, and, as a consequence, probably “carrying a surgeon,” as we
now say. The ship “of Alexandria,” in which the journey to Rome was made, is
supposed to have been some 1200 tons burden. Saint Luke certainly displays, in
the Acts of the Apostles, considerable knowledge of nautical matters, and it
may have been acquired in circumstances such as we have hinted. Or again,
Philippi and Troas, we know, were his headquarters for some time. His constant
journeys, to and fro, between these places would make him well acquainted with
the points of the coast en route, and, probably, being a man of keen perception
and interest, with navigation generally. His familiarity with nautical
phraseology and idioms is specially shown in his descriptions of Saint Paul’s
shipwreck and voyage to Rome (Acts 17). He gives, as it were, the log-book: “We
sailed under Cyprus because the winds were contrary.” As it was then autumn,
and violent northwest windows prevailing in the Archipelago, this course was
obligatory; they could not take the open sea, outside the island, as the vessel
having Saint Paul on board was able to do in the voyage from Miletus to Tyre.
“Sailing was not dangerous.” Navigation amongst the ancients ceased from
October to March, owning to the prevalence of storms. The dark and rainy
weather his the sun and stars, which were, before the invention of the compass,
the mariner’s only guide. Saint Luke describes the coast and its dangers: the
soft “south wind”; what was done to preserve the ship; the soundings that were
repeatedly made, and so on. All this affords irresistible proof of his
cognizance of navigation.
Evangelist
Acts 16:8,10,11
give us the first gleam of information respecting Saint Luke’s evangelistic
work. The
change of the pronoun from the third person (verse 8.) to the first person
(verses 10, 11), which here occurs, permits the belief that the writer of
the Acts of the Apostles (and he, it is generally accepted, we Saint
Luke) became Saint Paul’s companion in the latter’s journeyings. When Saint
Paul sailed from Troas in 51, soon afterwards Saint Barnabas left him, Saint
Luke accompanied the former into Macedonia, travelling with him to Philippi,
the chief city of that part. Philippi is remarkable in that the Gospel was
preached there by an Apostle for the first time within the continent of Europe.
Saint Luke appears to have been left behind at Philippi, and Saint Paul resumed
his journey without him. Before he was able again to visit Philippi, seven
years elapsed. During this period Saint Luke, it is conjectured, followed his
calling as a physician and also diligently worked as a “physician of the soul,”
delivering his testimony to the truth of the Resurrection, preaching the Gospel
message in the surrounding country, cultivating and nurturing the “good seed”
sown by the Apostle, and stimulating the faith and hope of the converts. About
the year 56, Saint Luke, “the brother whose praise is in the Gospel throughout
all the churches,” (2nd Corinthians 8:18) accompanied Titus, Bishop of Crete,
to Corinth. Could Saint Paul give a greater commendation, or a more honourable
introduction that the words, “the brother whose praise is in the Gospel
throughout the churches” would convey? We may be sure that Saint Luke was not
unworthy of them.
Saint Paul and Saint Luke departed from Philippi
together in 58, it being the former’s third missionary journey. Henceforward
the two were inseparable. Passing through Troas, Assos, Mitylene, Chios, Samos,
and Trogyllium, in due course, they arrived in Miletus, the old capital of
Ionia. Here they tarried in order that Saint Paul might meet the Elders from
Ephesus, which was about 28 miles to the north. From Miletus Saint Paul and his
companions sailed, by way of Cos and Rhodes, to Patara, where Apollo was
worshipped as his sister Diana was at Ephesus. At Patara the travellers,
changing ship (Acts 21:2), crossed the open sea, straight for Tyre,
“discovering Cyprus” on the left hand. This is really a nautical expression
signifying to see land, to being land to view, just as sailors in our day say
“making” land.
At Tyre, Saint Paul was warned by the word of Prophecy
of his approaching dangers and trials; however, he feared nothing, but persisted
in continuing his journey to Jerusalem. Saint Luke, his faithful
fellow-labourer, also remained earnest and steadfast in his devotion. They
journeyed together from Tyre to Ptolemais. From this point the journey was no
double made by land, and the travellers (Saint Luke and Saint Paul) duly
arrived in Caesarea. Here the house of Philip, the Deacon Evangelist, afforded
a hospitable welcome; after abiding with his family for some days, they
continued their journey and arrived at Jerusalem in good time for the Feast.
In Jerusalem, Saint Paul had several “hair-breadth”
escapes from serious and menacing dangers. He was made a prisoner, and after
much enquiry, was sent to Caesarea to be adjudged by Felix, the Governor. Twice
was Saint Paul brought before Felix, and each time was he remanded. He remained
a prisoner for two years. Saint Luke continued with him as his constant
attendant and help, during all this trying and depressing period. It would seem
that Saint Luke’s highest ambition was to share with the great Apostle to the
Gentiles all the fatigues and perils to which the latter was subjected. Saint
Luke was possibly of some medical assistance to him, for it is not improbable
that Saint Paul’s health was somewhat impaired by his confinement.
Felix’s term of office having expired, Festuc
succeeded to his rank. Saint Paul was arraigned before him, as well. After
bearing a great testimony to the Truth, Saint Paul finally appealed to Caesar
and claimed his rights as a Roman citizen. From Caesarea, therefore, Saint Paul
was sent with other state prisoners in proper care and custody to Rome (Acts
27:1). Saint Luke was still his companion, for he says, “And when it was
determined that we should sail into Italy,” etc. He participated in all the
anxious and hazardous events of that journey; he endured and survived the
terrible shipwreck at Melia. As he writes, “And so it came to pass that they
escaped all safe to land.” (Acts 27:44)
After many other perils and deprivations, the company
arrived in Rome. Here Saint Paul was a prisoner for two years. His confinement
was imperative and close; though he was permitted to live in a house that he
hired for the purpose, his life was, it may be said, dependent on a word from
the Emperor. It is generally agreed that Saint Paul was acquitted at the
termination of this time, though no information is vouchsafed in the Acts of
the Apostles, and that he afterwards resumed his labours in the Gospel. Saint
Luke did not forsake the Apostle on his release but continued diligent in his service
during his subsequent visitations of the churches in Crete, Colosse, Ephesus,
Corinth, etc. Saint Paul was afterwards (we know now how, where or even when)
again arrested and imprisoned at Rome. This was more severe probably than the
former imprisonment, though with him he had some three or four companions as
well as his ever-zealous adherent, Saint Luke. How grieved he must have been by
the departure and loss of these brethren, and the more especially at the cause
of their falling away! Writing at this time to Timothy, he says “For Demas has
forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed to Thessalonica;
Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia; only Luke is with me.” Saint Luke alone
was constant at all times and in every place through his master’s afflictions.
He was to him, indeed, “faithful unto death.”
We may here mention that there is a tradition which
asserts that Saint Paul, before his second imprisonment, travelled into Spain
and even as far west as Britain. If this be corrected, Saint Luke, being his
companion, must also have visited the island. It is noteworthy that when Saint
Augustine of Canterbury came to evangelize and convert the inhabitants of Saxon
England, he found on his arrival that already the name of Christ was known, and
that men acknowledged and worshipped the only true God. It may be that Saint
Luke was an instrument in bringing this result.
Writings
It is generally
accepted that Saint Luke was the author of the Gospel which bears his name, and
also of the Acts of the Apostles. Some suppose these two
books are but two parts of one volume. (Even those who assign the greater part
of the Actsto a much later date think that the sections referring to the
missionary journeys of Saint Paul may be extracts from an original diary of a
companion of Saint Paul, and that his companion may have been Saint Luke. Luke
was at considerable pains to obtain the best possible information; doubtless
from those person who were present at, and interested in, those scenes which are
recorded. Saint Luke, in the course of his travels with Saint Paul, would come
into contact here and there with several who could materially assist him in
this respect. As regards the Gospel, we may be sure the Blessed Virgin was a
willing informant as to many of the important details connected with the Annunciation,
with the Mystery of the Incarnation, and the subsequent events and occurrences
recorded. Most probably, Saint Paul was his informant as to the numerous
incidents narrated in the Acts of the Apostles, especially in the opening
chapters, concerning the subjects matter of which no one could be more
cognizant or better acquainted. It is well, nevertheless, that we do not forget
that it was under the direction and influence of the Holy Ghost that Saint
Luke’s writing were accomplished, and without. His assistance, without His
living Spirit, nothing was written. For want of this guidance by the Holy
Spirit, the compositions of the “many” authors to whom Saint Luke refers in his
preface (Luke 1:1) were failures. The Gospel according to Saint Luke was most
probably written when he was with the Apostle Paul in the latter’s two years’
imprisonment at Caesarea, though it was not published till at least 63 or 64
AD. The Gospels of Saint Matthew and Saint Mark had already been written, and
Saint Luke appears anxious to supply some things which they omitted to narrate.
Authorities, however, differ as to this question of date. Dr E A Abbott, after
dealing very minutely with the point, states as a clear inference that Saint
Luke compiled his Gospel certainly after 70, and actually about the year 80 at
the earliest.
