AGATHO, a Sicilian by birth, was remarkable for his charity and
benevolence, a profound humility, and an engaging sweetness of temper.
Having been several years treasurer of the church of Rome, he succeeded
Domnus in the pontificate in 679. He presided by his three legates in
the sixth general council, and third of Constantinople, in 680, in the
reign of the pious emperor Constantine Pogonatus, against the
Monothelite heresy, which he confuted in a learned letter to that
emperor, by the tradition of the apostolic church of Rome:
"Acknowledged," says he, "by the whole Catholic church, to be the mother
and mistress of all other churches, and to derive her superior authority
from St. Peter, the prince of the apostles, to whom Christ committed his
whole flock, with a promise that his faith should never fail." This
epistle was approved as a rule of faith by the same council, which
declared, _that Peter spoke by Agatho_. This pope restored St. Wilfrid
to the see of York, and was a great benefactor to the Roman clergy and
to the churches. Anastatius says, that the number of his miracles
procured him the title of Thaumaturgus. He died in 682, having held the
pontificate {123} two years and a half. His feast is kept both by the
Latins and Greeks. See Anastatius published by Bianchini; also Muratori
and Labbe, Conc. t. 6, p. 1109.
* * * * *
The style of this pope's letters is inferior to that both of his
predecessors and successors. The reason he alleges in excusing the
legates whom he sent to Constantinople for their want of eloquence,
because the graces of speech could not be cultivated amidst the
incursions of barbarians, while with much difficulty they earned Thor
daily subsistence by manual labor; "But we preserve," said he, with
simplicity of heart, "the faith, which our fathers have handed down to
us." The bishops, his legates, say the same thing: "Our countries are
harassed by the fury of barbarous nations. We live in the midst of
battles, inroads, and devastations; our lives pass in continual alarms
and anxiety, and we subsist by the labor of our hands."