Pope Pontian

Pontian became bishop of Rome on 21 July 230, leading a community still nursing an eighteen-year schism. Five years later, Emperor Maximinus Thrax began his persecution and Pontian was arrested, exiled to Sardinia — a death sentence dressed as exile. On 28 September 235, from that island, he abdicated, ensuring the Church could elect a successor without the paralysis of an absent, captive pope. The schism ended with his resignation. Some accounts say he was beaten to death within weeks of arrival. Both Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions venerate him as a saint.