_Pontianus_ succeeded _Urban_ in 230. and governed, according to the Pontifical of _Bucherius_[N4], Five Years, Two Months, and Seven Days; that is, from the 22d of _July_ 230. to the 28th of _September_ 235[324]. [Sidenote: Origen _deposed_.] In the Second Year of his Pontificate, the famous _Origen_ was deposed and excommunicated by _Demetrius_ Bishop of _Alexandria_, and the Sentence approved of by most other Bishops, especially by the Bishop of _Rome_, who assembled, it seems, his Clergy on that Occasion: For what else could St. _Jerom_ mean, by telling us, that _Rome assembled her Senate against Origen_[325]? [Sidenote: _The Persecution of_Maximinus.] The calm and quiet Days, which the Church had for some Years enjoyed, especially under _Alexander_, expired almost with the Pontificate of _Pontianus_; for that excellent Prince being assassinated in the Month of _May_ 235. _Maximinus_, who succeeded him, out of Hatred to him, began to persecute with great Cruelty the Christians, whom he had so much favoured, especially the Bishops[326]. [Sidenote: Pontianus _banished to_ Sardinia.] _Pontianus_ among the rest was banished _Rome_, and confined to the unwholsome Island of _Sardinia_[327], where he died the same Year on the 28th of _September_, but of what Kind of Death is not well known[328]. ----- Footnote N4: This Pontifical, well known to _Cuspinian_, _F. Petau_, and other Chronologers, was published by _Bucherius_ the _Jesuit_, in 1633. with the _Paschal Cycle of Victorius_. It is a Catalogue of the Bishops of _Rome_, from the Foundation of that See to the Time of _Liberius_, who was chosen in 352. As the Election of _Liberius_ is marked, and not his Death, the Catalogue is supposed by some to have been written in his Time. His Election is marked thus; _Liberius fuit temporibus Constancii ex die_ xi. _Kalendas Junias in diem--a Consulibus Constantio_ V. _& Constantio Cæsare_--By _Constantius Cæsar_ is meant _Gallus_, the Son of _Julius Constantius_, who, by his Father _Constantius Chlorus_, was Half-brother to _Constantine the Great_. _Gallus_ was raised by the Emperor _Constantius_ to the Dignity of _Cæsar_ in the Year 351. on which Occasion he gave him his own Name[N4.1], and the following Year took him for his Collegue in his Fifth Consulship, as appears from _Idatius_, from _Prosper_, and from the _Alexandrian_ Chronicle. The above-mentioned Pontifical is very faulty in the Times preceding the Pontificate of _Pontianus_, who was chosen in 230. nay, if we believe _Bucherius_, _Anicetus_, _Eleutherius_, and _Zephyrinus_, are omitted in it. I said, _If we believe_ Bucherius; for _Bollandus_, another _Jesuit_, who perused the same Manuscript, assures us, that he found there the Names of those three Bishops, which _Bucherius_ assures us were not to be found there[N4.2]. Which of the two _Jesuits_ is the honester is hard to determine in any Case, but impossible in this, unless the original