' Hook 0<T/^Z 
 
 PIJKSKXTEI) HY 
 
SAV()NAR()i-A, PCJRTKAYKI^ HV KRA BARTOLOMMEO. 
 
Jerome Savonarola 
 
 A SKETCH 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. J. L. O'NEIL, O.P. 
 
 SECOND EDITION 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 MARLIER & COMPANY, Limited 
 
 1901 
 

 NOS INFRASCRIPTI Revisores Ord. Praed.pro scriptis excii- 
 dendis Jidein facimus quod attente perlectum opusculum cujus 
 titulus "Jerome Savonarola,'^ a Rev. Fr. J. L. O^Neil, O. P., 
 compilatum, typis mandari posse censemus. 
 
 In quorum Jidem his propria manu subscripsimus. 
 Datum in Collegio nostro Sti. Joseph Ohiensi, apud Somerset, 
 die 16^ Junii, 1898. 
 
 FR. JOSEPHUS KENNED Y, O.P., Stud. Regens. 
 FR. AUGUSTINUS WALDRON, O.P., S.T.L. 
 
 IMPRIMATUR. 
 
 FR. LAURENTIUS FRANCISCUS KEARNEY, 
 
 O.P., S.T.B., Prior Provincial is. 
 
 Boatonise, Julii 25, ISOS. 
 Imprimatur in Dioecesi Bostoniensl : 
 
 G ULIELM US B YRNE, V. G. 
 
 Qrdinarius Age.vs. 
 
 COPYEIGHT, 1898, 
 By Rev. J. L. O'Neil, O.P. 
 
 6 Je'08 
 

 
 TO 
 
 3of}n a* iKooneg, 3LiL.Q, 
 
 WHOSE SOLID LEARNING AND BROAD CULTURE A LOYAL FAITH 
 AND DEVOTED ZEAL HAVE OFTEN AND GENER- 
 OUSLY PLACED AT THE SERVICE OF 
 TRUTH AND HISTORY, 
 WHOSE GRACEFUL PEN BLAS BEEN FREQUENTLY AND VIGOR- 
 OUSLY WIELDED IN DEFENCE OF THE 
 church's INTERESTS, 
 
 Cfji's Ufllume 10 ©etifcateti 
 
 AS A MARK OF AFFECTION AND ESTEEM FOR A DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 AN EMINENT CATHOLIC SCHOLAR, AND AN 
 
 ACCOMPLISHED GENTLEMAN. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This little volume is issued in commemoration 
 of the fourth centenary of the death of Jerome 
 Savonarola, who was executed on May 23, 1498. 
 I have not approached the subject with any notion 
 of presenting the famous preacher in a new light, 
 nor have I written for scholars to whom the copi- 
 ous literature on Savonarola is available, but for 
 those to whom many of these works may not be 
 accessible. 
 
 Passion, in most loyal devotion and in most 
 malignant enmity, centred around the friar during 
 life. Time has not silenced the voice of hate or of 
 love. If the Italian laureate, Carducci, in his blas- 
 phemous " Hymn to Satan," hails Savonarola as 
 one through whom Lucifer wrought havoc among 
 mitres and crowns, saints have regarded him as 
 a martyr and saint. Years have probably conferred 
 greater discretion on Carducci. Recently he made 
 a public declaration that the celebration of Savon- 
 arola's fourth centenary was not appropriate for 
 him or his kind ; that only devout and intelligent 
 Catholics should participate in it. In applying 
 the terms " martyr " and " saintly " to Savonarola, 
 I am mindful of the decree of Urban the Eighth, 
 to which 1 profess entire submission. 
 
 In the first part of this sketch the public career 
 of Savonarola is presented after the manner of a 
 
Vi PREFACE 
 
 chronicle ; in the second part I have endeavored to 
 give a picture of the man, illustrated by his own 
 writings, which are considered in an appendix. 
 
 For the convenience of those of my readers who 
 may desire to pursue the subject in a more compre- 
 hensive way, I add a second appendix, containing 
 a list of books that will be found of service. I 
 have drawn from some of these works, and have con- 
 sulted, at first hand, all the contemporary sources, 
 but I do not consider it necessary to encumber the 
 pages of this volume with detailed references. A 
 general credit and acknowledgment must suffice, 
 particularly as my obligations to a majority of the 
 authors named is slight, while I am much indebted 
 to other sources of value which are not specially 
 mentioned. 
 
 The saying attributed to the great Pope Bene- 
 dict XIII., who venerated the friar, — " If God 
 gives me the grace to win Heaven, as soon as 
 I shall have consoled myself with the Beatific 
 Vision, my curiosity will lead me to look for Sa- 
 vonarola," — vividly expresses a thought awakened 
 in many minds during the last four hundred years. 
 The alleged declaration of Pius the Seventh, that 
 in Heaven we shall know why the Jesuits were 
 suppressed, and the meaning of Savonarola's death, 
 is probably the last word of criticism for all prac- 
 tical purposes. 
 
 Feast of St. Catharine of Siena, 
 April 30, 1898. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 FIRST PART, 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Ancestry Am) Eaelt Days op Jerome 
 
 Savonarola 1 
 
 II. The Cloister. — Ideal of the Eeligious 
 
 Life (1475-1481) 7 
 
 III. Arrivax in Florence (1481) 10 
 
 IV. Beginning of Savonarola's Career as a 
 
 Preacher and Missionary (1482-1489) . 15 
 V. Lenten Discourses. — Prior of St. Mark's. 
 — Relations with Lorenzo de' Medici 
 
 (1490-1492) 19 
 
 VI. The Death-bed op Lorenzo de' Medici . 27 
 VII. The Friar's Visions, Journeys, Labors. 
 
 — Reform of the Convents (1492-1494) 30 
 VIII. Patriotism of the Friar During the 
 
 French Invasion 35 
 
 IX. The Friar's Services to the Florentine 
 
 Republic (1494-1495) 42 
 
 X. The Friar saves Florence from the 
 
 French Kixg 47 
 
 XI. Reformation of the People in Spite of 
 
 Opposition . 51 
 
 XII. Relations with the Pope (1495) ... 54 
 
 XIII. Reformation of the Children of Flor- 
 
 ence (1495-1496) 64 
 
 XIV. A [N'ew Course of Sermons awakens Pa- 
 
 pal Displeasure 68 
 
 XV. Missionary and Literary Labors Dur- 
 ing 1496. — Renewed Contention with 
 the Pope 72 
 
 vii 
 
Vlll 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XVI. Plots of the Friar's Enemies. — The 
 
 Burning of the "Vanities" (1497) . 76 
 XVII. Alexander VI. excommunicates Savo- 
 narola 81 
 
 XVIII. A Calumny answered. — Disobedience 
 OF THE Friar. — The Pope threatens 
 
 AN Interdict 86 
 
 XIX. The "Trial by Fire" (1498) 94 
 
 XX. The Attack on St. Mark's. — Arrest of 
 
 THE Friar 100 
 
 XXI. Trial and Torture 104 
 
 XXII. In Solitary Confinement 110 
 
 XXIII. Execution of Savonarola 114 
 
 SECOND PART. 
 
 I. Estimates of Catholic and Non-Catho- 
 lic Writers 121 
 
 II. The True Character of the Friar . . 149 
 III. His Influence on Christian Education, 
 
 Literature, and Art 159 
 
 ' IV. Savonarola and Luther 168 
 
 V. The Contest with the Pope 178 
 
 VI. Savonarola venerated by Saintly Men 
 
 AND Women 182 
 
 VII. Attitude of the Holy See toward Sa- 
 vonarola 185 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 I. Savonarola's Doctrines, Opinions, and 
 Sentiments illustrated from His Pub- 
 lished Works 188 
 
 II. Savonarola and Christian Art in Flor- 
 ence (F. Bernardin Merlin, O. P.) . 210 
 in. A Bibliography 222 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 FIRST PART. 
 I. 
 
 ANCESTRY AXD EARLY DAYS OF SAVONAROLA. 
 
 On the 21st of September, in the year 1452, was 
 born the most illustrious citizen of the ancient 
 Italian city of Ferrara, Jerome Savonarola.^ 
 
 The family of Savonarola was of Paduan extrac- 
 tion. Jerome's grandfather, Michael, was a cele- 
 brated physician in Padua, where for two hundi'ed 
 years his ancestors had won distinction and esteem. 
 The fame of Doctor Savonarola induced Nicholas 
 the Third, Lord of Ferrara, to urge his coming to 
 that city. He accepted the invitation, and as phy- 
 sician to the prince took up his residence at the 
 court. 
 
 Of his son Nicholas, the father of Jerome, noth- 
 ing notable is recorded. A shiftless man, a physi- 
 
 1 Ferrara, now a poor town of scarcely thirty thousand people, 
 was then a city of one hundred thousand inhabitants, and as the 
 capital of the House of Este, the scene of much splendor, a home 
 of Italian culture and pagan learning, the stately host of visiting 
 princes, emperors, and popes, to whom royal welcome was mag- 
 nificently extended. 
 
 1 
 
2 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 cian without ambition, but an acceptable follower 
 of the coui't, he failed to share the renown attach- 
 ing to the name of Michael, who was justly distin- 
 guished for his medical writings as well as for his 
 skill in practice. 
 
 Jerome was one of seven children. Of his ear- 
 liest years we have few particulars. Neither play- 
 ful nor pretty, he was a grave child, studious, 
 devoted to his mother. These are the character- 
 istics that most deeply impressed themselves on 
 observers and biographers, and they sum up the 
 exterior child life of this remarkable man.^ 
 
 1 The period whicli witnessed the birth and childhood of Sa- 
 vonarola marks the close of the Middle Ages, ushers in the Renais- 
 sance, and is at once the dawn of a new spiritual life for the 
 Church, and a harbinger of the dread Reformation. 
 
 He was a nursing infant when Constantinople fell, and the last 
 of the Greek emperors, Constantine Paleologus, gave way to the 
 conquering Turk, Mahomet the Second; when Scanderbeg was 
 fighting, and St. John Capistran, the famous Franciscan, was 
 preaching for the cause of Christian Europe. The fifteenth cen- 
 tury was not only an era of religious and political activity, but of 
 general restlessness, of social turbulence, of mercantile enterprise, 
 of maritime expeditions, of impulsive ambitions. 
 
 The invention of the art of printing from movable types ; the 
 improvement in methods of manufacturing paper, with the con- 
 sequent cheapening and multiplying of books ; the introduction to 
 "Western Europe, through a multitude of scholarly Grecian refu- 
 gees, of the riches of Oriental culture, not only in their native 
 Greek, but in the store of Arabic, Chaldaic, and Syriac literature, 
 henceforth to form a part of the intellectual life of the West, and 
 of a fuller classical learning, the renewal of studies which had 
 never perished, especially in monastic schools, — were among the 
 causes that, in the seething womb of this peculiar epoch, struggled 
 for the birth of a new life. 
 
 During the period when these various forces were in a condi- 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. ^ 
 
 As he entered upon his growing boyhood, the 
 seriousness of the child deepened. He soon recog- 
 nized the vanity and pomp of a society which was 
 largely pagan in its refinement. Such an abhor- 
 rence did he conceive for it that, having once been 
 brought to the duke's palace, he resolutely de- 
 clared that he would never again visit the place. 
 Study and prayer filled his days, while meditation 
 strengthened his increasing conviction that the 
 times were evil. 
 
 His parents intended him for the medical pro- 
 fession, but Divine Providence had otherwise 
 ordained. In the learning of his day Savonarola 
 made rapid progress ; for as Burlamacchi, after- 
 wards his religious brother and disciple, tells us, 
 he worked night and day. The philosophy of Ar- 
 istotle and of Plato he diligently read, following 
 tliese by an ardent and enthusiastic study of the 
 Angelic Doctor. 
 
 While he thus enriched his mind, devotion and 
 
 tion of fermentation, the minds of many were anxious and har- 
 assed, and spiritual men foresaw and proclaimed that some great, 
 because necessary, change must come in the affairs of Church 
 and state. 
 
 As the century advanced in its second half, the immortal dis- 
 coverer Christojjher Columbus, whose voyages were to open a 
 new world for the Church and civilization, was dreaming his 
 divine dreams, and looking out over the unknown seas with eyes 
 of yearning and with a heart eager for exploration, and inspired 
 by zeal for the salvation of souls. These two famous Italians did 
 not meet in this world ; but in starry regions of peace and bliss, 
 we trust that their much-tried spirits have found rest and recom- 
 pense with God. 
 
4 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 piety shone in his manner and conduct, the fruit 
 of the growing charity with which his tender heart 
 glowed. Fidelity to his books prepared him for 
 that wider and deeper research which came later, 
 in reading the lessons of the human heart. Full 
 of sympathy as he witnessed squalor, suffering, 
 and ignorance side by side with luxury, indul- 
 gence, and pagan culture, his soul burned Avith 
 righteous indignation against the irreligious and 
 unchristian spirit which was dominant, and with 
 tender pity for God's neglected poor. ^^ 
 
 As the gulf, already broad, grew wider and 
 wider, " the rich becoming richer and the poor 
 poorer," his spirit cried out in the crude but im- 
 passioned verses which he entitled "On tlie Ruin 
 of the World." To him the whole world seemed 
 awry, virtue and piety having disappeared, sin 
 walking abroad without shame, bloodshed and 
 rapine triumj)hant, the widow and the orphan 
 despoiled, Christ scorned, and Heaven defied. Sa- 
 vonarola was then only in his twentieth year. We 
 may easily credit Father March ese when he tells 
 us that at this time the youth found pleasure in 
 the woods, in lonely places, walking in the fields 
 or by the river's bank, singing plaintively or weep- 
 ing, thus giving vent to the emotions which surged 
 in his breast. 
 
 For an account of an interesting incident of this 
 period of his life we are indebted to Father Bene- 
 dict, ^ne of his disciples at St. Mark's, who learned 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA, 5 
 
 from the master many details of his youth. Living 
 near the Savonarola homestead in Ferrara was a 
 Florentine exile of the noble house of the Strozzi, 
 whose daughter attracted the attention of the 
 gloomy young poet. A sudden attachment sprang 
 from this, doubtless a passing emotion of fancy, 
 under the influence of which Savonarola declared 
 to the lady his devotion. We may imagine the just 
 indignation with which he met her haughty rejec- 
 tion, her cutting announcement that no Strozzi 
 could stoop to an alliance with a Savonarola. 
 
 This shattering of his hopes, this disappearance, 
 as he then thought, of all light and sunshine, was 
 the happy occasion of his turning more completely 
 to God. The piety which he had always culti- 
 vated now urged him to an absolute abandonment 
 of the world. He did not act hastily ; but consid- 
 ered the matter long, seeking guidance through 
 prayer. 
 
 When he was about twenty-two years old, as he 
 mentions in one of his discourses, and as Pico della 
 Mirandola, Burlamacchi, and Father Benedict also 
 record, he heard a sermon delivered by an Angus tin- 
 ian friar. So deep an impression did this preacher 
 make on him that his resolution was at once formed 
 to leave the world and to join a religious order. 
 His love and admiration for St. Thomas Aquinas 
 determined his choice of the Order of Preachers. 
 Nevertheless, another year passed before he effected 
 his purpose. 
 
6 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 During this time his tender heart suffered un- 
 speakable anguish, for the delay was entirely due 
 to his fear of inflicting pain on his father and 
 mother by announcing to them his purpose of 
 retiring to a monastery. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA, 
 
 II. 
 
 THE CLOISTER. — IDEAL OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 
 (1475-1481.) 
 
 The struggle was ended only in 1475. On April 
 24, being then in his twenty-third year, Savonarola 
 stealthily left his home, and set out for Bologna 
 and St. Dominic's, where the sacred relics of the 
 Patriarch lie enshrined in the noble and exquisite 
 tomb wrought by Niccolo Pisano, the cradle of 
 modern Christian art.^ 
 
 Savonarola's earliest ideal was the religious life 
 in its simplest form, the work and lowliness of 
 a lay-brother seeming to him the more attractive. 
 This erroneous notion was dissipated by the Fathers 
 of St. Dominic's, who pointed out to the student 
 
 1 For the consolation of his father and mother he wrote a letter 
 and a hrief tract on contempt of the world. These they found after 
 his departure. The letter is deeply religious. Declaring the feel- 
 ings of love and reverence for his parents which were deep in his 
 heart, he gently reminds them that he could not have trusted 
 himself to bid them adieu. In a subsequent letter he tells them 
 that he is about to become a soldier of Jesus Christ, an honor 
 which they will assuredly prize above the fleeting honors of this 
 world's wars and heroes. In his tract he emphasizes these senti- 
 ments, expressing at the same time, in vigorous language, his 
 horror of the sinful world which he is about to abandon. He 
 begins, even in this youthful production, tp announce the coming 
 wrath of God in punishment of Italy's sins. 
 
8 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 that the career to which he was called was that of 
 the priestliood. 
 
 In the retreat at Bologna, Savonarola spent seven 
 happy years. Prayer, fasting, mortifications of the 
 most rigorous kind, filled his days ; at the same time 
 his modesty and obedience proved how truly he had 
 separated himself from the outer world. During 
 this period he lectured to the novices, composed 
 a Compendium of Philosophy, and wrote com- 
 mentaries on Plato, his previous philosophical and 
 theological studies having laid a most solid foun- 
 dation for the vast learning which he subsequently 
 acquired. 
 
 Early in his religious life his meditations, which 
 before his coming to Bologna had found expression 
 in the canticle or poem, already mentioned, on the 
 ruin of the world, bore further fruit in a second 
 metrical composition, which he styled '• The Ruin 
 of the Church." Brooding over the unhappy con- 
 dition of his beloved Italy (for Savonarola was no 
 mere provincial), witnessing a period whose annals 
 deal frequently with treacher}^, cruelty, bloodslied 
 in war, in riot, and in assassination, his gloomy fore- 
 bodings were further embittered as he beheld the 
 relaxation in morals, the scandals in ecclesiastical 
 life, the decay of faith, the numerous disorders 
 which afflicted the Church. In this canticle on 
 the sins prevailing among the faithful, his ardent 
 soul pictures with a sombre vividness the evils that 
 had already come, and the misfortunes that, as a 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 9 
 
 necessaiy consequence and punishment, would fol- 
 low in their train. He describes the Church in 
 solitude, mourning the overthrow of her chaste edi- 
 fice, spending her days in tears because of the 
 havoc that had been wrought. His inflamed im- 
 agination beheld the evil spirit as a horrible vam- 
 pire that had spread its great wings over the 
 prostrate form of the Church, from which it grad- 
 ually drew the life-blood. Then, as if rapt in an 
 ecstasy of indignation, the impetuous young friar 
 poured out the longings of his soul " for the 
 beauty of the house of the Lord," and for the 
 honor of the place where His glory dwelleth : " O 
 God, O Lady, give me that I may break those 
 spreading wings ! that I may slay this monster ! 
 that I may lift up and restore your beloved 
 Church I " 1 
 
 His gracious Lady bade him be silent, to pray 
 and weep. With swelling heart he obeyed, giving 
 himself to the life of the cloister in the fullest 
 devotion of his generous souL Thus restrained 
 by the Spirit of God, and yielding to the empire 
 of grace, he rigorously devoted himself to the voca- 
 tion with which he had been honored. 
 
 1 We have paraphrased the impassioned words of the young 
 friar. These verses supply the key to his future career. 
 
10 JEBOME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 III. 
 
 ARRIVAL IN FLORENCE. (1481.) 
 
 History is silent as to the time of Savonarola's 
 first appearance in the pulpit. Even the date of 
 his ordination is not given by his biographers. Cer- 
 tain it is, however, that while in Bologna his su- 
 j)eriors directed him to preach. What effect these 
 discourses had on his audience we know not. Ap- 
 2)arently he did not achieve any notable success, 
 for contemporary chronicles make no mention of 
 his efforts. 
 
 In 1481 he was sent to Ferrara, his native city, 
 where for a time he preached, but without any spe- 
 cial influence. Apart from a lack of polish that 
 many of the cultured hearers of those days consid- 
 ered more important than doctrine, his want of 
 success may have been an illustration of the old 
 proverb, that a prophet is not without honor save 
 in his own country. So, at least, Savonarola 
 thought. 
 
 During this year, the closing of the University 
 of Ferrara, the faculty of which included several 
 members of the Dominican Order, was the occasion 
 for the withdrawal of some of the brethren previ- 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 11 
 
 ously assigned to the convent of that city. Savo- 
 narola was sent to the Tuscan capital, destined 
 afterwards to be the scene of his triumphs and his 
 sorrows. He never again saw his native place. 
 The contemplation of the misfortunes which threat- 
 ened Ferrara and all Italy through expected war, 
 stirred the soul of the anxious friar as he began 
 his journey to his new home. We know not 
 whether the gloom of his reflections was brightened 
 by the beautiful panorama which opened up before 
 him in the very heart of the ga^rden land of Italy, 
 as he gazed, for the first time, on the lovely valley 
 in which fair Florence, divided by the River Arno, 
 sat gloriously enthroned, and solemnly guarded by 
 the lordly Apennines. Normaj^ we jiidge whether, 
 as he entered the noble convent of St. Mark, a 
 prophetic inspiration fell upon his soul, or coming 
 events cast their shadows on the hopes that must 
 have swelled his generous heart while he thought 
 of this new and extensive field which awaited his 
 labor and zeal. 
 
 The name of St. Mark's is forever linked with 
 the history of Florence, with the career of Savona- 
 rola, and with the memory of the Medici; for it 
 was Cosimo the Elder who built and endowed the 
 convent at a heavy cost, and there welcomed the 
 Dominicans in the jenv 1443. To this great man 
 the brethren were further indebted for a magnifi- 
 cent library, which was practically the first public 
 library founded in Italy. The friars of St. Mark's 
 
12 JEROME SAVONAROLA, 
 
 were men of learning as well as of piety ; and under 
 their fostering care, especially in the golden days of 
 St. Antoninus and of Fra Angelico, St. Mark's be- 
 came the centre of Christian culture in Florence. 
 
 Only twenty-two years had elapsed since the 
 death, of the gentle archbishop when Savonarola 
 entered the convent whose walls were all alive with 
 the speaking figures of Angelico 's lovely saints 
 and angels, and with the glory of Paradise itself, 
 and whose chronicles were enriched with the story 
 of bis brother Dominican artists. Learning and 
 art and sanctity, the-refore, greeted the young friar 
 from Ferrara, and bade him welcome to this home 
 of religion and true Christian erudition. 
 
 Beyond its peaceful cloister there arose the din 
 and strife of politics and of contending philoso- 
 phers.^ Not only were purely religious studies neg- 
 lected,2 but even the pursuit of full and genuine 
 
 1 While in other parts of Europe politics, as we now under- 
 stand the term, was an unknown factor, in Italy a number of 
 petty states, variously named, including one kingdom, several 
 duchies, republics, and marquisates, had so fostered the spirit of 
 diplomacy and statecraft, that in the fifteenth century the sci- 
 ence of politics had made rapid advance in popular interest and 
 study. Florence probably deserved the primacy of eminence in 
 the tangled and crooked work which this study and interest devel- 
 oped among the turbulent and often fiercely contentious Tuscans. 
 
