canonized_by death_date death_place canonized_date birth_place feast_day imagesize venerated_in birth_date article_title name
pope lucius iii 1181 monte siepe , tuscany , italy 1185 chiusdino , siena , italy 30 november 250px roman catholic church 1148 galgano guidotti
 saint galgano guidotti
galgano guidotti

saint galgano -lrb- 1148 -- december 3 , 1181 -rrb- is a catholic saint from tuscany .
he was born in chiusdino , in the modern province of siena , italy .
his mother 's name , dionigia , while his father 's name -lrb- guido or guidotto -rrb- only appeared in a document dated in the 16th century , when the last name guidotti was attributed .
the canonization process to declare galgano a saint started in 1185 , only a few years after his death , and his canonization was the first conducted with a formal process by the roman church .
a lot of saint galgano 's life is known through the documents of the canonization process in 1185 and other `` vitae : legenda beati galgani '' by anonymous , `` legenda beati galgani confessoris '' by an unknown cistercian monk , `` leggenda di sancto galgano '' , `` vita sancti galgani de senis '' , `` vita beati galgani '' .
galgano is said to have led a ruthless life in his early years , but later abandoned it in favour of a pious hermitage in the place now known as rotonda di montesiepi .
his mother , dionigia , is believed to have reported that galgano had two visions , both involving archangel michael : in the first vision the archangel told galgano that he was going to be protected by the archangel himself .
in the second vision , galgano was following the archangel and they arrived to the hill of monte siepi where they met the twelve apostles and the creator himself .
after the visions , it is said that galgano 's horse refused to obey his orders and led him on top monte siepi where his vision happened .
convinced that this was a sign , galgano decided to plant a cross .
since he had no way to make one of wood , he planted his sword in the ground .
the sword is said to have immediately became one piece with the ground so that nobody could remove it .
the sword in the stone of san galgano can still be seen at the rotonda at montesiepi , near the ruins of san galgano abbey , the handle of a sword protrudes from the ground , said to be the sword in the stone of san galgano .
a round church was built over the purported tomb , where pilgrims came in large numbers and miracles were claimed .
in that year cistercian monks took over monte siepi at the request of hugh , bishop of volterra , but most of galgano 's monks left , scattered over tuscany , and became augustinian hermits .
by 1220 a large cistercian monastery was built below galgano 's hermitage : they then claimed him as a cistercian saint .
his cult was lively in siena and volterra , where numerous representations survive .
the ruins of his hermitage can still be seen , while his cloak is kept in the church of santuccio at siena .
