St. Agapetus I
His date of birth is uncertain, died April 22, 536. Gordianus was the son of a Roman priest who had been discharged during the riots in the days of Pope Symmachus. His first official act was to burn in the presence of the assembly of the clergy, the anathema which Boniface II had spoken out against Dioscurus, his last rival ordered to be preserved in the Roman archives. He confirmed the decrees of the council held at Carthage, after the liberation of Africa from the yoke of vandalism, according to which converts from Arianism were declared ineligible to Holy Orders and those already ordained were merely admitted to lay communion. He accepted an appeal from Contumeliosus, Bishop of Riez, a council in Marseille who had condemned for immorality, and ordered St. Caesarius of Arles to grant the defendant a new trial before papal delegates. Meanwhile Belisarius after the easy conquest of Sicily, was preparing for an invasion of Italy. The Gothic king, Theodehad as a last resort, begged the o...