Church of San Niccolò al Carmine

The Blessed Franco Lippi da Grotti

The altar surmounted by the altarpiece with Saint Michael the Archangel by Beccafumi holds an urn containing the relics of the Blessed Franco Lippi da Grotti, a Carmelite hermit, renowned for his great austerity of life.

Franco Lippi was born in the Castle of Grotti near Siena on December 3rd, 1211 by extremely devout parents. Despite their teachings, as a teenager he kept bad company, indulging in gambling and all kinds of vices. He is associated to Sarteano, where his spiritual experience underwent a significant change: in 1229, while he was in the town to fight with the Sienese troops that were defending it from Orvieto’s army, after having lost all his property by gambling with dice he even gambled his eyes, exclaiming: “I will also gamble these to spite who made them” and immediately became blind. But the darkness miraculously lit up his conscience and Franco made a solemn vow to God and Saint James, assuring that if he recovered his sight, he would go on pilgrimage to Santiago. The miracle was accomplished and Franco regained his sight: at first just enough to enable him to tackle the long hike, and later, on his arrival in Santiago, it returned completely. Sincerely converted, on his return from Galicia he went to Rome to plead for papal absolution for his sins; and from sanctuary to sanctuary, from hermitage to hermitage, he visited the holy places of Naples, Apulia, Sicily and Loreto. Once back in Siena, he was spurred by a sermon delivered by the Dominican Ambrose Sansedoni to lead a hermit’s life: first he settled in a cave dug in tuff near Porta San Marco, devoting himself to prayer and penance, then he moved to a forest near his hometown, where he performed many miracles and had several visions. One evening in 1279 the Blessed Virgin appeared to him, inviting him to wear the habit of the Carmelites. When he joined the convent, he increased his penance by girding his loins, legs, thighs, neck and the chest with iron chains. For three days a week his only food was the Holy Eucharist; he scattered nails around his cell so that he would walk on them every day and kept an iron ball in his mouth “to mortify his tongue”. He lived in this manner in the religious community of Mount Carmel for just over ten years, until he died on December 11th 1291, stepping into the Lord’s glory.