 Among the literati of this time, the amenities (?) of literary 
 life were often observed by charge and countercharge of fraud, 
 treachery, crime, etc., " the flowers with which the glorious path 
 of scholarship was strewn." 
 
 2 At this time, as Savonarola declared in one of his sermons, 
 there was not a professor of Holy Scripture in all Florence, out- 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 13 
 
 profane learning was neither serious nor dignified. 
 Lorenzo the Magnificent discussed Plato with his 
 followers,^ and tlien passed to tlie composition of 
 obscene carnival ballads and rhymes whose merits 
 his sycophantic courtiers lauded beyond the immor- 
 tal song of Dante. Such was the standard among 
 the men who venerated everything ancient, who 
 regarded "the discovery of a Greek or Latin 
 manuscript as one of the greatest blessings of 
 Heaven," who extravagantly extolled the clas- 
 sics, and endeavored, through a blind imitation 
 of Greek and Latin writers, to establish a neopa- 
 gan literature. 
 
 So lamentable a manner of life, among the 
 higher classes, accompanied as it was by much im- 
 morality, induced a corresponding degradation of 
 the people. Vice, it may be said, was too often 
 unchecked, unrebuked. The Carnival was not a 
 mere diversion preceding Lent; it was a prolonged 
 dissipation in which lewd displays and ribald songs, 
 
 side of the monasteries, and even in them he claimed that the 
 sacred study did not flourish, 
 
 1 The Academy of Plato, which had heen founded by Cosimo 
 de' Medici, was then under the presidency of the famous Marsi- 
 lio Ficino. Its members often engaged in debate on theological 
 and philosophical questions, having in view the reconciliation of 
 Christianity with paganism! Of Ficino himself it is recorded 
 that the Gospels were Platonized before he could relish them. 
 While thus marking with a note of severity those scholars who 
 were puffed up with pagan lore, we are not unmindful of those 
 who, like Pico della Mirandola, that marvel of genius and learn- 
 ing, had preserved their faith, and even later cultivated devotion. 
 
14 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 some of the latter composed by Lorenzo, were a 
 large part of the programme. The contamination 
 of public manners was a necessary consequence of 
 these entertainments. 
 
 Hallam, speaking of Lorenzo the Magnificent, 
 whose patriotism he could not praise as disinter- 
 ested, declares that he completed the subversion 
 of the Florentine republic for which his two im- 
 mediate ancestors had prepared, the mockery and 
 pageant of forms having alone been preserved by 
 him in order to keep up the illusion of liberty. 
 
 A student of Tacitus, Lorenzo realized that, in 
 imitation of the Roman Emperor Augustus, the 
 most effective way to carry out his purpose of en- 
 slaving the people was first to corrupt them. Nor 
 had he read the life of Pericles without learning 
 the same lesson from the Athenian tyrant. 
 
 It is not, therefore, surprising that the political 
 condition was deplorable among a people whose 
 republican institutions had previously and success- 
 fully resisted oft-repeaated shocks, but who now 
 seemed, with few exceptions, dead to all thought 
 of freedom. Verily, the proud Catholic Republic 
 had sunk low when Savonarola began his labors 
 among the Florentines. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 15 
 
 IV. 
 
 BEGIXNIXG OF SAVOXAHOLA'S CAREER AS A PREACHER 
 AXD MISSIONARY. (1482-1489.) 
 
 It required but a sliort time for Savonarola to 
 appreciate his new surroundings. Occupied with 
 the instruction of the novices, he had, however, no 
 opportunity of appearing in the pulpit till the 
 Lent of 1-482. These few months of preparation 
 were providential. They enabled him to study the 
 difficulties of his position, and served as a judi- 
 cious check on what might have been a rash pre- 
 cipitancy had he spoken in the first fervor of his 
 indignation. Seeing how the Bible was held in 
 slight esteem, having been superseded by Plato 
 and Aristotle among many of the learned, he gave 
 himself with renewed determination to the study 
 of the Scriptures, inculcating at the same time a 
 like devotion on the part of his novices. The Di- 
 vine Word was indeed his armory. During all 
 the succeeding years of his preaching he invari- 
 ably made the Holy Scriptures the root and basis 
 of his discourses.^ 
 
 1 "He delighted," Father Marehese tells us, " in the Bible as 
 a perennial fountain of inspiration. Like Dante, Michael Angelo, 
 Milton, he drew from the sacred pages beauties which entitle 
 him to rank with the immortals." Possibly Savonarola's great 
 
16 JEBOME SAVONATiOLA. 
 
 Disregarding the prevailing method of address, 
 and speaking from his big, honest heart, without 
 quibble or subterfuge, seeking neither to please 
 cultivated ears nor to win pagan applause, he 
 besfan liis Lenten sermons in the church of San 
 Lorenzo. His earnestness, his fire, his wealth of 
 Scripture learning and comment, were all lost on 
 the Florentines who came to hear him. 
 
 Their sense of pagan art and refinement was 
 shocked by the bluntness of the man who cared 
 more for truth than for its forms. As Lent drew 
 to its close his audience had dwindled to twenty- 
 five, women and children included. Assuredly a 
 discouraging beginning for the ardent champion 
 of faith and virtue in this demoralized centre of 
 infidelity and immorality ! Nevertheless, he ac- 
 cepted the lesson, while he recognized the cause of 
 his failure ; and though his soul flamed with the 
 message he felt that God wished him to deliver, he 
 resolved to retire, and resume in the quiet of St. 
 Mark's his commentaries on the Bible which he 
 then knew by heart. Tliese lectures were primarily 
 intended for his beloved " angels," as he called the 
 white-robed boys of St. Mark's, who had come to 
 follow in the way of him whom Dante named — 
 
 " The loving minion of the Christian Faith, 
 The hallowed wrestler, gentle to his own, 
 And to his enemies terrihle." 
 
 love of the Bible may have been seized as a pretext by those who, 
 unlike him, rejected the authority of the Church as a divinely 
 appointed interpreter, to class him with Protestants. 
 
JEEOZIE SAVONAROLA. 17 
 
 Subsequently, however, as we shall see, others 
 sought admittance, and were kindly received. 
 
 In the Lent of 1484, and again in 1485, Savona- 
 I'ola was sent as preacher to the little republic of 
 San Gemignano, among whose people simplicity 
 went hand in hand with faith and piety. Stran- 
 gers to the refinements and the debaucheries of 
 Florence, they listened with reverence and in a 
 trul}^ penitential spirit, as the orator gave free 
 vent to his righteous indignation because of the 
 prevailing sins of Italj^ At San Gemignano he 
 foretold some of the calamities which subsequently 
 fell upon the land.^ 
 
 During the succeeding four years Savonarola 
 varied his scholastic work by preaching in various 
 towns. In the summer of 1489 his superiors with- 
 drew him from the missionary field, and recalled 
 him to St. Mark's.^ 
 
 1 In 1484 he also preached in Brescia, warning the people that 
 certain defined chastisements would fall on them. The fulfilment 
 of this prediction Madden and other biographers find in the ecour<?e 
 of 1500, which came with the pillage of the town by the French. 
 Assuredly the coincidence is striking. 
 
 2 For the statement of Villari and others that this change waa 
 made at the request of Lorenzo de' Medici there is not sufficient 
 evidence. A seeming basis for their supposition they find in an 
 incident that occurred in 1482. In that year Savonarola attended 
 a Chapter of his Province held at Reggio. Among the distin- 
 guished scholars who were present as guests of the Brethren, in- 
 terested in the disputations which relieved the more solemn and 
 formal features of such assemblies, was Pico della Mirandola. 
 Either because of a personal introduction to Savonarola as the 
 opening of an acquaintance, or merely through admiration aroused 
 by his talents, Pico formed a strong attachment to the friar. A 
 
18 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 At first he discoursed onl}^ to the Brethren, 
 but soon liis fame spread ; and despite that Lom- 
 bard tongue which grated on Tuscan ears, laymen 
 crowded to hear the man whose power they felt, 
 and to whose words they listened as the utterance 
 of one who knew whereof he spoke. St. Mark's 
 could not contain all w^ho wished to share in the 
 lecturer's teaching. Despite his unsparing labors, 
 these were days of rest, of calm, of preparation 
 for the greater labors and for the trials that were 
 in waiting. " Thus," as Mrs. Oliphant gracefully 
 writes, " the first chapter of Fra Girolamo's his- 
 tory ends, under the damask rose-tree in the warm 
 July w^eather, within those white cloisters of San 
 Marco. In the full eye of day, in the pulpit and 
 the public places of Florence, as prophet, spiritual 
 ruler, apostle among men, was the next period of 
 Lis life to be passed. Here his probation ends." 
 
 few years later, it is alleged, he used his influence with Lorenzo 
 to secure the permanent assignment of Savonarola to St. Mark's. 
 That the Dominican Superior should accede to such a request, if 
 made by Lorenzo, would not have been inconsistent with religious 
 discipline, especially as the growing repute of the young lecturer 
 had already become the theme of frequent discussion among the 
 Florentines. If Lorenzo did procure the recall of Savonarola, he 
 probably had no anticipation of the consequences involved, nor 
 did he think that in this friar he would find his firmest opponent 
 in behalf of Florentine liberty and reformation. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 19 
 
 V. 
 
 LENTEN DISCOLItSES. — PRIOR OF ST. MARK'S.— RELA- 
 TIONS WITH LORENZO DE' MEDICL {1490-1492.) 
 
 Yielding to the urgent requests of the laymen 
 who tlironged the spacious cloisters and garden to 
 hear his discourses, Savonarola announced, towards 
 the end of the month, that on Sunday, Aug. 1st, 
 1490, he would speak from St. Mark's pulpit ; and, 
 as Burlamacchi tells us, he added, "I shall speak 
 for eight years." 
 
 He delivered his first discourse, feeling that he 
 had indeed entered on a divinely appointed work. 
 This he outlined in three propositions, the spirit 
 of which pervaded his sermons during the entire 
 period of his public ministry. The Church of 
 God, he declared, needs reformation ; ^ Italy will 
 be scourged ; and these things will soon come to 
 pass. With these propositions as texts, and with 
 the wealth of Scripture as a storehouse from which 
 to draw, he scattered with a lavish hand the gath- 
 ered fruits of years spent in meditation, in praj-er, 
 and in grief for the unhappy conditions prevail- 
 ing. "Swift and fiery" was the natural eloquence 
 of the man, who, arguing that mere elegance of 
 
 1 From within, and only in discipline and morals. 
 
20 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 diction was of minor importance, disregarded many 
 of the forms prescribed by art. Tlie effect pro- 
 duced on the Florentines by the friar's sermons 
 was notable. 
 
 Some held him to be a man of God, a prophet; 
 others claimed that he was a fanatic, to whose 
 raving denunciations sensible men would pay no 
 heed. That his opponents, as well as admirers, 
 continued to flock to St. Mark's, overtaxing the 
 capacity of the convent church, proves the extra- 
 ordinary interest aAvakened and sustained by the 
 preacher who vigorously censured the vices of his 
 time, and confidently foretold the coming calami- 
 ties, chastisements sent by the God of justice. 
 
 That great " contradictions " arose against him, 
 as Burlamacchi declares, we may readily believe. 
 It could not have been otherwise. He had an- 
 ticipated this ; he knew that prophets had been 
 murdered ; for himself he foretold the same fate. 
 
 The friar's study of his Divine Master had been 
 too loving and faithful to leave any doubt in his 
 mind, or any vain expectation in his heart, as to 
 the reward awaiting his mission.^ 
 
 The Lent of 1491 found him in the pulpit of 
 Santa Maria del Fiore, the cathedral church of 
 Florence, generally known as the Duomo, from the 
 noble dome surmounting this splendid pile. The 
 
 1 " I entered the cloister," he said in one of his sermons, " to 
 suffer; and when sufferings visited me I made a study of them, 
 and they taught me to love always and to forgive always." 
 
JEROME SAVONABOLA. 21 
 
 solemn grandeur of this stately edifice, of which 
 Michael Angelo had said that, if smaller than St. 
 Peter's in Rome, it was not less fair, was well 
 adapted to the new preacher for whom St. Mark's 
 had proved too small. Lest the reader should in- 
 fer that Savonarola's audience consisted chieflv of 
 the "plain people," we deem it well to state that 
 he had prudently anticipated the objections that 
 scholars might bring against his rejjrobation of 
 the immoral effects of merely pagan training. To 
 meet the learned, whose false principles he had 
 branded, and to prove that he spoke not from 
 opposition to true culture, but in behalf of solid 
 erudition and piety, he published several works that 
 soon asserted their just influence over the leading 
 literati, many of whom became his most attentive 
 hearers in the Duomo. Hundreds, we are told, of 
 the people rose at midnight, coming to the church, 
 w^here they waited patiently for the opening of 
 the doors. No inconvenience or suffering daunted 
 them. They instinctively felt the goodness, the 
 truth, of the friar who spoke to them, even in " ter- 
 rible sermons ; " they felt that he loved them, that 
 he wished to keep them from going astray. Every 
 manner of evil was condemned, but particularly 
 the predominant sins of the day, — gambling, 
 usury, avarice, revenge, impurity. At the same 
 time he exhorted his hearers to the practice of 
 every virtue, inculcating with exceeding tender- 
 ness the duty of prayer, of charity, and of forgive- 
 ness of enemies. 
 
22 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 The "contradictions " increased. Many thought 
 religiously of the preacher's flaming words, and 
 renewed the spirit of their early faith ; others 
 considered the unhappy state of their city, robbed 
 of lier liberty, and hoped that the mighty reformer 
 in religion would also aid in the struggle for civil 
 freedom ; while a third party, chiefly among the 
 followers of Lorenzo, threatened to exile the bold 
 stranger. These divided opinions caused a mo- 
 ment's hesitation on Savonarola's part as to the 
 wisdom of discussing political affairs, or of an- 
 nouncing prophecies. However, after reflection, 
 he resolved to continue. 
 
 The Lenten course he finished under circum- 
 stances that evidenced the esteem in which he was 
 held not only among the people, but among the 
 nominal rulers of the city. Shortly after Easter, 
 on the special invitation of the Signory,^ he ap- 
 peared in the palace, and before their Excellencies 
 delivered a stirring discourse on virtue in public 
 officials and on the sins of tyrants. 
 
 It was plain to all that Lorenzo was the man to 
 whom the bold words of the preacher were di- 
 rected ; nevertheless, " the Magnificent " took no 
 measures against the friar. 
 
 In July, 1491, Savonarola was elected Prior of 
 
 1 Under this title are designated the supreme officials, or eight 
 prior?, chosen two from each quarter of the city, with one at their 
 head who was known as the Gonfaloniere, or standard-bearer. 
 They were elected for two mouths. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 23 
 
 St. Mark's. He began bis administration by enfor- 
 cing stricter discipline among the Brethren. He 
 also manifested his unyielding courage and in- 
 dependence by disregarding a custom which had 
 previously been observed by newly elected priors 
 during the Medicean regiine^ — a visit to the prince, 
 as an act of quasi-liomage, and as a petition for his 
 favor to the community. He refused to call on 
 Lorenzo, sharply telling those who urged his going 
 that it was to God and not to Lorenzo that he owed 
 his election. 
 
 Then began a series of efforts on the part of 
 "the Magnificent" to win over the man whom he 
 considered a strano^er in his house, but who would 
 not stoop to pay him a visit. Apparently the first 
 citizen of Florence recognized the mettle of the 
 friar; nor could he deny to himself that such a 
 man was worth gaining, even if he were obliged 
 to condescend to pay the stranger a visit. 
 
 Lorenzo was keener in his study of character 
 than were the flatterers about him. He wished, if 
 possible, to win the friendship of a man whom in 
 his heart he admired, even though that man had 
 both attacked and repulsed him. Accordingly he 
 went to St. Mark's several times, and, havino- heard 
 Mass, walked in the garden. It was natural that 
 the Brethren should greet him and show him at- 
 tention, for his grandfather had built their con- 
 vent, and gratitude might be appropriately and 
 with courtesy manifested to the grandson. Ap- 
 
24 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 prised of his presence, Savonarola demanded if 
 Lorenzo had asked for him. Being informed that 
 Lorenzo had not asked for him, he bluntly an- 
 swered, '^ Then let him go or stay as he pleases." 
 
 While admiring the spirit of Savonarola, we are 
 tempted to regret that he did not meet Lorenzo. 
 Without any sacrifice of dignity this could have 
 been effected, as Lorenzo had practically " gone 
 half way."i 
 
 Though thus rebuffed, " the Magnificent " did 
 not desist from his efforts to see the prior, to win 
 him. Generous gifts were offered to St. Mark's, 
 and gold pieces were dropped into the alms-box, 
 to the surprise of the friars. They were further 
 surprised when Savonarola sent all the gold to 
 '' the good men of St. Martin," a charitable organi- 
 zation, and kept only the silver and copper for the 
 Brethren. It must be admitted that the seeming 
 bribe involved in this action of Lorenzo deserved 
 reprobation if not contempt. He wofully mis- 
 judged the new prior, who, as he forcibly put it, 
 would not be kept from barking because his mas- 
 ter's enemy had thrown him a bone. 
 
 Lorenzo next tried to influence Savonarola by 
 sending to him a delegation of five distinguished 
 citizens who had been instructed to speak as if 
 they had gone of their own accord. They waited 
 
 1 Perhaps the course of events might have been changed had 
 these men first met then, and not, as the story goes, at Lorenzo's 
 death-bed, and had they known each other more intimately. 
 
JEBOME SAVONABOLA, 25 
 
 on the prior, and suggested to him the advisability 
 of abstaining from political references in his ser- 
 mons. They counselled him to moderate his style, 
 for prudence and for the sake of his community. 
 He listened, and then unhesitatingly told them that 
 they did not speak for themselves, that they were 
 only Lorenzo's messengers, to whom they should 
 return with his answer: "I am a stranger, and I 
 shall remain; Lorenzo is a citizen, even the first, 
 but he must depart." It was on this occasion that 
 he predicted, in the presence of several, the speedy 
 deaths of Pope Lmocent VIII., aud of the Mag- 
 nificent, The fulfilment of this prophecy added 
 later to his fame. 
 
 Baffled by such determination and courage, Lo- 
 renzo resolved on a final stroke throus^h which he 
 hoped to accomplish the ruin of Savonarola in the 
 public esteem. A certain Father Mariano, of tlie 
 Augustinians, had attained some celebrity as an 
 orator of the Florentine school. He was thor- 
 oughly classical. Lorenzo urged him to return to 
 his pulpit, and Mariano at once responded. In the 
 Church of San Gallo, on the feast of the Ascension, 
 he announced as his text the seventh verse of the 
 first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles : " It is 
 not for you to know the times or moments, which 
 the Father hath put in his own power." Building 
 a vehement and harsh discourse on this text, he not 
 only strove to carry out the suggestions of Lorenzo 
 by denouncing recent prophecies, but he exceeded 
 
26 JEROME SAVONAROLA, 
 
 all reasonable bounds by attacking Savonarola as an 
 impostor. Even Lorenzo heard him with dissatis- 
 faction ; others went away indignant and disgusted. 
 Father Mariano lost his hard-won reputation ; Sa- 
 vonarola, through a masterly answer, increased his 
 fame and influence. Lorenzo made no further at- 
 tempt either to harass or to win the indomitable 
 Prior of St. Mark's.^ 
 
 1 It does not appear that common friends endeavored to ar- 
 range a meeting between the two great men. If the attempt were 
 made, it failed. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 27 
 
 VI. 
 
 THE DEATH-BED OF LORENZO DE' MEDICI. 
 
 The year 1491 passed away without any other 
 notable occurrence. In the spring of 1492 Lo- 
 renzo was prostrated by the disease that had for 
 some time been making serious inroads on a con- 
 stitution originally vigorous. Though only forty- 
 four, the Magnificent felt that his end was drawing 
 near. Then the Faith which had slumbered beoj-au 
 to assert its influence ; his heart, never hardened in 
 evil, yielded. From scenes of carnival revelry, from 
 the vanity of learning, from the music of his own 
 songs, he turned away. Though he had already 
 made a confession, he expressed a desire to see the 
 Prior of St. Mark's, and indeed sent a messenger, 
 requesting Savonarola to visit him. The prior 
 went, but with misgivings which he expressed. 
 
 Were it given to historian or writer to read tlie 
 hearts of those two men as Savonarola entered the 
 apartment of Lorenzo, a picture vivid and dramatic 
 might be drawn. For Lorenzo it was the supreme, 
 because the closing moment of his career ; for Sa- 
 vonarola it was an occasion demanding the fullest 
 expression of his high moral courage, the exercise 
 of the most delicate care, charity, and prudence. 
 
28 JETtOME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 With dijBPerences of detail that leave one in doubt, 
 the scene in the chamber of i/orenzo, as prince and 
 friar met for the first and last time on earth, is de- 
 scribed by historians and biographers. We follow 
 Burlamacchi : " Father, three sins especially bur- 
 den me, and I desire to confess them, — the sack of 
 Volterra, the robbery of the Monte delle Fanciulle, 
 and the massacres after the Pazzi conspiracy." ^ 
 
 " Lorenzo," Savonarola answered, " do not de- 
 spair. God is infinitely merciful, and to you will 
 He show mercy if you will do three things." 
 
 " Wliat are they ? " the dying man asked. 
 
 " The first is that you must have a strong faith, 
 believing that God can and will pardon you." 
 
 "I do believe," Lorenzo answered. 
 
 " You must also," the prior continued, " restore 
 all ill-gotten goods, or impose on your sons the 
 obligation of so doing." 
 
 Lorenzo hesitated, showed how keenly he felt 
 this, but after a while agreed to the prior's demand. 
 
 " And lastly," said Savonarola, as he gazed sol- 
 emnly and fixedly on the Magnificent, now so 
 sorry a spectacle, " you must restore to Florence 
 her libert}^" 
 
 To this Lorenzo made no answer, only turn- 
 ing his face away. The stern friar then left the 
 apartment. 
 
 There is much uncertainty as to the meaning and 
 importance of this scene. As tragic, unmatched in 
 1 See Roscoe's " Life of Lorenzo de' Medici." 
 