A French writer has described Saint Luke’s Gospel as
the most beautiful book that has ever been written, thus endorsing, if it were
necessary, the opinion of the late Charles Dickens concerning the New Testament
as a while. He declared it to be the best book that ever was, or will be, known
in the world. Saint Luke portrays Christ specially as the Universal Saviour –
the Saviour not of a chosen people only, but of all men – the Light to lighten
the Gentiles, as well as the Glory of His people Israel. To Saint Luke’s Gospel
we owe the record of many most gracious acts performed, and words of the
deepest intent spoken, by our Blessed Lord. When uniting from day to day, and
from week to week, with the Church in her services of prayer and thanksgiving,
we are perhaps unmindful of the fact that it is from Saint Luke’s Gospel we
cull the Benedictus, the Magnificat anima mea, the Gloria in
Excelsis, and the name Nunc Dimittis. Keble, in the Christian year,
apostrophizing Saint Luke, says
Thou hast an ear for angels’ songs,
A breath the Gospel trump to fill,
And taught by thee the Church prolongs
Her hymns of high thanksgiving still.
Saint Luke alone tell us of the birth of
Saint John the Baptist – how the glad tidings of the birth of Christ were
announced to the humble shepherds in the fields – of his Presentation in the
Temple – of the early testimony of Simeon and Anna concerning him – and of His
audience, when twelve years old, with the doctors. Again, it is from Saint
Luke’s Gospel that we learn the practical lessons enforced by the Good
Samaritan, by Dives and Lazarus, the Pharisee and the Publican, and
last, though not least, by the record portraying the Prodigal Son.
How many a soul with guilt oppressed
Has learned to hear the joyful found
In that sweet tale of sin confessed,
The Father’s love, the lost and found!
The tenderness and mercy of Jesus is indicated in the
following incidents, which Saint Luke alone records, viz –
The raising to life of the son of the Widow of Nain.
The cure of the women with the issue of blood.
The cleansing of the ten lepers.
The promise to the penitent thief: “To-day shalt thou
be with Me in Paradise.”
We may here refer to Mrs Jameson’s delightful
work, Legends of the Madonna.
Referring to the tradition that Saint Luke was a painter, she reminds us how
Saint Luke was early regarded as the great authority with respect to the few
Scriptural particulars relating to the life and character of the Virgin Mary.
In this figurative sense he may be said to have painted that portrait
of her which has since been received as the perfect type of womanhood. saint
Luke’s Gospel displays her character, her true and trustful humility at the
time of the Annunciation, her decision and prudence in visiting her elder
relative – Elizabeth. It also gives proof of her intellectual power in the
unequalled Magnificat of her truly maternal devotion to her Son
throughout His ministry on earth, as well as the fortitude and faith with which
she stood by Him when dying on the Cross.
Longfellow, in his Golden
Legend, also praises the Blessed Virgin as an
Example of all womanhood,
So mild, so merciful, so strong, so good,
So patient, peaceful, loyal, loving, pure.
It was about the year 73 when Saint Luke completed the
writing of the Acts of the Apostles, and this period was coincident with
the release of Saint Paul from imprisonment in Rome. Ancient writings and
monuments belonging to the Church of Santa Maria in Via Lata in that city
inform us that this church was erected upon the spot where Saint Luke wrote
the Acts of the Apostles. They contain an authentic statement of the
“wonderful works of God” in planting and developing His Church, of the miracles
by which He confirmed His purpose in her, and “of all that Jesus began both to
do and to teach,” concluding with the statement of the martyrdom of the great
Apostle to the Gentiles. Very valuable indeed to the Church is this inspired
record.
Death
After the martyrdom of Saint Paul the doings of Saint
Luke, his beloved companion, are most obscure. Saint Epiphanius says he
preached in Italy, Gaul, Dalmatia, and Macedon. Saint Gregory of Nazianzus
makes Achaia the theatre of his preaching, while Saint Oecumenius says Africa,
and a later legend mentions Enns, in Austria.
In an addition to the Treatise
of Eminent Men by Saint Jerome, we read that Saint Luke never
married. Saint Hippolytus says Saint Luke was crucified at Eloea, in the
Peloponnesus, near Achaia. Saint Gregory of Nazianzus assures us that he went
to God by martyrdom. Saint Nicephorus specifies that he was hanged on an olive
tree. The African Martyrology of the fifth century gives him the title of
Evangelist and Martyr. Gaudentius, Bishop of Brescia in the fifth century,
speaks of Saint Luke as a martyr, and says that he suffered at Patra, in Achaia,
and in company with, it is supposed, Saint Andrew. Elias of Crete, in the
eighth century, denies that Saint Luke was a martyr. Elsewhere it is stated, or
implied, that he died an ordinary death, either in Bithynia, or at Thebes, in
Boeotia: “Thebes primum fepultae”. The Venerable Bede and others say that
“he suffered much for the faith, and died very old in Bithynia”; of course this
does not permit the inference that he shed his blood. The Greek traditions
represent him as dying in peace, and his death was thus figured on the ancient
doors of San Paolo at Rome. Saint Luke, at the time of his death, was about
eighty-four years of age.
By order of the Emperor Constantine, the body of Saint
Luke was translated in 357 from Patra to Constantinople, and deposited in the
Church of the Apostles in that city, along with the bodies of Saint Andrew and
Saint Timothy. On this occasion some distribution of relics of Saint Luke was
made. This magnificent Church of the Apostles was erected by Constantine the
Great, whose body, in a chest of gold, was deposited in the porch. The
burial-place of Saint Luke, however, would seem to have been soon forgotten,
for when excavations for some new foundations were made, by order of Justinian,
the workmen discovered three coffins or chests of wood, wherein, as the
inscriptions proved, the bodies of Saints Luke, Andrew, and Timothy were
interred. Subsequent tradition asserts that the remains were afterwards
conveyed to Italy. More than one whole body of Saint Luke was stated to exist:
e.g., one in the Minorite Monastery of Saint Job at Venice, and another in the
Benedictine Church of Saint Giustina at Padua. In the fifteenth century Pope
Pius II commanded Cardinal Bessarion to decide in a violent controversy between
these two monasteries, for each claimed to possess the perfect relics of the
Evangelist.
Baronius mentions that the head of Saint Luke was
brought by Saint Gregory from Constantinople to Rome, and laid in the Church of
his Monastery of Saint Andrew. Other “relics” are stated to exist, and may be
enumerated as follows –
at Saint Peter’s, Rome
the head
at Valence
part of the head
at Liessy, in Hainault
part of the head
the Royal Chapel at Barcelona, Spain
an arm
at Saint Epina
another arm
at Prajano, near Naples, in Saint Luke’s Church
an arm and a knee
at the great Lavra on Mount Athos
part of a hand
at Valentia (exhibited on Easter Monday)
two fingers of the left hand
at Mechlin
a tooth
at Saint Oviedo, in Austria, also at Tournai, etc.
some bones
Requiescat in Pace
Saint Luke’s day
The martyrologies and calendars, for the most part,
agree in fixing Saint Luke’s festival on 18 October, though other days are
indicated – 13 October, 21 September, 26 September, and 27 November. A doubt is
expressed whether October 18 should be regarded as the anniversary of his birth
– or of the translation of his remains to Constantinople. The Roman
Martyrology, under the day 18 October, states, “Natalis beati Lucae
Evangelistae, qui multa passus pro Christi nomine Spiritu Sancto plenus obiit
in Bithynia, cujus ossa Constantinoplum translata sunt et inde Patavium
delata.” The same Martyrology commemorates the translation of his relics to
Constantinople on 9 May. Many saints’ days have been appropriated and fixed
with reference to the anniversary of the first consecration of a church made in
their honour. This is the case with Michaelmas Day. Michael the Archangel’s day
is really 8 May. September 29 possesses its distinctive name simply because it
is the anniversary of the day on which a church was ever first dedicated to
Michael. The church, which boasts this privilege, was built on Mount Gargano in
Apulia, Italy, and was formally consecrated on 29 September, which day has
since been recognized as the festival, and is much better known than 8 May.
Emblem
The ox or calf – one of the four “living creatures”
mentioned in that great vision of the Prophet Ezekiel – and also one of the
four living “beasts” mentioned in the Book of the Revelations, has ever been
appropriated in Christian Art to Saint Luke. Various are the surmises as to the
first cause of this appropriation; there is, however, some consensus of
opinion. The ox is indicative of patience, of non-obtrusion, and of sacrifice.
Possibly the emblem of the ox was applicable to Saint Luke because, in his Gospel,
he mainly portrays those things which relate to Christ’s priestly office; he
exhibits His patient, personal endurance, His humility, and non-complaining
sufferings – culminating in the all-sufficient sacrifice of Himself upon the
Cross for us men and for our salvation.
Devotional figures of Saint Luke in his character of
Evangelist generally represent him with his Gospel and with the attendant ox,
winged or unwinged. The Greek painters represent him as a young man with
crisped hair and a little beard, holding in one hand the portrait of the
Blessed Virgin, and in the other his Gospel. In the Academy of Saint Luke in
Rome is a painting ascribed to Raphael; Saint Luke is kneeling on a footstool
before an easel, and in this attitude is painting a portrait of the Virgin, who
appears before him, with the infant Jesus in her arms, out of heaven and
sustained by clouds. In the Munich Gallery is a painting accredited as the work
of Van Eyck; the Virgin is seated under a rich Gothic canopy, and holds in her
lap the Child Jesus. Saint Luke, kneeling on one knee, is painting her “vera
icon”. In the Vienna Gallery are pictures embodying the same idea. Carlo
Maratti represents Saint Luke as presenting to the Virgin the portrait he has
painted of her. In an engraving by Lucas V Leyden, Saint Luke is seated on the
back of the ox in the act of writing. He wears a hood like an old professor;
the book rests against the horns of the animal, the inkstand depends from the
bough of a tree. In the west window of the Court Room at Painters’ Hall, is a
little panel of stained glass representing Saint Luke; while in the Hall
itself, in the northeast angel, is a large oil painting which shows him engaged
in writing.
