Editing Pope Agapetus I

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 535 to 536}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[List of popes|Pope]] [[List of canonised popes|Saint]]
| name = Agapetus I
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| image = 
| term_start = 13 May 535
| term_end = 22 April 536
| predecessor = [[Pope John II|John II]]
| successor = [[Pope Silverius|Silverius]]
| birth_date = c. 489–490
| birth_place = Rome, [[Ostrogothic Kingdom]]
| death_date = 	22 April 536 (aged 46)
| death_place = [[Constantinople]], [[Eastern Roman Empire]]
| feast_day = 22 April or 20 September (West)<br/>17 April<ref>{{in lang|el}} [http://www.saint.gr/294/saint.aspx Άγιος Αγαπητός πάπας Ρώμης Ορθόδοξος Συναξαριστής]</ref> (East)
| venerated = [[Catholic Church]]<br />[[Eastern Orthodox Church]]
| other = Agapetus
}}

'''Pope Agapetus I''' (489/490 – 22 April 536) was the [[bishop of Rome]] from 13 May 535 to his death. His father, Gordianus, was a priest in [[Rome]] and he may have been related to two popes, [[Pope Felix III|Felix III]] and [[Pope Gregory I|Gregory I]].

In 536, Agapetus traveled to Constantinople at the behest of King Theodahad of the Ostrogoths and unsuccessfully tried to persuade Emperor Justinian I to call off a Byzantine invasion of the Ostrogoth kingdom. While in Constantinople, Agapetus also deposed the patriarch Anthimus I and personally consecrated his successor who is [[Patriarch Menas of Constantinople|Menas of Constantinople]]. Four of Agapetus’ letters from this period have survived: two addressed to Justinian, one to the bishops of Africa, and one to the Bishop of Carthage.

Agapetus was canonized in both the Catholic and Orthodox traditions; his feast day is April 22.

== Family ==
Agapetus was born in Rome, although his exact date of birth is unknown.  He was the son of Gordianus, a Roman [[priest]] who had been slain during the riots in the days of [[Pope Symmachus]] (term 498–514).<ref name=loughlin>{{cite CE1913 | wstitle =Pope St. Agapetus I | author =Loughlin, James Francis|volume=1}}</ref> The name of his father might point to a familial relation with  popes: [[Pope Felix III|Felix III]] (483–492) and [[Pope Gregory I|Gregory I]] (590–604).<ref name="PLRE">Martindale, Jones & Morris (1992), p. 23</ref>

== Pontificate==
[[File:Saint-Maixent-l'École - Statue de Saint-Agapit 1.jpg|thumb|Statue of Agapetus I in [[Saint-Maixent-l'École]]]]
Jeffrey Richards describes him as "the last survivor of the [[Pope Symmachus|Symmachan]] old guard", having been ordained as a deacon perhaps as early as 502, during the [[Laurentian schism]].<ref>Richards, ''The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages'' (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979), p. 127</ref> He was elevated from [[archdeacon]] to pope in 535. His first official act was to burn, in the presence of the assembled clergy, the [[Anathema#Anathema in the Catholic Church|anathema]] which [[Boniface II]] had pronounced against the latter's deceased rival [[Antipope Dioscorus|Dioscurus]] on a false charge of [[simony]] and had ordered to be preserved in the Roman archives.

Agapetus assisted [[Cassiodorus]] in the founding of his monastery at [[Vivarium (monastery)|Vivarium]]. He confirmed the decrees of the [[Council of Carthage]], after the retaking of North Africa from the [[Vandals]], according to which converts from [[Arianism]] were declared ineligible to [[Holy Orders]] and those already ordained were merely admitted to [[lay communion]]. He accepted an appeal from [[Contumeliosus]], [[Bishop of Riez]], whom the [[Council of Marseilles]] had condemned for immorality, and he ordered [[Caesarius of Arles]] to grant the accused a new trial before papal delegates.<ref name=Brusher>[http://www.stsmarthaandmary.org/popes/St.%20Agapetus%20I.htm Brusher, Joseph S., ''Popes Through the Ages'', 1980, San Rafael, California, Neff-Kane], {{ISBN|978-0-89-141110-9}}</ref>

Meanwhile, the [[Byzantine]] general [[Belisarius]] was preparing for an invasion of Italy. King [[Theodahad]] of the [[Ostrogoths]] begged Agapetus to proceed on an embassy to [[Constantinople]] and use his personal influence to appease [[Byzantine Emperor|Emperor]] [[Justinian I]] following the death of [[Amalasuntha]].<ref>''Breviarium S. Liberati'', ap. Mansi, ''Concilia'', vol. ix. p. 695</ref>  To defray the costs of the embassy, Agapetus pledged the sacred vessels of the Church of Rome. He set out in mid-winter with five bishops and a large retinue. In February 536, he appeared in the capital of the East. Justinian declined to call a halt to the planned invasion as preparations were far too advanced.<ref name=Brusher/> Agapetus immediately turned his attention from the political matter Theodahad had sent him to address to a religious one.

