If you are like most folks, St. Polycarp is not so familiar to you; probably unknown. But he is one of the prominent people in the generation of the apostles and early disciples. Polycarp was a disciple of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, who was ordained to serve the Church of Smyrna (a city in western Turkey on the Mediterranean).
According to Irenaeus, Polycarp was a companion of Papias, another disciple of St. John and a correspondent of Ignatius of Antioch. Ignatius addressed a letter to him and mentions him in many of his other letters. Irenaeus notes that Polycarp was converted to Christianity by apostles, was consecrated a presbyter by an apostle, and communicated with many who had seen Jesus.
I suspect many readers will not recognize the name in the title. She passed away at age 62 on Friday. She was an Ursuline Sister, born in Colorado, raised in New Mexico, vowed in Kentucky, and served the Ursuline Sisters in Guatemala’s western highland during the years of that country’s civil war. She was an elementary school teacher. Please take a moment to read her 
There are three events that seem to highlight the “period of crisis” in Francis life during the period from late 1205 until the summer of 1206:
When Holy Land pilgrims returned home, they often brought back a bit of Palestine. In addition to relics, the pilgrims also brought back the desire to re-create scenes from the Holy Land in order to share their experiences with those unable to visit the holy places firsthand. When the Holy Land was closed to western visitors, European replicas of the sacred sites became increasingly popular. Outside of Jerusalem, the tradition of walking the via sacra in commemoration of Christ’s passion, death, and burial with “stations” is mentioned as early as the twelfth century and all of the references point to an outdoor celebration. There was no standard celebration of the via sacra. Depending on the location there were as few as seven and as many as 42 stations. Interestingly, in the beginning, the customary route apparently was the reverse of ours, starting with Calvary and ending at Pilate’s house – and included many other stops that are no longer considered part of the Via Dolorosa (“Sorrowful Way”).
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Back in the day when I was working in the world and spending way too much time on airplanes accumulating way too many frequent-flyer miles, it seemed to me business travelers did three things on longer flights: sleep, work, or read Stephen’ Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” The book argues that one should align universal and timeless principles with one’s values. Covey sees principles as external natural laws, while values remain internal and subjective. Covey asserts that values govern people’s behavior, but principles ultimately determine the consequences. If sales volume is a measure of the usefulness of this self-help book, then 25+ million copies sold says something. Maybe there are some possibilities for a parallel book about the best practices and habits for Catholics. Might be a Lenten best seller! “The 7 Habits of a Clean Heart.”