LORENZO DE' MEDICI. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 29 
 
 history, some would paint it, investing with a living 
 interest the episode of that spring morning more 
 than four hundred years ago, when the Magnifi- 
 cent lay dying in his splendid villa among the 
 heauties of nature and art that he had perhaps 
 loved too well. Even accepting Burlamacchi's 
 account, and agreeing with Villari's estimate of 
 its significance, we observe that it is not evident 
 that Lorenzo sent for Savonarola for the purpose 
 of confession. Certainly no sacramental confession 
 was made. Already Lorenzo had been absolved 
 by another priest. May it not have been a desire 
 on his part for reconciliation with the prior that 
 prompted the dying man to send for him ? Ad- 
 mitting, however, that Lorenzo intended to seek 
 absolution from Savonarola, it is a question whether 
 the latter 's jurisdiction as a confessor extended 
 to the matter of his third demand. Moreover, 
 Lorenzo had his own right of conscience ; and 
 apparently he maintained his own view when the 
 matter was presented to him, for previously he did 
 not refer to this phase of the interview, which was 
 exclusively of Savonarola's suggestion and de- 
 mand. Such an incident is available for word- 
 painting. Belonging, however, to the domain of 
 conscience, and lacking the proofs necessary for the 
 detailed circumstances of the visit, we prefer to 
 pass it over in the silence of charity for the dying 
 man, and without judgment as to Savonarola's 
 rights and powers in the case. 
 
30 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 VII. 
 
 THE FEIAIi'S VISIONS, JODRXETS, LABORS.— REFORM OF 
 THE CONVENTS. (1492-1494.) 
 
 Savonarola continued his sermons during 
 1492, increasing audiences testifying to his grow- 
 ing power and influence.^ He had a fond love for 
 the fair city of his adoption, and he longed to see 
 her free ; but it was the liberty of the children of 
 
 1 The reins that had fallen from the lifeless hands of Lorenzo 
 were taken by Piero de' Medici, who inherited some of his father's 
 good qualities, but these were not in the line of statesmanship. 
 As a gallant and an athlete this young man might have achieved 
 success; as the pilot of the vessel of state he was doomed to a 
 miserable shipwreck. He alienated many of his father's stanch 
 adherents, while he outraged the sensibilities of the citizens by 
 ignoring some of the republican forms of liberty which, for the 
 crafty deception of the people, had been preserved during Loren- 
 zo's life. Moreover, the "contradictions" engendered among 
 Savonarola's hearers became more bitter. Unfortunately these 
 factional divisions of the people seemed to mark him as a mere 
 party representative of those who were opposed to the Medici. 
 Yet it may be justly said that no such position was deliberately 
 assumed or desired by him, at least for mere political purposes. 
 
 The immediate followers of Savonarola were generally known 
 as the Piagnoni, or " "Weepers." So we shall designate them. 
 There were other factions known as the Bigi, or the "Grays," 
 who favored the Medici; the Bianchi, or the "Whites," an ex- 
 treme group of the socialist or red republican brand ; and the 
 Arrabbiati, or the " Enraged," so called from their bitter opposi- 
 tion to Savonarola, and their fury against his sway. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 31 
 
 God, the fruit and crown of holy living, for which 
 he 3^earned.^ 
 
 His ardor for this work was further inflamed by 
 two visions, which are recorded as having been 
 vouchsafed to him during this year, the one in 
 Lent, the other in Advent. 
 
 From the city of Rome, on Good Friday night, 
 he beheld a black cross rising to tlie heavens and 
 extending its dread shadow over the world, while 
 amid lightning and thunder the angry sky reflected 
 back the words inscribed on the cross : " The 
 Cross of the wrath of God." Immediately after- 
 wards he saw a golden cross mounting from Jeru- 
 salem, filling the heavens with beautiful light, so 
 that the worshipping world, as the peoples hastened 
 to it, could clearly read the comforting words: 
 "The Cross of the mercy of God." 
 
 At the close of Advent the second vision ap- 
 peared to him. Distinct in the sky he beheld a 
 hand grasping a naked sword, on which were in- 
 scribed the words : " The sword of the Lord will 
 
 1 "God is essentially free, and the just man is free after the 
 likeness of God. The only true liberty consists in the desire for 
 righteousness. It seems to you that a good friar has no liberty, 
 because he has submitted his will to that of others ; but his free- 
 dom is greater than that of laymen exactly because he wills to do 
 that which is commanded by others. What liberty has he who 
 is ruled by his passions ? Now, in our case, O Florence ! do you 
 desire liberty ? Citizens, would you be free ? First of all, love 
 God, love your neighbor, love one another ; seek the general wel- 
 fare. If you have this love and union, true liberty will also be 
 yours." These words, from one of Savonarola's sermons, embody 
 the spirit and purpose of all his labors. 
 
32 JEROME SAVONAROLA, 
 
 soon swiftly descend on the earth." While the 
 thunder pealed and the lightning flashed, and 
 arrows and daggers seemed to fall on the world 
 given over to rapine and bloodshed, he heard 
 voices proclaiming' mercy to the repentant, pun- 
 ishment to the obstinate, and bidding him warn 
 the people that the Divine wrath might yet be 
 averted.^ 
 
 During 1492 the prior had visited Pisa on mis- 
 sionary labors, but his absences were brief. In 
 1493, however, he was assigned to Bologna as the 
 Lenten preacher.^ 
 
 Considerable success attended his efforts in Bo- 
 logna ; but he was eager to return to Florence, 
 where, as he had learned, affairs were in a perilous 
 condition. At this time a change was effected 
 that was of great importance to his work. After 
 much difficulty he secured the separation of St. 
 Mark's from the Lombard jurisdiction of the Or- 
 der. This step was taken in conformity with the 
 laws of the Dominican Order, and as a return to 
 the conditions existing previously to 1448, when 
 
 1 It is easy to realize how the announcement of such visions, 
 apart from any question of their divine origin, must have affected 
 the Florentines. 
 
 2 It is charged by writers unfriendly to the Holy See that this 
 was done at the instance of Piero de' Med«ici. Proof is lacking. 
 The Dominican authorities were capable of administering their 
 office without the intervention of the civil power. The writers 
 who see politics in every event of Savonarola's life, as the main- 
 spring of superiors' actions, only belittle the man and damage his 
 cause by such insinuations. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 83 
 
 the Tuscan convents formed an independent Con- 
 gregation or Province. This Province of Tuscany 
 was restored by the Holy See, and under its own 
 Provincial was made subject directly to the Master 
 General. Over this new division Savonarola was 
 placed with full ordinary power. Piero had re- 
 quested this change probably in deference to Tus- 
 can sentiment, and without seeming to understand 
 that it established Savonarola, as a resident of 
 Florence, beyond the power of such removal as 
 he had hitherto been subject to. 
 
 He organized the convents under his jurisdiction ^ 
 according to strict discipline ; and so great was the 
 fervor of the Brethren of St. Mark's, the centre of 
 the reform, so strong had its attractions become, 
 that the building was found inadequate for the ac- 
 commodation of those who sought admission to the 
 cloister. In a short time this community num- 
 bered more than two hundred friars, among whom 
 not only was the study of philosophy and theology 
 maintained at a high standard, but the arts were 
 also assiduously cultivated. Savonarola likewise 
 fostered missionary zeal in an eminently Apostolic 
 
 1 The convent atFiesole was among the first to join the reform 
 movement. The community of Prato was transferred to the ju- 
 risdiction of the Tuscan Province by command of the Pope, wlio 
 ordered the enforcement of the rule, under the direction of Savo- 
 narola. This action would indicate not only Alexander's accep- 
 tance of Savonarola's plea for the maintenance of his independent 
 authority, but also the high regard of the Pontiff for the friar'3 
 religious spirit. 
 
34 
 
 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 spirit, so that St. Mark's was truly the house of 
 God and the home of Christian art and science. 
 
 In the Advent of 1493, Savonarola resumed his 
 preaching in Florence, continuing during the Lent 
 of 1494 the splendid discourses on faith, morals, 
 and politics, or rather on the science of politics as 
 founded in religion and conscience. These ser- 
 mons included the famous series on Noah's Ark 
 which he had commenced in 1492. 
 
 Frequently during the year and a half that had 
 elapsed from the death of Lorenzo till the autumn 
 of 1494, Savonarola had announced to the people 
 the coming of a new Cyrus, who, as a scourge, 
 would be the instrument of the Divine Justice. On 
 September 21st he spoke on the Deluge. The 
 Duomo was crowded with an expectant multitude. 
 The preacher's words were as fire. When simul- 
 taneously with the thunder of Savonarola's elo- 
 quence, the terrible tidings spread that the French 
 King was crossing the Alps to invade Italy, the 
 Florentines were, more than ever, perturbed. 
 
JEBOME SAVONAROLA, 35 
 
 VIII. 
 
 PATRIOTISM OF THE FRIAR DURING THE FRENCH 
 INVASION. 
 
 To make clear this episode in Savonarola's career 
 a brief explanation is necessary of the political 
 complications which occasioned the expedition of 
 Charles VIII. of France, an event which, as Mach- 
 iavelli wrote, " ruined Italy, and kept her in deso- 
 lation;" and, as Gibbon declared, "changed the 
 face of Europe." Of this invasion Villari writes 
 that it "proved to be the beginning of the long 
 series of disasters which were to desolate Italy for 
 ages, to destroy her commercial prosperity, to stifle 
 her literary and scientific culture, and to extin- 
 guish every spark of her liberty." 
 
 A benefactor to all Europe, the eyes of Italy's 
 neighbors were turned in eagerness and avarice 
 on this fair domain of culture, wealth, and power. 
 The growing states of Europe were ready, from 
 motives of greed and conquest, from the very spirit 
 of restlessness and brigandage pervading the royal 
 and noble robbers of those days, to act against 
 weaker powers. Italy was weak because of her 
 divisions. Among the Italian states the lordship 
 of Milan was then held by Ludovico Sforza, sur- 
 
36 JEBOME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 named the Moor. This unprincipled man, the 
 guardian of his minor nephew, the rightful Duke 
 of Milan, usurped the place of his charge, impris- 
 oned Lim, and it is alleged, poisoned him. The 
 young duke had married the daughter of the King 
 of Naples, who naturally resented the cruel treat- 
 ment of his daughter and her husband. The anger 
 of this monarch, the usurper dreaded, as he also 
 feared the just indignation of other Italian rulers. 
 
 After attempting various schemes, he resolved 
 to secure for himself a powerful ally by urging 
 Charles of Anjou, King of France, to come to 
 Italy and claim, though on a baseless title, the 
 Neapolitan throne. Charles came, with sixty thou- 
 sand men, and calamity followed his march. Sa- 
 vonarola saw in the French monarch another Cyrus, 
 an instrument of justice and of punishment. 
 
 Respecting Florence, however, events took a 
 turn most embarrassing and disadvantageous to 
 the Republic. The party opposed to Piero de- 
 sired the coming of the king, in the hope that 
 the Medici might be expelled. Piero adopted a 
 policy of opposition to Charles, but failed to sustain 
 it by any decided action. He excited the king's 
 anger, and then foolishly hastened to put himself 
 in Charles's power by surrendering, without any 
 compensation, three of Tuscany's most important 
 fortresses. He also promised, in return for the 
 royal protection, to raise a large sum of money 
 for Charles. These actions angered the Floren- 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 37 
 
 tines. As a visitor passing through their territory 
 they would have welcomed the French monarch ; 
 but his coming as an enemy, that would not be 
 placated even by Piero's surrender of their for- 
 tresses and promised gift of money, terrified them. 
 At this juncture, while the French king was yet 
 distant from the city, Florentine ambassadors 
 followed Piero, hoping to make honorable terms 
 with Charles, but he put them off with vain words. 
 
 These events occurred early in November. The 
 French were then on Florentine territory, and by 
 the force of their numbers and military equipment, 
 Tuscany lay helpless before them. In the mean- 
 time the tidings of their advance had reached Flor- 
 ence, where a scene of disorder and riotous murder 
 would have been the natural result among an en- 
 raged people who believed they had been betrayed 
 by their incompetent and cowardly "fii'st citizen." 
 
 At this moment of extreme peril Savonarola 
 was the one man to whom all the citizens looked. 
 While the Signory held counsel with men of re- 
 pute and patriotism, the prior ascended the pulpit 
 of the Duomo. His spirit seemed to penetrate the 
 vast assembly as he stretched over them his hands, 
 and solemnly announced to them that the time liad 
 come for repentance, now that his prophecies were 
 fulfilled. 
 
 Over hearts seething with anger and vengeance, 
 over minds devising ways and means of executing 
 speedy justice on the Medici, God's grace and light 
 
88 
 
 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 fell, through the preacher's marvellous discourse; 
 and the mighty throng went out from the Duomo, 
 filled with a spirit of forgiveness towards their 
 enemies, and with the patient courage that marks 
 true patriotism. Savonarola had saved Florence 
 from scenes of blood and rapine.^ The work of 
 the Signory was thus rendered comparatively easy. 
 Instead of a revolutionary mob, they found a prac- 
 tically united people, ready to face the difficulties 
 and dangers that threatened. 
 
 Though preparing for defence, the Florentines 
 deemed it advisable to send another embassy to 
 Charles. Of this body Savonarola was a member. 
 He did not, however, accompany the citizens who 
 had been commissioned with him, but following 
 them, in the company of some of his brethren, he 
 went out to meet the French king, who was en- 
 camped at Pisa. During Savonarola's absence on 
 this embassy the indignant Florentines expelled 
 Piero de' Medici (who had returned to the city), 
 and his brother, the Cardinal, afterwards Leo the 
 Tenth. 
 
 1 " It would be well," writes Dr. Clark, " for those who think 
 of the friar as a wild fanatic eager for power, burning with hatred 
 against the Medici, and unscrupulous in his denunciations of 
 the enslavers of Florence, to study his conduct at this crisis. 
 One word from him and the city would have been given up to 
 revolt and confusion. One word from him, and the palace of the 
 Medici and all its treasures would have perished forever." The 
 power and goodness of the prior were felt by Cardinal de' Medici, 
 who brought many of the family valuables and placed them in 
 his care at St. Mark's. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 89 
 
 The lay ambassadors accomplished little with 
 the French. Charles would make no promises 
 beyond a general declaration that all would be 
 arranged after his entrance into the city. On the 
 arrival of Savonarola, of whose prophecies con- 
 cerning himself Charles had heard, the monarch 
 granted speedy audience to the friar. 
 
 The accounts of this interview differ in details, 
 but on essential points the historians are agreed. 
 It was a picturesque scene. Savonarola spoke 
 fearlessly, telling the most Christian king that, as 
 the messenger of God, he greeted him who came 
 as the instrument of God, to punish the guilty and 
 to protect the innocent. "Nevertheless," he con- 
 tinued, "hearken to the warning of God's unworthy 
 servant. For the sake of the many just and virtu- 
 ous who are in Florence, spare that city. Reform 
 the abuses which afflict God's Church. If these 
 things are done, thy kingdom will be increased. 
 But if thou dost neglect the work which the Lord 
 hath called thee to do, another will be set in thy 
 place, and His wrath will scourge thee. These 
 things I declare to thee in the name of the Lord.'* 
 
 The king did not commit himself, though seem- 
 ingly moved by Savonarola's address. The latter 
 returned to Florence, bringing comfort to the 
 people even by his presence, though he bore mes- 
 sages scarcely more satisfactory than those of the 
 other ambassadors. Charles would arrange no 
 terms for an understanding or treaty with the 
 
40 
 
 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 Florentines until he had passed through their 
 gates. 
 
 On November 17th, many of his officers having 
 previously arrived, the King was received with 
 pomp by the Signory, who had provided for him 
 and his immediate suite in the splendid Medici 
 palace. The visit lasted ten days, and during this 
 time Charles proved himself to be a troublesome as 
 well as a dishonest guest. Previously to the ratifi- 
 cation of a treaty, which had been the occasion of 
 much dispute, the arrogant monarch showed a dis- 
 position to act harshly, threatening even to sack 
 the city. Again were Savonarola's efforts success- 
 ful among the people for the preservation of peace, 
 and for the avoidance of strife or collision with 
 the foreign troops who were scattered through the 
 city. Once more he brought his personal influ- 
 ence to bear directly on the king. Having sought 
 the royal presence, without introduction or hesita- 
 tion he bluntly told Charles that his Majesty's stay 
 was causing great injury to the people and the city, 
 as well as to the work v/hich God had imposed on 
 him, and reproached him for losing valuable time.^ 
 He urged Charles to pursue his journey without 
 further delay, or his worldly fame, as well as his 
 spiritual interests, would suffer. He concluded 
 by threatening the king with the wrath of God 
 if he inflicted any injury on the city. These brave 
 
 1 We quote Savonarola's words, without passing any judgment 
 as to his views of the campaign of the French king. 
 
JEROME SAVONABOLA. 41 
 
 words had the desired effect. Charles resumed his 
 march, carrying with him, however, despite the 
 generous treatment he had received, many art treas- 
 ures that had been collected by tlie Medici. As 
 the royal plunderer had numerous imitators among 
 officers and soldiers, it is not surprising that the 
 indignation and hatred of the Florentines followed 
 the French army on its way to Naples. 
 
42 JEROME SAVONABOLA. 
 
 IX. 
 
 THE FRIAR'S SERVICES TO THE FLORENTINE REPUBLIC. 
 
 (1494-1495.) 
 
 If Savonarola's services to the Florentines had 
 been of inestimable value during the troublous 
 days of the French visit, when the grateful love 
 of the people had loudly proclaimed their debt to 
 the prior, the assistance he rendered subsequently 
 was not of less importance. Great confusion pre- 
 vailed, in consequence of the expulsion of Piero 
 de' Medici, whose "reign" in the "Republic'* 
 closed sixty years of Medicean rule, under which 
 the foundations of liberty had been destroyed, a 
 mere semblance of freedom having been preserved 
 by the continuance of certain forms and names, 
 from which all spirit and living meaning had de- 
 parted. A strong government was needed, and 
 the friends of Florentine independence realized 
 that vigorous measures must be adopted. 
 
 Among a people of high temper and ardent spirit, 
 passing through such a crisis, there was special 
 need of a prudent and clear-sighted leader. Sa- 
 vonarola did not assume that post; events deter- 
 mined it for him. Many looked to him as the 
 man of the hour, providentially set for a great 
 
PIERO DE' MEDICI. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 43 
 
 work. He was not only faithful to expectations 
 that had been aroused, but by his sermons, his 
 entreaties to the rich to be generous, to the poor 
 to be patient, to employers to provide opportunities 
 for labor, to all to practise mutual charity, to be 
 faithful in prayer and piety, he established the 
 temporary empire of religion over Florence, and 
 wonderfully smoothed the way for political recon- 
 struction, in which, as yet, he had taken no direct 
 part.i But as Villari well says, "the hour had 
 struck for his appearance in the arena of politics, 
 and notwithstanding the firm determination with 
 which he had hitherto held aloof from it, he was 
 now compelled to obey the summons by the pres- 
 sure of events." 
 
 The appearance of Savonarola in the political 
 arena as the champion of liberty is an event signi« 
 ficant in itself, though the history of Florence, and 
 Italian history in general, furnish many notable 
 instances of saintly men, and even women, who en- 
 tered into the public life of their day for the bet- 
 terment of civil affairs. On two points his most 
 severe Critics must render homage to the truth: 
 (1) Savonarola was a preacher, a religious, a priest 
 of holiness beyond dispute, waiving his relations 
 with Alexander VI. ; (2) Savonarola was the moral 
 and political regenerator of Florence. 
 
 1 For an account of the cumbrous method of Florentine politi- 
 cal administration, see Villari's "Life and Times of Jerome Sa- 
 vonarola ; " Symonds's " Age of the Despots ; " or the histories of 
 Florence and Italy mentioned in our Appendix. 
 
44 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 Disinterested, unselfish, his big, brave heart was 
 filled with love for the people, with solicitude for 
 the welfare of the poor, with zeal for the salvation 
 of souls. No thought of winning political power 
 was his ; he simply used the rich gifts with which 
 God had endowed him, as he felt divinely urged, 
 to speak and act for the people.^ 
 
 On the third Sunday of Advent, 1494, his ser- 
 mon indicated the trend of his thoughts on affairs 
 of state. He laid the foundation deep in religion, 
 love of God, mercy and charity towards all, for- 
 giveness of enemies, forgetfulness of past injuries 
 and wrongs, the pardon and restoration of those 
 who h^d been identified with Piero. He pleaded 
 for such a government as would best assure the in- 
 terest of all, and best serve the welfare of the pub- 
 lic as against that of individuals.^ He urged a 
 rectification of taxes, a more equable distribution 
 of these burdens among the rich and the poor. 
 Finally he recommended the formation of a Grand 
 Council, after the manner of the Venetians. 
 Within two weeks the political measures which he 
 had outlined were carried into effect. Out of a 
 helpless, almost chaotic condition, the friar had 
 
 1 No material interest of St. Mark's Convent or of the Church 
 in general influenced his conduct. Rather, he cried out, " Cease 
 from building churches; yea, the very gold and silver of the 
 sanctuary convert into money that the poor may be fed, and I 
 shall lead the way." 
 
 2 Madden gives an English translation of his treatise on " The 
 Rule and Government of the Florentine People." 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 45 
 
 evolved order; he had suppressed civil rebellion, 
 and held in check a most excitable people. To 
 lawyers and men versed in politics he gave such 
 a lesson in statecraft that all were amazed at his 
 practical knoAvledge of public affairs. 
 
 Only one measure that he recommended was 
 doomed to failure. He urged the formation of a 
 select court of last resort as a check on the arbi- 
 trary power of the bench of judges, who were 
 known as " The Eight." Savonarola's wise sug- 
 gestion was not adopted. The court was not es- 
 tablished, though the right of appeal was admitted 
 to the Grand Council, a body numbering several 
 thousand. Though only one-third of this body 
 acted at a time, and for a given period, it was too 
 unwieldy for the delicate and deliberative respon- 
 sibilities contemplated by Savonarola. He recom- 
 mended the establishment of the Monte di Pletd ^ 
 for the temporary relief of the deserving poor by 
 loans at moderate interest, thus freeing thousands 
 from the clutches of the usurers, whose system of 
 compounding interest was a legalized method of 
 robbery.2 
 
 During the closing days of 1494 the Republic 
 
 1 Pious Banks, — a free rendering. 
 
 2 This generous service to the people aroused the anger of the 
 money-changers, adding to the political enemies of Savonarola a 
 combination of bankers and usurers who continued in their pur- 
 suit of vengeance till his downfall was accomplished. The mod- 
 ern pawn-shop is the evolution, by a downward progress and with 
 disregard of religion, of the mediaeval Monte di Pieta. 
 
46 
 
 JEROME SAVONAROLA, 
 
 was re-established, the result being largely the 
 achievement of the prior, to whom nearly all had 
 turned in the liour of peril. The work was rapidly 
 developed. By the end of 1495 the people enjoyed 
 liberty to sucli a degree that the government never 
 more truly deserved the name of Republic. The 
 city had been transformed. 
 
 Indeed, Savonarola had proclaimed from the pul- 
 pit the freedom of the children of God, under the 
 kingship of Jesus Christ over all hearts, and in a 
 sense, it may be said that he established a Theoc- 
 racy in the city where pagan ideas and manners 
 had so lately reigned. Vice no longer stalked 
 unrebuked in the streets ; rather had the reign of 
 virtue been inaugurated. Were secret excesses, 
 however, diminished? Should youth be denied 
 moderate amusements ? These questions conserva- 
 tive men put one to another in Savonarola's day. 
 It is to be feared that the city passed too rapidly 
 from one extreme to the other, and that Savon- 
 arola encouraged among an unprepared multitude 
 too close an application of principles, available in 
 details only for the cloister. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 4T 
 
 X. 
 
