Even this reference cannot be considered certain.

Writing to his father from Rome, July 1, 1497, Michelangelo says: "I let you know that Fra Lionardo returned hither to Rome.

He says that he was forced to fly from Viterbo, and that his frock had been taken from him, wherefore he wished to go there (_i.e._, to Florence).

So I gave him a golden ducat, which he asked for; and I think you ought already to have learned this, for he should be there by this time." When Lionardo died is uncertain.

We only know that he was in the convent of S.Mark at Florence in the year 1510.
Owing to this brother's adoption of the religious life, Michelangelo became, early in his youth, the eldest son of Lodovico's family.