Saint Polycarp

Saint Polycarp’s Story

Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, disciple of Saint John the Apostle and friend of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, was a revered Christian leader during the first half of the second century.

Saint Ignatius, on his way to Rome to be martyred, visited Polycarp at Smyrna, and later at Troas wrote him a personal letter. The Asia Minor Churches recognized Polycarp’s leadership by choosing him as a representative to discuss with Pope Anicetus the date of the Easter celebration in Rome—a major controversy in the early Church.

Only one of the many letters written by Polycarp has been preserved, the one he wrote to the Church of Philippi in Macedonia.

At 86, Polycarp was led into the crowded Smyrna stadium to be burned alive. The flames did not harm him and he was finally killed by a dagger. The centurion ordered the saint’s body burned. The “Acts” of Polycarp’s martyrdom are the earliest preserved, fully reliable account of a Christian martyr’s death. He died in 155.

Categories: 

More News

War in Gaza must be ended not increased

August 14, 2025

On the feast day of Edith Stein, St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Bishops’...Read more

St John Henry Newman a ‘Doctor’ of the Catholic Church

August 12, 2025

Pope Leo XIV will officially declare Saint John Henry Newman, the most recently canonised saint from England and Wales, the 38th Doctor of the...Read more

Men's Breakfast 13 September

August 12, 2025

The next men’s breakfast will be on Saturday 13 September at 8.00am in the Parish Centre. Tickets are £10 each. Payment can be made...Read more

  •  
  • 1 of 300