 REFORMATION OF THE PEOPLE IN SPITE OF OPPOSITION, 
 
 During 1495 Savonarola was unflagging in the 
 work of preaching. At the beginning of the year 
 a serious difficulty confronted him through the 
 machinations of the Arrahhiati, These men sought 
 the downfall of the Republic, in the hope of erect- 
 ing on its ruins an aristocracy or oligarchy. 
 Through their misrepresentations, the Pope was 
 induced to order Savonarola to proceed to Lucca. 
 The prior made ready to leave, but the Signory and 
 many others, by most urgent letters, prevailed on 
 His Holiness to reconsider his command. Savona- 
 rola remained in Florence. 
 
 Before the opening of his regular Lenten course, 
 he preached several sermons, one of notable force 
 and vehemence, in which ecclesiastical disorders 
 and the sins of princes were unsparingly rebuked. 
 The publication of this discourse, known as the 
 " renewal sermon," was an occasion of bitter strife. 
 His followers hailed it with delight. The Arrahhi- 
 ati circulated it for the harm they hoped it would 
 bring on the preacher, through the animosity of 
 those in high places against whom he had so 
 strongly spoken. How far this incident influenced 
 
48 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 the tone of Savonarola's discourses during Lent we 
 know not, but a sadness and gloom pervaded them, 
 lie frequently referred to the violent death that 
 already he seemed clearly to foresee. Another 
 event that sorely tried Savonarola's soul was the 
 attempt made by his enemy, the Gonfaloniere Cor- 
 bizzi, to have him condemned for interference in 
 affairs of state. For this purpose Corbizzi sum- 
 moned a council of theologians to the palace. 
 Among them was a decided opponent of Savona- 
 rola, in fact, his most obstinate assailant, a Domin- 
 ican named Thomas of Rieti, a member of the 
 community of Santa Maria Novella. 
 
 Having heard the charges, Savonarola, to whom 
 the purpose of the meeting had not previously 
 been known (for he was accustomed to preach 
 occasionally before the Signory), made a noble 
 answer, first sharply scoring his Dominican oppo- 
 nent, and then completely confounding the others 
 by his dexterous defence.^ However, this action 
 
 1 " In me," he said, " is fulfilled that saying of the Lord, • Filii 
 matris meaepugnaverunt contra me, — ' My mother's children have 
 fought against me ' ; yet it grieves me to see that my fiercest op- 
 ponent wears the habit of St. Dominic. That habit should remind 
 him that our Founder involved himself not a little in the things 
 of this world ; that from our Order have gone forth saints and re- 
 ligious who have concerned themselves in the doings of the state. 
 "Will the Republic of Florence remember the Cardinal Latino, St. 
 Peter Martyr, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Antonino, who all be- 
 longed to the Order of St. Dominic? It is not concerning our- 
 selves with the doings of this world in which God has placed us 
 that should be condemned in a religious, but it is doing so without 
 having regard to a higher end, without an eye to the good of 
 religion." 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 49 
 
 of the Gonfaloniere showed that the tide was turn- 
 ing against Savonarola, though the people still re- 
 mained devoted to the friar, and though many of 
 the influential men of the city were his most ardent 
 admirers. 
 
 Worn by anxieties and laboi-s, and by a rigid 
 discipline, Savonarola finished his Lenten sermons 
 under extraordinary stress. The city took on a 
 new life. Everywhere signs abounded of the 
 reformation that had taken place. Multitudes 
 thronged the confessionals ; restitution was made 
 on a large scale by those who held unjust gains ; 
 alms for the poor were abundant ; the practice of 
 prayer and spiritual reading and the singing of 
 hymns gave a conventual air to the domestic 
 hearth; ribaldry and licentiousness among the 
 reckless young men of the city were renounced ; 
 pomp and vanity among the rich and lordly gave 
 way to Christian modesty and simplicity. As- 
 suredly Savonarola was a reformer, but Catholic to 
 the core in all the changes he wrought, though 
 erring on the score of over strictness. All classes 
 were amenable to his influence. From distant 
 places many came, women and men, to hear the 
 far-famed prior. The noblest families of Florence 
 gave a strong proof of their veneration for Savona- 
 rola in the free surrender of their sons to enter the 
 Dominican Order as his followers. 
 
 The changes he wrought in the customs of the 
 people invited opposition, and this was supplied 
 
50 JEEOMH SAVONAROLA, 
 
 by the Arrahhiati^ who persistently "waged a war- 
 fare of petty spite against him. They hurled nick- 
 names at the Piagnoni^ at all who held him in 
 reverence, and sneeringly spoke of them as " toad- 
 ies," " prayer-mumblers," " twisted necks.'* But 
 as Villari pointedly says, " The Piagnoni were the 
 only determined defenders of the people's rights, 
 the readiest to fly to arms when Florence was 
 threatened by the French, the most generous in 
 giving money to the state, and in tenderly succor- 
 ing the poor who were suffering from the high 
 price of food and scarcity of work. Their devo- 
 tion to the Republic was the more tenacious be- 
 cause liberty and religion were as one in their 
 hearts ; and in all public emergencies it was only 
 on these followers of the friar that the country 
 could really depend." ^ 
 
 1 Mr. Symonds claims that the Piagnoni were the hackbone 
 of the Florentine people, those who might have saved the state 
 had a political salvation been possible for it. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA, 51 
 
 XI. 
 
 THE FBIAB SAVES FLORENCE FROM THE FRENCH KING. 
 
 Charles VIII. proved untrue to his pledged 
 word, to the treaty made with the Florentines, to 
 the best purposes to which Savonarola had en- 
 treated his devoted loyalty as an instrument of 
 God. The end of May found him, accompanied 
 by Piero de' Medici, at Siena, on his return jour- 
 ney from the disastrous Neapolitan campaign. 
 There he was met by ambassador from Florence 
 who desired to learn the line of his march. His 
 treatment of them was insolent and threatening. 
 Again was the aid of Savonarola invoked. The 
 letter which he addressed to the French monarch 
 is a noble document ; it proclaims the power and 
 courage of the friar : — 
 
 " Most Christian Sire, — It is the Lord's will that the 
 Florentines should continue their alliance with your Maj- 
 esty ; but He wishes your protection to extend the freedom 
 of the people, not of any individual, for God has ordained 
 the fall of all tyrants. The Lord will inflict terrible punish- 
 ment on any private citizen who seeks to usurp, as in the 
 past, the government of this flourishing Republic, which 
 has been constituted, not by man, but by God. He has 
 
52 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 chosen this city, to increase it. He has filled it with His 
 servants ; whosoever touches it touches the apple of His 
 eye. Therefore, Sire, if you will not obey Him by keep- 
 ing your pledges to the Florentines, and restoring their for- 
 tresses, many calamities will come upon you, and nations 
 will rise against you.'* 
 
 In a few days Savonarola followed this letter by 
 going out to Poggibonsi, whither the king had ad- 
 vanced. Again he spoke as the messenger of God, 
 boldly telling Charles that his disobedience to God 
 was the cause of his failure and losses. Savona- 
 rola further declared that the king had provoked 
 the Divine anger by his treachery to the Floren- 
 tines, and by his refusal to effect the reforms for 
 which God had called him. He concluded his ad- 
 dress by warning him for the last time that, if he 
 did not earnestly take up the work of God, still 
 greater calamities would come upon him, and God 
 would reject him. 
 
 Charles no further annoyed the city of Florence. 
 His ill-concealed friendliness for the Pisans, then 
 in revolt against Florence, and his retention of the 
 fortresses which Piero had so pusillanimously sur- 
 rendered to him, occasioned, however, heavy loss 
 and trouble to the Republic, while his encourage- 
 ment of Piero emboldened the expelled prince to 
 attempt a forcible entrance of the city. 
 
 This attempt failed, but it occasioned a mani- 
 festation of patriotism and courage on the part of 
 the Florentines and their spiritual leader deserv- 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 53 
 
 ing the highest praise. Savonarola's sermons at 
 this time — October — were marked by a vigor and 
 fire that some have considered excessive. But they 
 do not justly weigh his words who separate them 
 from the conditions and dangers out of which they 
 sprang. As a true patriot Savonarola spoke. 
 
54 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 XII. 
 
 RELATIONS WITH THE POPE. (1495.) 
 
 To the opinion of certain writers that Florence's 
 opposition to the league of Italian states,^ of which 
 the Pope was a member, irritated and angered 
 Alexander VI. against Savonarola, we ought not 
 to attach undue importance. Admitting that the 
 friar's political attitude was offensive to the Pope, 
 other circumstances were conspiring to draw the 
 Pontiff's attention to the preacher. His sermons, 
 in which ecclesiastical abuses were unsparingly 
 lashed, were reported, perhaps in an exaggerated 
 form, and were sent to Rome, with inflammatory- 
 letters from his persistent enemies in Florence. 
 The sovereign Pontiff was obliged to take notice of 
 a man who had made powerful enemies among pre- 
 lates of high rank, and who had become the storm 
 centre, politically and ecclesiastically, of the day. 
 The following letter was despatched to the Prior 
 of St. Mark's, by Alexander, on July 25th, 1495; — 
 
 Beloved Son, — 
 
 Health and Apostolic Blessing. Amongst the many who 
 have worked in the vineyard of the Lord we have learned 
 
 1 For the expulsion of the barbarians, as the French were called. 
 

JEROME SAVONAROLA, 65 
 
 from several sources that your labors have been especially 
 earnest and successful. This fills us with deep joy and 
 gratitude to God, Who so powerfully works among us by 
 His grace. Nor do we doubt but that you are an instru- 
 ment in His hands for the abundant sowing of His Divine 
 word, and the reaping of a plentiful harvest. jVIoreover, 
 recent letters on this very subject have given us to under- 
 stand that in all your sermons you instruct the people in 
 the service of God, and that you announce future events, 
 being moved thereto, not by human learning or wisdom, 
 but by the Spirit of God. Being desirous, therefore, as is 
 our duty, of conferring with you on these matters, and so 
 learning God's will more clearly, we wish you to come to 
 us as soon as possible, and we give you a command in virtue 
 of holy obedience to that effect. We shall greet you with 
 all fatherly tenderness and love.'* 
 
 Recalling what travel meant in those days, and 
 considering the necessary slowness and uncertainty 
 of mail delivery, we can understand that there may 
 have been no needless delay in Savonarola's an- 
 swer, which is dated July 31st : — 
 
 Most Holy Father, — I prostrate myself at the feet 
 of your Holiness. Although I am aware that we must 
 always obey the commands of our superiors, since we read 
 in Holy Writ, "he that heareth you, heareth Me," still it is 
 their meaning and not merely their words that we have to 
 obey. And because I have long desired to visit Rome, and 
 to worship at the shrine of the Apostles, to venerate the rel- 
 ics of so many saints, and to see your Holiness, these ardent 
 longings have greatly increased since I received the letter 
 of your Holiness deigning to invite one so unworthy to your 
 
56 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 presence. But as there are many difficulties in the way, I 
 shall humbly lay them before your Holiness, so that you 
 may see the reasonableness of my excuses, and that it is 
 necessity and not unwillingness which prevents me from 
 obeying the command which I received, with the deepest 
 love and reverence. In the first place, there is the delicate 
 state of my health, the result of fever and other sickness 
 which I have had of late. Then my position here, especially 
 during the past year, has entailed on me such a continual 
 strain of mind and body that I am exceedingly weak, ut- 
 terly unable to undertake any work, or to bear the least 
 fatigue. The physicians have obliged me to give up all 
 study and preaching, for in their opinion and in that of 
 many friends, I shall endanger my life, unless I at once sub- 
 mit to proper treatment. Moreover, since Almighty God 
 has made use of me to deliver this city from bloodshed and 
 other serious evils, and to establish peace with respect for 
 law, I have made as many enemies as there are wicked men 
 in this place ; for whether they are citizens or strangers, 
 they vented their rage on me when they saw their love for 
 fighting, their ambition, and their greedy thoughts of rap- 
 ine and plunder frustrated. At the present moment their 
 plots against my life, either by open assassination or secret 
 poisoning, are so frequent that I cannot leave the house 
 M'ithout guards. Indeed, when I went to confer with the 
 French King the loyal Florentines would not allow me to 
 pass out of their protection, although I was furnished with 
 a safe-conduct. Although I trust in God, I must not de- 
 spise ordinary precautions, lest I should seem to tempt Him, 
 since it is written, " when they persecute you in one city, 
 flee into another." Moreover, the recent improvement in 
 this city which God's grace has effected, is hardly suffi- 
 ciently established to withstand the persistent efforts of the 
 wicked, and needs daily care and attention. Since, there- 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA, 57 
 
 fore, my departure at the present moment would, in the 
 opinion of earnest and prudent men, cause difficulties among 
 the people, and help the plots of the Medicean faction, it is 
 evidently not God's will that I should leave here at present. 
 I hope it will be soon. And if, perhaps, your Holiness 
 wishes to know more about the misfortunes of Italy and the 
 renovation of the Church, of which I have publicly spoken, 
 it is all fully treated in a book which I am now having 
 printed, and which, as soon as it is ready, I shall send to 
 your Holiness. From it you will be able to gather all you 
 wish to hear. I have said nothing that is not there. I 
 have only delivered the message intrusted to me. To go 
 beyond that, and to attempt to read the unknown secrets 
 of God, would be sinful. I have had these things printed 
 that all may know if I have been deceived or deceiving. 
 But if things happen, as I have said, then let them thank 
 our Lord and Saviour, Who by His loving care of us, shows 
 that He wishes no one to perish eternally. 
 
 And therefore, I ask your Holiness to accept these m.y 
 excuses as most true and valid, and to believe that nothing 
 could give me greater joy than to be able to carry out your 
 commands. I need no other spur than my own desire to 
 urge me to conquer these difficulties as soon as I can, and 
 to satisfy the wishes of your Holiness to whom I commend 
 myself in all humility. 
 
 The tenor of the Pope's letter is indulgent, be- 
 nign, and gentle. Villari claims that the Brief 
 was issued in a spirit of deceit, to entrap Savona- 
 rola, but he offers no proof. Rather are the cir- 
 cumstances and the evidence against this aspersion 
 of the Pope's motives. 
 
 Savonarola's old antagonist, Mariano, was at that 
 
58 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 time in Rome, and Villari contends that his rabid 
 and calumnious discourses had embittered Alexan- 
 der. We are of the opinion that His Holiness had 
 weightier cares than listening to the complaints 
 and dissensions of friars. Villari also maintains 
 that the Arrabhiatiwere plotting against Savonarola, 
 and that a journey to Rome at that time, literally 
 among thieves and murderers, might have been at- 
 tended by assassination on the way, or by life-long 
 imprisonment at the end. With this conclusion 
 we cannot entirely agree. Moreover, we may not 
 interpret the mind of the Pope beyond his written 
 Avords, and they are fatherly. Politics probably 
 entered into the question, but the command of the 
 Pope was the supreme law for Savonarola. How- 
 ever, as Alexander had set no time for his visit to 
 Rome, and as commands are amenable to a reason- 
 able construction when their terms are vague, the 
 friar's prompt excuses expressed in the respectful 
 language which we have quoted, may have been 
 justified. Previously to answering the Pontiff's let- 
 ter, Savonarola announced his withdrawal from the 
 pulpit, on account of his illness, the shattered state 
 of his health, and the exhaustion evident to all. 
 
 To the casual reader, Savonarola's letter suggests 
 a want of frankness, together with an assump- 
 tion of judgment, scarcely compatible with that 
 obedience which is due to a superior. On this 
 point we remark that some authors deem tliis let- 
 ter justified by Savonarola's intense conviction, not 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 59 
 
 only from a certain conscience, the rule of morals, 
 but from the heavenly light which he believed had 
 been vouchsafed to him, and which he interpreted 
 as imposing an imperative duty upon him. With 
 this view we cannot coincide ; even admitting such 
 an interpretation, it would show, on Savonarola's 
 part, excessive zeal, for which there may be pallia- 
 tion, but not entire justification, even under the 
 extraordinarily trying circumstances attending Sa- 
 vonarola's difficulty with the Pope. Still we hold 
 that his spirit was of obedience, and the tacit ac- 
 ceptance of his excuses by Alexander would indi- 
 cate that the Pontiff did not then consider the 
 friar wanting in submission. His closing discourse 
 at the end of July he called a *' terrible " sermon ; 
 yet, as tvas his wont, it was stamped with the spirit 
 of tenderness for the people, and gentleness to- 
 wards sinners, a spirit that went out even to the 
 hated Jews, at a time when other ecclesiastics had 
 demanded severe measures against them. Verily 
 broken in health, Savonarola retired to St. Mark's, 
 and Father Dominic of Pescia, his faithful disciple, 
 took his place in the pulpit of the Duomo. 
 
 Scarcely six weeks had elapsed when a second 
 brief was issued by the Pope.^ Though intended 
 for Savonarola and St. Mark's, this Brief was ad- 
 
 1 Here we may remark that the complaints addressed to the 
 Holy See were not by politicians alone; churchmen of various 
 grades joined in the cry against the daring preacher who had hecii 
 so unsparing of denunciation against irregularities. Some of the 
 
60 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 dressed to the friars of the Holy Cross Church who 
 had been opponents of the Dominicans. It re- 
 ferred to the prior of St. Mark's as a " certain friar 
 Jerome, a seeker after novelty and a disseminator 
 of false doctrines," clairaincr to have a Divine mis- 
 sion, but without proof of Holy Writ or miracles. 
 The Brief then branched off on the subject of the 
 Lombard jurisdiction (the separation from which 
 Alexander himself had authorized for St. Mark's), 
 branding as scandalous the position held by Savo- 
 narola and the brethren of St. Mark's, several of 
 whom were summarily ordered to Bologna. Sa- 
 vonarola was directed to show himself subject to 
 the superior of the Lombard Coiigregation and to 
 hold himself ready for a summons by that prelate 
 to whom (though a party to the previously settled 
 
 clergy, both secular and religious, refused absolution to those of 
 their penitents who attended the friar's sermons. Thus tlie eccle- 
 siastical animosities which existed in those days were not merely 
 the ebullitions of passing human temper, signs of human frailty; 
 they were, in a manner, an unfortunate outgrowth of the prevailing 
 evils against which Savonarola had thundered. As Pico della 
 Mirandola writes, " when the fame of his holiness grew, with it 
 envy grew, and from envy came calumnies ; for as his virtues won 
 for him friends, so did they raise up enemies. Amongst his most 
 bitter foes were those prelates of the Church, some of them, who 
 by their evil lives were giving scandal." **He had preached 
 against them," says the English Dominican, Father Procter; " he 
 had spoken openly of their sins; he had said with the Baptist: 
 'It is not lawful.' Like Herodias, they would be content with 
 nothing but his head, — and his head they received." Concern- 
 ing the Pontifical letter dated the eighth of September, it is neces- 
 sary to explain certain peculiarities so that the whole may be 
 placed in a proper light. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 61 
 
 dispute) the affair was now referred for final 
 judgment. 
 
 We may pass over the circumstance that the 
 Brief was addressed to another community, on the 
 supposition that this would guarantee publicity, 
 though no action or word of Savonarola or his 
 brethren had as yet given any occasion for holding 
 them under the suspicion that they would suppress 
 the Brief. The reference to a " certain friar Je- 
 rome," in the face of Alexander's previous personal 
 letter to him, is puzzling; it may have been the 
 work of one of the Pope's secretaries. The charge 
 of false doctrine was subsequently stamped as false, 
 even in Alexander's day, and more emphatically, 
 by one of his successors. The sudden interjection 
 of a question of jurisdiction between two provinces 
 of the Order, a matter which Alexander himself 
 had decided, and to which in his former letter he 
 made no reference, suggests to Villari a religious 
 pretext for picking a political quarrel ; but the 
 inference is not clear. Savonarola was in a sore 
 dilemma. On either horn he might be impaled. 
 That he was grievously troubled and yet seem- 
 ingly unshaken in the sense of religious duty, we 
 gather from a letter addressed by him to one of 
 the Dominicans in Rome:^ "All the world knows 
 that the charges against me are false. My accu- 
 
 1 Savonarola's expressions, ** all the ■world," '* no cause for at- 
 tack," ** all wish to rid themselves," etc., must be taken in a 
 rhetorical sense. 
 
62 JEROME SAVONAROLA, 
 
 sers have no cause for attack ; rather they stone me 
 for a good deed. But I neither dread them nor 
 fear their power, for I rely on the grace of God 
 and an upright conscience. I know who are the 
 real authors of these troubles. They are wicked 
 citizens who desire to raise themselves to power, 
 and their accomplices are wicked princes of Italy. 
 They all wish to rid themselves of my presence 
 here, at any cost, since they consider me an obsta- 
 cle to their ambition. In fact, I dare not leave the 
 convent without an escort. If His Holiness knew 
 all, I do not think that he would wish me to go to 
 Rome. I will obey, however, even though my obe- 
 dience should bring about the ruin of the world, 
 for I would not sin, even venially, in this affair." 
 Comment on these sentiments would be superflu- 
 ous. In his answer to the Pope, sent towards the 
 end of the same month, he respectfully defended 
 his doctrines, denied that he had ever claimed ab- 
 solutely to be a prophet, reminded Alexander how 
 the separation of St. Mark's from the Lombard ju- 
 risdiction had been effected, on the appeal of the 
 entire community, submitted all his writings to the 
 judgment of the Holy See, and declared his prompt 
 readiness to accept the correction and guidance of 
 the Church. To this letter Alexander replied on 
 the sixteenth of October, though Savonarola did 
 not receive the papal Brief for several weeks. In 
 this communication Alexander praised the obedi- 
 ence of Savonarola, admitted his good intentions, 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 63 
 
 but commanded him to desist from futher preach- 
 ing till he would be able, with honor and safety, to 
 make the journey to Rome. 
 
 Savonarola complied with this injunction against 
 his preaching, Father Dominic taking his place in 
 the Cathedral, during the succeeding Advent. 
 
64 JEBOME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 REFORMATION OF THE CHILDREN OF FLORENCE. 
 (1495-1496.) 
 
 The closing days of 1495 found Savonarola in 
 retirement, but active with his pen. Though en- 
 feebled in health, his mind had lost none of its 
 clearness, nor was his high spirit daunted. 
 
 Sharing the opinion held by many of the car- 
 dinals, as well as by a large number of bishops, 
 priests, and laymen, who were zealous for the 
 honor of religion, Savonarola longed for the as- 
 sembling of a Council. He wrote to Charles of 
 France, and urged this hesitating monarch to take 
 steps towards the desired end. He also engaged 
 in other correspondence, but always bearing on the 
 spiritual life. 
 
