Hieromartyr Hippolytus, Pope of Rome, along with the Martyrs Censorinus and Sabinus, the Virgin Martyr Chryse and 20 other Martyrs at Ostia

Hippolytus was a priest and the most learned writer of the Roman Church in the early 3rd century. He opposed Bishop Callistus and was set up by his followers as a rival bishop. Under Emperor Maximinus Thrax in 235 he was exiled to the mines of Sardinia together with Bishop Pontian, and he died there; tradition holds that he was reconciled with the Church before his death.

The Greek tradition that this day follows remembers him as a bishop martyred at Ostia, the port of Rome, together with others: the senator Censorinus, who was imprisoned for his faith and converted his guards, about twenty soldiers who were beheaded, Sabinus, and the virgin Chryse, who was drowned in the sea. According to this account, Hippolytus rebuked the governor for his cruelty and was bound hand and foot and thrown into the sea.