AGAPITUS of PALESTRINA, saint, martyr. — According to his legend, which is late and fabulous, he died a martyr at the age of fifteen, probably during the persecution of Diocletian. At the place of his sepulchre, now called Le Quadrelle, a basilica arose as early as the 4th century, restored by Leo III (795–816) and rediscovered in 1864. Toward the end of the 9th century the relics of A. were transferred to the city and deposited in the basilica consecrated by Paschal II in 1118. Pope Felix III (483–92) dedicated a church to him in Rome on the Via Tiburtina, near St. Lawrence. The feast of the martyr A. is recorded in the most ancient sacramentaries of the Roman Church and in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum on August 18.
BIBL.: Martyrologium Hieronymianum, pp. 448–49 (sources and bibliography); Acta SS. Augusti, III, Paris 1867, pp. 532–537 and 537–39; H. Delehaye, in Analecta Bollandiana, 16 (1897), pp. 490–94; A. Dufourcq, Étude sur les Gesta Martyrum, III, Paris 1907, pp. 21–28; B. Mombritius, Sanctuarium, ed. Solennesem, I, Paris 1910, pp. 35–37; O. Marucchi, Guida archeologica della città di Palestrina, Rome 1932.