Saint Ampelio
Feast: 5 October (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Ampelio was a blacksmith of the Thebaid in Upper Egypt who withdrew to live as a hermit; there the devil tempted him in the guise of a shameless woman, and the hermit drove him off by brandishing a red-hot iron while continuing his work, after which he was given the gift of being insensible to burns.
How he came from Egypt to Liguria is unknown, but he settled near Bordighera, continuing a life of prayer and penance and working many miracles, until his death on 5 October, around the year 410. His relics were moved to the Olivetan convent of Sanremo in 1140 and to the convent of Santo Stefano in Genoa in 1258. He is honoured as patron of blacksmiths and of the town of Bordighera.
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
Egyptian hermit-blacksmith who settled near Bordighera in Liguria and worked many miracles; patron of blacksmiths and of Bordighera; feast 5 October.
- Santi, beati e testimoni (santiebeati.it) - Sant' Ampelio, by Antonio Borrelli
- Wikidata Q3614655 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
Checked against the sources listed on 22 September 2026. Corrections welcome.