The occupant of the Byzantine patriarchal see was [[Anthimus I of Constantinople|Anthimus I]], who had left his episcopal see of [[Trabzon|Trebizond]]. Against the protests of the orthodox, the [[Theodora (6th century)|Empress Theodora]] finally seated Anthimus in the patriarchal chair. When Agapetus arrived members of the clergy entered charges against Anthimus as an intruder and a heretic. Agapetus ordered him to make a written profession of faith and to return to his forsaken see; upon Anthimus' refusal, Agapetus deposed him. The Emperor threatened Agapetus with banishment. Agapetus is said to have replied, "With eager longing have I come to gaze upon the Most Christian Emperor Justinian. In his place I find a [[Diocletian]], whose threats, however, terrify me not."<ref name=loughlin/> Agapetus, for the first time in the history of the Church, personally consecrated Anthimus' legally elected successor, [[Patriarch Menas of Constantinople|Menas]].
Justinian delivered to the Pope a written confession of faith, which the latter accepted with the proviso that "although he could not admit in a layman the right of teaching religion, yet he observed with pleasure that the zeal of the Emperor was in perfect accord with the decisions of the Fathers".<ref name=loughlin/> Four of Agapetus' letters have survived. Two are addressed to Justinian in reply to a letter from the emperor, in the latter of which Agapetus refuses to acknowledge the [[Arianism|Orders of the Arians]]. A third is addressed to the bishops of Africa, on the same subject. The fourth is a response to Reparatus, [[Carthage (episcopal see)|Bishop of Carthage]], who had sent him congratulations upon his elevation to the Pontificate.<ref>{{Cite DGRBM  | wstitle = Agapetus (2). <!--NB the dot is currently in the article name-->  |volume = 1 |pages = 59–60}}</ref><ref>Mansi, ''Concilia'', viii. pp. 846–850</ref>

Shortly afterwards, Agapetus fell ill and died on 22 April 536,<ref name=Brusher/> after a reign of just ten months. His remains were brought in a lead coffin to Rome and deposited in [[St. Peter's Basilica]]. On the [[Clivus Scauri]] the archeological remains known as the 'apsidal Hall of the Library of Pope Agapitus I' is located near the ancient Church of St. Andrew on the Caelian Hill.<ref>"The Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore: Church of Saint Andrew on Caelian Hill" [https://www.vatican.va/various/basiliche/sm_maggiore/en/a_oratori/oratorio.htm Vatican website]  Retrieved 20 December 2017.</ref>

== Veneration ==
Agapetus I has been canonised by both the Catholic and Orthodox traditions. The ''Roman Martyrology'' commemorates him on 22 April, the day of his death, as do the Eastern churches, but some Catholic sources list his feast day as 20 September, the date of his deposition.<ref name=loughlin/><ref>''Martyrologium Romanum,'' p. 249</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
*[[List of Catholic saints]]
*[[List of popes]]
{{clear}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{Citation|last=Dudden|first=Frederick H.|title=Gregory the Great|publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co|location=London|year=1905}}
*Louise Ropes Loomis, ''The Book of Popes'' '''(Liber Pontificalis)'''. Merchantville, New Jersey: Evolution Publishing. {{ISBN|1-889758-86-8}} (Reprint of the 1916 edition. English translation with scholarly footnotes, and illustrations).
* {{citation | last=Martindale | first=John R. | last2=Jones | first2=A.H.M. | last3=Morris | first3=John | title=The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Volume III: AD 527–641 | year=1992 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-0-521-20160-5 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fBImqkpzQPsC}} 
* {{BBKL|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070625091528/http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/a/agapet_i_p.shtml |autor=Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz|band=1|spalte=52|artikel=AGAPET I.}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Agapetus I}}
{{CE1913 poster|Pope St. Agapetus I}}
{{EB1911 poster|Agapetus (pope)}}
* {{Hl-Lex|b|Agapitus_I.htm|Agapitus I.}}
* [https://www.vatican.va/content/vatican/de/holy-father/agapito-i.html 57. Popes of the Catholic Church]

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{{s-bef|before=[[Pope John II|John II]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=535–536}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Silverius|Silverius]]}}
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{{Popes}}
{{Catholic saints}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agapetus 01}}
[[Category:536 deaths]]
[[Category:6th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:6th-century popes]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:Medieval Italian saints]]
[[Category:Ostrogothic Papacy]]
[[Category:Papal saints]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Burials at St. Peter's Basilica]]
[[Category:6th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:6th-century Italian writers]]