Pontian

Pope Pontian (; died October 235) was the bishop of Rome from 21 July 230 to 28 September 235. In 235, during the persecution of Christians in the reign of the Emperor Maximinus Thrax, Pontian was arrested and sent to the island of Sardinia.

He abdicated to make the election of a new pope possible.

Pontian's pontificate was initially relatively peaceful under the reign of the tolerant Emperor Severus Alexander. He presided over the Roman synod which approved Origen's expulsion and deposition by Pope Demetrius I of Alexandria in 230 or 231. Both Pope Pontian and the Antipope Hippolytus of Rome were arrested and exiled to labor in the mines of Sardinia, generally regarded as a death sentence.

In light of his sentence, Pontian resigned, the first pope to do so, so as to allow an orderly transition in the Church of Rome, on 28 September 235. This date was recorded in the Liberian Catalogue and is notable for being the first full date of a papal reign given by contemporaries. This action ended a schism that had existed in the Church for eighteen years. Pontian was beaten to death with sticks.

Veneration Pope Fabian had the bodies of both Pontian and Hippolytus brought back to Rome in 236 or 237, and had Pontian buried in the papal crypt in the Catacomb of Callixtus on the Appian Way. The slab covering his tomb was discovered in 1909. On it is inscribed in Greek: (Pontianos Episk; in English Pontianus Bish). The inscription "" (martyr) had been added in another hand. In those Catholic communities which use a historical calendar such as the General Roman Calendar of 1960, Pontian's feast day is celebrated on 19 November.

San Ponziano, a titular church in Rome, is named in his honour. Churches named for Pontian are also found in Spoleto, Lucca, and Carbonia, Sardinia.

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