Editing 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 = [[List of popes|Pope]] [[List of canonised popes|Saint]]
| name = Agatho
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| term_start = 678
| term_end = 10 January 681
| predecessor = [[Pope Donus|Donus]]
| successor = [[Pope Leo II|Leo II]]
| cardinal = 5 March 676
| created_cardinal_by = [[Adeodatus II]]
| birth_date = 577<ref name=EB />
| birth_place = Possibly [[Palermo]], [[Sicily (Roman province)|Sicily]], [[Eastern Roman Empire]]
| death_date = 	10 January 681 (aged 103–104)<ref>[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</ref>
| death_place = [[Rome]], [[Exarchate of Italy|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.<ref name="KellyWalsh2015">{{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 }}</ref>  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 Church|Eastern Orthodox]] churches. He is said to have been the longest lived Pope ever.<ref>{{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=www.pillarcatholic.com |language=en}}</ref>

==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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> He served several years as treasurer of the church of Rome. He succeeded [[Pope Donus|Donus]] in the pontificate.<ref name=Butler>[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".</ref>

==Papacy==
[[File:Mosaico di San Sebastiano.JPG|thumb|[[Mosaic]] 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.<ref name="popes">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 }}.</ref>

The major event of his pontificate was the [[Sixth Ecumenical Council]] (680–681), following the end of the Muslim [[Siege of Constantinople (674–78)|Siege of Constantinople]],<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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 (religion)|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.<ref name="popes"/>

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.<ref name="popes"/>

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]].<ref name="popes"/>

===Age===
Church records state that Agatho served as pope as a [[centenarian]], dying between the ages of 103–104.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

==Veneration==
Anastatius says that the number of his miracles procured him the title of [[Thaumaturgy|''Thaumaturgus'']]. He died in 681, having held the pontificate about two and a half years.<ref name=EB>{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia Britannica |date=Jan 6, 2021 |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Agatho |access-date=June 27, 2021}}</ref><ref name=Butler/> He is venerated as a saint by both Catholics and Eastern Orthodox.<ref name="ce">[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</ref> His [[feast day]] in Western Christianity is on 10 January.<ref>{{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}}</ref> [[Eastern Christianity|Eastern Christians]], including Eastern Orthodox and the [[Eastern Catholic Churches]], commemorate him on 20 February.<ref>{{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 }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{CE1913 poster|Pope St. Agatho}}

{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
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{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Donus|Donus]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=678–681}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Leo II|Leo II]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Popes}}
{{Catholic saints}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agatho}}
[[Category:6th-century births]]
[[Category:681 deaths]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Sicilian popes]]
[[Category:Papal saints]]
[[Category:Greek popes]]
[[Category:Popes of the Byzantine Papacy]]
[[Category:7th-century archbishops]]
[[Category:7th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:Medieval Italian saints]]
[[Category:7th-century popes]]
[[Category:Clergy from Palermo]]
[[Category:Burials at St. Peter's Basilica]]
[[Category:Italian men centenarians]]