A man reportedly ripped out his own eyeballs during Sunday Mass at a church in Viareggio, near Pisa, northern Italy, according to British news reports.

Aldo Bianchini, 46, a Briton who had lived most of his life in Italy, according to The Daily Mail, reportedly stood up during the Mass at St Andrea's and used his bare hands to tear out his eyeballs. He then collapsed on the floor in a pool of his own blood.

Mr Bianchini's mother tried to help him as the priest called for help, The Sun reports.

He later told doctors — calmly and lucidly — that he was hearing voices, Fox News reports.

The priest, Rev Lorenzo Tanganelli, told Italian newspaper Corriere Fiorentino that "this man at the back of the nave started tearing at his face and I realised he was gouging out his eyes ... I called for assistance and the paramedics were quickly at the scene, and he was taken away and then I carried on celebrating Mass, but a lot of people had left because they were so shocked by what they had seen."