Amato Ronconi

On Monte Orciale, Amato transformed his house into a hospice for pilgrims and the sick, dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. To finance this work, he worked as a day laborer. Inspired by Saint Francis of Assisi, he joined the Third Order of Saint Francis and led a life of rigorous penance. Despite the slanders of his sister-in-law Lansberga, who accused him of incest with his sister Chiara, their innocence was miraculously proven. A great pilgrim, he made four journeys to Santiago de Compostela. During a fifth journey, warned by an angel of his approaching death, he returned to Italy, bequeathed his property to the Benedictines, and died on May 8, 1292.

Amato enjoyed a great reputation for holiness, illustrated by the "miracle of the turnips": his sister Chiara gathered giant turnips that had grown in a few hours to feed pilgrims. After his death, his body remained incorrupt. In 1330, following a fire at the hospice, his relics were transferred to the church of San Biagio in Saludecio. During the transfer, the oxen stopped, and the ox-driver's goad planted in the ground gave rise to a vigorous elm tree, the "elm of Blessed Amato."

The cult of Amato Ronconi was confirmed on April 16, 1776, by the Congregation of Rites, a decree approved by Pope Pius VI on April 17, 1776, equivalent to his beatification. The cause was relaunched in 1990. Pope Francis recognized his heroic virtues on October 9, 2013. After the validation of the miracle of the healing of Alessandro Raimondi in 1949, Amato Ronconi was solemnly canonized by Pope Francis on November 23, 2014, in Saint Peter's Square.

Amato's spirituality is rooted in the Franciscan ideal of poverty, penance, and welcoming the other as an image of Christ. His hospice on Monte Orciale has today become a modern retirement home, the "Opera Pia Beato Amato Ronconi." In art, he is depicted in the habit of a Franciscan tertiary with a pilgrim's staff and a scallop shell. His relics rest in the church of San Biagio in Saludecio.