Saint Luke Medal Necklace – Patron Saint of Physicians, Surgeons & Artists

Saint Luke, Patron Saint of Physicians, Surgeons, and Artists

Luke was a Greek-trained physician from Antioch who became a close traveling companion of Saint Paul, who called him "the beloved physician" in his Letter to the Colossians. He went on to write the Gospel that bears his name, along with the Acts of the Apostles, together making up more of the New Testament than any other single author contributed, including detailed, compassionate attention to the lives of women and the poor that set his Gospel apart from the others. Tradition holds that Luke was also a gifted painter, and credits him as the first person to create an icon of the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child, a claim that made him, centuries later, the patron saint of painters and iconographers as well as physicians. He's symbolized in Christian art by a winged ox, one of the four living creatures from the Book of Revelation, representing sacrifice and service. He is also invoked, in smaller and older traditions, as a patron of surgeons, notaries, bachelors, and even brewers and butchers, guild patronages that trace back centuries in parts of Europe.

A Gift For...

• A physician, surgeon, or medical student
• A painter, illustrator, or iconographer
• Anyone drawn to the compassionate, detail-oriented voice of Luke's Gospel
• A confirmation candidate who wants a saint connecting medicine and art
• A notary, or anyone in a licensing or documentation profession

A Confirmation Gift for Luke

For a confirmation candidate whose interests split between caring for people and making something beautiful, Luke offers a rare, specific match. Engrave a name and confirmation date, and let his dual calling carry the meaning.

The Saint Luke Medal

This medal depicts him bearded and robed, quill in hand, writing in a book that holds both his Gospel and a small icon of the Virgin and Child, a nod to his tradition as the first Marian painter, his winged ox beside him bearing its own halo, his own halo radiating outward. The natural gold or silver of the metal forms the illustration itself. Black ink is applied to the pendant surface and the metal shows through as the image. A shatterproof liquid glass coating seals the surface. The result has a depth and precision that printed medals don't achieve.

Personalization and Engraving

The optional engraving on the reverse is rendered in Tangerine cursive, two lines, up to 20 characters each. Many choose a name and a graduation or licensure date, while others engrave "beloved physician," the title Paul gave him.

Saint Luke's feast day is October 18, and nearly two thousand years later, he remains one of the only saints claimed as a patron by both a hospital wing and an art studio, a Gospel writer whose own hands, tradition holds, once held both a scalpel and a paintbrush.