Year 536, Greece
Saint Agapitus I, illustrious Pontiff of extraordinary purity of morals, great piety, and vast knowledge, earned the respect and veneration of the entire Christian people. From the beginning of his short pontificate, he displayed a vigorous and unyielding character when heretics attempted to attack the Catholic dogma, always deeply aware of the duty imposed upon him by his dignity, as the visible head of the Church, to preserve intact the sacred deposit of the orthodox faith.
He undertook a journey to Constantinople, among other reasons, to oppose the Eutychian heretics and the protection granted to them by Emperor Justinian. Along this long route, he passed through a village near the borders of Greece, where there was a mute youth, horribly bent over, who had never been able to utter a single word or rise from the ground on which he practically crawled.
His parents, believing that the Supreme Pontiff could heal him, hurried to meet him, knelt at his feet, and, shedding many tears, begged him to take pity on a son so dear and so unfortunate.
Moved with compassion, the Pope asked them if they had faith that the boy could recover his health, and they replied that they hoped for healing from divine Omnipotence through the intercession of Saint Peter. Then the Pontiff withdrew in prayer and celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. At the end, as he moved away from the altar, he took the bent-over boy by the hand—just as Saint Peter once did with the man at the gate of the temple in Jerusalem—and in the sight of all the people, the paralyzed youth stood up and began to walk.
Afterward, he administered Holy Communion to him, and at that very moment, the boy’s tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, to the astonishment and admiration of all who witnessed such an astonishing miracle. This event greatly increased the veneration for the successor of Saint Peter and the faith in the august Sacrament.
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