Pier Pettinaio

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Pier Pettinaio is recalled by Sapia of Siena in Purgatorio among the righteous who, with their prayers, can assist the souls being purged. The ancient notes describe him as a figure of humble condition: born in Campi nel Chianti, he lived in Siena selling combs (probably intended for weavers) and was a Franciscan tertiary. His reputation for holiness spread both in Siena and in Florence, where Ubertino da Casale knew him at Santa Croce, remembering him as a man «full of God». After his death, which occurred in 1289, the Commune of Siena erected an altar with a ciborium over his tomb and established an annual feast in his honor. Dante cites him as an example of those righteous ones who are powerful with God, and the hagiographic tradition recalled his particular piety toward sinners and the condemned, for whom he implored divine mercy, the reason for which Sapia invokes him.