Basilica of Santa Giustina (Tomb of St. Luke)

The Story

The Abbey Basilica of Santa Giustina faces the great oval square of Prato della Valle in Padua, Italy. One of the largest churches in Christendom, the present 16th-century basilica crowns a monastic site whose origins reach back to the early Christian centuries, built over the tomb of St. Justina, a young martyr of Padua traditionally said to have died in the persecutions of about 304. The basilica is best known as the resting place of St. Luke the Evangelist, author of the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. According to the traditional account, Luke died in Greece and his body was taken from Thebes to Constantinople, and from there to Padua, where it has been venerated for many centuries. His relics rest in a marble tomb of 1313 in the left transept; his skull was later given to St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, and in modern times a rib was returned to his original tomb in Thebes. In 1998 the Bishop of Padua opened a careful scientific study of the relics, an examination conducted with the Church's blessing that deepened respect for the long tradition surrounding them. For believers, the tomb of the evangelist who gave the Church the Magnificat, the parables of mercy, and the infancy narratives of Jesus is a place of singular grace. The abbey has been a heart of Benedictine life for a thousand years; the reform begun there by Ludovico Barbo in the 15th century renewed monasteries across Europe. Today the monks continue their round of prayer, and pilgrims come to venerate St. Luke, St. Justina, and the basilica's many relics of the early Church.

Church Recognition

Santa Giustina is the abbey church of a living Benedictine monastery in the Diocese of Padua, which has long sanctioned the veneration of St. Luke's tomb there; a scientific examination of the relics was carried out under the Bishop of Padua beginning in 1998.

Catholic Teaching

The tomb of St. Luke connects the faithful to the apostolic origins of the Gospel: the Church teaches that the Gospels are the heart of the Scriptures (CCC 125-127), and the veneration of the evangelist's relics (CCC 1674) honors the one through whom the Holy Spirit gave the Church so much of what it knows of Christ and of Mary.

Plan Your Visit

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Practical

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Pilgrims visit the Chapel of St. Luke in the left transept, the tomb of St. Justina, and the basilica's chapels and choir, with the Benedictine community maintaining a full liturgical life. The feast of St. Luke is celebrated on October 18, and St. Justina is honored on October 7.

Go Deeper

The abbey's official website is https://www.abbaziasantagiustina.org. Readers may go deeper with the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, and with Dei Verbum, the Second Vatican Council's constitution on divine revelation.