One of the treasures of Rome is a painting of Mary, the Mother of our Lord, which resides in the Borghese chapel of the Church of St. Mary Major and is attributed to St. Luke. It is a painting reputed to have healing powers, possibly because St. Luke was a physician as well as a painter; at any rate, on occasions like the cholera epidemic in 1837, it was carried through the streets of Rome to the Church of the Gesu, where it was placed so that the people might venerate it and be spared the dread disease. No one bothers to dispute its authenticity, simply because it is ancient and is a fitting work of art for the magnificent church that is named for the Virgin Mary.

Luke, according to Scripture, was a physician and a companion of Paul as well as, tradition tells us, an artist and one of th…