Painter
So far we have
sketched the career and work of Saint Luke as an Evangelist and a Physician;
the next point for consideration is his repute as a Painter. That
he was thus skilful and proficient rests almost entirely on tradition.
These traditional accounts obtained such currency and
force that with the development of art, Saint Luke had come to be regarded as a
patron saint of painters. Being thus esteemed, it seems only natural that
academies of art, on their foundation, should be placed under his immediate and
particular protection, and that their chapels mould be dedicated in honour of
his name; over the altars therein he has been represented as engaged in the
pious avocation of painting portraits of the Blessed Virgin. The same belief,
without doubt, caused Saint Luke to be selected as the Patron Saint of the Worshipful
Company of Painters, otherwise Painter-Stainers. When this selection took
place, or even when the Company itself was originally founded, it is impossible
to say. The Charter granted to the Company by King James II recites, “The art
and mystery of Paynters is an ancient art or mystery, and had time out of mind
been an ancient Company and Fellowship in the City of London.” The Guilds, in
most early days, were institutions of local self-help; they bound all classes
together in care for the needy, and for objects of common welfare, but not
necessarily for trading purposes. They always inculcated the observance and
practice of Religion, Justice, and Morality.
Their quasi-religious character is evident from the
mode of their formation, in the choice of a patron saint, by the appointment of
chaplains, and in the attendance of the members at the worship of the Church
before the feasts and other business. As all Liverymen of the Painter-Stainers’
Company know, it is on Saint Luke’s Day that they annually meet, according to
“ancient custom” at the hall in Little Trinity Lane, and proceed thence to
Divine service at the parish church, afterwards returning to the hall for the
annual election of Master and other officers, and for the subsequent “feast.”
This selection of Saint Luke as the patron saint of
the Company is, we think, a happy one, quite apart from the tradition which
represents him as a painter. We have already seen that unremitting attention
to, and faithful care of, Saint Paul, even in adverse circumstances, was one of
his chief characteristics. When in most sore straits, at the mercy of others,
and unable to protect himself, Saint Luke was his mainstay, being ever at his
side, whether in perils on land, or on the seas. Towards the end of his life all
others deserted him. His cup of trial and of sorrow would indeed have overflown
if he had been neglected or forsaken by Saint Luke, as he was by his fellows.
The Painters’ Company is distinguished by a similar characteristic. Though poor
in its corporate capacity, it is renowned for its benevolence, its liberality
and charity – giving annual pensions, and the like, to old decayed and lame
painters, also to those who are blind, and this without distinction of sex or
trade. In this unobtrusive path the Company follows the bright example of its
patron saint, not only being ever mindful of and tending to the wants of others
– the poor, the lame, and the blind – but also it affords this monetary help to
them continually and unceasingly. We have some knowledge of the blessing and
comfort which has been brought to many a distant home by the pensions granted
by the Company.
It has been well said that tradition is “Poetic,
patriotic, and religious: it is anything but historical or critical” This is
very true in reference to the tradition that Saint Luke was a painter. As we
have already seen, Saint Luke was well educated and versed in classical
knowledge. He was brought up in a great centre of the then civilized world
where the arts were not uncultivated. Is it too improbable to suggest that
Saint Luke may also have received some instruction, and have attained some
proficiency, in the art of Painting? We know that the origin of the art was not
by any means contemporaneous with the advent of Christianity, though the degree
of excellence then attained was but the efforts of an art undeveloped and in
its infancy – if we may judge, for instance, from the examples in the dark
shadows of the catacombs, or from such of the antique paintings as have come
down to us in the decoration of Assyrian, Egyptian, and Pompeian edifices.
Another negative argument in favour of the tradition
should be mentioned. We know that painting and all other imitation of the human
form was strictly forbidden among the Jews, and even artists themselves have
been excluded from Jewish provinces. We have already seen that Saint Luke was
most probably a Gentile; and if this contention be correct, then there is
something more than consistency in claiming him as a Painter, especially at a
time when the arts were in a high and flourishing state.
Saint Augustine says expressly that there existed in
his time no authentic portrait of the Virgin. Such a statement as this rather
proves to our mind that there were disputes concerning rival portraits. The
point of discussion may have been the query whether or not Saint Luke was the
author of any or all of them, though we may infer from Saint Augustine’s words
that their claim for authenticity could not, in his opinion, be substantiated.
Again, in early Christian days sculpture, having been so much identified with
idolatry and idolatrous practices, was, for some centuries at least, quite
unused and discarded by the Church. Afterwards painting obtained and occupied a
foremost position. As the geographical limits of the Church expanded, the
inherent necessity arose for some mode of keeping the leading doctrines of the
Church more continually and prominently before the converts to the New Faith
than could possibly be done by mere oral or individual instruction. Painting afforded
a means, and many and many examples of this use of it may be found in the
Catacombs of Rome. The art of painting thus became, as it were, the coadjutor
of the Church in her teaching. In connection with this point there exists a
legend. Saint Luke’s artistic powers, so it is said, were of much advantage to
him in propagating his work as an Evangelist. He carried with him everywhere
two portraits – his own handiwork. One depicted our Saviour, and the other the
Blessed Virgin. By the aid of them he converted many of the heathen; not only
did they perform great miracles, but all who looked at those bright and benign
faces – which possessed a striking resemblance to each others – were stirred to
admiration and devotion. The sense of sight being as important as the sense of
hearing, it would have formed a valuable adjunct to Saint Luke’s teaching and
preaching, if he were able to produce to his hearers a representation depicting
those persons of whom he had been speaking.
The Greek section of the Church accepts the tradition
without hesitation. Side by side with this fact it is worthy of note that she
only recognises and permits those paintings which are believed to be of holy or
miraculous origin, rejecting all known to be the products of human Art. This
early strictness is not now so generally observed, for the works of human hands
have been introduced, but only so far as they are faithful imitations of the
ancient models; they are required to be authenticated and exact copies.
Paintings of the Virgin Mary copied from the “original by Saint Luke,” which
tradition declares to be genuine, are admitted as orthodox objects of
adoration. Mr Athelstan Riley, in his exceedingly interesting and descriptive
work, Athos mentions a picture by Saint Luke in the Protaton, the
chief Church of Caryes. The monks, who accompanied him on the occasion of his
visit, showed the greatest reverence to the picture by “innumerable
prostrations. It had an immense number of candles before it, and a canopy like
an umbrella over it.” The Greek Church is immobile in her faith; she knows no
deviation from, and permits no development of, her doctrine. May not the same
absolute steadfastness be observable in this particular tradition that Saint
Luke was a painter? May it not be that the legends narrated in reference to the
origin and miraculous powers of the older Greek pictures have been handed down
from the earliest centuries untouched and unsullied, so that to-day they are
identical with those common and in repute in the days when the Empress Helena
took precautions for the preservation of such works. Certain it is that the
Greek is the most ancient section of the Church. The traditions and doctrines
taught by her, we would by no means ruthlessly cast aside, or treat as
valueless her teaching in this respect. By modern Greeks and Ruffians, the
picture per se is held in great reverence. At the street corners, in every
home, in every shop, even on the steamboats, is the “picture” to be seen with
candles or lamps burning before it.
Some writers of eminence do not accept the tradition.
As for example, the Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould (and probably we have now living
no greater authority on cognate subjects) feels considerable doubt in endorsing
the statement that Saint Luke was a painter. However, even if such doubts could
be strengthened by further investigation or research, the fact abides that
there are now extant pictures, in various parts of the world, claimed to be his
handiwork; that these are few in number increases to our mind the probability of
their authenticity.
The existence of the tradition in Western Europe
cannot be traced back to a very early century. It possibly came in after the
First Crusade, and was accepted at that period along with many other Oriental
traditions then imported. If it had been of earlier origin, or had existed
prior to the Iconoclastic controversy, it would doubtless have been an
important factor and have been of much argumentative value in those quarrels,
which raged so fiercely during the eighth and ninth centuries. Some think that
the tradition may have originated in the real existence of a Greek painter
named Luca: a saint, too, he may have been, for the Greeks have a whole
calendar of canonized artists, painters, poets, and musicians. This Greek San
Luca may have been a painter of those Madonnas imported into the West by
merchants and pilgrims; and the West, knowing but one Saint Luke, would easily
confound the painter and the Evangelist. The first reliable authorities are the
Menalogium of Basil the Younger, (published in 980?), and Symeon Metaphrastes,
who also belongs to the tenth century. The various authors quoted by F. Gretzer
in his dissertation on this subject speak much of Saint Luke excelling in the
art of painting, and of his leaving many pictures of Christ and of the Blessed
Virgin. These statements find preconfirmation just after the Council of Ephesus
(431). Theodorus Lector, who lived in 518, records that the Empress Eudocia
sent from Jerusalem to her sister-in-law, Pulcheria, at Constantinople, a picture
of the Blessed Virgin, painted by Saint Luke. Pulcheria placed it in the church
of Hodegorum, which she built in Constantinople. It was at that time regarded
as of very high antiquity, and supposed to have been painted from the life; it
was held in the greatest veneration; its ultimate fate is unfortunately not
known with certainty. Some say it is identical with the picture now held in
high honour in the Chapel of the Madonna in Saint Mark’s, Venice, Italy.
