Today, we celebrate the optional memorial of Saints Pontian, pope, and Hippolytus, priests, and martyrs.

St. Pontian was the successor of Peter, the bishop of the Church of Rome. He was arrested during a persecution of the Church ordered by the Roman emperor Maximinus in the third century. He was sentenced to a “living death” — slavery in the salt mines of Sardinia.

Saint Hippolytus was from Lyon and was believed to be a disciple of Saint Irenaeus. Incredibly for a saint, Hippolytus is also traditionally labeled an anti-pope for resisting Pope Callixtus’ lenient attitude in reintegrating to Church life the lapsi who had rendered homage to the false god. St. Hippolytus was later reconciled to the Church with the help of Saint Pontian, whom he met at the salt mines of Sardinia.

Hippolytus was the author of the Apostolic Tradition, which preserves some of the most ancient liturgical texts of the primitive church. His work, the Apostolic Tradition contains the ordination rite of a bishop used today by the Catholic Church, the first example of invoking the Virgin Mary in liturgical prayer, and the third-century words of eucharistic consecration. This text is the source for a significant portion of today’s Eucharistic Prayer II.

Like Saint Pontian, Saint Hippolytus was also exiled and died a martyr’s death in the mines of Sardinia.

Saints Pontian and Hippolytus, pray for us!