LIPPI, FRANCO, Blessed
Franciscan Carmelite, better known by the name Franco of Siena, was born on 3 December 1211 at Grotti (near Siena) and died on 11 December 1291 at Siena. Having been orphaned in his youth, he enlisted in the Sienese mercenary forces and led a scandalous life. At the age of sixty-five he underwent a conversion and made a most rigorous public penance; five years later he entered the Carmelite Order as a lay brother in Siena. Endowed with charisms, visions, and prophecy, his death was marked by heavenly prodigies. His cult was approved in 1308 by Clement V; his feast is celebrated in the Carmelite Order on 11 December.
BIBL.: G. Lombardelli, La vita del b. Franco Senese da Grotti, Siena 1590; S. Grassi, Vita del b. F. L., Firenze 1680, 1690; L. Evasio, Elogio sacro del b. Franco da Siena, in Opere di Evaristo Leone, II, Napoli 1825, pp. 135-48; Stanislao di S. Teresa, Il b. F. L. Cenni storici, in La stella del Carmelo, Siena 1941, pp. 67-79.