Further, a very ancient inscription was found in a vault near the Church of
Santa Maria in Via Lata in Rome, in which it is said of a Picture of the
Blessed Virgin discovered there, “Una ex VII a Luca depictis.” In this same
Church one is still shown a little Chapel in which, “as it hath been handed down
from the first ages,” Saint Luke the Evangelist “wrote, and painted the effigy
of the Virgin-Mother of God.” The accuracy of the tradition was not disputed or
questioned until 1776. In that year D. M. Manni published in Florence his
treatise “Dell’ Errore che persiste di attribuirsi le Pitture al Santo
Evangelista” and thus he has the distinction (if it be one) of being the first
to query Saint Luke’s claim to be regarded as a painter.
The argument may be summarized. We are shown a picture
by loving and reverential hands; its great age is apparent; its history is
delineated by a faithful heart. “It is the work of Saint Luke the Evangelist.”
This is the statement. We may, of course, deny the assertion of fact, if we
wish, but it is almost impossible to prove its inaccuracy. Instead, therefore,
of doubting or questioning, we prefer to accept the statement made, since it
embodies the belief of many a faithful child of God, and is also the teaching
of a grand section of the One Church. It has been said, we think well said, “A
bushel of superstition is better than a grain of infidelity.”
We have always been interested in relics. Some demand
a very wide range of faith to accept, since much sight of them is denied: as,
for instance, the relic in the Chapelle de S. Sang at Bruges, yet that is one
which we could not repudiate altogether. Again, we have seen, in Saint Ursula’s
Church in Cologne, Germany, a lovely specimen of alabaster, which is asserted,
distinctly, to be one of the “Water-pots” used at the marriage feast of Cana in
Galilee. Certain it is that the present location of the vessel has been
undisturbed for some seven hundred years, and that it is of unquestionable
antiquity. We may doubt the statement made by the custos, if we choose, yet he
makes it fully persuaded of the truth of his assertion. Therefore, as the
matter is not of vital import, we freely accept what we cannot
disprove. On such grounds as these we confess to accepting the tradition that
Saint Luke was a painter as well as the unquestioned fact that he was an
evangelist and a physician.
The
Pictures
In the centuries prior to the Iconoclastic
persecution, there appears to have existed a great number of pictures of a rude
and archaic type, traditionally reported to have been painted by Saint Luke. Of
these some, no doubt, were early lost through pagan barbarism, Mahometan fury,
and even Christian intolerance. An interesting letter of Epiphanius to John,
Bishop of Jerusalem, is preserved by Saint Jerome. He writes,
On my journey through Anablata, a village in
Palestine, I found a curtain at the door of the Church, on which was painted a
figure of Christ or some saint, I forget which. As I saw it was the image of a
man, which is against the command of the Scriptures, I tore it down and gave it
to the Church authorities, with the advice to use it as a winding-sheet for the
next poor person who might have occasion for one, and bury it.
Many other pictures undeniably fell a prey to the zeal
of the Iconoclasts, and these whether found in churches, monasteries, or
belonging to individuals. Greater havoc could not well have been effected. The
authorities under the Emperor Leo III and his successors not only destroyed
every picture they could obtain, but also persecuted the possessors of these
treasures, especially those who would not give them up. Sacred art was thus
bereft of many of its finest examples. It is in Italy alone that important
remains of sacred art, previous to this period, can now be seen, and this may
be accounted for by the fact that the possessors of those sacred pictures
travelled from the East to Rome, where freedom from persecution was then
enjoyed. The second Council of Nice, under the Empress Irene, in 787, condemned
the Iconoclasts, and after some further delay the use of sacred pictures in
churches was restored, and in later times sculptured imagery also. The Greek
section of the Church, however, to this day still retains the older order, and
only allows pictures, and the flatter their surface the more orthodox.
List
of Pictures
Rome
The Basilica of Saint John Lateran
Here, in the elegant Chapel, at the summit of the
Santa Scala, called the “Sancta Sanctorum” and formerly the private Chapel of
the Popes, is a painting of the Saviour, attributed to Saint Luke. It is 5 feet
8 inches in height, and tradition affirms it to be an exact likeness of our
Lord at the age of twelve years.
The Basilica of Saint Maria Maggiore
The Chapel of the Borghese family is remarkable for
the magnificence of its architecture and decorations. The altar-piece is formed
of fluted columns, or bands, of oriental jasper; it is celebrated also for the
miraculous painting of the Madonna and Child, attributed to Saint Luke; it is
pronounced to be his work in the copy of a Papal Bull attached to one of the
walls. It is affirmed to be the same painting which Gregory the Great carried
in procession to stay the plague that devastated Rome in 590.
The Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedino
The picture of the Virgin in the Tribune is attributed
to Saint Luke, and is a good specimen of early art. It bears a Greek
inscription, and is said to have been secured by the Greeks when they fled from
Constantinople. Though dark in colour, it has been described as yet most
lovely; both the Mother and Child are full of grace and refined expression. It
is interesting to remember that this Church was intended for the use of the
Greek exiles, who were driven from the East by the Iconoclasts. Thus there
appears a connection and, so to speak, a propriety, in this Church possessing a
painting “by Saint Luke.”
The Church of Santa Maria in Via Lata
This church, near the Doria Palace, also boasts a
picture. The church is said to occupy the site of the house where Saint Paul
lodged with the centurion.
The Church of Santa Maria di Ara Caeli
This church contains a miracle-working wooden figure
of the Infant Saviour, the Santissimo Bambino, whose powers for curing the sick
have given it extraordinary popularity. The legend says that it was carved by a
Franciscan pilgrim out of a tree which grew on the Mount of Olives, and that it
was painted by Saint Luke while the pilgrim was sleeping over his work. The
Bambino is extremely rich in gems and jewellery; it is held even now in much
sanctity in cases of severe sickness; at one time it was said to receive more
fees than any physician in Rome. We believe that this Church possesses a
picture of the Madonna, in the Byzantine style, painted on a panel of cypress,
which is also attributed to Saint Luke.
Church of Saints Dominico e Sisto
The following inscription is engraved on a tablet –
Here at the high altar is preserved that image of the
most blessed Mary, which, being delineated by Saint Luke the Evangelist,
received its colours and form divinely,” etc.
The Vatican – The Bibliotheca
A Greek cloth picture here is given, according to the
traditions, as the work of the evangelist Saint Luke. It depicts the face of
our Blessed Lord surrounded by a gold and jewelled mounting (horseshoe shape)
in the form of a nimbus. Independent of the tradition, a credible and
apparently authenticated history refers it to a period about the middle of the
third century. It is executed in a thick water-colour, or tempera pigment, on a
panel of cypress wood, now nearly decayed. The features are more made out and
more marked in character than is generally to be observed in the “cloth”
pictures.
Venice
Saint Mark’s
In the north transept is the Chapel of the Madonna,
and it contains the most popular altar in Venice. The reason for this is that
it possesses an “old Greek pciture” which is asserted to have been painted by
Saint Luke. It was brought from Constantinople by the blind old Doge, Enrico
Dandoro, when he besieged and took that city in 1204. It is held “somma
venerazione” – religious services are performed before it almost without
cessation. According to the Venetians, it is identical with the picture of
Pulcheria.
Florence
The Church “Santissma Annunziata”
In the chapel of the “Annunciation” is the miraculous
fresco representing this far-reaching event in the history of mankind. The
painter was Pietro Cavalliere, or a certain Bartolomeo. It is a disputed point
which of the two is the real author, but tradition says that he, while musing
and meditating on the perfections of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and feeling also
how inefficient his powers were to represent her features worthily, fell
asleep. On awaking he found that the head of the Virgin had been wonderfully
completed during his slumbers by Saint Luke, or by angels who had descended
from heaven for the purpose. Though this relic has been frequently restored, no
one has presumed to touch the features of the Virgin, which are marvellously
sweet and beautiful. It is concealed by a veil, on which is painted a head of
the Redeemer; around it, continually alight, are forty-two lamps of silver. A
copy of the fresco, by Carlo Dolce, is in the Pitti Palace.
Genoa
Church of San Bartolomeo
In the sacristy of the church is a picture claimed to
be by Saint Luke. It is enclosed in a silver shrine, on which is depicted in
relief a long list of miracles which it has performed. Other traditions there
are, which vary on the question of authorship; the evidence, however, of its
high antiquity is singularly conclusive. Eusebius quotes ecclesiastical
writings then extant to show that this picture was known to exist in the Royal
Library at Edessa, in the middle of the second century, and it was then
considered an undoubted work of the apostolic age. Moses Caronere, an Armenian
of the fourth century, also mentions it as in his possession in his capacity as
keeper of the royal archives at Edessa. His authority, on this account, can
scarcely be questioned. The German critic, Schroeder, does not hesitate to
style him an author “optimae notae et indubitatae fidei”. Again, in the same
century, Saint Ephrem, deacon of the Church in Edessa, makes mention of it.
