Little is known of Agilulfus. The life written by a monk of Malmedy is, as the Bollandists (Jesuit scholars who since the 1600s have critically studied the lives of the saints) themselves say, quite untrustworthy. He came of a good family, was educated under Abbot Angelinus at Stavelot, and in time became abbot there. Soon afterwards he was elected Bishop of Cologne. In 747 Pope Zacharias praised him in a letter for signing the Charta veræ et orthodoxæ professionis.

It is said that he urged Pepin on his deathbed not to leave the succession to Charles Martel, his illegitimate son, and his violent death soon afterwards is blamed on the vengeance of that prince. This account is tradition. His remains were taken to the Church of Our Lady of the Steps at Cologne, and his feast is kept on 9 July.

The Catholic Encyclopedia gives 750; Baring-Gould, whose date is shown with this page, gives 770. The sources differ.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 0 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

​Agilulfus, Saint, Abbot of Stavelot, Bishop of Cologne and Martyr, 750. We know but little of this Saint. The account, written of him by a monk of Malmedy and printed by the Bollandists [Jesuit scholars who since the 1600s have critically studied the lives of the saints] is, as they state, quite untrustworthy. He was of good family, was educated under Abbot Angelinus at Stavelot, and eventually became abbot there. Not long afterwards Agilulfus was elected Bishop of Cologne. He is said to have tried to persuade King Pepin on his death-bed not to leave the succession to Charles Martel, his illegitimate son, and the Bishop's death by violence soon after is attributed to the vengeance of the prince he sought to exclude. A letter of Pope Zacharias in 747 commends Agilulfus for signing the Charta veræ et orthodoxæ professionis. His remains were conveyed to the Church of Our Lady of the Steps, at Cologne, where they have recently again received public veneration. His feast is kept on 9 July.

Acta SS., 9 July; Steffens, Der heilige Agilolfus (Cologne, 1893).