SS. Pontian, Pope and Martyr, and Hippolytus, Priest and Martyr

St. Pontian was a pope and St. Hippolytus an antipope; they became reconciled when both were sent into exile. Hippolytus was born about 170, and his mother tongue was most probably Greek. He came to Rome, and there he was ordained during the days of Pope Victor I (189–198). Hippolytus was a man of great learning and was recognized as the leading intellectual among the Roman clergy. The election of Pope Callistus (see October 14) in 217 did not meet with Hippolytus’s approval. He always looked with disdain on this former slave and cemetery-keeper, and now that Callistus was pope, Hippolytus openly disagreed with his penitential discipline. He thought the pope was much too easy with regard to forgiving sinners; hence, Hippolytus had his followers elect (217) him antipope—the first antipope in the history of the Church. Hippolytus remained antipope during the following pontificate of Pope Urban I (223–30) and into that of Pope Pontian. In 235, Maximinus Thrax (emperor 235–38) initiated his persecution by striking against the Church’s leaders, and thus he exiled both Pontian and Hippolytus to the salt mines of Sardinia. Hippolytus was one of the more prolific writers of the early Church, and of all his works the Apostolic Tradition is perhaps the most famous, because in it he has left us a description of the liturgical practices in use in the early third century.

Pontian was Roman-born and was elected to the papacy on July 21, 230, to succeed Urban I. The early years of his pontificate were years of peace, until Maximinus Thrax was acclaimed emperor in March 235. The Christian religion was no longer tolerated, and its leaders were singled out for attack. Thus Pontian and Hippolytus became the emperor’s first victims. Both were arrested and sent to Sardinia. Knowing that his deportation was for life, Pontian, on September 28, 235, abdicated the papacy (the first pope to do so) so that another could succeed him. Either on their way to Sardinia or shortly after arriving there, Pontian and Hippolytus became reconciled. Pontian died in Sardinia in October 235, not long after his arrival, as a result of the harsh treatment to which he had been subjected. Hippolytus died shortly afterward of the same cause. The Christians in Rome immediately revered both as martyrs, and Pope Fabian (236–50) (see January 20) had their bodies brought to Rome. Pontian was the first martyred pope to be solemnly buried (August 13, 236 or 237) in the crypt of the popes in the cemetery of Callistus, and Hippolytus was buried in the cemetery on the Via Tiburtina. Their memorial is celebrated on the anniversary of their burial in Rome.