ST. LUKE MEDAL

About St. Luke . . . Born to pagan Greek parents, and possibly a slave. Luke was one of the earliest converts. A physician, studying in Antioch and Tarsus, he probably travelled as a ship's doctor. (Many charitable societies of physicians are named for him.) Legend has it 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 St. Paul at Troas, and evangelized Greece and Rome with him, being there for the shipwreck and other perils of the voyage to Rome. Luke stayed in Rome for Paul's two years of prison. He 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. He wrote a history of the early Church in the Acts of the Apostles. Reading Luke's Gospel gives a good idea of his character as one who loved the poor, who wanted the door to God's kingdom opened to all, who respected women, and who saw hope in God's mercy for everyone. The reports of Luke's life after Paul's death are conflicting. Some early writers claim he was martyred, others say he lived a long life. Some say he preached in Greece, others in Gaul. He is often shown with an ox or a calf because these are the symbols of sacrifice -- the sacrifice Jesus made for all the world.