Eusebius, on his own authority, speaks of it as existing in his time. The
historian Evagrius, in the sixth century, mentions it as performing many
wonders in his day. The picture remained in its place in the Royal Library at
Edessa till the Genoese, in the middle of the tenth century, removed it to its
present locality in the Church of San Bartolomeo.
Padua, Italy
Church of San Giustiana
In a subterranean chapel behind the altar in the north
transept is a sepulchral urn erected by Gualportino Mussato in 1316, in which
are preserved the reputed remains of Saint Luke. A small chapel, opening out of
the right transept, contains a miraculous image of the Virgin, supposed to have
been brought from Constantinople by Saint Urius, where it narrowly escaped the
flames raised to destroy it by the Iconoclast Emperor Constantinus in the
eighth century.
Moscow, Russia
The Cathedral of the Assumption in the Kremlin
A picture on the Iconostasis – that of the Holy Virgin
of Vladimir – is pointed out as having been painted by Saint Luke. It came
originally from Constantinople, and it was brought to Moscow from Kief in 1155.
It is one of the most ancient icons in Russia, and it is painted on a
composition of wax. The jewels with which the picture is adorned are valued at
£45,000, an emerald among the number alone being worth £10,000. The icon is in
good preservation.
Constantinople
The Patriarchal Church of Saint Qeorge
This church in the Phanar, or Greek quarter, also
contains, as we have been told, a picture ascribed to Saint Luke, though we
have endeavoured, in vain, to obtain some detail concerning it. An authority
very kindly tells us of a picture of the Blessed Virgin, which Saint Luke is
said to have painted. It was carried from time to time, to and fro, between the
Monastery of the Chora and the Monastery of the Hodegetria, near the mouth of
the Golden Horn. It was conveyed in procession to the walls of the city in
times of siege, or other public troubles. It is said to have been cut into
shreds by the Janissaries when Constantinople was taken in 1453. In spite of
this account of the destruction of this gem, it was spoken of some few years
back as being then in existence. “The Guardian,” of 30 November 1870 states
that there had been
submitted to the view of Her Majesty and the Prince of
Wales some unique and interesting works of early Chrislian art; one of these is
a picture called the Marie Hodegedrin, or the Virgin and Child,
alleged to be painted by Saint Luke “the Evangelist. The authenticity of the
work is said to be vouched for by certain inscriptions in Chaldaic.
Mount Athos
Philotheou
The Catholicon here contains a remarkable picture of
the Blessed Virgin, perhaps the finest specimen of the Byzantine school on
Athos. The Mother is represented in the act of kissing the Child, whose arm
hangs down naturally. It is attributed to the great Evangelist painter, and is
called the Glykophilousa, or the Sweetly-kissing One. It was thrown
into the sea at the time of the Iconoclasts, and being wafted to Athos was
brought ashore by the Fathers. In the place where it landed a spring gushed
forth, and this spring still exists. The icon is placed against the northeast
pillar which supports the dome. Mr Athelstan Riley tells us that the size of
this picture is about four feet by two feet (not larger), and it is in good
preservation, the figure and face being distinct.
The Church of the Monastery of Saint Dionysus
In this church, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist,
is a paracclesi of the Panaghia containing a picture ascribed to Saint Luke. It
is quite small, and now utterly ruined, both the form and the colour of the
picture being much obliterated.
Protaton
In this chief church of Caryes, on the north side,
under the arch of the north transept, is a picture also attributed to Saint
Luke. It is in good preservation, and is in size about four feet by two feet.
England
We had hoped, from the outset, to find England
possessing a painting by Saint Luke, and consequently were charmed to read in
an old book, entitled “A Six Weeks Tour through the Southern Counties of
England and Wales” published in 1769, the following description of one of the
pictures in the dining-room at Wilton House, the seat of the Earls of Pembroke
–
“Saint Luke. Virgin and our Saviour. You will be
surprised to find Saint Luke in a catalogue of painters; but the house-keeper
tells you, with a very grave face, there are writings in the Library which
prove it; but it is too good for Palestine or Judea; it is very fine.”
The present Earl of Pembroke, however, does not agree
with the opinion above quoted, and courteously tells us that he knows of no
writings which can be held to substantiate the accuracy of the statement.
Carver
Saint Luke’s talents were not confined apparently to
one branch of art. He would seem to have been a carver as well as a painter. In
Spain there are a number of images of the Virgin ascribed to Saint Luke.
Antonio Ponz is surprised at the number of them. Nearly all are very dark in
colour, “black, but comely” (Song of Solomon 1:3).
Spain
Esparraguena
In the parish church is a miraculous image of the
Virgin. Volumes have been written on this graven image, and the miracles it has
worked. The image was made by Saint Luke, and brought to Barcelona, so the
tradition runs, by Saint Peter the Apostle in the year 50. It is rudely carved
in dark wood; the Virgin holds the Child in her lap. “None” we are told, “can
dare to look at it long” and the monks, in dressing and undressing it, always
avert their eyes.
Guadalupe
In the church here is another image of the Virgin
carved by Saint Luke. Though now despoiled of its silver throne, the silver
angels, the eighty silver lamps, the gold, jewels, and other rich surroundings,
it has always had a great renown. That conquering vandal, Victor, left the
image, though he robbed its valuable surroundings. It may be that he feared its
sanctity.
Afterword
We have been most anxious to compile a complete and
descriptive list of all the pictures now existing that are attributed to Saint
Luke, but to accomplish this has been found exceedingly difficult. In the
preceding enumeration we do not presume by any means to give a perfect list,
and indeed we shall be much indebted to any one who can supply information
respecting others.
– Walter Hayward Pitman
Prayer
According to the old rules, before mixing his colours,
the painter was directed to fall on his knees, and recite the following prayer.
– Athos, page 275
Lord Jesus Christ, Our God, who wast endowed with a
Divine and incomprehensible nature, Who didst take a body in the womb of the
Virgin Mary for the salvation of mankind, and didst deign to limn the sacred
character of Thy immortal Face, and to impress it upon a holy veil, which
served to cure the jickness of the satrap Abgarus and to enlighten his soul
with the knowledge of the True God; Thou Who didst illuminate with Thy Holy
Spirit Thy Divine Apostle and Evangelist Luke, that he might represent the beauty
of Thy most pure Mother, who carried Thee, a tiny Infant, in her arms and said,
“The Grace of Him Who is born of me is poured out upon men!” Do Thou, Divine
Master of all that exists, do Thou enlighten and direct the foul and heart and
spirit of Thy servant {name}; guide his hands that he may be enabled worthily
and perfectly to represent Thy image, that of Thy most holy Mother, and those
of all the Saints for the glory, the joy, and the embellishment of Thy most
holy Church. Pardon the sins of all those who shall venerate these icons, and
of those who, piously casting themselves on their knees before them, shall
render honour to the models which are in the heavens. Save them, I beseech
Thee, from every evil influence, and instruct them by good counsels, through
the intercessions of Thy most holy Mother, of the illustrious Apostle and
Evangelist, Saint Luke, and of all They Saints. Amen.
Guercino (1591–1666). Saint Luc, circa 1652, 220.9 x 180.3, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
San Luca Evangelista
San Luca col suo Vangelo
ha voluto imprimere alla storia dell’uomo, considerata dal filosofo greco
Eraclito come «un giuoco di dadi fatto da bambini» (frammento 52, un senso in
Gesù Cristo, il coordinatore di quel groviglio di eventi, salvatore dal male e
dall’assurdo che si annida nelle vicende umane, l’«evangelizzatore» della
speranza, della libertà e della gioia. Questa citazione del cardinal Ravasi
racchiude in sintesi la portata del grande evangelista Luca, dal nome già
indicativo, portatore di luce. Luca (in greco Loukás; Antiochia, 10 dC.;
† Tebe, 93 dC.) è l'evangelista autore dell'omonimo Vangelo e degli Atti degli
Apostoli. A quanto pare non conobbe direttamente Gesù, ma fu un fedele seguace
di Paolo e suo compagno nel secondo e terzo viaggio di Paolo. Anche se il suo
ruolo nella Chiesa primitiva non appare come di primo piano, la sua importanza
indiretta è fondamentale: grazie in particolare agli Atti degli Apostoli ci ha
permesso di conoscere l'evoluzione e la storia delle comunità cristiane dei
primi decenni. La sua festa è celebrata il 18 ottobre; il suo emblema è il bue.
È venerato come santo dalla Chiesa cattolica e dalla Chiesa ortodossa.
Le fonti storiche e le Sacre Scritture
Nei Vangeli e negli Atti, Luca non viene esplicitamente nominato. Assumendo
però la sua paternità degli Atti degli apostoli , appare come protagonista
implicito di parte della predicazione di Paolo descritta nelle cosiddette
"sezioni noi" (At 16,10-17; 20,15-21; 27,1-28,16): in esse la
narrazione passa dalla terza persona (p.es. andò, andarono) alla prima persona
plurale (andammo), lasciando intendere che l'autore fosse protagonista degli
eventi narrati. Nelle lettere paoline, Luca viene citato fugacemente tre volte
(Col 4,14; Fm 24; 2Tim 4,11), confermando l'ipotesi desumibile da At che fosse
uno stretto e fedele collaboratore di Paolo. Altre informazioni sono presenti
in alcune opere di autori cristiani successivi, la cui storicità non appare
però sempre certa.