 The time for the Carnival of 1496 was approach- 
 ing, and it was evident that the Arrahhiati were 
 determined to restore the abominable features 
 which had prevailed in the Medicean days. Sa- 
 vonarola resolved to prevent tliis, though he knew 
 full well the disposition of the people, and the 
 readiness with which they could be swayed back 
 to the sins they had abandoned. Their conversion 
 was not lasting ; rather had a passing emotion mo- 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. ^^ 
 
 mentarily changed them. Knowing this, he would 
 not have been surprised by any outburst of wicked- 
 ness among those who had been moved only by 
 that wonderful voice, now no longer ringing out 
 the threats of Divine justice, or gently urging the 
 pleadings of Divine mercy. 
 
 He began his campaign with the boys. He in- 
 augurated the "reform of the children." In this 
 work we find a most interesting phase of Savo- 
 narola's mission. For generations the Florentines 
 had been accustomed to revelry and even debauch- 
 ery (especially under the Medici) during Carnival 
 holidays. The boys took part in the celebration 
 in a way characteristic of youthful heedlessness 
 and even of cruelty. A game they played at this 
 time was known as that of the stones, a brutal and 
 occasionally a fatal " pastime " which closed the 
 day's festivities. After having secured means for 
 a supper by intercepting the people on the street, 
 whose passage they would not allow except on the 
 payment of money, the evening was spent around 
 a huge ''bonfire." At this time they found enter- 
 tainment in pelting one another with stones. 
 Against these disorderly customs, warnings, threats, 
 penalties, had proved ineffective. 
 
 The great preacher, silenced, deprived of the 
 privilege of exercising his marvellous God-given 
 power in the pulpit, took to heart the case of the 
 children whose improvement was not beneath the 
 efforts of the man who had politically and morally 
 
6Q JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 reformed their elders. And his success was pro- 
 nounced. Catering to the military and political 
 instinct that is quick in the heart of every " real " 
 boy, Savonarola marshalled the Florentine youth 
 (the same wild, lovable fellows in the fifteenth cen- 
 tury that we find in the nineteenth), according to 
 the '' quarters " of the city, and had them elect 
 their own captains, with counsellors for the cap- 
 tains. Thus organized, he exhorted them to make 
 a new carnival. For the shameful songs that they 
 had sung, would they not sing the new songs? 
 He himself would write them, and fitting music 
 would also be provided. We seem to hear the 
 honest-hearted boys, who felt that the great prior 
 was their true friend, as they promised to sing his 
 hymns. And the worn preacher kindled again the 
 poetic fires of other days, and forgetting the tri- 
 umphs of the Duomo, burying in his own great 
 heart his sorrows and his wrongs, wrote for the 
 lads sweet hymns and pure songs whose sacred 
 melody would rise to Heaven in reparation for the 
 shameful ballads of Medicean days. 
 
 He allowed the boys to beg, but not offensively, 
 not to the intercepting of any passer-by. From 
 house to house they went ; and wlien at night they 
 had gathered a rich harvest, and it was turned over 
 to the " Good Men of St. Martin " for the modest 
 and deserving poor, beyond doubt the generous and 
 tender-hearted prior made ample provision for a big 
 supper for his Florentine boys. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 67 
 
 Here we may anticipate, to mention Savonarola's 
 special solicitude for the children during the Lent 
 of 1496, when he also arranged a novel and most 
 interesting procession on Palm Sunday. His suc- 
 cess with the boys during the Carnival assured his 
 further success in the Palm Sunday celebration. 
 The Monte dl Pietd^ to which we have already re- 
 ferred, had been for some time in operation. De- 
 sirous of assisting still further in this meritorious 
 work, he instituted a procession of the children, 
 who visited all the churches, sang hymns, collected 
 alms, and, at the close, made a handsome offering 
 to the pious work. " And so much joy was there 
 in all hearts" says Burlamacchi, "that the glory 
 of Paradise seemed to have descended on earth, 
 and many tears of tenderness and devotion were 
 shed." Who can wonder that under the impulse 
 of these extraordinary changes, the Florentines 
 cried out "Live Jesus Christ, our King!" 
 
68 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 A NEW COURSE OF SERMONS AWAKENS PAPAL DIS- 
 PLEASURE. 
 
 We must return to the early winter of 1496, 
 when the choice of a Lenten preacher was up- 
 permost in the minds of Savonarola's friends. 
 Through their persistent efforts they succeeded 
 in securing permission from Pope Alexander that 
 he might resume his sermons. He was immedi- 
 ately chosen to speak in the Duomo during the 
 entire Lent.^ 
 
 1 An event of uncertain date is ascribed to this time. Alexan- 
 der commissioned a Dominican bishop, whose name is not recorded, 
 to examine the published sermons of Savonarola. This prelate 
 reported to His Holiness that not only were there no theological 
 flaws in the friar's writings, but that on the contrary his teaching 
 was wise and just. The suggestion was also made by this bishop 
 that it would be prudent for the Pope to win the friendship of 
 Savonarola by offering to him a cardinal's hat. Here again exact 
 dates are wanting; but the fact seems established that Alexander 
 did approach the friar, through another Dominican, who had been 
 authorized to communicate the Pope's intention of enrolling him 
 among the members of the Sacred College. 
 
 This, we may believe, was intended as a reward for the virtues 
 and services of the great preacher, generously recognized by the 
 Pontiff. Alexander's enemies among the advocates for Savonarola 
 can see in this offer only an attempt to withdraw him from Flor- 
 ence, thus effectively closing his sermons. According to these 
 writers Savonarola took the matter in the sense of bartering, and 
 
STATUE OF SAVONAROLA, BY E. PAZZI, 
 
 In ihe Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 69 
 
 The holy season opened with the Cathedral 
 thronged, special provision having been made to ac- 
 commodate the multitude eager to hear the restored 
 preacher. Guarded by his friends, Savonarola 
 proceeded to the church. Even then his life was 
 in danofer, for the Arrahhiati were determined to 
 assassinate him. 
 
 Mounting the pulpit, he yielded to the inspira- 
 tion of the scene. Clearly, solemnly, tenderly, he 
 proclaimed his Catholic Faith, and his unswerving 
 loyalty to the Holy See, with whose permission he 
 had resumed his preaching. The discourse was a 
 splendid effort, a demonstration, if one were needed, 
 that Savonarola was an orator of marvellous power. 
 
 He defended his attitude towards the summons 
 to Rome ; he defied his enemies ; he lashed the 
 vices and crimes that were stalking abroad in the 
 land ; he denounced superstition ; he pointed out 
 the dangers of mere ceremonies and external obser- 
 vances when faith was dead ; he pleaded for a re- 
 newal of the spiritual life, for perseverance by those 
 who had already entered on the penitential wa}". 
 
 Thus he continued during Lent. Some of his 
 utterances as to coming plagues and the ruin and 
 
 as such, repudiated it. They cite in support of their opinion his 
 blunt answer to the Pope's messenger: "Come to my next ser- 
 mon and you will receive my answer to Rome; " and his public 
 declaration, often repeated in other discourses, "I desire neither 
 hats nor mitres ; I desire only what the saints received ; I desire 
 only death, j-ea, a red hat, a hat crimson with my blood." 
 
 Possibly a simple solution and a more truthful one may be 
 found in Savonarola's humility. 
 
70 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 desecration of churches were afterwards fulfilled. 
 His courage was admirable, but his enemies were 
 increasing. Too many had felt the sting of his 
 lash ; too many saw themselves in a hideous re- 
 flection as he held before Florence the mirror 
 of the Christian life. Moreover, his strained re- 
 lations with the Pope stripped him somewhat of 
 the old-time power, while his distinctions as to 
 a collision between conscience and a superior's 
 command, bred among his hearers suspicions and 
 evil tlioughts. 
 
 Thouo^h he manifested in the discourses which 
 bore on politics, and which were dictated by mo- 
 tives of patriotism, a lofty freedom from party 
 spirit, this did not save him from the growing 
 anger of the opponents of the new government, 
 who were resolved on vengeance against him. 
 
 Contentions arose, in consequence, among the 
 partisans and factions dividing the city. Letters, 
 ballads, pamphlets in high praise of the friar, in 
 equally strong denunciation, multiplied, and were 
 spread among the people, learned and ignorant, 
 cleric and layman, taking part in the battle of words. 
 
 The element of politics was the chief considera- 
 tion with the great body of the Florentines. Even 
 among many of Savonarola's followers the bond 
 was mainly political. That they supported the 
 friar as against the Pope, was not from religious 
 sympathy or from a clear, conscientious under- 
 standing of the qnarrel ; they saw in Alexander 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA, 71 
 
 a temporal ruler who wished to injure the Repub- 
 lic, by restoring the Medici, as a preliminary step 
 to other political and selfish ends. Therefore, 
 they upheld the friar. This fact must be clearly 
 kept in view, at this critical juncture in Savona- 
 rola's affairs. 
 
 Remembering that the Pope's permission for the 
 resumption of his sermons had been merely verbal, 
 and considering that it had been granted in the 
 hope that the preacher would modify his tone, we 
 may readily believe that as the Lent advanced, 
 and as reports of Savonarola's discourses reached 
 Alexander, his indignation was warranted. He ex- 
 pressed in vigorous language the displeasure he 
 felt ; and complained of the Florentine Signory's 
 upholding of Savonarola, and of their refusal to join 
 the League of Italian States. Always politics ! So 
 entangled with this ever recurring question of pol- 
 itics is the career of Savonarola that contradictions 
 may well be admitted as almost necessary, in the 
 judgments passed by history on Pope and friar, and 
 on the motives actuating their relations. 
 
 In the meantime, Alexander had called a confer- 
 ence of fourteen Dominican theologians to whom 
 he submitted the case of Savonarola. Nothing 
 came of it. Chief among the charges alleged was 
 one imputing to Savonarola all the misfortunes of 
 Piero de' Medici. Assuredly here we have a new 
 proof that politics and not religion dominated the 
 situation ! 
 
72 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 XV. 
 
 MISSIONARY AND LITERARY LABORS DURING 1496. — RE- 
 NEWED CONTENTION WITH THE POPE. 
 
 After Easter, 1496, Savonarola proceeded to 
 Prato, in which city the Dominican Convent, as 
 we have already mentioned, had been placed under 
 his jurisdiction. His stay in Prato was short, but 
 his preaching bore abundant fruit. 
 
 In May he resumed his labors in Florence. He 
 preached chiefly on Sundays, and published two 
 volumes, — one on the simplicity of the Christian 
 life, in which he presented Catholic truths in a 
 style so easy that all who ran might read ; the 
 other volume contained an exposition of the sev- 
 enty-ninth Psalm : '' Give ear, O Thou that rulest 
 Israel ; Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep." 
 
 From May until late in August he continued at 
 intervals his impassioned sermons in which wai-ii- 
 ings and menaces of future retribution were re- 
 peated often. He was entirely divested of ail 
 human fear. On August 20, he preached in the 
 Hall of the Grand Council ; and there, before the 
 Signory, the other officials, and the leading men of 
 Florence, he defended himself against the slurs of 
 the enemies who had impugned his motives, and 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA, 73 
 
 who, by dishonestly charging him with undue in- 
 terference in public affairs, had slandered him. 
 
 At this time, the Republic being in sore straits,^ 
 the powerful influence of Savonarola was eagerly 
 sought by the authorities ; and, despite the ingrati- 
 tude which he had already experienced, he gener- 
 ously devoted his time to the strengthening of the 
 government among the people. With rare pru- 
 dence he avoided giving the Pontiff any further 
 occasion for irritation. In fact, during two months 
 and more he abstained from preaching ; it was late 
 in October when he again ascended the pulpit. 
 
 Great misery prevailed in the city, and the un- 
 fortunate people turned to the prior in the hope 
 of some relief. He encouraged them, comforted 
 them, and to win special favor from Heaven, he 
 organized a grand procession in honor of the Blessed 
 Virgin. The image of the Madonna dell' Impru- 
 neta having been brought into the city, the Floren- 
 tines, who specially venerated our Lady under 
 this title, manifested an extraordinary devotion.^ 
 
 While the procession was in progress, news came 
 that much needed supplies were at hand. Consid- 
 ering this as a sign of heavenly favor, the fickle 
 
 i The war against Pisa was still under way; famine had 
 stricken parts of Tuscany ; pestilence also prevailed. 
 
 2 Near the celebrated Certosa, about twelve miles from Flor- 
 ence, lies the village of Impruneta. There, in the church of the 
 Madonna dell' Impruneta, is enshrined a miraculous painting of 
 our Lady, attributed to St. Luke. Among the Tuscans, this 
 shrine is still highly venerated. 
 
74 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 multitude again hailed Savonarola as their deliv- 
 erer. On All Saints' and All Souls' Savonarola 
 again preached. 
 
 Five days later the Pope issued another Brief, 
 in which he took a stand entirely different from 
 that of his previous order, regarding the union 
 of the Tuscan and the Lombard provinces of the 
 Order. 
 
 By this latest letter he commanded the Floren- 
 tine and Tuscan Dominicans to unite in one prov- 
 ince with those of the Roman congregation, under 
 a vicar who would be immediately subject to the 
 Master General of the Order. In answer to this 
 Brief, Savonarola published an apology, in which 
 he contended that the Pope had been misinformed, 
 and that to carry out his command would be to 
 the detriment of religion. Frankly, we can offer 
 no excuse for Savonarola's action in this crisis. 
 Forgetting his previous declaration that he would 
 obey, though the ruin of the world followed, he 
 refused to carry out the injunctions of Alexander. 
 And yet the command of the Pope was not only 
 within his right, waiving all question of motive,^ 
 but it was his further right, had he so desired, to 
 suppress the province over which Savonarola ruled, 
 or the entire Order of which he was a member. 
 
 Had the prior of St. Mark's obeyed, yielding up 
 
 1 Villari sees in the changed policy of Alexander only the 
 dominating influence of politics. Our comment is: What about 
 Savonarola's variations? 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 7S 
 
 liis authority and becoming subject to the new 
 jurisdiction, he might have been transferred from 
 Florence (where he believed his presence neces- 
 sary), he might have been silenced, he might have 
 been persecuted, but worse could not have befallen 
 him than awaited him in ungrateful Florence, nor 
 would he have lost the victory which is ever prom- 
 ised to the obedient man. 
 
 The twenty -sixth of November found hi in again 
 in the pulpit ; he continued to preach during Ad- 
 vent, giving a marked political character to his 
 discourses, and sounding a note of defiance that 
 meant "no retreat, no surrender." This alone 
 would have placed him in a false position. A 
 semblance of power he held ; but the plots, forge- 
 ries, and slanders of his enemies, together with his 
 own defiance of the Pope, were already paving the 
 way for the end of his seeming triumph. When 
 the year 1496 closed, his position was one of great 
 peril. 
 
76 JEROME SAVONABOLA, 
 
 XVI. 
 
 PLOTS OF THE FRIAR'S EXEMIES. — THE BURNING OF 
 THE " VANITIES." (1497.) 
 
 As tlie Lent of 1497 drew near, the Arrahhiati, 
 and especially the younger portion of them, many 
 of whom had banded tosrether and were known as 
 the Compagnacci} determined to cast off the re- 
 straints which Savonarola's reform had put upon 
 their amusements. It is apparent that the prior 
 had not sufficiently consulted the reasonable weak- 
 nesses of human nature, and so his advice and rules 
 concerning enterta,inments bore the stamp of exces- 
 sive severity. Against these, the '• bad fellows '* 
 not only rebelled, but they also resolved to go to 
 the other extreme, reviving the shameful practices 
 that had been in vosfue durinor the Medicean rule. 
 
 Savonarola was on the alert, and was ably sec- 
 onded by his devoted disciple. Father Dominic, 
 who preached daily, while the prior occupied him- 
 self in the composition and publication of various 
 pamphlets, and in the final draft of his book on 
 " The Triumph of the Cross." The Arrahhiati and 
 the Compagmxcci were defeated, and by a peculiar 
 device as we shall now see. 
 
 1 The bad fellows. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 77 
 
 Once more Savonarola won the cliildren, who 
 paraded the city for several days before the Carni- 
 val, making a novel collection from the people 
 already disposed, through the sermons of Savona- 
 rola and Father Dominic, to surrender vain and 
 sinful objects. A large quantity of miscellaneous 
 articles was secured. Preparations had been made 
 in the Piazza, where an enormous pyramid had 
 been erected, sixty feet in height, divided, as Bur- 
 lamacchi relates, into fifteen tiers, or as another 
 contemporary reports, into seven, symbolizing the 
 seven deadly sins. The interior of the pyramid 
 was filled with inflammable material. We follow 
 Burlamacchi as to the disposition of the articles 
 which had been collected by the children : " On 
 the first step were laid the foreign tapestries on 
 which obscene figures had been wrought ; on the 
 second were pictures of Florentine damsels, and 
 other representations ; on the next were cards, dice, 
 gambling implements ; on the fourth were musical 
 instruments ; then came women's adornments — 
 false hair, perfurhes, lotions, powders, etc. ; after 
 these were placed copies of the profane poets and 
 some of the modern writers, Boccaccio and others ; 
 finally a great quantity of Carnival finery — masks, 
 costumes, etc. Surmounting all was a figure of 
 King Carnival." 
 
 The news had spread rapidly, and the curiosity 
 and excitement of the Florentines were aroused to 
 a high pitch. In great numbers the people assem- 
 
78 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 bled, after the religious exercises of the morning — 
 Mass, Communion by all the children, and a grand 
 procession, during which a generous collection in 
 money was made for the " Good Men of St. Mar- 
 tin." Suddenly, at four points the pile was fired, 
 and, while the air was filled with the sweet song of 
 the children, the huge pyramid was consumed. 
 
 Probably no event in Savonarola's career has ex- 
 cited more bitter condemnation than this " burning 
 of the vanities." ^ Exaggeration, both by friends 
 and opponents, has so exalted the value and the 
 nature of the stuff destroyed, that it is difficult 
 to arrive at a certain conclusion. The alleged 
 offer, by a Venetian who was present, of twenty 
 thousand crowns for the articles on the pyramid, 
 had something to do with the erroneous notions 
 prevailing as to the quality of the "vanities." In 
 consequence, Savonarola has been denounced as a 
 barbarous hater of the arts, an iconoclast, a gloomy 
 fanatic opposed to all innocent enjoyment. The 
 old complaint of Judas — why were not these 
 things sold and their price given to the poor? — 
 has also been brought against the friar. 
 
 These objections have been satisfactorily met. 
 At a time famous for its scholars, many of whom 
 witnessed this burning under the direction of a man 
 who was himself a poet, whose convent was a sanc- 
 tuary of art, v/hose most devoted friends were the 
 
 1 As early as 1425 the great Franciscan missionary, St. Ber- 
 nardino of Siena, made a similar " bonfire '' of vanities in Perugia. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 79 
 
 painters and sculptors of the day, it is not likely 
 that any really precious article was destroyed. In 
 burning obscenely illustrated volumes, some rare 
 editions may have been destroyed ; among the 
 paintings, there may have been some inferior works 
 of eminent artists ; but the great bulk of the " van- 
 ities " was composed of masks, wigs, beards, toilet 
 articles, etc., cheap stuff whose sale would have 
 brought little for the poor, of whom Savonarola 
 liad always taken good care. 
 
 In proof of his positive statement that art had 
 not suffered by this burning, and as a testimony 
 to the noble and generous spirit of the scholarly 
 prior of St. Mark's, Villari refers to the purchase 
 by Savonarola of the Medicean library, under cir- 
 cumstances of peculiar honor to the friar and his 
 brethren, who stripped themselves of many of their 
 possessions, and burdened themselves with debt to 
 keep intact this splendid collection, and to preserve 
 it for Florence. At the same time Savonarola was, 
 in this special instance, the financial mainstay of 
 the Government, which was passing through a 
 period of great stringency. 
 
 "Here then," writes Villari, "is historical proof 
 that the supposed enemy of the ancients, the bar- 
 barous destroyer of manuscripts and works of art, 
 not only devoted the last remnant of his Convent's 
 property, but likewise burdened the community 
 V. ith a very heavy debt, in order to preserve to art 
 and science the marvellous collection of Greek and 
 
80 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 Latin codices, and the unrivalled treasure of mini- 
 atures still contained in the Laurentian Library." 
 
 Anticipating, as we may, we shall here refer to 
 the second burning which took place in 1498. It 
 differed but little from the burning of the previous 
 year, though the preliminary procession and the 
 begging of alms for the "Good men of St. Martin" 
 were interrupted by the Compagnacci^ who insulted 
 the Piagnoni^ and in various offensive and inju- 
 rious ways proved their right to their ugly title. 
 
 Speaking of this burning, Villari quotes Nardi, 
 a lover of antiquity, a scholar and historian who 
 declares that " many dishonest, indecent, and vain 
 things were burned ; " and Somenzi, an enemy of 
 Savonarola, who wrote that the pile consisted " of 
 a great quantity of lustful things, mirrors, women's 
 false hair, masks, paintings, quantities of perfumes, 
 and every species of lustful things." " Is it likely," 
 asks Villari, " that if really valuable objects of art 
 had been included in the collection, the learned 
 Nardi, and Somenzi, the bitter enemy of Savona- 
 rola, would have failed to mention the fact ? " 
 
JEBOME SAVONAROLA. 81 
 
 XVII. 
 
 ALEXANDER VI. EXCOMMUNICATES SAVONAROLA. 
 
 The Lent of 1497 practically closed the effective 
 preaching of Savonarola. Though his difficulty 
 with Alexander VI. was approaching an acute 
 stage, and though he continued to denounce abuses, 
 he made it clear to all that he questioned no dog- 
 ma of the Church, that he not only recognized the 
 supreme spiritual dominion of Rome, but also that 
 he was a loyal upholder of the temporal sover- 
 eignty of the Holy See. Expecting, as it would 
 seem, the excommunication which later fell on him, 
 he showed a spirit of strange courage or defiance. 
 Again he referred to his violent death, as he fore- 
 saw it, and cheerfully offered his life as a sacrifice. 
 
 Political questions in which Alexander was 
 deeply concerned, still held a place in the dispute. 
 To the Florentines he made overtures regarding 
 Pisa which were not accepted. For this he re- 
 buked their ambassador, affirming that the Repub- 
 lic resisted him because of their faith in the friar 
 who, as he declared, had insulted the Holy See. 
 In Rome intrigues were incessant among Piero de* 
 Medici's adherents, one of whose most devoted 
 
82 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 followers was the friar Mariano, who had been 
 humiliated in Florence, and who had transferred 
 his residence to Rome, where he kept up his spite- 
 ful opposition to Savonarola. 
 
