CHAPTER VIII.

SAVONAROLA.

'HE career of Savonarola was not so far reaching in

THE

its results as that of Wycliffe and Huss. But if his influence was circumscribed, it was peculiarly intense in the field which it covered. Few men have exercised a more potent influence over any community than was wielded by Girolamo Savonarola over Florence in the last decade of the fifteenth century.

He was born at Ferrara in 1452. His life, therefore, fell in one of the most corrupt eras in the history of the Church. Before he had reached the age of manhood, that succession of godless pontiffs had begun which contains the names of Sixtus IV., Innocent VIII., and Alexander VI. The twin vices, ferocity and sensuality, were rampant in Italy as never before perhaps, since the days of the pagan Empire. The renaissance in art and literature was far from being accompanied by a revival of piety. While in other quarters the new zeal for classic learning was commonly associated with a spirit of reform, in Italy it was largely associated with unbelief and secularism. Circles of the cultured might be found in such places as Florence and Rome, who evidently had more sympathy with classic heathenism than with Christianity.

Serious and devout from childhood, Savonarola was naturally revolted by the moral and religious apostasy of the age. Following the usual expedient of earnest piety in mediæval times, he betook himself to the cloister. At the age of twenty-three he joined the Dominicans in Bologna. Near the close of the year 1482, he proceeded by the direction of his order to Florence, as teacher of the novices in the cloister of San Marco. The next year, he was called upon to exercise his talents as a preacher. The result was far from being prophetic of his oratorical fame. The people were not interested, and declined to hear his message. But the fire was already burning in the heart of the devoted monk, and must needs command effective utterance. More willing listeners were found in other places. The tone of a high-wrought enthusiasm began to blend with his message. In his exposition of the Apocalypse at Brescia, in 1486, he gave a premonition of his prophetic vocation in the earnestness and confidence with which he urged his warnings and counsels.

In 1489, near the end of the rule of that distinguished representative of the Medici family, Lorenzo the Magnificent, Savonarola returned to Florence. Two years later he became prior of San Marco. It was chiefly, however, as the impassioned preacher that he made his power felt. In striking contrast with his former ill success, he now commanded the attention of vast throngs. His theme and his manner were both awakening. Coming into the pulpit with a mind steeped in the visions of the Apocalypse, he used its bold imagery to paint the on-coming judgments of God. The corruptions of the Church, the impending chastisements of Heaven,

the necessity and the certainty of reform, were the everrecurring thoughts which he endeavored to burn into the minds of the people. He presented the mien of a prophet; yea, assumed for himself positively the functions of a prophet. This with him assuredly was no art of deception. The anticipations which took such definite shape in his mind he believed to be revelations from above.1 A multitude of the people also believed in his prophetic office. Says that great exponent of state-craft, Machiavelli: "The people of Florence seem not to be ignorant or rude. Nevertheless, they have been convinced by Fra Girolamo that he speaks with God. I will not decide whether it is true or not; for concerning so great a man it behooves us to speak with reverence. But multitudes believed it, and it sufficed for their faith, without seeing anything wonderful from him, to regard his life, his teaching, and the tendency of his career." "2 As to the merits of this claim to prophetic powers, it would be no superstition to acknowledge a marked impress of the Spirit in his longings for the renovation of the Church, and possibly also in his presentiments of coming reform. It must be allowed, moreover, that some of his specific predictions, as those relating to the invasion of Charles VIII. and his own martyrdom, seem to have been fulfilled. Others, how

1 In numerous passages he distinctly claims for them this origin. But in some instances he seems to arrogate no higher enlightenment than any well instructed Christian might attain through familiarity with the Bible, and reflection on the condition and needs of the Church. As Villari concludes, it is impossible fully to harmonize Savonarola with himself on this subject. (Life and Times of Girolamo Savonarola, translated from the Italian by Linda Villari.)

2 Quoted by Karl Hase, Neue Propheten.

ever, such as the conversion of the Turks and the signal prosperity of Florence after her season of chastisement, failed of any adequate realization. Taking his prophesying as a whole, there is reason to regard it as rather the product of an ardent fancy, intense convictions, and burning desires for the reform of the Church, than the result of specific communications from God.

Florence for a time bowed to the authority of her prophet. The invasion of Charles VIII. in 1494, as being incidental to the expulsion of the Medici family, who naturally were opposed to the bold preacher, tended to increase his importance. A conspicuous part was assigned to him in the inauguration of the popular government which followed the expulsion. At the request of the citizens, Savonarola drew the outlines of the new constitution. His draft was by no means discreditable. A republic based on a limited suffrage, with an executive board, and with two assemblies, a larger and a smaller, for legislative purposes, these were the main features in the scheme. There was nothing here particularly savoring of theocratic notions. The plan of government as presented by Savonarola was fully within the bounds of statesmanlike sobriety. It was only in the part which he took as prophet or oracle, over against the civil government, that he verged on the theocratic extreme. His pulpit for several years was the real throne in Florence. While his desires for the purification of morals were by no means fully realized, there were still conspicuous tokens of a transformation. The most marked of these perhaps was the new style of carnival which was inaugurated in February, 1497, an auto de fé of vanities, at which a vast collection of articles

of luxury and ostentation - masks, dresses, instruments of music, books of doubtful tendency, etc. were publicly burned in the marketplace.

This date marks the culmination of Savonarola's

influence. Opposition had never been wanting; henceforth it advanced toward the proportions of an overwhelming tide. Young nobles, disliking the restraints put upon them, and the partisans of the Medici, spared no pains to stir up enmity against the bold preacher. Such found naturally an ally in the unprincipled Pope, Alexander VI. At first he proceeded in a rather temporizing manner. He invited Savonarola to Rome (1495), ostensibly to a friendly conference; then inhibited his preaching; then sought through an agent to buy him off from his reformatory work with the red hat of a cardinal. Savonarola retired from the pulpit for a short interval. To the offer of a cardinal's place he refused all consideration, and declared that he desired no other red hat than one red with the blood of martyrdom. The Pope for his part was not loath to bestow the coveted honor; indeed, he is said to have expressed his final resolution respecting the prophet monk in these fierce terms: "Though he were John the Baptist, he must die." Sentence of excommunication was issued in 1497. For a time, Savonarola had sufficient support to be able to discard the Pope's ban. But at length the party of his opponents gained the ascendency. Shortly afterwards, the people were alienated by the miscarriage of a proposed ordeal by fire, which Savonarola had reluctantly allowed to be undertaken between a monk of his order and a Franciscan.