PONTIUS
234
PONTUS
Pontius Carbonell, b. at Barcelona, c. 1250; d.
c. 1320. Pontius and Carbonell are names frequently
met with in Spain, especially in Catalonia. Hence it
is difficult to distinguish between the different persons
bearing this name in the same century. Pontius en-
tered the Franciscan Order and resided principally in
the convent at Barcelona, where he was teacher and
confessor to St. Louis, Bishop of Toulouse, during his
seven years' captivity. He was also confessor to the
Infant Juan of Aragon, Archbishop of Saragossa, to
whom he dedicated some of his works. Probably
Pontius was superior in 1314. On 25 Sept. of that
year he was sent by King James II to his brother,
Frederic II, King of Sicily, to entreat him not to give
protection to the Fraticelli. On 12 Jan., 1316, and
again on 25 Feb., Pontius wrote concerning the result
of his mission. Finke has published several of these
documents. In a calendar of Franciscan saints drawn
up about 1335 at Assisi, Pontius is mentioned as
"master and confessor of our holy brother Louis,
Archbishop of Toulouse"; and Fr. Antony Vincente,
O.P., registers him among the saints of Catalonia.
He wrote commentaries on the Old and New Testa-
ment, and quotes largely from the Fathers and Doc-
tors of the Church. Several writers hold that he com-
posed the "Catena Aurea Evang.", usually published
among the writings of St. Thomas. In defence of this
opinion Fr. Martin Perez de Guevara wrote in 1663
a book entitled "Juizio de Salomon etc.", but which
was placed on the Index two years later. Not all his
works have been pubUshed. Nine large folio volumes
in MS. are preserved in the library of S. Juan de los
Reyes at Toledo.
Wadding, AnTiales, I, V (Rome, 1733); Wadding-Sbaralea (Rome, 1S06); Joannes a S. Antonio. Bibliotheca Univcrsa Franciscmia (Madrid, 1732) ; Pisanus, Liber Conformitatum (ed. Quaracchi, 1907) ; de Alva y Astorga, Indicutus Buttarii Seraph. (Rome, 1655): Fabricius, Bibliotheca Med. Mvi. (Florence, 1734): Coll, Ckronicon CatalotiitF; SixTjjs SBtiEtiSls. Bibliotheca (Naples, 1742): Antonio, Bibliotheca. Hisp. Vet. (1798): Amat, Escrit Catal. (1836); Annalecta Bollandiana. IX (Brussels, 1890); CataloQus Sanctorum Fratrum, ed. Lemmens (Rome, 1903); Finke, Quellen. (Berlin, 190S).
Gkegort Cleary.
Pontius Pilate. See Pilate.
Pontremoli, Diocese of (Apuan), in Tuscany, central Italy. The city rises on the skirts of the AppenninodellaCisa, at the confluence of the Macra and the Torrente Verde. It has a beautiful cathedral and a notable tower, Torre del Comune, erected in 1322 by Castruccio Castracane. The earliest histor- ical mention of Pontremoli is of 1077. In 1110 it was taken by Henry V. In 1167 it opposed the progress of Frederick Barbarossa. As a GhibeUine commune, it acclaimed the former Lord of Lucca, Castruccio degli Antelminelli, its lord, in 1316. Thereafter, it was successively under the rule of the Rossi of Parma, of Mastino della Scala (1336), of the Visconti (1339) ; and from the latter date, with the exception of a few intervals, it belonged to the Duchy of Milan. In 1650 the Spaniards sold it to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and in 1847 it was united to the Duchy of Parma. Charles VIII burned the city. In 1799 there was a battle there between the French and the Austro-Russian armies, and in 1814 the Austrians drove the French from the town. Pontremoli was the birthplace of the soldier Girolamo Reghini, who distinguished himself in the service of Spain in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; also of the painter Pedroni (eighteenth century), director of the Acca- demia di Belle Arti of Florence. The episcopal see, suffragan of Pisa, was erected in 1797, its first prelate being Girolamo Pavesi. Mgr Fiorini is the present bishop. It has 126 parishes, with 60,000 inhabitants; 204 secular, 9 regular priests; 361 churches or chapels; 3 religious houses of men, and 6 of women; 2 educa- tional institutes for boys and 3 for girls.
