Pope St. Pontian

Pope St. Pontian governed the Roman Church from 230 to 235. His pontificate is notable for a gesture of reconciliation: he presided over a Roman synod that confirmed the condemnation of certain teachings, yet during his reign the long schism of the antipope Hippolytus began to heal. When the Emperor Maximinus Thrax launched a persecution against the leaders of the Church in 235, both Pontian and Hippolytus were arrested and condemned together to the deadly mines of Sardinia, an island the Romans called "the island of death."

Knowing he could no longer govern from such exile, Pontian resigned the papacy on 28 September 235, an act of humility that is the first securely dated papal abdication in history and freed the Roman Church to elect a successor. He and Hippolytus, reconciled at last, died of their sufferings in the mines, and their bodies were later brought back to Rome and venerated as martyrs. He is celebrated with St. Hippolytus on 13 August.