Ampelius of Milan

Ampelius was archbishop of Milan in the second half of the seventh century, in a time disturbed by the troubles brought by the Lombards. He is honoured as a saint in the Catholic Church, in Milan. Very little is known of him.

The sources disagree about the years of his episcopate: some say he was archbishop from 671 to 676, others from 665 to 672. According to a Russian source he succeeded Saint Maurilius, after the see of Milan had stood vacant for four years because of political events. No written life of him has survived. He is remembered as a man able to work miracles, but no details of his deeds are known.

Goffredo da Bussero, in the fifteenth century, reports that his feast was kept on 8 February, perhaps the day of his death. Today it is celebrated on 7 July in the Roman Rite and on 8 July in the Ambrosian Rite, and a Russian source gives 8 July. He was buried in the basilica of Saint Simplician, where his relics are still venerated beneath the main altar. According to one source his relics, like those of his predecessor Maurilius, were found by Charles Borromeo toward the end of the sixteenth century.