Pope Agatho
{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 678 to 681}}
{{For|the Pope of Alexandria of the same name|Pope Agatho of Alexandria}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = Pope Saint
| name = Agatho
| title = Bishop of Rome
| church = Catholic Church
| term_start = 678
| term_end = 10 January 681
| predecessor = Donus
| successor = Leo II
| cardinal = 5 March 676
| created_cardinal_by = Adeodatus II
| birth_place = Possibly Palermo, Sicily, Eastern Roman Empire
| death_date = 10 January 681 (aged 103–104)[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09157a.htm Mann, Horace. "Pope St. Leo II." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 12 September 2017
| death_place = Rome, Italy, Eastern Roman Empire
| previous_post = Cardinal-Deacon (676–77)
| feast_day = {{unbulleted list|10 January (Catholic Church|20 February (Eastern Christianity - Additional commemoration)}}
| venerated = {{unbulleted list|Catholic Church|Eastern Orthodox Church}}
| attributes = Holding a long cross
| patronage = Palermo
| image = Pope Agatho (Menologion of Basil II) - cropped.jpg
| caption = Pope Agatho depicted in the Menologion of Basil II (c. 1000 AD)
}}
Pope Agatho (577 – 10 January 681) served as the bishop of Rome from 27 June 678 until his death on 10 January 681.{{cite book|last1=Kelly|first1=J. N. D. |last2=Walsh |first2=Michael |title=Dictionary of Popes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JlExDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT215 |access-date=26 June 2018 |date=23 July 2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780191044793 |page=215 }} He heard the appeal of Wilfrid of York, who had been displaced from his see by the division of the archdiocese ordered by Theodore of Canterbury. During Agatho's tenure, the Sixth Ecumenical Council was convened to deal with monothelitism. He is venerated as a saint by both the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. He is said to have been the longest lived Pope ever.{{Cite web |date=2023-01-02 |title=Aging in the See of Peter |url=https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/the-aging-see-of-peter |access-date=2024-08-17 |website=The Pillar |language=en}}
Early life
Little is known of Agatho before his papacy but he may have been among the many Sicilian clergy in Rome at that time, due to the Caliphate's attacks on Sicily in the mid-7th century.{{cite book|author1=Jeffrey Richards|title=The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages: 476–752|date=1 May 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317678175|page=270}} He served several years as treasurer of the church of Rome. He succeeded Donus in the pontificate.[http://www.bartleby.com/210/1/102.html Butler, Alban. "St. Agatho, Pope", The Lives of the Saints, Vol. I, 1866]. Butler spells the name of Agatho's predecessor as "Domnus"; according to [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05133a.htm "Pope Donus"] in the [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/ Catholic Encyclopedia], this is an alternative spelling of "Donus".
Papacy
File:Mosaico di San Sebastiano.JPG of Saint Sebastian, added to San Pietro in Vincoli {{circa|AD 680}}, and therefore contemporaneous with Agatho's reign]]
Shortly after Agatho became pope, Bishop Wilfrid of York arrived in Rome to invoke the authority of the Holy See on his behalf. Wilfrid had been deposed from his see by Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury, who had carved up Wilfrid's diocese and appointed three bishops to govern the new sees. At a synod which Pope Agatho convoked in the Lateran to investigate the affair, it was decided that Wilfrid's diocese should indeed be divided, but that Wilfrid himself should name the bishops.Joseph Brusher, S.J., [http://www.cfpeople.org/Books/Pope/POPEp79.htm Popes Through the Ages] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060206180918/http://www.cfpeople.org/Books/Pope/POPEp79.htm |date=6 February 2006 }}.
The major event of his pontificate was the Sixth Ecumenical Council (680–681), following the end of the Muslim Siege of Constantinople,{{cite book|author1=Hubert Cunliffe-Jones|title=A History of Christian Doctrine|date=24 April 2006|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=9780567043931|page=233|edition=reprint}} which suppressed Monothelitism, which had been tolerated by previous popes (Honorius I among them). The council began when Emperor Constantine IV, wanting to heal the schism that separated the two sides, wrote to Pope Donus suggesting a conference on the matter, but Donus was dead by the time the letter arrived. Agatho was quick to seize the olive branch offered by the Emperor. He ordered councils held throughout the West so that legates could present the universal tradition of the Western Church. Then he sent a large delegation to meet the Easterners at Constantinople.
The legates and patriarchs gathered in the imperial palace on 7 November 680. The Monothelites presented their case. Then a letter of Pope Agatho was read that explained the traditional belief of the Church that Christ was of two wills, divine and human. Patriarch George of Constantinople accepted Agatho's letter, as did most of the bishops present. The council proclaimed the existence of the two wills in Christ and condemned Monothelitism, with Pope Honorius I being included in the condemnation. When the council ended in September 681 the decrees were sent to the Pope, but Agatho had died in January. The council had not only ended Monothelism, but also had healed the schism.
Agatho also undertook negotiations between the Holy See and Constantine IV concerning the interference of the Byzantine court in papal elections. Constantine promised Agatho to abolish or reduce the tax that the popes had to pay to the imperial treasury on their consecration.
=Age=
Church records state that Agatho served as pope as a centenarian, dying between the ages of 103–104.{{Cite web |title=Father Richard Kunst: Why Bad Popes Have Been Good for the Church – Papal Artifacts |url=https://www.papalartifacts.com/why-bad-popes-have-been-good-for-the-church/ |access-date=2024-03-26 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2021-12-16 |title=A look at the oldest popes of history, including Francis |url=https://aleteia.org/2021/12/16/a-look-at-the-oldest-popes-of-history-including-francis/ |access-date=2024-03-26 |website=Aleteia — Catholic Spirituality, Lifestyle, World News, and Culture |language=en}} Recent research has cast doubt on his age, with some claiming that Pope Agatho and the monk "Agathon" have been confused, and are two different people.{{cite web |title=A look at the oldest popes of history, including Francis |url=https://aleteia.org/2021/12/16/a-look-at-the-oldest-popes-of-history-including-francis/ |website=aleteia.org |publisher=Aleteia SAS |access-date=18 February 2024}}
Veneration
Anastatius says that the number of his miracles procured him the title of Thaumaturgus. He died in 681, having held the pontificate about two and a half years.{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia Britannica |date=Jan 6, 2021 |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Agatho |access-date=June 27, 2021}} He is venerated as a saint by both Catholics and Eastern Orthodox.[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01204c.htm Ott, Michael. "Pope St. Agatho." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 12 September 2017 His feast day in Western Christianity is on 10 January.{{Cite web |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095355405 |title=Agatho |website=Oxford Reference |language=en |access-date=27 June 2018}} Eastern Christians, including Eastern Orthodox and the Eastern Catholic Churches, commemorate him on 20 February.{{cite web |url=http://www.holyapostlesconvent.org/hac-syn02.shtml |title=The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church – February |publisher=Holy Apostles Convent |access-date=27 June 2018 |archive-date=28 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180628015650/http://www.holyapostlesconvent.org/hac-syn02.shtml |url-status=dead }}
References
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{{CE1913 poster|Pope St. Agatho}}
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
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{{s-ttl|title=Pope|years=678–681}}
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Category:Popes of the Byzantine Papacy
Category:7th-century archbishops
Category:7th-century Christian saints
Category:Medieval Italian saints