Luke, Saint

   St. Luke is one of the Evangelists who wrote the Gospels. He is believed to have been a Greek born in Antioch and to have trained as a physician. Nothing is known of his conversion to Christianity, though perhaps St. Paul may have had a hand in this as Luke accompanied him to Troas in c. 51 CE, and then to Samothrace, Neapolis, and Philippi. Luke remained in Philippi where he acted as leader of the local Christian community. In 57 CE he rejoined Paul in

   Troas and together they traveled to Miletus, Tyre, Caesarea, and finally Jerusalem. In 61 CE Luke and Paul were in Rome, where the latter was imprisoned and martyred. Luke is believed to have died in Boetia at the age of 84 of natural causes. His Gospel is unique in that it emphasizes the poor, forgiveness of sins, and social justice. It is also the only Gospel to present the story of the Annunciation, Visitation, Presentation in the Temple, and Mary Magdalen's washing of Christ's feet with her tears. One tradition claims that St. Luke painted a number of portraits of the Virgin. For this, he is considered the patron saint of painters and most early guilds or academies of painting in Europe were named after him. El Greco presented St. Luke (c. 1605-1610; Toledo, Cathedral) in this light as a three-quarter figure with pen in hand and holding opened his book where his portrait of the Madonna and Child is included. Jan Gossart (c. 1515; Prague National Gallery) and Maerten van Heemskerck (1532; Haarlem, Frans Halsmuseum) showed the saint in the act of painting the Virgin.

   See also Accademia di San Luca, Rome.