ST. PONTIAN, POPE, M.

THE Liberian Calendar informs us that this pope sat five years from the death of St. Urban, in 230, the church then enjoying peace in the reign of Alexander Severus. But Maximus, who, by contriving the assassination of the best of the Roman emperors, in May, 235, opened to himself a way to the imperial throne, began his reign by raising a bloody persecution. He was by birth a barbarian, a native of Thrace, and of a gigantic stature. For his cruelty towards all men he is surnamed Busiris, Typhon, and Phalaris and was a monster of gluttony. St. Pontian was banished by him in the beginning of his reign into the isle of Sardinia, where he died the same year, if not by the sword, at least by the hardships of his exile and the unhealthfulness of the air. See Tillemont, t. 3.