Physician-apostles for Christ

This paper examines the medical identity propagated by the Belgian Saint Luc Society. By scrutinizing the society’s journal Saint-Luc Médical, it shows how the society forged and spread a model for being a Catholic physician, a ‘physician-apostle for Christ’. Our analysis reveals that lay apostolate, a central element of the interwar Catholic Action movement, was at the heart of this new professional identity. It imbued an older vocational discourse with decidedly Catholic views of doctors’ social responsibilities. The paper first places the society’s foundation within the broader history of B... Mehr ...