AMEDEO IX, third duke of SAVOIA, blessed. — Born at Thonon on 1 February 1435, died at Vercelli on 30 March 1472. He was the son of Duke Ludovico and Anna di Lusignano. In 1452 he married Iolanda di Valois, daughter of King Carlo VII of France. At his father’s behest he conducted difficult political negotiations, and at the congress convened at Mantua by Pio II (1459), with great enthusiasm he offered his arm, his wealth, and his troops for the struggle against the infidels. In 1464, upon the death of Duke Ludovico, he assumed the government of the duchy of Savoia. He imbued the court with greater seriousness of life, surrounding himself with people of merit; he alternated the cares of government with long hours of prayer and frequent visits to the poor and the sick, to whom he devoted the humblest care and distributed his wealth with unparalleled generosity. Epilepsy accompanied him throughout his life, but he always endured his illness “as a grace from the Lord.” In the struggle between Luigi XI, king of France, and Carlo the
(15th cent.) — Amelia, Town Hall.
Temerario, duke of Burgundy, he took the side of the former without, however, obliging himself to wage war against the latter; he knew how to assert his rights against the marquis Guglielmo VIII of Monferrato and Giangaleazzo Visconti. As his illness grew more violent, in 1469 he entrusted the regency to his wife. He spent his final years at Vercelli and died commending to all the practice of those virtues that had been the principal aim of his life: charity and justice. S. Francesco di Sales collected with great zeal the proofs of his sanctity, and s. Roberto Bellarmino held him up as an example to sovereigns. On 3 March 1677 Innocenzo XI confirmed his cult and set his feast for 30 March.