 In Florence plots were hatched, and desperate 
 efforts were made to arouse a sentiment in favor 
 of the return of Piero, who was planning to enter 
 the city by force. He failed ignominiously. Sa- 
 vonarola had predicted his humiliating retreat. 
 The Compagnacci were foremost among those who 
 sought the downfall of the prior as a preliminary 
 to the downfall of the Republic. They had re- 
 solved on his assassination. They resorted to the 
 most disgraceful and cowardly tactics to harass 
 him. They profaned the Duomo in a shameful and 
 filthy manner. His Ascension Day sermon they 
 sacrilegiously interrupted ; they tried to precipitate 
 a riot, and while he fearlessly stood in the pulpit, 
 vainly endeavoring to make himself heard above 
 the noise, the wretches attempted to kill him. 
 
 It seems almost incredible that Alexander could 
 have sanctioned such an outrage, yet the charge is 
 made against him, without the offer of any proof 
 except that of another unproved charge that he 
 had been withholding a Brief of excommunication, 
 awaiting the result of Picro's expedition, and of 
 the plot against Savonarola. 
 
 Nine days after the Ascension sermon the ex- 
 communication was launched.^ The document, 
 
 1 Excommunication is a punishment inflicted by the Church 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 83 
 
 however, had not reached Florence on the 22d, 
 nor was it then known, except by way of forebod- 
 ing, when Savonarola addressed to Alexander a 
 conciliatory letter, appealing against his enemies, 
 and referring to his forthcoming work, " The Tri- 
 umph of the Cross," for a justification of his teach- 
 ings. His effort was unavailing.^ By the end of 
 the month this document had arrived in Florence, 
 ambiguous in its terms, irregular in form, served 
 in an unusual manner. On two points, however, 
 there can be no dispute. Alexander charged Sa- 
 vonarola with disobedience in the affair of the 
 Tuscan Congregation already related ; but he did 
 not charge him with heresy. Repeating the former 
 style of reference to "a certain friar, Jerome, said 
 to be Vicar," etc., Alexander declared that from 
 reports the said friar was suspected of heresy. 
 This, however, availed little. A terrible blow fell 
 on Savonarola when, by mid-June, the papal edict 
 had been solemnly promulgated, to be followed by 
 all the attending misfortunes awaiting one with 
 whom no Christian could hold communion. The 
 effect of such a measure cannot be estimated by 
 those unfamiliar with the dreadful consequences 
 involved in the infliction of these penalties of last 
 
 when, in the exercise of her supreme power, she severs an indi- 
 vidual from laer Communion. See "A Catholic Dictionary" for 
 fuller explanation. 
 
 1 We find no proof for Villari's statement that Alexander, on 
 receivinfif this letter, expressed regret for the publication of his 
 Brief at that ti/ne. ior text of Savonarola's letter, see Apiieudix I. 
 
84 JEROME SAVONAROLA, 
 
 ecclesiastical resort. Savonarola bowed before the 
 storm ; kept within his cloister ; but in a declara- 
 tion to "all Christians in the love of God," he 
 defended himself, and denied the justice and the 
 validity of the excommunication. 
 
 In the meantime the Compagnaeci had asserted 
 themselves, and Florence, true to the lowest in- 
 stinct of ungrateful humanity, resumed its course 
 of evil as in the worst days from which Savonarola 
 had rescued it. Within a month the city was the 
 scene of every manner of disorder, — the vile rabble 
 even going the length of stoning the Convent of 
 St. Mark's. For this offence they were not pun- 
 ished by the Signory then in power, which con- 
 tained a majority opposed to Savonarola. 
 
 During July and August, however, a new elec- 
 tion brought the prior's friends to the front, and 
 then began a series of most earnest efforts on the 
 part of the Signory, of the Florentine ambassador 
 at Rome, and of influential followers of Savonarola, 
 to secure the repeal of the Brief of excommunica- 
 tion.^ 
 
 1 A grave and scandalous incident which Father Marchese 
 mentions occurred about this time. It was intimated very clearly 
 to Savonarola that the payment of a debt of five thousand crowns 
 to the creditor of a certain cardinal would be followed by the 
 raising of the ban. Needless to say, Savonarola indignantly 
 spurned the offer. In the midst of these trying events Alexan- 
 der's son, the Duke of Gandia, had been assassinated. Savonarola 
 wrote to the Pope offering him consolation, and urging him to 
 persevere in the newness of life on which, through grief for his 
 son's untimely death, he was said to have entered. Alas! it was 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 85 
 
 The brethren of St. Mark's, and hundreds of the 
 leading citizens of Florence, signed petitions beg- 
 ging absolution for Savonarola, and bearing tes- 
 timony to the holiness of his life and doctrine. It 
 was all in vain. His enemies were powerful, and 
 their activity was unceasing. 
 
 As July advanced, the plague, which had broken 
 out, spread rapidly, though it spent its force be- 
 fore the end of August. While it continued, Sa- 
 vonarola, though unable to minister spiritually to 
 the afflicted because of his excommunication, was 
 unsparing in his efforts to succor them through ma- 
 terial aid, counsel, encouragement, letters of guid- 
 ance, and pamphlets of practical instruction, and 
 by the example of his own unfaltering fortitude. 
 
 only a temporary change, followed by renewed anger against the 
 prior for *' insulting his fatherly sorrow." 
 
86 JEROME SAVONAROLA, 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 A CALUMNY ANSWERED. — DISOBEDIENCE OF THE FRIAR. 
 — THE POPE THREATENS AN INTERDICT. 
 
 The cessation of the pestilence, and the conse- 
 quent resumption of the usual course of affairs, 
 afforded the government an opportunity to take up 
 the case of those who had been suspected of com- 
 plicity in the recent attempt of Piero de' Medici 
 to regain his hold on the Republic. As the re- 
 sult of an exciting trial, five distinguished citizens 
 were sentenced to death. 
 
 In the matter of this conspiracy and trial Sa- 
 vonarola has been grievously calumniated. As Vil- 
 lari pointedly remarks, " Neither in the histories, 
 memoirs, correspondence, or biographies, of the pe- 
 riod do we find a single word to indicate whether 
 Savonarola was favorable or unfavorable to the 
 accused." His own declaration is in evidence that 
 he had deprecated the death penaltj^ for the leader, 
 and that he had recommended another to the con- 
 sideration of friends. Nevertheless, he has been 
 represented as denying to the condemned the right 
 of appeal, as if the administration of law and judi- 
 cial decisions rested with him.^ 
 
 1 Savonarola is numbered among the legislators of Florence; 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA, 87 
 
 In this charge there are two errors. The guilt 
 of the conspirators having been conclusively proved, 
 after an exhaustive and protracted trial with which 
 Savonarola had no connection whatever, he could 
 not have saved them, on an appeal, even had he 
 made the attempt, because patriotic passion was 
 running too high to suffer any check, even from 
 the friar. The further assertion that the law of 
 appeal denied to the condemned Avas of his making 
 is one of those half truths which are often worse 
 than whole lies. Savonarola, as we have narrated 
 in its proper place, had striven to secure the estab- 
 lishment of a court of appeal, not the final reference 
 of judicial cases to a mob. 
 
 The autumn of 1497 was passing, and Savonarola, 
 silent and withdrawn from the public eye, labored 
 with extraordinary diligence in the composition 
 and publication of various spiritual works, letters, 
 tracts, pamphlets, for religious and for the laity. 
 Toiling tirelessly, he published a small library of 
 these treatises in an incredibly short time. He 
 also finished his great book, " The Triumph of the 
 Cross, "^ which, though based on St. Thomas Aqui- 
 nas's Summa Contra Gentiles^ is one of the earliest 
 
 but he never interfered in the administration of affairs, beyond 
 the share he had in establishing the government after the expul- 
 sion of Piero de' Medici. 
 
 1 This work has been done into English by a Protestant writer, 
 O'Dell T. Hill, who showed not only bad taste and bigotry, but also 
 took an unwarranted liberty with the author's teaching, by omit- 
 ting his strong, clear, Catholic assertion of the Pope's rights and 
 powers. 
 
88 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 attempts made by a theologian to treat religion from 
 the view-point of reason. In this work he proved 
 that he was a deep thinker; he manifested great 
 courage in disregarding the beaten paths of his day, 
 while his fidelity to the Angelic Doctor, his vast 
 learning, and his undoubted orthodoxy, make the 
 volume his Catholic monument.^ Beginning with 
 the existence of God and the necessity of religion, 
 he proceeds to the Christian revelation, passes to 
 its doctrines and sacraments, and concludes with a 
 refutation of opposing and contradictory creeds. 
 
 Had men seriously doubted the great preacher's 
 loyal Catholicity, this volume (a pioneer of a new 
 school of spiritual literature), in matter most solid 
 and excellent, in style most original, would have 
 been an explicit and a satisfactory answer. Neither 
 heretic nor schismatic was Savonarola ; no more 
 devoted son of the Roman See ever labored for 
 God and souls, despite his unhappy collision with 
 Alexander the Sixth. 
 
 All other efforts at reconciliation having failed, 
 the Republic having exhausted all its influence, 
 Pico della Mirandola published an apology for the 
 friar, in which he showed much learning ; but he 
 failed to touch the main point, — the duty of obedi- 
 
 1 Savonarola's devotion to St. Thomas Aquinas is also mani- 
 fested in his work treating of the government of Florence. In 
 this he adheres to the principles of his master, as taught in the 
 " De Regimine Principum." Symonds considers this treatise of 
 Savonafola to be the " most thorough-going analysis of despotic 
 criminality." 
 
JEROME SAVONAEOLA, 89 
 
 ence to a command, even though the most unworthy 
 motives animate the superior. 
 
 History, as usually written, may not absolve 
 Alexander from the gratuitous charge of harboring 
 sentiments of personal animosity against Savona- 
 rola ; nor is it likely to free him from another 
 charge of having used the spiritual weapons of the 
 Church in an affair from which politics could not 
 be separated. The domain of motive and con- 
 science is here entered without sufficient external 
 light to guide the inquirer ; judgment, therefore, 
 should at least be suspended. Is it not also evi- 
 dent that an impartial judgment must deplore the 
 error of Savonarola, who allowed himself to take 
 a false stand through excessive zeal ? 
 
 In celebrating Mass on Christmas, 1497, and in 
 preaching on Septuagesinia Sunda,y, 1498, while 
 under the ban of excommunication, Savonarola 
 probably acted on the dictates of a conscience 
 which may have grown certain in the conviction 
 that his excommunication was unjust and invalid. 
 Nevertheless, we deplore this step as a " blunder 
 worse than a crime." It proved to be "the begin- 
 ning of the end.'* 
 
 He pleaded his cause ably ; but the tide had set 
 strongly against him, and was flowing fast. Three 
 times subsequently he spoke before the end of the 
 Carnival, which he closed with the second burning 
 of the vanities. It was on this day that, holding 
 aloft the Blessed Sacrament, he solemnly called 
 
90 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 God to destroy him if he had ever spoken falsely 
 to the people.^ 
 
 The report of these happenings was carried to 
 Rome, where powerful enemies were engaged in a 
 final effort to overcome the friar. Alexander's 
 anger was natural, for seldom had a Pope been de- 
 fied in such manner. He was also incensed against 
 the Republic for its advocacy and support of the 
 daring friar. The contention was further inflamed 
 by Father Mariano, who preached a violent and 
 opprobrious sermon against Savonarola, though his 
 evident malice and gross buffoonery won for him 
 only increased contempt and reprobation. From 
 this, liowever, he derived fresh zeal in his malig- 
 nant pursuit of a man who had never injured him. 
 
 On February 26th Alexander wrote to the Sig- 
 nory, and commanded them to stop Savonarola's 
 preaching, and either to send him to Rome, or to 
 imprison him in Florence. The Brief closed with 
 the threat of an interdict on the city. But the 
 Signory were not moved. The canons of the ca- 
 thedral, however, had also received a command to 
 prevent the friar from speaking in the Duomo. 
 Accordingly he withdrew to St. Mark's, where his 
 audience was so great that a special day was set 
 for the exclusive attendance of women. 
 
 A A celebrated writer, referring to this extraordinary prayer, 
 introduces the gentle fall of a sunbeam on the upturned, radiant 
 face of the friar, which the people took as a heavenly sign. His 
 contemporaries mention no such occurrence. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 91 
 
 The election for March and April returned a ma- 
 jority of the Signory opposed to Savonarola. It is 
 puzzling, therefore, to find these men writing to 
 Alexander in behalf of the prior. Villari inclines 
 to the opinion that their purpose was still further 
 to vex and irritate the Pope. Savonarola contin- 
 ued his sermons on the reformation of the Church, 
 and on the need of a Council. 
 
 Reading these discourses after four hundred 
 years, it must be admitted that Alexander showed 
 considerable patience. Some writers call this pa- 
 tience, cunning and duplicity. But even were it 
 so, the condition of affairs had now come to such 
 a pass that the end was only a question of a short 
 time. Repeatedly the Pope warned the Florentine 
 government that he would brook no further delay. 
 He had grown tired of words; he demanded deeds. 
 And not until these deeds were accomplished 
 would he consider favorably the Republic's re- 
 quest regarding Pisa and the proposed taxation 
 of church property. He denied that he had been 
 misinformed ; he admitted the good works and 
 the correct teaching of Savonarola ; but he also 
 insisted on his submission and obedience. On 
 receiving these he would absolve him, and allow 
 liim to resume his place in the pulpit. Otherwise 
 he would at once interdict the city.* 
 
 1 An interdict is an ecclesiastical censure by which persons 
 are debarred from the use of certain sacraments, from all tlie 
 divine ofifices, and from Christian burial. The infliction of such 
 
92 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 During this time — the month of March — Piero 
 de' Medici was active in Rome, securing co-opera- 
 tion for the decisive moment when he would again 
 attempt to regain control in Florence. The other 
 enemies of Savonarola were incessant in their plot- 
 ting, while the Venetians and the Milanese, en- 
 couraged by Alexander, were seeking, if possible, 
 to force the Florentines into their league. Politics 
 dominated and confused the minds of the friends 
 and foes of the friar. Many of the former grew 
 timid, especially when the threatened interdict was 
 held over their heads. Commercial and financial 
 considerations also had great weight, for an inter- 
 dict meant the business ruin of a city w4iile it con- 
 tinued in force. It was not, therefore, religion or 
 loyalty to the Pope, but selfish, material interests 
 that won to Alexander's side a majority of the 
 government, now ready to sacrifice the friar who 
 had done so much and so generously for the city 
 whicli was about to abandon him. 
 
 On March 15th Savonarola, as if urged to make 
 a last appeal directly to the Pope, wrote to Alex- 
 ander a letter full of affection and courage. Fear- 
 ing, he said, that no hope could be entertained of 
 a revocation of the decree of excommunication, he 
 
 a penalty, like every war measure, involved the innocent as well 
 as the guilty. The Church has rarely used this punishment, 
 though history records instances of its exercise against cities, 
 churches, and individuals. The reader will find a plain state- 
 ment of the uatui'e and effects of interdicts iu "A Catholic 
 Dictionary." 
 
JEBOME SAVONAROLA. 93 
 
 must therefore appeal to God, for Whom he was 
 ready, longing, to lay down his life ; and he closed 
 by warning Alexander to consider his ways, and 
 not to delay the affair of his salvation. On the 
 17th, he preached in St. Mark's, and on the even- 
 ing of the same day he received a communication 
 from the Signory requesting him to discontinue 
 his sermons. He told the messengers that his an- 
 swer would be given on the next day. On the 
 I8th Savonarola delivered his farewell discourse, 
 crowning in sorrow and humiliation (though still 
 deeper depths were in waiting) an unexampled 
 career of devotion to the best interests of Flor- 
 ence ; a devotion manifested in his marvellous ser- 
 mons during eight years, and in the numerous 
 other good works with which he had blessed the 
 Republic. 
 
94 JEROME SAVONAROLA, 
 
 XIX. 
 
 THE ''TRIAL BY FIRE." (1498.) 
 
 Savonarola's efforts to secure the summoning 
 of a Council for the reformation of the Church 
 and for the deposition of Alexander VI. must not 
 be judged in the light of our day. The wounds 
 inflicted by the great Schism of the West, the 
 Church still bore in her body. The notions pre- 
 vailing as to the power of a Council were then 
 exaggerated ; peculiar also were the views held 
 by more than one king. The monstrous evils 
 which Savonarola clearly saw and bitterly felt 
 seemed to him to justify his appeal to the Catho- 
 lic sovereigns of England, Germany, France, 
 Spain, and Hungary. Moreover, he relied on the 
 cardinals, many of whom, notably the Cardinal 
 of St. Peter in Chains, were strongly opposed to 
 Alexander, and had seemed anxious to secure his 
 deposition or resignation. 
 
 The letters prepared for the monarchs were not 
 sent. Preliminary correspondence, however, had 
 been arranged through friends in the different 
 countries. These communications were sufficiently 
 clear to outline the bold plan contemplated by 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 95 
 
 Savonarola. Unfortunately the courier carr^nng 
 the packet intended for the Florentine ambassa- 
 dor in France was seized by spies of the Duke of 
 Milan, who, to win favor with Alexander, at once 
 sent to Rome the incriminating documents. Sa- 
 vonarola's doom was sealed. Alone he could not 
 •contend, with success, against the mighty power 
 of his combined foes ; he declined, nevertheless, 
 to attempt escape, resolved to meet his fate in the 
 same lofty spirit with which he had invited it. 
 
 The majority of those holding political power 
 in Florence completely turned against him, and 
 even the Franciscans, who in the history of their 
 institute had ever been affectionately united with 
 the Dominicans, contributed an antagonist to swell 
 the growing number of the unhappy prior's ene- 
 mies. On the rapidly increasing misfortunes of a 
 brave and unselfish man, prematurely worn with 
 fasting, labor, suffering, and care, a miserable cul- 
 mination was put, before the tragic ending, by the 
 precipitation of an abortive " trial by fire." 
 
 Friar Francis di Puglia is the name of the man 
 who has achieved an unenviable notoriety as a chal- 
 lenger of Savonarola to the wretched and barba- 
 rous device of the "trial." After vilifying the 
 prior in an unchristian manner, Francis had the 
 audacity to summon him to the ordeal by fire, 
 through which the Franciscan declared his readi- 
 ness to prove the great Dominican a heretic and 
 a fake prophet. Savonarola had previously been 
 
96 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 annoyed by such challenges, but he had always 
 ignored them, despising the barbarity as well as 
 the unreasonableness of such " proofs." He treated 
 the arrogant Franciscan in like manner. 
 
 Here the matter might have ended, in deserved 
 contempt, had it not been for Father Dominic, who 
 came forward and recognized the Franciscan as 
 one who during the previous year had challenged 
 him to a dispute, and then had run away. On be- 
 half of Savonarola, Father Dominic took up the 
 gauntlet which Father Francis had thrown down. 
 Again he proved recreant. Pretending that he 
 had no cause with Father Dominic, and that with 
 Savonarola only could he deal, he hastily took ad- 
 vantage of the way thus opened to him for escape. 
 But Father Dominic pursued the case with great 
 eagerness, despite the warning and reproval of 
 Savonarola, who wished him to pay no further 
 heed to the affair. 
 
 The Compagnacci then became interested, and 
 used their influence with the Signory to push the 
 matter, so that the people might enjoy a spectacle. 
 This would have afforded a desirable opportunity 
 for these dissolute young men to raise a tumult, 
 in the confusion of which they would either seize 
 Savonarola or kill him. A real " ordeal " was not 
 desired by either the Signory or the Compagnacci. 
 
 The Franciscan seems to have understood that 
 he would not be in danger, even if some of the Do- 
 minicans were burned. Nevertheless, he provided, 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 97 
 
 like many patriots, a substitute. The arrange- 
 ments, however, dragged slowly ; it was the end of 
 March before they w^ere concluded. Alexander 
 had heard of the contemplated ordeal, but he did 
 not prohibit the exhibition. 
 
 Despite his good judgment which condemned 
 such a senseless encounter, despite the fact that he 
 strenuously opposed the " ordeal," Savonarola felt 
 that God would vindicate the brethren of St. Mark's 
 against whom much bitterness had been aroused. 
 The government openly faA^ored the Franciscans. 
 This injustice only excited the zeal of Savonarola's 
 followers, among whom not only were several hun- 
 dred friars found ready to volunteer to undergo 
 the terrible trial, but many laymen and even 
 women. Of this striking fact the Pope was made 
 aware through a letter sent to him bearing exclu- 
 sively on this extraordinary demonstration. 
 
 Savonarola published a statement and defence 
 against his accusers, for his slanderers hesitated at 
 no untruth. Obliged to take action, he took it 
 boldly. He declared that for every Friar Minor 
 who would appear at the trial a Dominican cham- 
 pion would be ready. 
 
 The 6th of April was the day assigned for the 
 ordeal. On the 5th St. Mark's Community re- 
 ceived notice of a postponement to the 7th. The 
 Dominicans who had been enthusiastic for the con- 
 test felt disappointed, but stood ready for the 7th. 
 Despite the assurances given to them of immunity 
 
98 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 from danger, despite the grievous penalties winch 
 had been decreed against their opponents in case 
 of failure, the Franciscans demanded still further 
 guaranties. These were granted in the form of a 
 resolution by the Signory, which provided that if 
 Father Dominic perished in the flames, Savonarola 
 would be banished within three hours. 
 
 How absurd it all seems ! How barbarous and 
 un-Christian ! Yet these were times of a certain 
 refinement, of much learning, of great faith ; but 
 also, alas ! of great superstition, of shameful de- 
 pravity, of legal methods that remind us of sav- 
 ages ; and men, even of Savonarola's stature were, 
 to an extent, under the spell ! 
 
 It is not necessary to dwell in further detail on 
 this farcical ordeal. The Dominicans attended ; the 
 Franciscans appeared, after much delay, and then, 
 with various unworthy quibbles and tricky subter- 
 fuges. The day passed; there was no spectacle. 
 The disappointed throngs that had stood for hours, 
 eager to witness the barbarous ordeal, dispersed 
 with anger in their hearts against Savonarola, who 
 had not faltered ; but, mob-like, with applause for 
 his opponents, who had shirked the contest in a 
 cowardly fashion, every concession finding them 
 still more reluctant to meet the adversaries whom 
 they had challenged to the trial. Human nature, 
 in Florence, as the world over, in the waning days 
 of the fifteenth century, as in the period of refined 
 and delicate civilization which the nineteenth 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 99 
 
 claims as its own, was proving its title to little- 
 ness, ingratitude, and cruelty. 
 
 Escorted by devoted adherents, who defended 
 them with drawn swords (and it was necessary), 
 the Dominicans found their return to St. Mark's a 
 difficult and perilous journey. The Compagnacci 
 were nimble in insult and outrage, and, of course, 
 the mob joined them. But the gallant followers 
 of Marsuccio Salvia ti (whose resolute threat, that 
 he would cut down any man who crossed the line 
 of safety lie had drawn around his revered friars, 
 was well understood), conducted to St. Mark's the 
 Prior and his brethren, who had been subjected to 
 so mortifying a deception by the infamous plotters 
 and their tools, the misguided Minors. 
 
