Pope Agatho - Background and Early Life

Background and Early Life

Little is known of Agatho before his papacy. A letter written by St. Gregory the Great to the abbot of St. Hermes in Palermo mentions an Agatho, a Greek born in Sicily to wealthy parents. He wished to give away his inheritance and join a monastery, and in this letter Gregory advises that he may do so as long as his wife was willing to enter a convent. There is a possibility that Pope Agatho is this monk, but this would make him over 100 years old at the time of his election, and as such must be considered unlikely without further evidence to support a connection.

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