Polycarp
On this day we celebrate the memory of Polycarp,
bishop of Smyrna.
Polycarp was a disciple of St. John the Theologian and Evangelist
together with Ignatius the God-bearer. He became bishop of Smyrna
after St. Voukolos, who had prophesied that Polycarp was to become
a bishop. When Decius started a persecution against the Christians
in 143, Polycarp was caught and brought to the proconsul where
he spoke out confessing Christ and received his martyrdom in fire.
Polycarp received from the Lord the grace of performing miracles.
So, even before he became bishop, he prayed and filled with wheat
the barns of the woman who brought him up (she often offered her
wheat for the needs of the poor brothers). After he had been ordained
bishop, he kept a fire from spreading; he prayed and brought rain
onto the earth in a time of drought; and he even kept back a great
heaviness of rainfall.