ST. LUKE. EVANGELIST.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 41, 11 October 1900, Page 7

ST. LUKE. EVANGELIST.

Among the companions and fellow laborers of St. Paul was one whom he held very dear and who scarcely ever left him. This was St. Luke, the great historian of the early Church, for he wrote not only a Gospel or Life of our Lord, but also an account of the events which followed the Ascension, and of the preaching of the principal apostles. St. Luks was a native of Antioch. the capital of Syria, and was by profession a doctor of medicine, for iSt Paul calls him ' his most dear physician.' He was probably converted at Antioch, in the eariy days of the Church, and attached himself to St Paul, whom he acoompanied in his apostolic journeys. Nor dil he leave that apostle when he was carried prisorer trom Jerusalem to Rome, but remained by his side during the two years of his detention. He was also with St. Paul during his second imprisonment, and remained with him to the last, carrying back to the East the glorious news of his martyrdom. The Gospel of St. Lnke, as was the case with those of the other evangelists, was written for the instruction of the people to whom he preached. His labors were principally cast among the polished inhabitants of Greece and Asia Minor, whom he strove to win to the love of Jesus by the beautiful example of his virtues and the sublime morality of his public teaching. Thus he chooses for their instruction the most tender and touching of our Lord's parables, and exhibits before their eyes a Teacher Whose tender compassion for mankind and unbounded charity prove Him to be not a inero man, but the very God of Love come to redeem His creatures. In the beginning of his Gospel St. Luke tells us that what he relates he learned from faithful witnesses of that which they told him. For the evangelists, thoucrh preserved from en or by a special inspiration, were not exempted from employing human means to acquire a knowledge of the fact-> which thty record. St. Luke would have many opportunities of obtaining accurate information while mingling with the apostles and disciples of our Lord. Hut as regards ihe events of the early life of Jesus he had evidently the best of informants in our Blessed Lady herself, for he relates circumstances about her Annunciation and Visitation, as al*o about the Birth, Presentation, and Finding of our Lord, which he could not have learned from any lips but her own. The history of the Acts of the Apostles was written by St. Luke, like his Gospel, in ithe Greek language, of which he was a perfect muster, and which wai the mother tongue of most of thobe to whom he preached. It was composed in Rome during the time of St. Paul's first imprisonment, and was intended to correct the falhe relations which had been published in many places regarding the actions of the Apostle*, and also to make known more widely the wonderful works of God in the foundation and establishment of His Churca. After the death of St. Paul, St. Luke continued his apostolic labors which had been interrupted by the imprisonment of the Apostle. The exact circumstances of his death are uncertain, but he probably finished his courss by martyrdom in Achaia, a province of the Peloponnesus. On a< count of St. Luke's frequent reference in his Gospel to the sacerdotal office of our Lord, he is supposed to have been symbolised in the vision of Ezechiel by an ox or calf, which was the emblem of priestly sacrifice.

hT. PETEI? OF ALCANTARA

St. Peter of Alcantara, fo called from the city in Spain where he was born, was the son of Peter Garavito, who held the office of jrovernor of the town. From his, infancy he exhibited the happiest disposition accompanied with a strong attraction to Bolitude and prayer. After studying at the University of Salamanca, he received the habit of St. Francis at the ape of 16 in the austere convent of Manjerezon the borders of Spain and Portugal. After some yearn spent in this retirement and in the eatablibhment of a new convent at Badajos, Peter was ordained priest and commissioned by his superiors to preach the Word of God. While making a visitation of the houses of his Order, Brother Peter came to Avila, where St. Teresa then resided in the Convent of the Im urnation. He earnestly encouraged her to undertake without rklay the great work which then occupied her thoughts, namely, the jeformation of the Carmelite Order and the restoration of its former austere discipline. Falling sick in the course of his visitation, he was conveyed to the Convent of Arenas, where he received with great devotion the Sacraments of the dying. He then rose upon his knees and in that posture calmly expired on October 18, AD. 1503, in the tilth year of his ajje. At the moment of his death he appeared to St. Teresa in great glory, and among other words spoken for her consolation was heard to exclaim : ' 0 happy penance, whioh hath obtained for me so great a reward.'