 In a few days the Compagnacci and all the other 
 enemies of the now helpless and doomed victim 
 were able to celebrate a triumph which was the 
 beginning of Florence's downfall. " The death of 
 the friar," said Pope Julius II., "preceded by a 
 few years the death of the Republic." 
 
100 JEROME SAVOXAROLA. 
 
 XX. 
 
 THE ATTACK OX ST. MARK'S,— ARREST OF THE FRIAR. 
 
 Events now rushed to their conclusion. Many 
 of the supporters of Savonarola were disappointed. 
 They had hoped, and indeed believed, that he 
 would enter the fire, and come out unscathed, to 
 the confusion of his enemies. The Arrahhiati and 
 Compa(/7iacci, seeing the hesitation of those in 
 power, who still clung to the fallen prior, re- 
 doubled their vicious efforts, determined to strike 
 the first blow, to shed the first blood. 
 
 Alone with God, Savonarola passed the evening 
 of the "ordeal." His great heart must have known 
 the depths of agony, as wave after wave of doubt, 
 of regret, of disappointment, of humiliation, of 
 cruellest ingratitude, swept over his soul, ingulf- 
 ing him as in a sea of woe. 
 
 The next day was Palm Sunday. He made a 
 short address in the morning. Seeming to realize 
 the catastrophe that was impending, he again pro- 
 claimed his readiness to die, to seal with his blood 
 the purity, the truth, the honor, the glory, of the 
 doctrine he had preached, and the life he had 
 lived. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 101 
 
 His enraged and already triumphant enemies 
 took liim at his word. The Compagnacei precipi- 
 tated a quarrel with some of the Piagnoni, They 
 prevented a Dominican from speaking in the ca- 
 thedral, and this outrage they followed by brutally 
 killing two unoffending men whom they met on 
 the street. Then the murderous ruffians rushed to 
 St. Mark's, and as the friars were chanting Ves- 
 pers, on the inoffensive worshippers, men, women, 
 and children, tlie cowardly and sacrilegious wretches 
 rained a storm of stones. In terror the people fled, 
 bruised, wounded, many of them trampled under 
 foot in their mad effort to gain the street. Quickly 
 were tlie doors of church and convent barred, while 
 a small band, thirty in number, of determined men 
 remained within, resolved to defend the house of 
 God and tlie brethren. Unknown to Savonarola 
 a few shields and muskets had been stored in the 
 convent cellar by some of his friends, in view of 
 an anticipated attack. On seeing the warlike prep- 
 arations for defence, he forbade all violence, and 
 declared that he would surrender himself to avoid 
 bloodshed. His wishes were disregarded by some 
 of the brethren as well as by the laymen ; neitlier 
 would they permit him to depart. For several 
 hours the contest was waged with obstinacy on 
 the part of the besiegers, with great courage on the 
 part of the handful of defenders. In cloister, in 
 corridors, in choir, and in church, the fight was 
 sustained. From the altar and the pulpit gunshots 
 
102 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 rang out, while crucifix and candlestick were seized 
 as ready weapons by the friars whom Savonarola 
 could not restrain, resolved as they were to protect 
 their home, and to sell their lives as brave men. 
 
 To the shame of the government no help was 
 sent the beleaguered convent. Rather were the 
 rioters encouraged, while their partisans flocked to 
 their aid. The noble Valori, Savonarola's ever 
 loyal friend, was cut doAvn in the street while on 
 his w^ay to gather re-enforcements for the convent, 
 and a few minutes later his wife was foully assassi- 
 nated by the infuriated rabble, who then sacked 
 his house. Even these murders did not move the 
 Signory to punish the guilty. On the contraiy, 
 they sent several orders to the convent, demand- 
 ing that the innocent defenders lay down their 
 arms, and finally that Savonarola and Fathers 
 Dominic and Sylvester should be arrested. 
 
 The parting of the prior from his brethren, from 
 the living, the dead, and the dying defenders of his 
 beloved St. Mark's, which he was to leave, alas ! 
 forever, was a scene of tenderness, resignation, 
 courage, religion. Late at night, bound, and sur- 
 rounded by a howling mob that heaped insults, im- 
 precations, and blows on him, the fallen leader was 
 dragged to prison. In an adjoining cell Father 
 Dominic was placed. On the following day Father 
 Sylvester was arrested, and brought to share their 
 confinement. 
 
 Misleading reports were sent by the Signory to 
 
 1 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 103 
 
 various courts, and to Alexander a petition was 
 also addressed craving absolution for the bloody 
 and sacrilegious work that bad been done, asking 
 permission to try the ecclesiastics ; and like cun- 
 ning but overreaching politicians, they added their 
 former request that they might be authorized to 
 tax churches. 
 
 To these " worthy sons of Holy Church," to the 
 sacrilegious cowards and murderers, greeting came 
 with permission to try, which meant in that cruel 
 age to torture, the poor prisoners. Alexander 
 added that the condemned should be sent to him 
 for punishment. Of course judgment had already 
 been passed ; their condemnation was assumed and 
 assured. The Pope granted nothing as to the 
 church taxes. At the same time tidings came of 
 the death of Charles VIII. The miserable endinof 
 of the French monarch on the very day of the 
 ordeal by fire, removed Savonarola's last earthly 
 hope. 
 
104 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 TRIAL AND TORTURE. 
 
 The trial of Savonarola and his companions was 
 a mockery, an outrage on justice, whose merest 
 forms were preserved to cover and, if possible, to 
 legalize a premeditated judicial murder. 
 
 The papers stolen from the sacked convent gave 
 no evidence against the prior, nor could any incrim- 
 inating testimony be secured through the numer- 
 ous arrests that followed the incarceration of the 
 friars. The dastardly attempt of the captain of 
 the Compagnacci to rouse the people against Savo- 
 narola, by conveying through the streets some of 
 the weapons that had figured in the storming of 
 St. Mark's, met with considerable success. The dis- 
 credited and imprisoned champion of their liberty 
 was held up to them as the despoiler of their free- 
 dom, as a violent despot ; and tiie stupid, ungrate- 
 ful multitude believed the cruel lie, and loudly 
 clamored for the death of the man who had spent 
 himself for them. 
 
 Florentine customs, intended to safeguard ac- 
 cused persons, were ruthlessly set aside, while the 
 laws that mio^ht have served as a barrier a^fainst 
 
JEBOME SAVONABOLA. 105 
 
 the conspirators were as recklessly trampled under 
 foot. On the 14th of April, though Savonarola's 
 torture began on the 9th, when he was first 
 brought to the Council Hall, a new, irregular, ille- 
 gal court was organized, composed of Sa,vonarola's 
 sworn enemies, at their head the infamous leader 
 of the Compagnacci. The determination to convict 
 was evident, no matter what the cost in fraud, 
 outrage, perjury, or even torture. 
 
 We shall not linger over the agonizing details ; 
 a summary of the proceedings will be sufficient. 
 Broken with illness and labor, his originally deli- 
 cate constitution having yielded to the austerities 
 and toils which he had imposed on himself, Sa- 
 vonarola was led before his judges. He had al- 
 ready been questioned in an informal way. Again, 
 according to the brutal code of the time, the tor- 
 ture was applied. Fiendish Indians, dancing in 
 savage joy around their scalped victim, deserve 
 our applause when contrasted with the civilized 
 legislators of those days, who disgraced Christian- 
 ity and liumanity by their ingenious cruelty in 
 dealing with accused persons. 
 
 Insulted, outraged, the prisoner, well-nigh ex- 
 hausted by the terrible experience of the previous 
 few days, was bound to the rope and pulley, and, 
 having been lifted and suddenly dropped, his poor 
 body was stretched till the bones and muscles were 
 racked.^ While in this condition he was ques- 
 
 1 This method of torture often rendered the victim delirious. 
 
106 JEROME SAVONAEOLA. 
 
 tioned. The charges were under the three heads of 
 faith, prophecies, politics. The inhumanity of the 
 examination by torture seems almost incredible ; 
 yet these men were Christians, and their victim 
 was a holy priest who had conferred most precious 
 benefits upon them and their people. Savonarola's 
 answers were in part clear, and again they were un- 
 satisfactory ;^ in fact, he raved, amid his agonizing 
 cries to God that his soul might be delivered. Re- 
 leased from his bonds, he was ordered to write his 
 declaration. He complied. The paper, however, 
 was destroyed. It did not suit the evil purpose of 
 liis persecutors because it told only the truth.^ 
 
 Relegated to his lonely cell, he was left to endure 
 the sufferings of a wrenched and lacerated frame, as 
 well as the sorrow that must have filled his soul 
 on realizing how abandoned and betrayed he was. 
 With true religious spirit he prayed for his cruel 
 enemies. 
 
 In the meantime a wretch named Ceccone, who 
 had received much kindness from Savonarola, which 
 he repaid by acting as a spy for the Duke of Milan, 
 offered his services (though the law debarred him, 
 as secretary for the judges), guaranteeing that he 
 would produce a deposition that would be effec- 
 tive. This traitor and perjurer was engaged. 
 
 1 " Torment to lye sometimes will drive 
 Ev'n the most innocent alive." 
 
 Ex Mimis Publicanis. 
 Quoted by Montaigne in his essay on " Conscience." 
 2 See our extract from Napier, pp. 134, 135. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 107 
 
 In a few days the trial was resumed. For eleven 
 days it continued, during which time we cannot 
 state how often Savonarola was put to the torture ; 
 but, as one eye-witness declared, he received on a 
 certain day fourteen turns of the pulley. Hot 
 coals were applied to the soles of his feet ; and yet 
 the infamous judges declared that he freely con- 
 fessed, and was not under restraint of any kind. 
 On only one count did he waver in his ex:imina- 
 tion. His judges pressed the point as to prophecies, 
 with great vehemence ; but beyond a certain vague- 
 ness, a want of absolute conviction on his part, they 
 could secure no evidence. On politics he was firm 
 even in his delirium ; on religion nothing could 
 shake him at any time. He was no longer asked or 
 allowed to write. Ceccone made all the notes as 
 the examination proceeded ; and subsequently he 
 made a draft that was a tissue of forgeries, to which 
 he secured the name of Savonarola, having first 
 deceived him by reading the correct report, and 
 then passing to him the one falsified, which he was 
 directed to sign. Assuredly a diabolical plot ! 
 
 Nevertheless, even this mutilated document did 
 not contain sufficient to justify his death; ratiier 
 did it establish his innocence. The traitorous sec- 
 retary had signally failed in his endeavor. 
 
 Three days later the baffled conspirators put the 
 prior to a second trial, again changing and distort- 
 ing the depositions. This examination lasted four 
 days, but its results were even more disappointing 
 
108 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 to his judges than were those of the first trial. 
 Though the populace was perplexed, many saw 
 clearly through the dishonest and illegal work of 
 the Signory, and of its corrupt judicial tools. 
 
 On April the 26th Father Dominic and Father 
 Sylvester were summoned before the court. The 
 former, ever loyal, ever heroic, if imprudent or im- 
 pulsive at times, was the first to be subjected to 
 the torture. Pulley and rack and iron boot were 
 all used, but his splendid courage never failed. 
 He even showed himself staunch against the vil- 
 lanous attempts made to weaken him through the 
 false statements of his torturers that Savonarola 
 had acknowledged himself an impostor and a false 
 prophet. He wrote his deposition, and it also was 
 distorted. Again and again they racked his poor 
 body, but his undaunted spirit they could not break. 
 Noble soul, worthy of a noble leader ! 
 
 Father Sylvester failed under the torture. A 
 weak man, who had not deserved the consideration 
 shown to him by Savonarola, he yielded under the 
 agony of the rack, and not only betrayed the names 
 of the laymen who were friends of St. Mark's, but 
 even aspersed the character of the prior. 
 
 Other friars and laymen were tortured, but noth- 
 ingr substantial resulted from the examinations 
 that could incriminate Savonarola. On tlie con- 
 trary, despite the forgeries of Ceccone, the prior's 
 innocence was more clearly established as a conse- 
 quence of these trials. During these days of sor- 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 109 
 
 row he languished in his cell, all communication 
 with his brethren or with counsellors having been 
 interdicted according to another delicate require- 
 ment of that refined period. While the helpless 
 prior was suffering the agony of examination, the 
 friars of St. Mark's, with few exceptions, also turned 
 against him. Their petition to the Pope is a docu- 
 ment that strangely contradicts their former life 
 and conversation. They might have justly sought 
 absolution, but it was not necessary for them to 
 slander their prior; thus offering another lesson of 
 "ingratitude more strong than traitors' arms." 
 
 In the meantime the Pope and the Signory were 
 engaged in correspondence, the former demanding 
 the surrender to him of Savonarola, the latter 
 claiming the right of a sovereign state to execute 
 condemned citizens, and adding, hypocritically, the 
 specious pretext that, for example's sake, for the 
 welfare of religion, the malefactor should be pun- 
 ished in the place where his notorious crimes had 
 been committed. The unfortunate victim was held 
 by the Florentines as a sort of price, in the hope 
 of extorting from Alexander the ecclesiastical tax 
 privilege they had so often requested, and for which 
 Savonarola himself had so generously striven.^ 
 This must have been as the iron in his soul, but 
 he spoke no word of impatience or resentment. 
 
 1 Subsequently the Pope granted, but only for three years, the 
 ecclesiastical taxes in favor of the Government. 
 
110 JEROME SAVONAROLA, 
 
 XXII. 
 
 IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. 
 
 From April 25th till May 19th Savonarola had 
 been kept in solitary confinement. In this interval 
 much had been accomplished. A new Signory 
 had been elected, even more determined in its 
 malignity than the retiring board. Papal commis- 
 sioners were despatched to Florence to preside at 
 the closing scenes, for by this time (May 11th) the 
 death of the victims was considered as assured 
 beyond any chance of mishap. 
 
 On May 19th the two Papal commissioners. 
 Father Joachim Turriano, Master General of the 
 Dominicans, and Dr. Francis Romolino, a Spanish 
 bishop, afterwards cardinal, arrived in Florence. A 
 Dominican prelate named Paganotti, Bishop of 
 Vasona, and apparently an auxiliary of the Arch- 
 bishop of Florence, was designated by Alexander 
 to degrade the friars, and then to hand them over 
 to the secular power. 
 
 " The very dregs of the people," as Villari writes, 
 " flocked around the commissioners as they entered 
 the city, shouting ' Death to the friar ! ' " Bishop 
 Romolino, in a spirit at least unbecoming to his 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA, 111 
 
 office if not to his episcopal character, answered, 
 "Surely he will die." We may therefore credit 
 the statements of Burlamacchi, that letters had 
 been received in Florence declaring that these 
 commissioners had been instructed to put Savona- 
 rola to death even were he another John the Bap- 
 tist ; and that Romolino, later in the day, brutally 
 declared, " We shall have a great bonfire, for I 
 have the sentence already prepared." Never in 
 human affairs was there a viler prostitution of jus- 
 tice, never was there a more infamous outrage in 
 the name of law ! And shall we add in the name 
 of religion ? 
 
 Here let us return to the lonely prisoner in the 
 tower, and to his two companions. During the 
 time of their incarceration the three friars had been 
 kept in close and solitary confinement. The legis- 
 lation and jurisprudence of those days, as applied 
 in courts and prisons, might well have been de- 
 vised, as was said of the English penal laws against 
 Ireland, by the arch enemy of men and in the 
 infernal regions. Suspicion and superstition were 
 in the air, nor was their influence upon laymen 
 only. Father Dominic's red cope, his habit, his 
 crucifix, were objected to on the day of the ordeal 
 because of probable enchantment, a subtle force 
 that his religious opponents also claimed might 
 assert itself because of his standing near the Do- 
 minicans. And so, cope and habit and crucifix 
 having been put away, the friar himself was ordered 
 
112 JEROME SAVONAROLA, 
 
 to stand apart. It was this narrow, unchristian 
 spirit, bred of the lingering barbarism and paganism 
 that prevailed among the Florentine authorities 
 in their treatment of the noble prisoner and his 
 companions. 
 
 Fortunately the torture had not entirely dis- 
 abled his right hand — a hand that had never been 
 lilted except in zealous warning or fatherly bless- 
 ing ; and so he spent the waiting hours in writing 
 beautiful commentaries on the Thirtieth and Fifti- 
 eth Psalms : " In Thee, O Lord, have I hoped," and 
 " Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy 
 great mercy." No complaint, no word of impa- 
 tience, no countercharge, no defence, no expression 
 that outraged innocence might, not unreasonably, 
 have put forth, found its way into these writings. 
 Only the soundest Catholic doctrine, the truest 
 principles of the spiritual life, are recorded in 
 these tracts, the last legacy of the silenced preacher, 
 who could now speak only with his eloquent pen. 
 In the commentaries on the Fiftieth Psalm some 
 have pretended to find the Protestant doctrine of 
 justification by faith alone without good works. 
 We shall dispose of this libel in another place. 
 These treatises were rapidly disseminated, and 
 were justly regarded with peculiar veneration. 
 
 Another instance of Savonarola's zeal and gene- 
 rous spirit we find in the service rendered to his 
 jailer. This poor man, seeing with eyes unpreju- 
 diced, and from a heart in which no lurking hatred 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA, 113 
 
 had left its poison, felt the goodness, the holiness, 
 of the prisoner whose keeper he was. As a memo- 
 rial that he would cherish, he begged Savonarola 
 to write something for him. Without paper, 
 having only the cover of a book, the prior wrote 
 on this, in his wonderfully fine hand, a rule for 
 virtuous living, in which he summed up, as a 
 conclusion, the essentials of sacramental grace and 
 good works. 
 
 Thus, in these hours of pain and solitude, he 
 dwelt with God, and thought only of his coming 
 death as a release from earthly sorrow, and as an 
 entrance to heavenly joys. Father Dominic and 
 even Father Sylvester also manifested a truly reli- 
 gious and courageous spirit during these trying 
 days. 
 
114 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 EXECUTION OF SAVONAROLA. 
 
 On May 20tli Savonarola was taken before the 
 Papal commissioners for renewed torture and a 
 third examination. The infamous Ceccone, as- 
 sisted by other scribes worthy of his companionship 
 in fraud and distortion, was present to record the 
 prisoner's answers, and then to falsify them. This 
 third so-called " trial " was even a more cruel and 
 shameful mockery of law than were the preceding 
 examinations. Now religion presided, in name ; 
 but in fact, alas I the affair was a cowardly at- 
 tempt by Florentine politicians to justify, in a legal 
 fashion, a pre-arranged plan, a judgment already 
 determined. Abominable questions were put to 
 the tortured prior regarding his personal life. His 
 acknowledged virtues had anticipated such ques- 
 tions in completest repudiation. As to the Council 
 for which he had hoped, he spoke bravely. On no 
 Italian potentates had he relied ; for they were his 
 enemies, and in the same category he placed the 
 cardinals and other prelates. 
 
 Rendered delirious by the torture, he again raved, 
 and spoke of the Cardinal of Naples as one cogni- 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 115 
 
 zant of his plans ; but on the return of reason he 
 lecalled this statement. In the same noble spirit 
 he abjured the denials that pulley and rope had be- 
 fore wrung from his wandering mind and helpless 
 tongue. We contemplate with sentiments of pity 
 the spectacle of those judges as they gazed, un- 
 moved, on the prisoner now almost insane from 
 pain, broken in body, and (as he held up his shat- 
 tered arm) piteously crying out for mercy to Jesus 
 Whom he thought he had denied. He had faltered 
 during the previous trials, on the matter of the 
 prophecies ; he had denied that he possessed any 
 supernatural endowment in the way of prophecy; 
 but before his judges he now asserted what he felt 
 to be the truth, and grievously deplored the weak- 
 ness which had led him, as he too strongly put it, 
 to deny God. 
 
 On the 21st and 22d he was also tortured and 
 examined. Promises alternated with threats, but 
 lie could not be shaken. His malignant judges 
 attempted to frame a document embodying the fal- 
 sified depositions of this third trial. Despite this 
 fraudulent paper, without signature or witness, 
 despite the ingenuity of Ceccone and of a band of 
 citizens who sought, by surprise, an interview with 
 the prior in his prison cell, hoping to entrap him in 
 his words, the conspirators realized that they had 
 no plea or justification in law that could be offered 
 to the public. The barbarous work of six weeks 
 of torture and of forgery had only one clear result. 
 
116 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 — the innocence of the illustrious prisoner was 
 made more manifest. On the third day of the ex- 
 amination by the Papal commissioners (the 22d) 
 the sentence, already resolved on, was formally 
 decreed, — death by hanging, the bodies afterwards 
 to be burned ! On the same evening the three 
 friars heard their fate. They were condemned to 
 be executed early on the morrow. 
 
 Atrocious speed ! But an evil deed, even as that 
 of Judas, should be done quickly. The timid Syl- 
 vester received the tidings with great agitation ; 
 Dominic was full of joy; Savonarola manifested 
 no feeling. He had already passed beyond the in- 
 fluence of earthly hope or fear. Only one word 
 now would he speak, and that was to the member 
 who came from the Company of the Temple, an or- 
 ganization instituted for the solace of the dying. 
 Through him the prior sought the favor of com- 
 municating with his two brethren. To this good 
 man he also revealed, in a prophetic spirit, that 
 woe would come upon the Church and Florence 
 when a Pope named Clement should sit in Rome. 
 And so it happened a generation later. 
 
 Savonarola's request for an interview was reluc- 
 tantly granted by the Signory. In the hall of the 
 Grand Council the prior met his two spiritual sons. 
 The hour went quickly by, nor on its sacredness 
 may we intrude, though its beautiful lesson we 
 shall note. The night wore away, and the lovely 
 May morning in the glad Paschal time, the eve of 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA, 117 
 
 the Ascension, broke with a freshness and life that, 
 to the weary victims, seemed but as the dawn of 
 an everlasting day, the promise of their ascension 
 from this vale of tears. All made a devout confes- 
 sion, and were absolved. The prior was allowed 
 to celebrate Mass. From his hands his two com- 
 panions received the Bread of life. His profession 
 of faith, in which they also joined, was a declara- 
 tion of Catholic doctrine expressed in tender and 
 touching words. 
 
 Then bare of foot and head, with hands bound, 
 the three were led out. The scaffold had been 
 erected ; and for the bishop whose duty it was to 
 degrade the ecclesiastics, for the Papal commis- 
 sioners, and for the lay judges, places had been 
 respectively arranged. The surrender of the scap- 
 ular was the first demand made upon the three 
 friars. As the distinctive mark of his habit, this 
 deprivation was a severe trial to Savonarola. But 
 he yielded bravely though with aching heart. " I 
 do not forsake thee, O holy scapular," he said, "gift 
 of God, which I have ever kept without stain ! 
 How I longed to wear thee to the end, but now I 
 am bereft of thee." 
 
 The work of degrading the friars followed next.^ 
 
 1 By degradation is understood the penalty inflicted on a cleric 
 for certain very grievous offences, in consequence of which the 
 person degraded is deprived of the privileges attaching to the 
 clerical state, and as a layman may he handed over to the civil 
 power, even for the execution of capital punishment. See "A 
 Catholic Dictionary" for details. 
 
