Pope Saint Agatho

Memorial: 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. Pope.

Brought his business skills to the throne, maintaining the accounting records himself. 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 occassion 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.
Born: in Sicily, possibly at Palermo
Papal Ascension: 27 June 678
Died: 10 January 681 in Rome, Italy of natural causes
Canonized: Pre-Congregation
Representation: pope wearing a tiara and holding a long cross
Additional Information: New Catholic Dictionary
Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
Dictionary of Saints, by John Delaney
Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson, and Stephen Bunson
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