CAFrELLETTi, Le Chiesc d'ltalia,
U. Benigni.
PontUS, in ancient times, was the name of the
north-eastern province of Asia Minor, a long and
narrow strip of land on the southern coast of the Black
Sea {Pontus Euxinus), from which the designation was
later transferred to the country. Before this the
province was called Cappadocia on the Pontus. The
country was shut in by high and wild mountain
ranges, but was exceedingly fertile in the lower parts
on the coast, in the interior, and on the plateaux. It
yielded fruit of all kinds, especially cherries, which
Lucullus is said to have brought into Europe from
Pontus 72 B. c; also wine, grain, wood, honey,
wax, etc., besides iron, steel, and salt. It was inhab-
ited by a number of petty tribes; among these were
the Chalybes or Chaldaans, held in high repute b3' the
Greeks as the first smiths. All belonged to the Persian
empire, but in Xenophon's day (about 400 b. c.) were
to a considerable degree independent of the Persians.
At this date, however, these different countries had no
common name. Greeks settled early on the coast,
and founded flourishing commercial cities, as Tra-
pezus (Trebizond), Cerasus, Side, later called Pole-
monium, Cotyora, Amisus, and Apsarus. The
founder of the Kingdom of Pontus was Mithradates I,
son of Prince Mitliradates of Cius on the Propontis,
who was murdered 302 B. c. Mithradates I, taking
advantage of the confusion caused by the Diadochian
Wars, came to Pontus with only six horsemen and was
able to assume the title of king 296 b. c; he died
in 266 after a reign of thirty-six years. He was fol-
lowed by Ariobarzanes (d. about 258 B.C.), Mithradates
II (to about 210 B. c), Mithradates III (to about 190
B. c), Pharnaces (to 170 B. c), Mithradates IV (to
about 150 B. c), Mithradates V (to 121 b. c), and
then Mithradates VI Eupator, or the Great. The
kings, Persian by descent, formed relations early with
Greece and from the beginning Hellenistic culture
found an entrance into Pontus. The religion was a
mixture of Greek worships with the old native cults.
From the time of Pharnaces the kings were allied with
the Romans. Mithradates VI became involved in
three wars with the Romans (88-84, 83-81, 74-64),
and finally liis kingdom, which he had increased by
the conquest of Colchis, the Crimea, Paphlagonia, and
Cappadocia, was lost to the Romans (63). The terri-
tory west of the River Halys, the coast of Paphla-
gonia, and the valley of the Amnias became a part
of Roman territory and with Bithynia were united
into the double Province of Bithynia and Pontus. The
other parts were made into principalities and free
cities, and it was not until 7 B. c, A D. IS, and a. d. 63
that they were gradually absorbed by Rome. Under
Diocletian (284—305) Pontus became a diocese of the
empire. The Pontus mentioned in the Old Testament
of the Vulgate in Gen., xiv, 1, 9, is a mistaken transla-
tion, according to Symmachus, for the district of
EUasar (Larsa in southern Babylonia).
In Apostolic times Christianity found an entrance into Pontus. The First Epistle of Peter is addressed to the Christians in Pontus among others, showing that Christianity had spread to some extent in this prov- ince. The author in his exhortations presupposes relations between the faithful and the non-Christian population. For the years 111-13 we have the im- portant testimony of Pliny, then Governor of Bith- ynia and Pontus (Ep. xcvi). Pliny did not mention the cities or villages, and it is uncertain whether Amastris, or Amasia, or Comana, was the place where Christians were tried by him. As concerns Amisus, Ramsay has proved from Christian sources that it contained Christians about the year 100. Later Amastris was the chief Christian community. Euse- bius mentions (IV, xxiii) a letter written by Bishop Dionysius of Corinth (about 170) to Amastris, "and the other churches in Pontus". There was, there- fore, at this era a metropolitan with several churches. About 240 Gregory Thaumaturgus was consecrated