La vita
Secondo il cosiddetto Prologo antimarcionita a Marco (II sec., testo lat. e
gr.), Luca era nato ad Antiochia (di Siria) da famiglia siriaca, non ebrea, ed
esercitava la professione di medico (v. anche Col 4,14). Non è chiaro se prima
di aver aderito al cristianesimo fosse stato o meno un simpatizzante del
giudaismo (proselito): dato però che l'annuncio cristiano aveva inizialmente
luogo principalmente tra gli Ebrei e solo in seguito (con Paolo) tra i pagani
greco-romani, la prima ipotesi è più verosimile. Sia dalle indicazioni del
Prologo, sia dallo stile delle opere attribuitegli (Lc e At), Luca sembra aver
avuto una robusta formazione greco-ellenista, che costituiva la cultura
ufficiale del mediterraneo orientale dell'epoca, elemento che sarebbe in
accordo col medio-alto stato socio-economico corrispondente alla professione
esercitata. Il greco nel quale sono redatti i suoi scritti è fluente ed
elegante, mostra un'ottima conoscenza della Bibbia greca (Settanta) e, di tanto
in tanto, affiorano punti di contatto con il modo di scrivere degli storici
greci del suo tempo. Non sono note con chiarezza le modalità della sua adesione
al cristianesimo. Secondo il Canone muratoriano (circa 170) non conobbe
direttamente Gesù, cosa che sarebbe confermata dalle ricerche presso i
testimoni oculari accennate nell'incipit del suo Vangelo (1,1-4). È verosimile
che abbia conosciuto il cristianesimo nella sua città natale, Antiochia,
attorno agli anni 40, dove era presente una florida comunità cristiana e dove
Paolo arrivò attorno al 44. Attorno al 375 Epifanio[1] lo identifica con uno
dei settanta discepoli inviati in missione da Gesù (Lc10,1), ma si tratta
probabilmente di una leggenda tardiva. Altre tradizioni tardive e leggendarie
lo identificano con l'anonimo discepolo di Emmaus (Lc 24,13-35) o con Lucio di
Cirene (At 13,1). Le "sezioni noi" degli Atti suggeriscono la sua
partecipazione al secondo viaggio di Paolo (iniziato attorno al 50 e durato
circa 4-5 anni, con partenza da Antiochia e predicazione nelle attuali Turchia
e Grecia) e a successivo terzo viaggio (collocato attorno al 54-58 con le
stesse mete del precedente), che termina con l'arrivo a Gerusalemme dove Paolo
viene arrestato attorno al 57-58 e detenuto a Cesarea. Sempre la narrazione in
prima persona suggerisce la sua presenza di fianco a Paolo durante il suo
viaggio verso Roma, in attesa di essere giudicato dall'imperatore, e dove
rimase in una sorta di arresti domiciliari per almeno due anni. Durante questo
soggiorno forzato di Paolo a Roma, attorno al 60-62, la vicinanza di Luca
all'apostolo sarebbe testimoniata dai tre passi succitati (Col4,14; Fm 24; 2Tim
4,11), contenuti però in lettere la cui attribuzione paolina non è del tutto
condivisa. Secondo il Prologo antimarcionita, Luca rimase celibe tutta la vita
e non ebbe figli, e morì (senza accenni a un suo martirio) a Tebe, in Beozia
(nell'attuale Grecia), all'età di 84 anni, e lì sarebbe stato anche sepolto.
Secondo Gaudenzio di Brescia (IV secolo, PL XX,962) e Gregorio di Nazianzo
invece fu martirizzato a Patrasso (sempre nell'attuale Grecia) assieme
all'apostolo Andrea. Secondo quando riportato da San Girolamo (De viris
illustribus 7), le sue ossa furono trasportate a Costantinopoli. Le sue spoglie
giunsero poi a Padova, dove tuttora si trovano nella basilica di santa
Giustina; solo la testa è invece conservata a Praga.
L’evangelista e l’autore degli Atti
A Luca è attribuita la paternità del terzo vangelo e degli Atti degli Apostoli, che ne costituisce una sorta di prosecuzione. Le più antiche indicazioni in tal senso si trovano nel Canone Muratoriano[2] (circa 170), Ireneo di Lione (Adversus Haereses 3, 1, 1, circa 180), il succitato Prologo antimarcionita (fine II secolo). Entrambe le opere, scritte probabilmente tra il 70-80 d.C., sono dedicate a un certo Teòfilo (probabilmente un eminente cristiano), in ciò seguendo l'uso degli scrittori classici, che appunto erano soliti dedicare le loro opere a personaggi illustri. Altra ipotesi è che egli intendesse dedicare il proprio Vangelo a chi ama Dio (Teofilo = "amante di Dio"). Come ogni altro evangelista (come Marco, Matteo, Giovanni), Luca narra l’esperienza che la sua comunità cristiana ha fatto e fa della persona di Gesù: concretamente il significato dei suoi gesti, delle sue parole, delle sue azioni e lo riporta al contesto, al luogo e momento storico attuale. Cosa c’entra Gesù, le sue scelte, il suo modo di relazionarsi, il suo progetto; con le domande, le difficoltà, le problematiche, le gioie, le speranze, con la fede, con gli intenti di una vita alternativa che questa comunità stava cercando di vivere? Dove era andato a finire il Sogno di Dio narrato da Gesù? Quanto i cristiani lo avevano fatto proprio? Come aveva cambiato il loro stile di vita, di relazione con gli altri, di porsi davanti alla mentalità imperiale? Luca scrive per verificare e confermare la consistenza della fede dei suoi destinatari (1, 1-4). Inizia il suo vangelo con il tema della fedeltà del Dio di Gesù, narra come le promesse si siano realizzate nella nascita di Gesù; chiude il vangelo con questo stesso tema quando narra come Dio abbia mantenuto le sue promesse risuscitando Gesù dai morti. Questo Dio, che non permise che il Santo di Dio vedesse la corruzione (At 2,27), sicuramente sarà fedele alle promesse fatte ai seguaci di Gesù che vengono da tutti gli angoli della terra per prendere posto al banchetto celeste con Abramo, Isacco e Giacobbe. Per chi? Luca scrive per i Cristiani provenienti dal paganesimo che avevano dubbi su Gesù. Loro volevano capire, chiarire dubbi sulla vita di Gesù di Nazaret. Teofilo (nome greco che significa Amico di Dio) è icona di questa categoria di persone. Luca, mentre scrive, ha in mente le persone e comunità situate nelle grandi città, dove c’erano forti contrasti sociali, con una minoranza di privilegiati e una maggioranza di esclusi ed emarginati. Scrive per persone di provenienze culturali diverse con molte barriere e pregiudizi reciproci, che rendevano difficile la convivenza. Le donne non erano riconosciute nella loro dignità. La fame di pane e di relazioni sociali più giuste sicuramente era molto sentita. Scrive per una comunità che conosce dubbi, crisi, scoraggiamento, che si sentiva minoranza insignificante di fronte all’immensità dell’Impero.
L'attenzione data da Luca agli incontri di Gesù con i Samaritani va vista in
ottica missionaria: la missione nei loro confronti costituisce l'inizio della
missione fra i non-giudei e fa parte del piano di Dio. Non ci sono preclusioni:
con Gesù il tempo della salvezza è arrivato per tutti, compresi quelli che
venivano disprezzati. Va notato, però, che in Luca il superamento delle
esclusioni e la prospettiva universale si accompagnano ad un suo netto
atteggiamento positivo verso il popolo giudeo, la sua religione e cultura. La
missione è universale, ma parte da Gerusalemme. Quando e dove scrive? Anche se
non è semplice stabilire una data esatta, si può arrivare per approssimazione
considerando molti altri avvenimenti storici ad ampio raggio. Luca usa come una
delle sue fonti il Vangelo di Marco, che fu scritto poco prima della guerra
giudaica del 66-70. Lc 21, 5-38 presuppone che la distruzione di Gerusalemme
sia già avvenuta; quindi, si impone una data dopo il 70. Luca negli Atti non
riflette una conoscenza della dura persecuzione avvenuta nell’ultimo periodo
dell’Impero di Domiziano (81-96), né riflette l’aspra controversia che oppose
la chiesa e la sinagoga dopo la ricostruzione del giudaismo a Iamnia (85-90
d.C) Da queste considerazioni si può concludere, per la composizione di Lc-At,
ad una data tra l’80 e l’85. Altri studiosi suggeriscono 80-90. Il luogo esatto
dove fu scritto non è possibile definirlo, ma certamente deve essere stato
qualche città dell’Impero Romano, e probabilmente Antiochia di Sira, Efeso, o
Filippi che sono i luoghi ben conosciuti da lui.
Scriba e Medico
Dante lo ha definito lo “scriba della mansuetudine di Cristo” per il predominio,
nel suo Vangelo, di immagini di mitezza, di gioia e di amore. Compagno e
collaboratore di san Paolo, che lo chiama «il caro medico». La qualifica di
medico attribuita a Luca viene confermata, secondo gli studiosi, dall’esame
interno delle sue opere. La sua cultura e la preparazione specifica erano
sicuramente note tra le comunità di cui faceva parte; potrebbe addirittura
avere curato la Madre del Signore. Certamente la sua cultura generale e la sua
esperienza degli uomini erano piuttosto notevoli. Una lunga tradizione lo vuole
originario di Antiochia, tanto da essere denominato “il medico antiocheno”, ed
è per questo patrono di tutti i medici e i chirurghi.
