Hippolytus lays claim to the infamy of having invented the concept of the “antipope.” What began as zeal for dismantling heresy ended in a break with the Church, in which he proclaimed his disapproval of a newly-elected pope in 217 A.D. by having his own followers elect him pope.
His aim was to override the slowness of the past few popes in putting down heresy, but in his haste, he himself left communion with the Church. For 18 years, Hippolytus denied this break and continued living and ruling as the antipope.
235 A.D., however, brought a sudden end to this. A new Roman Emperor—Maximinus—came to power, and the first thing he did was send both pope and antipope to the Sardinian mines.
The true pope, Pontian, was elected in 230 A.D. He extinguished several heresies in his brief pontificate. He even tried to resolve the schism created by Hippolytus, but nothing worked until they both found themselves in the inhuman slavery of the mines.
There, in the dark, in the damp, in the grit, these two men met and recognized each other. The time was ripe, and through Pontian, God drew Hippolytus back to Himself.
The length of time these two holy souls spent in the mines is unknown, but the Church claims them as her saints and martyrs, and honors them—as true brothers in Christ—with a shared feast.
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