Pope Saint Agatho

detail of an antique Pope Saint Agatho holy card, date and artist unknown Also known as

Agathon
Agatone

10 January

Profile

Married layman and successful businessman for most of his life. In maturity he finally followed a call to God, and with his wife’s blessing, he became a monk at Saint Hermes’ monastery in Palermo, Sicily. Vatican treasurer. Pope.

As pontiff, Agatho brought his business skills to the throne, maintaining the accounting records himself. He worked to resolve a dispute between Saint Wilfrid of York and Saint Theodore of Canterbury concerning diocesan boundaries in England; this was the first known occasion of English bishops appealing to Rome for a decision. He condemned the Monothelite heresy, and wrote definitive texts concerning the nature of Christ’s will; his writings and authority swayed the Council of Constantinople, and reunited Constantinople with Rome, though he died before the good news reaches him.