October 18. Of the life of St. Luke the Evangelist very little is
known, but uniting tradition and the references made to him in Holy
Scripture we learn the following particulars: St. Luke was not one
of the Apostles and was probably not converted until after the
Ascension of our Lord, although one tradition has it that he was
one of the two disciples with whom our Lord conversed on the road
to Emmaus. St. Luke himself testifies that he was not from the
beginning an eye-witness and minister of the Word. He appears to
have studied medicine at Antioch, and St. Paul, in one of his
Epistles, refers to him as "Luke, the beloved Physician." A late
tradition represents him to have been a painter as well as a
physician, and he is said to have painted a picture of the Blessed
Virgin. He was undoubtedly a scholarly and accomplished man. To him
we are indebted for two of the canonical books--the Gospel which
bears his name and the Acts of the Apostles. St. Luke's Gospel gives
more incidents in our Lord's Life than any of the others, and the
beauty and {179} exceeding sweetness of his story of the Great Life
are enriched with those Gospel hymns which have characterized the
Church's worship ever since, viz.: Gloria in Excelsis, Benedictus,
Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis. Our Lord appears in this Gospel as
the Great High Priest, winning by His Sacrifice on the Cross, mercy
and pardon for sinners. It is for this reason that in ecclesiastical
art, St. Luke is represented by the winged Ox as setting forth
Christ's Atonement through sacrifice.

Lych Gate.--The word "lych," derived from the Anglo-Saxon _lie_, or
the German _leiche_, means a body, especially a dead body, a corpse.
The term _lych gate_ is the old name given to a churchyard gate
with a porch or covering, under which a bier may be rested while
the introductory portion of the Burial Service is being read. Such
gates are quite frequently found in England, and occasionally in
this country.

M

Magna Charta.--The great document exacted by Barons from King John
of England at Runnymede, June 15th, 1215, by which was declared
English liberty and English freedom in Church and State, and the
ancient rights and privileges of the people were clearly defined
and guaranteed. In this document is set forth the independence of
England's Church, and from it we learn how untrue is the popular
belief that the Church of England was founded by Henry VIII, {180}
for among its opening wo