Patrono dei pittori e iconografo
Un'antica tradizione cristiana dice che Luca fu il primo iconografo e che dipinse quadri della Madonna, di Pietro e Paolo. La tradizione che vuole Luca pittore e iniziatore della tradizione artistica cristiana sorge nel contesto della controversia iconoclastica (730-843). Al di là della speculazione teologica sui passi biblici dell'Esodo e del Deuteronomio che esplicitamente avversano la raffigurazione del divino, sorse tra il VIII e il IX secolo una ricerca minuziosa delle antiche tradizioni che avvalorassero l'idea di un'origine apostolica dell'uso delle effigi sacre. Tali racconti riportano l'esistenza di personaggi che si preoccuparono di eseguire ritratti delle figure più importanti che ruotarono attorno a Gesù durante la sua vita, conservando la memoria del loro aspetto terreno. In questo contesto si portava l'esempio della Immagine di Edessa dove secondo la tradizione cristiana il volto di cristo rimase impresso su di un lino fatto dono al re armeno Abgar V di Edessa. I ritratti eseguiti da Luca sarebbero stati conservati per secoli a Roma e a Gerusalemme, dando il via ad una vera e propria scuola del ritratto religioso. I teologi del periodo scelsero Luca probabilmente perché, tra gli evangelisti, fu quello più accurato nelle descrizioni dei personaggi sacri, finendo con ciò con colmare diverse lacune degli altri "sinottici". Si aggiunga che fu Luca stesso ad avere premura di ricordare, nel prologo del proprio vangelo, di essere stato molto scrupoloso nel raccogliere informazioni da "testimoni oculari" (1,1-4) e qui si pensa in particolare alla stessa Madre di Gesù. Fu, di fatto, l'unico a inserire nel racconto notizie accurate sulla Vergine e sull'infanzia di Gesù. D'altra parte, il suo ruolo di medico suggeriva una familiarità con la pittura, che nella tradizione tardo-antica e non solo in quella, era ritenuta imprescindibile strumento per la riproduzione, in repertori illustrati, di piante officinali e del corpo delle persone. Agli stessi artisti è stata sempre necessaria una certa competenza in ambito botanico per la confezione dei colori.La più antica attestazione della leggenda è il Trattato sulle sante immagini di Andrea da Creta (VIII secolo), in cui l'autore si dichiara certo dell'accuratezza massima dei ritratti lucani, al contrario di quanto accade con le fisionomie riportate da Giuseppe Flavio nel Testimonium Flavianum. Risulta interessante la testimonianza di Simeone Metafraste (950-1022), che nel suo Menologio (raccolta di vite di santi ordinate secondo il calendario liturgico), oltre ad attribuire a Luca raffinati studi in Ellade ed Egitto, sottolineava come l'evangelista, per le sue opere, si era avvalso di "cera e colori" (la cosiddetta pittura ad encausto, la più diffusa in età antica e in epoca proto-bizantina, prima di essere sostituita dai più versatili colori a tempera), con ciò dimostrando un'insospettabile consapevolezza (almeno per un agiografo) delle trasformazioni della pratica artistica. Ciò fa sospettare che egli conoscesse qualche antico dipinto del genere sopravvissuto all'iconoclastia.
Nell'ambito della competizione tra Roma e Gerusalemme nella promozione e
conservazione degli originali lucani, il canonico Nicolao Maniacuzio (1145)
associa la qualità del ritrattista dell'evangelista al suo essere di origine
greca. Fu, di fatto, la cultura orientale ad accaparrarsi la determinazione ex
postdelle caratteristiche stilistiche e tecniche del Luca pittore, tanto che
questi apparì poi soprattutto una sorta di iconografo bizantino ante litteram,
cioè un pittore di icone su tavole (in particolare di legno di palma). Il
giureconsulto Burgundio da Pisa (1153) realizzò una traduzione del Trattato
sulla fede ortodossa di Giovanni Damasceno basandosi su un manoscritto greco
interpolato con il passaggio dello pseudo-Andrea da Creta sugli originali
lucani conservati a Roma e Gerusalemme. Con ciò, la tradizione di Luca pittore
trovò una consacrazione ufficiale e autorevole, quella cioè di un padre della
Chiesa. Tommaso d'Aquino riprese da Giovanni Damasceno gli elementi teorici per
affermare la necessità di rispettare tradizioni venerabili quali quella di
eseguire e onorare le immagini sacre.
Sono molte le immagini bizantine a lui attribuite, tra cui:
- L'icona della Madonna di Częstochowa, in latino Imago thaumaturga Beatae Virginis Mariae Immaculatae Conceptae, in Claro Monte, in Slavo ecclesiastico Ченстоховская икона БожиеМатери, Čenstohovskaja ikona Božiej Materi.
- L'icona Theotokos di Vladimir (in greco: Θεοτόκος του Βλαντιμίρ, Theotókos tou Blantimír), detta anche Nostra Signora di Vladimir o Vergine di Vladimir (in russo: Владимирская Богоматерь, Vladimirskaja Bogomater‘).
- La Madonna Costantinopolitana che si trova nella Basilica di santa Giustina a Padova, gelosamente custodita perché molto rovinata. Si racconta che il prete Urio, custode della basilica dei Dodici Apostoli di Costantinopoli, tra l'VIII e il IX secolo l'avrebbe portata a Padova, a santa Giustina, insieme al corpo di Luca e alle reliquie di san Mattia, per sottrarli alla furia iconoclasta.
- Una antica immagine della Vergine, detta Salus populi romani, conservata nella Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, nella Cappella Paolina, a sinistra dell'altare centrale. L'icona della Madonna è collocata sull'altare in una cornice di angeli che la recano in gloria, splendendo sul fondo turchino di un cielo di lapislazzuli. Le lettere greche che campeggiano ai lati della Vergine sono, di nuovo, l'abbreviazione del suo titolo di Madre di Dio, affermazione rovesciata e identica della divinità di Gesù.
- La Madonna di san Luca a Bologna.
Le reliquie
Secondo san Girolamo, le ossa di san Luca furono trasportate a Costantinopoli
nella famosa basilica dei Santi Apostoli dopo la metà del IV secolo;[24] le sue
spoglie giunsero poi a Padova, dove tuttora si trovano nella basilica di Santa
Giustina. L'abate del monastero Domenico e il vescovo di Padova Gerardo
Offreducci assieme a papa Alessandro III si ritrovarono per certificare che il
corpo fosse effettivamente del santo evangelista. La stessa fonte infatti
racconta che la sua reliquia giunse fino a Padova assieme a quella di san
Mattia al tempo dell'imperatore romano Flavio Claudio Giuliano (361-363); altri
scritti invece datano il trasferimento al secolo VIII durante una persecuzione
iconoclastica.[24]Una parte del suo cranio fu traslata dalla basilica di Santa
Giustina alla cattedrale di San Vito a Praga nel XIV secolo per volontà di
Carlo IV di Lussemburgo, allora re di Boemia.[24] Una costola del corpo del
santo è stata donata il 17 settembre 2000 al metropolita Hieronymos della
Chiesa greco-ortodossa di Tebe.[24] Esiste un'altra reliquia della testa nel
Museo Storico Artistico "Tesoro" nella basilica di San Pietro in
Vaticano.[25] Un reliquiario contenente un'altra parte della testa di san Luca
è custodito a Cremona nella chiesa omonima gestita dai padri barnabiti.
Autore: Don Luca Roveda
Domenico Ghirlandaio (1448–1494),
San Luca evangelista, circa 1486, fresco, Tornabuoni Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence
Vincenzo Foppa (–1515), San Luca evangelista, 1510, fresco, San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore, Milan
Nato ad Antiochia di Siria (Turchia) dieci anni dopo Gesù, Luca è un bravo medico pagano e, sembra, anche un pittore. Si narra che sia stato il primo a raffigurare la Madonna con il Bambino. Molte immagini della Santa Vergine sono attribuite a lui come la Salus Populi Romani nella Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore a Roma. Il nome Luca deriva dal greco lukios che significa “nato all’alba, alle prime luci del mattino”. Il santo non conosce personalmente Gesù, ma si converte al Cristianesimo quando sente parlare di Cristo da Paolo, il futuro santo, missionario ad Antiochia. Luca è colpito profondamente dalla storia di Gesù e decide di diventare subito stretto collaboratore e compagno di viaggio di Paolo. Lo segue a Gerusalemme e in Italia fino a Roma. In seguito, si narra che Luca si rechi missionario in altri territori per diffondere il Cristianesimo: Dalmazia, Macedonia, Italia, Gallia, Egitto.
