Egidio da Sansepolcro

Who they were

Tradition holds that Egidio and Arcano were pilgrims who, toward the end of the 10th century, built a first oratory dedicated to the Holy Sepulchre of Christ. Around this oratory grew a Benedictine (later Camaldolese) abbey and the settlement that became the town of Sansepolcro, near Arezzo. Old chronicles place the pilgrims' arrival there between 936 and 996; the abbey itself is documented from 1012.

There has never been formal Church recognition of their veneration, though the pair are mentioned in the 1520 bull erecting the diocese of Sansepolcro and are listed as saints in the Bibliotheca Sanctorum. They are still remembered on 1 September, the day the cathedral's dedication is solemnly celebrated.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

Legendary pilgrim who with Arcano built the first oratory of the Holy Sepulchre around which Sansepolcro grew; feast 1 September, though the Church never formally recognised the veneration.