Luigi Lippomano was the illegitimate son of Venetian patrician Bartolo Lippomano, who determined to provide an ecclesiastical career for his son. He graduated from the university at Padua and eventually entered into service at the papal court in Rome. Distinguished for his piety and integrity of character, he was among the first in Rome to join the "Oratorio della Carità" founded by St. Cajetan of Tiene, and composed of distinguished men, who in the Roman Curia were the leaven of Church reform, and afterwards took a prominent part in the Council of Trent. In 1528 he accompanied the court of Pope Clement VII to Orvieto after the sack of Rome by imperial troops. Later that year he sent his brother Thomas a detailed firsthand report of the great flood of the Tiber.