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First Sunday of Lent A 2026

“St Polycarp, co-principal patron of Catholics in Farnham”

Although Lent has just begun, Mon. 23rd February (for the parish) and Fri. 27th February (for the school children) affords a day off our penances, as the people of Farnham celebrate the ‘Solemnity of St Polycarp’, the historical patron of Catholics in this area and the current patron of our Primary School. Polycarp was Bishop of Smyrna and a disciple of St John the Evangelist., thus, he is a living witness to the apostolic age. He lived to a great age, having served Christ for eighty-six years by the time of his trial, meaning he was likely baptised as an infant. He was martyred around 155-159 AD.

That Fr. Matthew Gerin, Farnham’s first parish priest, was born in Lyon, France may explain why St Polycarp was chosen as our parish patron. St Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon was particularly devoted to St Polycarp having heard him preach and was his student, learning from him the importance of Church unity. The diocese of Lyon is the oldest diocese in France, with the Archbishop of Lyon holding the title ‘Primate of the Gauls’, with the diocese’s history dating to the second century, with the arrival of the first Christians about 150 AD, sent to Gaul from Asia Minor by Bishop Polycarp.

When Fr. Gerin was disposed of his parish in Lyon by the anti-clerical French Government, he arrived penniless at Frensham, where he celebrated Mass for the Woodroffe family. With a steady increase in Sunday visitors and with the blessing of Bishop Butt of Southwark, he purchased the old police station in Farnham and opened a mission and church on the Feast of St Polycarp (which in the old calendar was kept on 26th January 1890).

Wishing your every blessing. Fr. Simon.