<p>Pontian succeeded Pope Urban I in 230. When Maximinus became emperor in 235, a period of persecution began during which Pontian was exiled to the unhealthy mines of Sardinia. He resigned his office and died a martyr.</p>
<p>Hippolytus was a priest in the early third century, a well-known scholar and theologian in the early Roman church. He wrote in Greek, the language of the young Church, but only a few of his works survive, including a prayer on which our Eucharistic Prayer II is based. When Callistus became pope in 217, Hippolytus rebelled for various reasons. In 235, banished to the Sardinian mines, Hippolytus met the exiled Pontian, was reconciled to the Church, and died a martyr's death. In 1551 a marble statue of Hippolytus was found in a Roman cemetery. Erected in the 3rd century by his disciples, the statue bears a list of his works on the sides of the chair on which he, now headless, is seated. The statue is now in the Lateran museum.<br /></p>
<p>©2011 <em>Living with Christ, </em>Novalis - Bayard Press Canada Inc., <strong>http://www.livingwithchrist.ca/</strong>. Reprinted with permission.</p>
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