The feast of St. Luke

Today, October 18th, is the feast of St. Luke, physician, friend and colleague of St. Paul, evangelist, and author of the Acts of the Apostles.

THE INTROIT

Thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable; their principality is exceedingly strengthened. Ps. Lord, thou hast proved me and known me: Thou hast known my sitting down and my rising up.

THE COLLECT

LET holy Luke, thine Evangelist, we beseech thee, O Lord, intercede for us, who for the glory of thy name ever bore in his body the mortification of the cross. Through our Lord.

Melancholicus is wont to regard this day, somewhat informally, as the beginning of winter, inasmuch as up to this point in the year the autumn season is usually mild, dry, and relatively light, whereas after St. Luke’s day the colder weather closes in, bringing strong winds and driving rain, and henceforth for several months Melancholicus faces the burden of rising in the morning in darkness. Melancholicus likes his bed, and is loathe to leave it unless there be sufficient light at his window. But the choice is not his to make, so rise in the middle of the night he must.

October 18th is also the anniversary of the foundation in 1988 of this clerical society, to which (in his days as a seminarist) Melancholicus once had the privilege of belonging.