GREGORY of AGRIGENTUM, bishop, saint. — Born at Pretorion, near Agrigento, around the middle of the 6th century; according to his biographer, he soon went to Carthage and from there to Palestine, where he entered one of the monasteries of the Sabaites, devoting himself to the study of the Scriptures. He then went to Antioch and Constantinople, and later to Rome, where he entered the monastery of St. Sabas.
When the see of Agrigento became vacant and discord arose among the electors, the Pope sent G. there as bishop. After accusations were raised against him, G. was summoned by Pope Gregory to Syracuse and then to Rome before August 591; by 598 he was back in his see and is also recorded in 603. A Greek commentary on Ecclesiastes by him survives (PG 98, 1181-1228) in ten books; no other works have been preserved. He was venerated in the Eastern Church and is commemorated in the Menaea and the Constantinopolitan Synaxarion on November 23; he was included in the Roman Martyrology only by Baronius.