Pontianus, St

Pontianus, St.

a pope of the 3rd century, was a native of Rome, and descended from the gens Calpurnia, if we may believe the ancient writers. He succeeded Urban I in the pontificate in 230. Platina and others assert that he introduced the singing of psalms into the Church, but this custom must be older. The first years of his pontificate under Alexander Severus were quiet, but the persecutions commenced again under Maximiulls, and Pontianus, together with a presbyter by the name of Hippolytus, suffered sentence of deportation to the usual place of exile, the island of Tavolato, near Sardinia, where he died from want and exposure, Sept. 28, 235. His body was carried to Rome by order of pope St. Fabian. Two epistles are falsely attributed to him. St. Anterus was his successor. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Géneralé, s.v.; Platina, Vitae Pontificum, s.v.; Montor, Hist. des Popes (see Index); Milman, Hist. of Latin Christianity, 1, 80.