St. Luke the Evangelist Writing COLLECTION

It is apt that St. Luke the Evangelist, perhaps a Gentile Greek physician and Christian convert, is portrayed writing books with a quill pen in this devotional print. By tradition, St. Luke is credited with authorship of two canonical books of the Bible: his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. Taken together, these two books comprise over 25% of the New Testament. + In the print’s background, behind the turf bench and tree, lies an ox, presumably winged. The winged ox is St. Luke’s principal attribute. Like the attributes of the other three Evangelists—SS. Matthew, Mark, and John—the winged ox forms part of the tetramorph mentioned in both Ezechiel 1:10 and Revelation 4:7. A useful and sacrificial animal, the ox is thematically relevant to St. Luke’s writings, which emphasize Christ’s sacrificial death and the Apostles’ service. + Feast: October 18