Picture: Authors of Menologion of Basil II (circa 985 AC, Constantinople), Byzantine manuscript illuminators[1]: Pantoleon with Georgios, Michael the Younger, Michael of · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Agatho

pope

SaintResearchedByzantine EmpireBenedictinesPre-congregation

Feast: 10 January (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)

Born

574

Died

681

verified

Beatified

—

not needed: before formal processes

Canonised

By tradition

recognised before formal processes began

Who they were

Agatho was born in Sicily towards the end of the sixth century and was probably a Benedictine monk at St Hermes in Palermo; on good authority he was over a hundred when he became pope in 678.

At a Lateran synod he restored St Wilfrid to the see of York, from which he had been unjustly deposed. The chief event of his pontificate was the Sixth Ecumenical Council at Constantinople in 680, presided over by his legates, which practically ended the Monothelite heresy. He died before its decrees reached Rome, and was buried in St Peter's on 10 January 681.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

An aged pope who defended justice and the true faith about Christ's two wills.

Sources

Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Pope St. Agatho
Wikidata Q104467 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
English Wikipedia — Pope Agatho (CC BY-SA)

Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.