Antonio Maria Gianelli (12 April 1789 – 7 June 1846) was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of Bobbio from 1837 until his death.

Gianelli was dedicated to the educational needs of his people and catered to their spiritual and material needs as well; he was on hand to aid the ill and the poor and made evangelization a focus to his episcopal mission.

[3] He grew up in a small village of farmers and he was an exceptional student - so much so that the owner of the farm he lived on - Nicoletta Rebizzo - paid for his studies for the priesthood.

He was ordained to the priesthood in 1812[4] (in Genoa at the church of Nostra Signora del Carmine) and had to receive special dispensation since he was not at the canonical age required for ordination.

The order received formal papal approval from Pope Leo XIII on 7 June 1882 which came a few decades after Gianelli's death.

Gianelli spent long periods in the confessional in order to accommodate the endless stream of people seeking absolution.

In April 1845 he started to show signs of tuberculosis that had not been diagnosed from the onset; he spent the next month in recuperation where he seemed to regain his strength for a time.

[3] Pope John Paul II - in an address to Gianelli's order on 17 February 2003 - recalled the saint for his "burning desire to belong to Christ" and hailed him for his dedication to evangelization and preaching.