Selfless – Always put others before themselves and cared for others first – did not draw attention to themselves
Selfless - to have or show great concern for others and little or no concern for oneself.
For a saint to be considered worthy of being chosen as the patron saint of WYD 2016 they must be selfless. They must have put others before themselves and restrained from vanity throughout their lives, always thinking of others and their well being. The saint must have helped others but not drawn great amounts of attention towards themselves or forced others to thank them for what they had done for them.
How does St. Polycarp fulfil this criteria?
There is much evidence to support that Saint Polycarp fully fulfilled this criteria. Saint Polycarp only ever though of others. An example of this is when he had an hour to pray before being taken to the arena to be killed. He did not pray for himself - instead he prayed for the Christians being persecuted, for the church and for everyone first. He could have prayed not to be killed within the next hour but he did not - he just waited and bore the fact that he was going to die and how it would be an honour. Saint Polycarp is one of the best examples of selflessness and thus fulfils this criteria.