Giovanni Giovenale Ancina (October 19, 1545 – August 30, 1604) was an Italian priest, scholar and music composer, known also as an orator. He was beatified in the late nineteenth century.
Ancina was born into a wealthy family of Fossano, in what is now the province of Cuneo in the Piedmont region of northern Italy. He received a university education in medicine and philosophy and during his youth also became an accomplished man of letters and musician.
Given his talents, interests and connections, he had a wide variety of career options. Initially he became a physician and then after he had met Saint Philip Neri in Rome, he decided to become a priest. He worked with Neri in Naples at the Congregation of the Oratory. Then he moved to Saluzzo in the Piedmont region, where he introduced the use of the Catechism. In 1596, Pope Clement VIII made him Bishop of the town. Ancina died of a suspected poisoning in 1604 and was buried in Saluzzo Cathedral.
On 9 February 1890 he was beatified by Pope Leo XIII. His cannonization is still pending.
He is the patron saint of Fossano, his town of birth.
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In Naples, Ancina, who was also a musician and composer, published the Tempio Armonico della Beatissima Vergine, a collection of spiritual songs.