The coals of Saint Lawrence

The coals of Saint Lawrence are a supposed relic in Fra Cipolla’s collection and the accidental centerpiece of his sermon at Certaldo. When two young men replace the Angel Gabriel’s feather with coals, Fra Cipolla turns the substitution into a display of sacred protection: he makes crosses on the townspeople’s clothes and receives their offerings. The object’s comic importance lies in its double role as an alleged holy relic and the instrument of a quick recovery from public embarrassment.

The Relic and Its Claimed Provenance

Fra Cipolla presents the coals as the remains of the fire used to roast Saint Lawrence. In his account, the Patriarch of Jerusalem showed him numerous relics, including the Angel Gabriel’s feather and the coals, and gave them to him because of his devotion and service. Fra Cipolla says he brought both objects home and kept them until his superior, reassured by reported miracles and letters from the Patriarch, gave permission for them to be shown. This is the friar’s own elaborate account to his audience, not independent confirmation of the relics’ origin.

The objects have separate caskets, but Fra Cipolla claims they resemble one another so closely that he has sometimes mistaken one for the other. That resemblance provides the practical opening for the prank: the feather is taken from its casket, and coals are put in its place. Fra Cipolla later presents the mix-up as providential, arguing that the feast of Saint Lawrence is only two days away and that the coals, rather than the feather, are what the people ought to see. His story converts a material substitution into an apparent sign of divine purpose.

Substitution at Certaldo

Two young men enter Fra Cipolla’s chamber while he is away and find the feather in a small casket wrapped in taffeta inside his saddle-bags. They remove it and fill the casket with coals they find in a corner, taking care to leave everything else as they found it. They expect to see what Fra Cipolla will do when he discovers the switch. The joke depends on the friar’s confidence in the contents of his equipment, but also on his not inspecting the casket before presenting it.

The crowd has gathered to see the promised feather. After mass, word spreads through the neighboring countryside, and so many people arrive that the town can scarcely hold them. Fra Cipolla has eaten and slept before he sends for Guccio and his saddle-bags. At the church, he begins his sermon and proceeds with the ceremony: he recites the Confiteor, lights two torches, removes his bonnet, and carefully unwraps the casket. Only then does he see the coals. He does not identify the pranksters; instead, he silently blames himself for entrusting his belongings to Guccio, whom he knows to be negligent and forgetful.

A New Use for the Coals

Fra Cipolla shows no outward alarm. He closes the casket and tells the assembled people that he has brought back not the feather but the coals used to roast Saint Lawrence. He explains the mistake as God’s intervention, linking the substituted object to the saint’s approaching feast. Then he invites the townspeople to come forward and presents the coals as capable of protecting anyone marked with them: a cross made with them, he claims, will keep fire from touching that person for the whole year.

The people take the claim seriously. They crowd around Fra Cipolla and make offerings, asking him to touch their clothing with the coals. He uses them to draw large crosses on white shirts and doublets and on the women’s veils, asserting that the coals diminish while he makes the marks but grow back in the casket. The object thus passes from hidden substitute to publicly handled relic, and its claimed power is made visible on the congregation’s garments. Fra Cipolla completes the crossing of the people of Certaldo to his considerable profit.

Narrative Function and Aftermath

The pranksters, who have been present for the sermon, laugh at the ingenuity of Fra Cipolla’s explanation. Once the crowd has gone, they tell him what they did and return the feather. The story therefore ends with both objects restored to their separate roles: the coals have served as the day’s spectacle, while the feather remains available for Fra Cipolla to display the following year. The coals’ success is temporary in its immediate use, but the performance demonstrates how readily a confident account can redirect an audience’s expectations.

The episode does not establish the relic’s authenticity; it shows how its authority operates within the scene. Fra Cipolla supplies a provenance, a timely occasion, and a protective benefit, while the congregation supplies attention, trust, and gifts. The coals become persuasive not through proof of origin but through the friar’s rapid response to an exposed discrepancy. As a comic object, they turn a potentially humiliating failure into a successful performance and make the tale’s interest in religious display, popular devotion, and verbal resourcefulness concrete.