Polycarp | Martyrdom of Polycarp | Kurt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel | Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben |
St. Polycarp says that St. Ignatius of Antioch's letters contain "faith and patience and all edification in the Lord"; the "Pastor" of Hermas in the twelve commandments inculcates simplicity, truthfulness, chastity, meekness, patience, continence, confidence in God and perpetual struggle against concupiscence.
He was largely engaged in mural paintings for churches, and specimens of his art will be found in the Abbey of St. Denis, in St. Paul at Nîmes, St. Polycarp at Lyons, the Oratory at Birmingham, the Church of the Celestines at Avignon, and in Strassburg Cathedral.
His sarcophagus was rediscovered in 1865 during excavations in the St. Polycarp chapel of the eleventh-century church of in Bourg-Saint-Andéol (Ardèche).
A tin tabernacle had previously been used for worship as the area had no church and fundraising was commenced to build St. Polycarp’s at the junction of Loxley Road and Wisewood Lane.