Saint of the Day: St. Polycarp

Bishop and Martyr (d. ca. 152)

His life

+ Polycarp was born around the year 69 and, according to tradition, he was a disciple of Saint John the Evangelist. 

+ When Saint Ignatius of Antioch visited the city of Smyrna in 107, Polycarp was serving as the city’s bishop. 

+ Polycarp wrote several pastoral letters, most of which have, unfortunately, been lost. 

+ Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, who knew Polycarp, recalled how Polycarp “spoke of his intercourse with John and with the others who had seen the Lord; how he repeated their words from memory; and how the things that he had heard them say about the Lord, his miracles and his teachings… were proclaimed by Polycarp in complete harmony with Scripture.”

+ During a visit to Rome, Pope Saint Anicetus honored Polycarp by asking him to preside at the celebration of the Eucharist. This was a great sign of respect for one who was already honored as an “Apostolic Father.” 

+ Saint Polycarp was arrested and, ultimately burned at the stake by Roman authorities on February 23, around the year 152. The account of his death, The Martyrdom of Polycarp, is one of the oldest and most authentic accounts of martyrdom from the Early Church. 

For prayer and reflection

“Let us then persevere unceasingly in our hope, and in the pledge of our righteousness, that is in Christ Jesus, ‘who bare our sins in his own body on the tree, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth,’ but for our sakes, that we might live in him, he endured all things. Let us then be imitators of his endurance, and if we suffer for his name's sake let us glorify him. For this is the example which he gave us in himself, and this is what we have believed.”—from the Letter of Saint Polycarp to the Philippians

Spiritual bonus

On this day we also remember Saint Serenus, the patron saint of gardeners. A hermit in what is modern-day Hungary, he supported himself by growing fruits and vegetables. Serenus was martyred in the year 303. 

Prayer

God of all creation,
who were pleased to give the Bishop Saint Polycarp
a place in the company of the Martyrs,
grant, through his intercession,
that, sharing with him in the chalice of Christ,
we may rise through the Holy Spirit to eternal life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal)
Saint profiles prepared by Father Silas Henderson, S.D.S.