Saint Luke’s Day
Today, 18th October, is the feast day of Saint Luke. Luke is best known as the author of one of the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, but is also the patron saint of physicians, surgeons and artists. Luke's own writings, as well as the works of early Christian historians give us some details of his life.
Luke was a Greek speaker and probably lived in the Greek city of Antioch in Ancient Syria; it also seems likely that he was a Gentile. Luke's place as patron saint to physicians and surgeons, come from his own profession, as he was a physician. Scholars have identified him as 'Luke, the beloved physician' mentioned by St Paul in Colossians 4:14. From Luke's use of the third and first persons in his Gospel it has been argued that Luke joined St Paul's mission in the year 51AD and travelled with him for some years, after a parting of three years, the two rejoined company and Luke remained with Paul during his final imprisonment in Rome. The traditions surround Luke's own death are conflicting, some suggest that he too was martyred others that he lived to the age of 84 and dying in Boeotia in Greece.
Another, seemingly baseless, tradition is that Luke was one of the first icon painters; he is supposed to have painted several icons of the Virgin Mary including
The Black Madonna of Częstochowa or
Our Lady of Vladimir. Although there is no evidence for this tradition, it has led to Luke becoming the patron saint of artists as well as physicians.
As the patron saint of physicians, the feast day of St Luke has always been an important date for College. The College's Annual Stated Meeting is held on 18 October, and the President has traditionally given a dinner on the same day, records of this go back to the seventeenth century. Although the Annual Stated Meeting will be held today, the St Luke's Day Dinner had been moved to the beginning of November where it forms part of the College's Saint Luke's Day Symposium. This two day event comprises a number of medical seminars and master classes, with an admission ceremony for Honorary Fellows and the St Luke's Day Dinner.
Pictures
* Saint Luke from the Lindisfarne Gospel
* Our Lady of Vladimir