Birth. (No date or place found).

Education. (No information found)

Cardinalate. Presbyter cardinalis of the title of S. Prassede in 530 (?).

Death. (No date or place found). Buried at an unknown place.

Bibliography. Cristofori, Francesco. Cronotasi dei cardinali di Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Tipografia de Propaganda Fide, 1888, p. 61; "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux des 10 premiers siècles". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1926. Paris : Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1927, p. 141, no. 2.

Birth. (No date found), Rome. Of an illustrious senatorial family. Perhaps related to the Anici family of Pope Gregory I the Great. Son of Giordano, a priest, who was killed by the supporters of Antipope Laurentius when they assaulted Pope Symmachus in September 501, near the basilica of S. Croce in Gerusalemme on his way to the council convoked by Teodorico. He is also listed as Agapitus; as Rustico Agapito; and as Agabito.

Education. He was a cultured man, not only theologically. He owned a rich library in his palace sul Celio, near the church of Ss. Giovanni e Paolo.

Cardinalate. Archdeacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church or presbyter cardinalis of the title of Ss. Apostoli (later of Ss. XII Apostoli) in 530. He was elected to the papacy five days after the death of his predecessor, Pope John II, with the unanimous approval of the Roman clergy and people.

Papacy. Consecrated Pope Agapetus I on May 13, 535. He inaugurated his pontificate with an act of reparation concerning Antipope Dioscorus, the rival of his predecessor Boniface II (530-532), who had been solemnly excommunicated but unjustly after his death. Pope Agapetus immediately ordered the rehabilitation his memory and burned before the Roman clergy, gathered in assembly, the document of excommunication and reaffirmed the principle of free election of the pope by the Roman clergy, a principle enshrined in the canons and tradition. In the three years of his pontificate, Pope Agapetus I had to intervene in the affairs of Gaul to resolve the case of the bishop of Riez, Contumeliosus, who had been deposed for misconduct by Pope John II, appointing new judges to examine the case, but the result of the process is unknown; and in July 535, because of canon law, he did not allow Bishop Caesarius of Arles to use church property to help the poor. He called the African Church to the observance of the sacred canons which forbade converted Arian priests to exercise priestly functions in the Catholic Church. He had the intention of founding in Rome a Christian university like the ones in Alexandria and Nisibi. But the crucial and dramatic event of his pontificate was his embassy to Constantinople, which Ostrogothic King of Italy Toedato imposed on him, to obtain from Emperor Justinian the suspension of the war in Italy. Pope Agapetus I received a triumphal reception in Constantinople in February 536. But politically his mission was a failure because he could not convince the emperor to desist from the conquest of Italy. Instead, it had very positive results in religious matters. The pope in fact obtained the deposition of the Monophysite Patriarch Anthimus of Constantinople. He was replaced by the Catholic Means, whom the pope himself consecrated on March 10, 536. It was undoubtedly a historic event: for the first time since St. Peter's times, in which an Eastern Church received a bishop consecrated by the Church of Rome. In addition, the new patriarch and the emperor presented the pope the profession of faith of Pope Hormisdas (Regula fidei Hormisdae), in an even more extensive redaction. When Pope Agapetus I was preparing to return to Rome, death struck him suddenly under mysterious circumstances while still in Constantinople. The decided support of the pope for the Chalcedonian Christology helped its supporters in the East, and in May-June a synod was held in Constantinople, at which the clerical members of the papal delegation took part. The assembly confirmed the deposition and excommunication of Patriarch Anthimus and anathematized other leading Monophysites. During his pontificate, he ordained eleven bishops for different sees and four deacons for Rome.

Death. April 22, 536, Constantinople. There was a grand funeral like no bishop or emperor had ever received. His mortal remains were placed in a lead casket and transported to Rome. He was buried under the pavement in the atrium of St. Peter's basilica on September 20, 536. His tomb was destroyed during the demolition of the old basilica and the construction of the new one in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Sainthood. Inscribed in the Roman Martyrology, his feast is celebrated on April 22; and pro clero Romano on September 25. In the East his feast is celebrated on April 17.

Bibliography. Bertolini, Ottorino. "Agapito I, santo." Enciclopedia dei papi. 3 vols. Roma : Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 2000, I, 504-508; Cardella, Lorenzo. Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Stamperia Pagliarini, 1792, I, pt. 1, 7-9; Chacón, Alfonso. Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificum Romanorum : et S.R.E. Cardinalium ab initio nascentis Ecclesiae usque ad Clementem IX P. O. M. Alphonsi Ciaconii Ord. Praed. & aliorum opera descriptæ : cum uberrimis notis. Ab Augustino Oldoino, Soc. Jesu recognitae, et ad quatuor tomos ingenti ubique rerum accessione productae. Additis Pontificum recentiorum imaginibus, & Cardinalium insignibus, plurimisque aeneis figuris, cum indicibus locupletissimis. Romæ : P. et A. De Rubeis, 1677, I, col. 367-372; Cristofori, Francesco. Cronotasi dei cardinali di Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Tipografia de Propaganda Fide, 1888, p. XXXVI and 103; "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux des 10 premiers siècles". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1926. Paris : Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1927, p. 141, no. 3; Kelly, John Norman Davidson. The Oxford Dictionary of Popes. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1986, p. 58-59; Le Liber pontificalis. Paris : E. de Boccard, 1981, 1955. 3 v. : facsims. (Bibliothèque des Écoles françaises d'Athènes et de Rome). Notes: Reprint of the 1955 edition./ Includes indexes./ Vol. 3: "Additions et corrections de L. Duchesne publiées par Cyrille Vogel ... avec L'Histoire du Liber pontificalis dupuis l'édition de L. Duchesne une bibliographie et des tables générales, I, 287-289; Montini, Renzo Uberto. Le tombe dei papi. Roma : Angelo Belardetti, 1957. Note: At head of title: Instituto di studi romani, p. 109, no. 57; Morello, Giovanni. "Agapito I, papa, santo." Mondo vaticano. Passato e presente. Città del Vaticano : Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1995, p. 31-33; Reardon, Wendy J. The deaths of the popes : comprehensive accounts, including funerals, burial places and epitaphs. Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., Publishers, 2004, p. 44; Regesta pontificum Romanorum ab conditio Ecclesia. Ad annum post Christum natum MCXCVIII. Graz : Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1956. 2 v. Reprint. Originally published : Lipsiae : Veit et comp., 1885-1888. Original t.p. included : Regesta pontificum Romanorum ab condita ecclesia : ad annum post Christum natum MCXCVIII. Editionem secundam correctam et auctam edidit Philippus Jaffè ; auspiciis Gulielmi Wattenbach; curaverunt S. Loewenfeld, F. Kaltenbrunner, P. Ewald, I, 113-115.