Luca scrive il terzo Vangelo e gli Atti degli Apostoli dove si narrano le vicende delle prime comunità cristiane. Il Vangelo di Luca descrive la Madonna, soffermandosi soprattutto sull’infanzia del Figlio di Dio. Il santo cerca a lungo testimoni della vita di Gesù, avvicina gli stessi apostoli e Maria, Madre di Gesù. Da loro si fa raccontare fatti, miracoli e la resurrezione di Gesù per poterli descrivere nel Vangelo. Alcune pagine sono molto famose come quelle delle parabole del “figliol prodigo” e del “buon samaritano”, della visita della Madonna alla cugina Elisabetta, della nascita di San Giovanni Battista e di Gesù. Le parole di Luca parlano in particolare della tenerezza e della misericordia di Dio. Per questo motivo il suo emblema è il bue, simbolo di mansuetudine.
È protettore di medici, chirurghi, pittori (pure su vetro), scultori, artisti in generale, notai, legatori di libri (anche in pelle), scrittori cattolici. Viene invocato contro il male alle orecchie. Il santo non si sposa e non ha figli. Della sua morte non si sa nulla di certo. Sarebbe avvenuta a Tebe, in Grecia, all’età di 84 anni, forse dovuta a martirio o a cause naturali. Secondo la tradizione le spoglie di San Luca si troverebbero a Padova, custodite nell’Abbazia di Santa Giustina.
Autore: Mariella Lentini
Saint
Luc, tableau, Église Saint-Séverin, Paris 5e
Den hellige evangelisten Lukas (~9 f.Kr-~75?)
Minnedag: 18.
oktober
Skytshelgen for
Bologna, Padova og Reutlingen; for leger, kirurger, slaktere, malere, artister,
billedhoggere, glassmalere, glassarbeidere, bryggere, gullsmeder, bokbindere,
dommere og syere; for kveget og været, for den kristne kunsten
Den hellige Lukas ble født før Kristi fødsel og var
ikke jøde, siden den hellige apostelen Paulus ikke
nevner ham blant jødene i Kol 4,10-11. I følge den berømte
kirkehistorikeren Eusebius av Caesarea (ca
260-340) og den hellige Hieronymus var
Lukas greker, muligens født i en ansett familie i Antiokia ved Orontes i Syria
(i dag Antakya i Tyrkia). Navnet Lukas er trolig utledet fra latin Lucius eller
Lucanus. Paulus omtaler ham som «vår elskede Lukas, legen» (Kol 4,14).
Opprinnelig var han hedning og traff aldri Jesus, men han ble døpt rundt år 43
i Antiokia (Apg 2,20). Rundt år 50/51 sluttet han seg til Paulus i Troas, og
fulgte ham siden på hans misjonsreiser. Visse deler av Apostlenes gjerninger er
skrevet i vi-form, og dette tolkes som at Lukas var med Paulus på den andre og
tredje misjonsreisen og reisen til Roma, hvor de led skipbrudd på Malta.
Mellom den andre
og tredje misjonsreisen var Lukas i Filippi og ledet kirken der til rundt 57. Han
fulgte også Paulus til Roma, og i sine brev nevner apostelen tre ganger Lukas'
tilstedeværelse i byen, idet han skriver til den hellige Timotheos:
«Lukas er min eneste ledsager» (Tim 4,11). Noen mener at den Lukas som Paulus
nevner, er en annen enn han som skrev evangeliet og apostelgjerningene, og det
er interessant at Paulus ingen steder refererer til Lukas som en forfatter.
Det er uklart hva som skjedde med Lukas etter at
Paulus led martyrdøden. En tradisjon hevder at han reiste til Antiokia og ledet
den kristne menigheten der til sin død, mens andre forteller at han skal ha
virket i Akaia på Peloponnes i Hellas og der skrevet sitt evangelium (og
Apostlenes gjerninger?). Det er mulig at han besøkte den hellige Jomfru Maria i
Jerusalem før han skrev sitt evangelium, men dette er nok bare en from
antakelse. Men i alle fall er det i hans evangelium vi finner historien om
Jomfrufødselen, fortalt med følsomhet og detaljrikdom fra Marias synsvinkel
(Luk 1-2). Hans evangelium inneholder også noen av de mest gripende lignelsene,
som de om den gode samaritan og den bortkomne sønnen, og Kristi ord på korset
til kvinnene i Jerusalem og den gode røveren.
Alt dette understreker Kristi medfølelse, og sammen
med Lukas' vektlegging på fattigdom, bønn og rene hjerter, kan det ha bidratt
til hans evangeliums spesielle appell til hedningene (ikke-jødene). For
Lukasevangeliet er skrevet av en ikke-jødisk kristen til ikke-jøder om verdens
Frelser. Kvinnene har en mer fremtredende plass i Lukas' evangelium enn i de
andre, for eksempel Maria, den hellige Elisabeth, enken
i Nain og kvinnen som var en synderinne. Det kan godt ha vært Paulus som
betrodde den lærde Lukas å skrive et evangelium; noen kilder sier også at han
var den første som leste det. Lukas brukte de eksisterende evangeliene etter de
hellige evangeliene Markus og Matteus da
han skrev sitt eget. Man merker legen Lukas i fortellingen om Jesu
helbredelser. Det er også hos Lukas vi finner de tre nytestamentlige lovsangene Benedictus,
Magnificat og Nunc dimittis.
Apostlenes gjerninger er skrevet i Roma, enten under
Paulus' fengselsopphold eller like etter hans død i 67, og forteller om den
tidlige Kirkens vekst under Den Hellige Ånd fra Oppstandelsen til rundt 63. Der
viser Lukas seg som en bemerkelsesverdig nøyaktig observatør, opptatt av å
trekke de nødvendige forbindelseslinjene mellom kristen og verdslig historie.
Mange av hans detaljer har blitt overbevisende bekreftet av moderne arkeologer.
Det er imidlertid et mysterium hvorfor Apostlenes gjerninger ender så brått og
ikke inneholder noe om Peters og Paulus' død i Roma, for de fleste forskere
mener at boken er skrevet mellom 70 og 85.
Lukas viste seg
som en kunstner med ord, og det er kanskje årsaken til tradisjonen fra
500-tallet om at han var maler og lagde minst ett ikon av Den hellige Jomfru. Det
påstås at flere bevarte bysantinske madonnaer skal være skapt av ham, for
eksempel det eldgamle nådebildet Salus populi Romani i basilikaen
Santa Maria Maggiore i Roma, men de aktuelle maleriene er nok av langt senere
dato. Det forhindret ham
ikke for å bli skytshelgen for kunstnere i tillegg til leger og kirurger.
Noen legender hevder at Lukas var en av Jesu 70 (72)
disipler (Luk 10,1), og han står som nr. 3 på biskop Dorotheus av Tyrus liste
over «Jesu Sytti
disipler» i henhold til Den ortodokse kirkes tradisjon. Han hevdes også å
være en av de to som Kristus viste seg for på veien til Emmaus (Luk 24,13-35).
Dette er romantiske anakronismer, men det er ikke usannsynlig at han var en
disippel av Paulus. En skribent fra slutten av 100-tallet sier at Lukas var
ugift og døde en fredelig død rundt år 75 (?) i Hellas, 84 år gammel, «fylt av
Den Hellige Ånd»; noen sier som biskop av Theben (i dag Thivai). Den hellige Gregor av Nazianz (d. 390) skriver at Lukas angivelig skal ha lidd
martyrdøden i Patras, men dette er tvilsomt.
Den 3. mars 357 ble Lukas' relikvier overført fra
Theben i Boetia (Boiotia) nord for Korint til Konstantinopel og bisatt i den
nybygde Apostelkirken der av keiser Konstantius II (337-61). Noen relikvier
oppbevares også i en alabastsarkofag i kirken Santa Giustina i Padova,
gravkirken for den hellige Justina. Dit har
de sannsynligvis kommet etter Konstantinopels fall. Den hellige Lukas. Fra
katedralen i Fiesole
Den hellige teologen Ireneus sammenlignet
hver av de Esekiels fire bevingede vesener (Esek 1,5f og 10,14; jf Åp 4,7-8)
med de fire evangelistene: Menneske (Matteus, for hans evangelium
begynner med det menneskelige: Jesu stamtre). Løve (Markus, for hans
evangelium begynner med Johannes Døperen,
som levde i ørkenen: Løvens røst). Okse (Lukas, for hans evangelium
begynner med Sakarias' offer i tempelet; oksen som offerdyr). Ørn (Johannes, for
hans evangelium begynner «ovenfra»).
Lukas' symbol er en okse med vinger, og det har gjort
at han har blitt skytshelgen for slaktere. I kunsten vises han ofte med
Jomfruen eller mens han holder sin bok, kledd i legefrakk. Han avbildes også
mens han maler et ikon av Jomfru Maria. En tidlig kristen mosaikk fra
300-tallet med en avbildning av evangelisten finnes i basilikaen San Vitale i
Ravenna.
Lukas' minnedag er 18. oktober. I følge Hieronymus'
martyrologium ble festen feiret på denne dato i de bysantinske og syriske
kirkene, og den ble innført i vest på 800-tallet. I vest feires en
translasjonsdag den 9. mai og i øst en minnedag for translasjon av bein og klær
den 20. juni. Hans navn står i Martyrologium Romanum.
SOURCE : http://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/lukas
_Lukas_malt_die_Madonna.jpg)
http://spiral.univ-lyon1.fr/files_m/M4337/WEB/St%20Luc%20M%C3%A9decin%20P.pdf
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rhr_0035-1423_1992_num_209_2_1607