118 JEBOME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 " I separate thee," the bishop said, addressing 
 Savonarola, "from the Church militant and," he 
 added incautiously, "from the Church triumphant." 
 — " From the Church militant, yes," replied Savo- 
 narola, "but from the Church triumphant, no ; this 
 does not belong to you." The degraded friars, clad 
 only in their under tunics, were then passed to the 
 Papal commissioners, who pronounced condemna- 
 tion against them for heresy and schism. Finally 
 they were delivered to the secular authorities, the 
 bench of judges, by whom the capital sentence was 
 announced. 
 
 On hearing the result the mob shouted its 
 insane approval, its virtuous conviction that the 
 men thus humiliated were indeed guilty. " It is 
 easy," a well-known writer has said, "to believe 
 in the damnable state of a man who stands stripped 
 and degraded." Then were seen the spirit of the 
 leader and the docility of the two disciples to the 
 lessons of the last sad interview of the night be- 
 fore. On their bowed heads the words of abso- 
 lution had fallen, and with reverence they had 
 accepted the plenary indulgence granted ; but 
 no word was spoken by them except in prayer. 
 Father Dominic's desire to be burned alive was 
 no longer thought of ; Father Sylvester's deter- 
 mination to declare his innocence was set aside. 
 Previously he had recalled the untrue statements 
 made by him under torture. 
 
 Both loyally and religiously went to their death, 
 
EXECUTION OF SAVONAROLA AND HIS CC 
 
 From a painting by an unl 
 
NIONS IN THE PIAZZA DELLA SIONORIA. 
 artist of the i6th century. 
 
JEROME SAVONABOLA. 119 
 
 as did their prior, silent, courageous, caring naught 
 for human justification, entirely resigned to the 
 goodness of God.^ Savonarola was the last to be 
 executed. Between his brethren his poor emaciated 
 body swung suspended in ignominy while the flames 
 leaped high to make perfect the holocaust. And 
 while the fierce mob, full of hate, and gloating 
 over the horrible spectacle, melted away; while 
 the wicked judges and politicians went back to 
 plot and to continue their work of persecution 
 against the Piagnoni^ some of whom even then 
 were eagerly and devoutly seeking relics of their 
 loved prophet and guide, the ashes were rudely 
 gathered up, by command of the magistrates, and, 
 having been carried to the river-bank, were wan- 
 tonly scattered on the flowing waters of the Arno. 
 Pitiable triumph of political vengeance ! 
 
 Denied a tomb, the martyrs' memories were en- 
 shrined in the hearts of their faithful disciples.^ 
 For more than two hundred years, on each recur- 
 ring 28d of May, fragrant flowers were tenderly 
 brought by loving hands, and reverently laid on 
 
 1 The shameful treatment accorded to the prisoners by the 
 populace on the night of their arrest was renewed on the morn- 
 ing of their execution. Some of the details as given by Miran- 
 dola in his Latin life of Savonarola are unfit for presentation in 
 English. He mentions one man, guilty of a sacrilegious outrage, 
 on whom, shortly afterwards, the seeming, if not evident, judg- 
 ment of God fell. 
 
 2 "O Rome, ungrateful country, thou shalt not even possess 
 my bones ! " Scipio Africanus's sad and indignant words we may 
 apply for Savonarola to ungrateful Florence. 
 
120 JEROME SAVONAROLA, 
 
 a spot that to them was hallowed. Thus were 
 treasured the fame and virtues of the great prior. 
 The Medici, restored fourteen years after Savona- 
 rola's death, erected on the scene of his execu- 
 tion a magnificent fountain, in the vain hope that 
 his name might be forgotten. Four hundred years 
 have gone by, and, despite misunderstanding and 
 calumny, the lustre of his fame shines more glori- 
 ously than in the passing hour of his triumph. 
 The storm of fierce passions which raged around 
 him in life has forever subsided; pope and prince 
 and politician who shared in his career have passed 
 before the bar of eternal justice, where an ever- 
 lasting seal has been set on the judgment divinely 
 rendered. And though the judgment of history 
 has not been finally pronounced, the mists of preju- 
 dice have been dissipated by the sun of truth, in 
 whose clear light Savonarola, with all his faults, 
 stands forth, assuredly a grand figure in the galaxy 
 of the world's great men. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 SECOND PART. 
 I. 
 
 ESTIMATES OF CATHOLIC AXD XOX-CATHOLIC WRITERS, 
 
 To estimate the character, the career, and the 
 lasting work of Savonarola, is our purpose in this 
 second part of our sketch. The Catholic histories 
 of the Church in general use are by no means sat- 
 isfactory guides when they discuss this important 
 matter. Some are misleading ; others are so inac- 
 curate regarding the facts of Savonarola's life that 
 their judgment of the man has little if any value. 
 
 Rohrbacher, in his " Universal History of the 
 Church," gives a very meagre account of the grave 
 matters involved in the history of Florence during 
 the last decade of the fifteenth century; but he 
 does not hesitate, curtly and absolutely, to con- 
 demn Savonarola, alleging that the friar excused 
 his disobedience to the Papal commands by addu- 
 cing reasons he knew to be false. This verdict, it 
 
 121 
 
122 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 may justly be said, lacks the safeguards of suffi- 
 cient testimony ; it does not convey the whole 
 truth ; it is misleading. Deciding too much, it 
 may be set aside as unjust. In comparing Savo- 
 narola to Cham, and then lashing him for exposing 
 his father's ignominy (by his criticisms of Pope 
 Alexander), Rohrbacher presents a forced illustra- 
 tion, a distorted figure, a mere trick of rhetoric. 
 History's interests, as well as those of truth, are 
 not conserved by such writing. 
 
 Darras is a popular author. Though neither 
 thoroughness, nor wide learning, marks his four 
 large volumes, yet he is much read by those who 
 cannot go more deeply into church history. Deal- 
 ing with Savonarola, Darras is not only misleading, 
 but he is positively wrong as to the occasion of 
 the prior's downfall. He pretends that Savonarola 
 opposed the appeal of the conspirators who were 
 executed, and that in consequence of the tumult 
 that ensued in Florence, he was summoned to 
 Rome. A reference to the facts and dates, as we 
 have given them, will show how absurd is this 
 statement, and how little " history " it contains. 
 
 Alzog's reputation for learning far exceeds that 
 of Darras. But concerning Savonarola the German 
 professor is not more satisfactory than the French 
 abb^. Representing the prior as introducing the 
 question of Florentine liberty at the bedside of 
 Lorenzo, omitting all mention of the religious 
 aspects of the supposed interview, and reducing 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 123 
 
 the episode to a political encounter between the 
 friar and the prince, Alzog is either wofullj igno- 
 rant, or he wilfully distorts. His further state- 
 ments that Charles YIII. expelled Piero de' 
 ]\ledici; that the Republic was "found impracti- 
 cable ; " that six conspirators were executed ; that 
 the Dominicans caused the failure of the ordeal ; 
 and that " it would seem that he [Savonarola] is 
 not unfairly charged with being a forerunner of 
 Luther," enable us to judge the value of Alzog 
 on this subject. His closing remark that Savona- 
 rola's teaching was Catholic, and that it was a 
 blunder to represent him as one of a group of " re- 
 formers " of the sixteenth century, contains not 
 only a contradiction of the previous censure — or 
 qualified censure — of the friar as a " forerunner " 
 of Luther, but it is so inexact in expression, so 
 unmindful of the accuracies which time and fact 
 demand, that we dismiss it with a word of warning 
 against such " history." 
 
 The distinguished Italian historian, Cesare Cantu, 
 has sketched the life of the Ferrarese friar in the 
 " Storia Universale," and in the " Storia d' Italia," 
 as well as in " Gli Eretici d' Italia." More studi- 
 ous, intelligent, and temperate than the writers 
 we have just quoted, the judgment he passes is, 
 nevertheless, defective, and one with which we are 
 not in entire agreement. Savonarola, writes Cantii, 
 was "a man of faith, of superstition, of genius, 
 abounding in charity. Contrary to Luther, who 
 
124 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 confided entirely in reason, he believed in personal 
 inspiration. Arguments in his favor, as well as 
 against him, may be drawn from his works, which, 
 as a whole, evidence his attempt to harmonize rea- 
 son with faith, Catholicity with political freedom." 
 ... " In no wise did he impugn the authority 
 of the Roman See, although he resisted one whom 
 he believed to be an illegitimate occupant of 
 that See, and against whom he tried to invoke a 
 Council which would reform the Church legiti- 
 mately. Pride resulted from popularit}^, opposition 
 induced excess ; but he worked with a pure con- 
 science, and without personal ambition. His opin- 
 ions he endeavored to propagate by example, and 
 not by force ; he believed in the efficacy of truth." 
 ... " Thinking to guide a mob by means of pas- 
 sion and of the hurly-burly of street crowds, he 
 fell a victim to one and the other, as commonly 
 happens." ... " The fame of Savonarola remains 
 suspended between heaven and hell, but all de- 
 plored his death, and especially, perhaps, those 
 who had caused it." . . . "Not one of the fol- 
 lowers of the great friar figures among the dis- 
 ciples of Luther or among the betrayers of his 
 country's liberty. Michelangelo, who raised bas- 
 tions for his native city, and also the grandest 
 church in Christendom, always venerated Savo- 
 narola." 1 
 
 In the " History of the Papacy in the Fifteenth 
 
 1 Gli Eretici d' Italia, Torino, 1865, vol. i., pp. 234, 235. 
 
JEEOME SAVONAROLA. 125 
 
 Century," Christophe appreciates the famous friar 
 in the following words : — 
 
 " Savonarola's eloquence is not that which comes from 
 the use of the orator's arts, or from a depth of reasoning, or 
 from an emotion agitating the orator's self. It was an elo- 
 quence which seemed to despise all human aids, and which, 
 like the mystical figures of Fra Angelico, aspires to heaven, 
 and does not touch the earth. . . . Savonarola is like no 
 other orator. True or pretended, he is a prophet ; he has 
 the visions, the incoherence, the figurative language, the 
 rashness of one. For this reason, rather than by means of 
 his talent, great as it was, he captivated the multitude. 
 
 " Some make a fanatic, a sectarian, an impostor, of Sa- 
 vonarola ; others an apostle, a saint. The fact is, there is 
 something of all these in the Dominican. If we open the 
 door of his cell at St. ^Mark's, and there contemplate him at 
 the foot of the crucifix, attenuated by fasting and wrapt 
 in an ecstasy of prayer ; if we follow him to Santa Maria 
 del Fiore, and hear him reproaching voluptuous Florence 
 with her vices, Savonarola is a saint, an apostle. But if we 
 turn to the other side, and behold the tribune who mixes 
 politics with religion, the declaimer who inveighs against 
 the existing powers, the seer who opposes a divine mission 
 to the authority of the head of the Church, Savonarola is 
 very like a fanatic, a sectarian, an impostor. Unfortunately 
 he finished his life with the latter character ; such was the 
 impression he made upon the spectators when he left the 
 scene ; and we may well ask ourselves whether, if he had 
 preserved the popular favor, he would have anticipated the 
 role of the monk of Wittenberg. Protestants appear not to 
 doubt it, for they claim Savonarola as one of their fore- 
 runners. But they forget that this monk broke the link 
 which might have connected him with their rebellion, on 
 
126 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 the day, when, at the foot of the stake, he accepted the ab- 
 solution of the Pope, and handed down to posterity that 
 tardy but solemn proof of his repentance. . . . Savonarola 
 knew not how to be either apostle or saint. We would 
 hesitate to call him a sectary, and we would dislike still 
 more to style him an impostor. We regard him as a sin- 
 cere but prodigiously imaginative preacher. If Me have 
 studied him rightly, he appeal's to have been carried away 
 in the current of an unregulated imagination from the day 
 when he began his prophetic exposition of the Apocalypse, 
 to that when he openly substituted for the authority of the 
 Church that of his own pretended celestial mission. Un- 
 doubtedly his eloquence is wonderful, but it is that of a 
 vehement declaimer rather than that of a solid and enlight- 
 ened teacher. We see in it the violent and convulsive agi- 
 tation of a fever, rather than an effort of powerful and 
 healthy thought. His energy does not warm, it burns, it 
 boils over like the lava from a volcano. It does not illu- 
 mine, it dazzles ; it does not guide, it impels. . . . His 
 spirit cannot understand the positive side of things. Sa- 
 vonarola is seldom true ; exaggeration seems to be his 
 domain; his figures are colossal, his situations forced, his 
 end greater than his means. We need not be surprised if 
 a man so organized, with such a power of imagination and 
 such weakness of sense, influenced by the enthusiasm 
 which his words aroused, and by an idolatrous worship ac- 
 corded him — if such a man becomes intoxicated with him- 
 self, . . . and if he believes himself to be an envoy of the 
 Lord. Savonarola succumbed to the hatred of factions 
 which he had himself excited. In our days he would have 
 succumbed to ridicule." ^ 
 
 1 With slight changes we adopt the translation printed by 
 Doctor Parsons in his " Studies in Church History." 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 127 
 
 Doctor Parsons, in his " Studies in Church His- 
 tory," a work which is still in course of publica- 
 tion, devotes a special chapter to Savonarola. In 
 general the spirit displayed is one of fairness, 
 though we deprecate the use of the word "agi- 
 tator " as applied to the preacher. It is an unde- 
 served reproach. This author treats the story of 
 the trial of Savonarola with a scantiness that is 
 very unsatisfactory. His statement that Savona- 
 rola demanded to be tried in Florence is not sup- 
 ported by the prior's letters. We find no evidence 
 that he ever demanded a trial either at Rome, or 
 Florence, or elsewhere. Nor can we agree with 
 this author that much of the sympathetic interest 
 which Savonarola's memory has evoked is attribu- 
 table to the fact that the friar is a poetical figure, 
 appealing to the imagination. And finally we take 
 positive issue with the doctor when he declares that 
 Catholics who have praised Savonarola have been 
 influenced by " the unhistorical and untheological 
 theory of a distinction between the Church and the 
 Papacy." ^ We believe that a careful consideration 
 of facts, as we have recorded them, will be a suffi- 
 cient refutation of this rather sweeping charge. 
 
 The distinguished German historian of the Popes, 
 Dr. Ludwig Pastor,^ affords considerable space to 
 Savonarola in the third volume of his learned 
 
 1 "We have a warm feeling for Savonarola, but the distinction 
 named we as warmly condemn, and so did Savonarola. 
 
 2 "Geschichte der Piipste in der Zeitalter der Renaissance,'* 
 Freiburg, 1895, vol. iii., pp. 377-412. 
 
128 JEROME SAVONAjROLA. 
 
 work, ill Avhich he treats of the Pontiffs of the 
 Renaissance period. With his estimate of the 
 great prior many will probably agree, though we 
 believe that occasionally his judgment is over se- 
 vere, and we are certain that for some statements 
 lie fails to offer either good reasons or satisfactory 
 authorities. He regards Savonarola as an extrem- 
 ist and a visionary, an opinion that ignores certain 
 extraordinary facts not otherwise readily explained, 
 if one wholly rejects the apposite theory of the 
 preacher's genuine prophetic power. We agree 
 with Doctor Pastor that Savonarola's fiery appeal 
 for summary vengeance on all who would attempt 
 the overthrow of the Republic was scarcely in 
 keeping with the spirit which should ever actuate 
 the priest ; but should not his defect be condoned 
 in view of the conditions and circumstances of the 
 extraordinary affair? The charges that Savonarola 
 admitted married women to the cloister without 
 the consent of their husbands, that he encour- 
 aged espionage among children on their parents, 
 among servants on their employers, that his rigorous 
 methods occasioned family quarrels and divisions, 
 are not sustained. We find nothing to justify these 
 serious accusations. Rather is the whole tenor of 
 Savonarola's life their contradiction. Touching his 
 relations with the Pope, Savonarola is judged in a 
 Catholic spirit by Doctor Pastor, who says, how- 
 ever, that the friar failed to give the proof of a 
 divine commission because, at a certain period, he 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 129 
 
 refused to yield obedience. On this point we sug- 
 gest that the historian's statement is not conclu- 
 sive. As to events following Savonarola's failure 
 in complete obedience to the Pope, we admit that 
 the divine commission is not in evidence ; as to 
 Savonarola's previous labors, we do not see how a 
 subsequent error could have vitiated their charac- 
 ter, waiving all question of merit retained or lost. 
 Moses assuredly had a divine commission, though at 
 the close his slight fault was severely punished by 
 God, Who withheld the temporal glory and crown. 
 Admitting that worldliness in the Papacy culmi- 
 nated in Alexander, Doctor Pastor rightly contends, 
 with St. Catherine of Siena, whom he quotes hap- 
 pily, that even if an incarnate devil sat in Peter's 
 Chair, he must be obeyed — within his jurisdiction. 
 
 We believe, however, with the German historian, 
 that had Savonarola adopted more temperate meas- 
 ures towards the people of Florence, his success 
 would have been more lasting. An excitable race, 
 lacking depth of purpose, they were easily im- 
 pressed. When, the preacher's prophetic declara- 
 tions were fulfilled, they hailed him as one sent 
 of God; when his forebodings failed, they were 
 only too ready to denounce him as a false guide. 
 
 Here it may be not amiss to quote the opinions 
 of some of the friar's contemporaries. Of Machia- 
 velli, Cesare Cantii says that, being a man who 
 never risked the expression of an opinion contrary 
 to that in fashion, he praised Savonarola in the 
 
130 JEROME SAVONABOLA. 
 
 beginning of his career. "'He began to ridicule 
 the friar only wlien he himself had developed a 
 polity that was directly opposed to the friar's — 
 a polity, namely, without God, without Provi- 
 dence, without morality, an innate depravity, with- 
 out original sin or redemption, by means of which 
 he expected to restore Italy, not only without the 
 Churclu but in spite of lier.'' 
 
 ]\Iachiavelli's historv of Florence, endino- with 
 the death of Lorenzo, contains nothing about Sa- 
 vonarola. In an appendix, however, is published a 
 letter from the author to a friend, in which he dis- 
 plays his feelings against the friar, whose sermons 
 ho had listened to. He accuses tlie preacher of 
 fraud and cunning. In one of his ** Discoui'ses," 
 however, he writes : — 
 
 ♦' The people of Florence are far from considering them- 
 selves ignorant and benighted, and yet Brotlier Girolamo 
 Savonarola sncceeded in jxM^snading them that lie held con- 
 verse with God. I will not pretend to jndge whether it 
 was trne or not. for we must speak with all respect of so 
 great a man. But I may well say that an immense num- 
 ber believed it, without having seen any extraordinary 
 Dianifestations that should m.ake them believe it ; but it 
 was the purity of his life, the doctrines he piwached, and tlie 
 subjects he selected for his discourses, that sufficed to make 
 the jvople have faith in him." 
 
 Elsewhere he says : — 
 
 ** 111 the year 1404 Florence had reformed its govern- 
 meut with the aid of Brother Girohuuo Savonarola, whose 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 131 
 
 "VNTitiiigs exhibited so niiich learning, prudence, and cour- 
 age." 1 
 
 The celebrated Philip de Commines, who knew 
 the friar well, speaks of him in the '* Memoirs " 
 as : — 
 
 "A man famous for his holy life, and -whom myself saw 
 and communed with in the year of our Lord liOo. . . . 
 He led the holiest life that any man could lead, as appeared 
 both by his conversation and also by his sermons, wherein 
 he preached against all kinds of "rice, so that he reformed 
 the lives of many in the same city. . . . 
 
 " He told many things which proved true which he could 
 not receive from the Council of Florence. And as touching 
 the ting, and the evils he said should happen to him, they 
 came to pass as he prophesied ; for fii-st he told him of the 
 dauphin, his son's death, and after of his own, as myself 
 can witness, for I have seen the letters he writ thereof to 
 the king." 
 
 In the " History of Italy " Guicciardini, who was 
 only sixteen years old when Savonarola mounted 
 the scaffold, presents the views of a supporter of 
 the Medici. 
 
 " The Pope," according to Guicciardini, '• despised him 
 [Savonarola], and exercised his spiritual arms more at the 
 solicitations of some fi'iars who hated Savonarola than from 
 
 1 In his treatise " The Prince," Machiavelli also refers to Sa- 
 vonarola, declaring that he failed simply because he tried to be a 
 reformer without the use of material force. This Machiavellian 
 principle finds its illustration in Mahomet and Luther; but the 
 labors of those who, like Savonarola, " fought within the lines," 
 have always been in ways of peace. 
 
132 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 his own inclination. But Savonarola, finding that by his 
 silence his interests declined, and that the ends for which 
 he had preached could not be assured, began to despise 
 the Pontifical Orders, and returned publicly again to his 
 former office, asserting that the censures pronounced against 
 him \Yere null, as contrary to the Divine Will and public 
 welfare, and at the same time inveighed bitterly against 
 the Pope and the court of Rome. This occasioned fre- 
 quent tumults ; for his enemies, who gained ground every 
 day, stirred up the populace, who above all things abhorred 
 disobedience to the Pope, and had him reprimanded by 
 some in the government for his audaciousness, which tended 
 to alienate the Pope's affections from the Florentines at a 
 juncture when he was treating with the allies for the resti- 
 tution of Pisa. On the other hand, his followers alleged 
 in his defence that it was dangerous to admit of an ex- 
 ample which would be a precedent for Popes to intrude in 
 the affairs of their government. These contentions lasted 
 several days, till Alexander, in great wrath, issuing new 
 Briefs, and threatening to interdict the city, the magis- 
 trates ordered him to desist from preaching. Savonarola 
 obeyed, but the Dominican friars of his convent went from 
 church to chui'ch, preaching the same doctrines, which were 
 refuted by the religious of other Orders. These disputes 
 were carried on with great heat, and excited animosities 
 both in Church and state. 
 
 • ••••#••• 
 
 " Savonarola was afterwards put to the Question,^ but in 
 a gentle manner, and his examination and confession were 
 by the Magistracy formed into a process, and ordered to be 
 published. Jn this paper he cleared himself cf several cal- 
 umnies that had been laid to his charge, sucJ^ as leading a 
 
 1 That is, the torture. 
 
JEROME SAVONABOLA. ' 133 
 
 dissolute life, being avaricious, having kept secret corre- 
 spondence "with foreign princes. He confessed that those 
 events he had foretold were not by Divine Revelation, but 
 by his own pro]3er opinion grounded on the doctrine of the 
 Holy Scripture which he had profoundly studied ; that what 
 he had preached had not proceeded from any malignity, nor 
 from any ambitious views of ecclesiastical preferments, but 
 from zeal, and in hopes that through his means a general 
 council might be assembled in which the corrupt manners 
 of the clergy might be reformed, and the condition of the 
 Church restored, so as to resemble as near as possible the 
 apostolic times, in which laudable attempt, if it had pleased 
 God to help his labors, he should have thought himself more 
 happy and glorious than if he had acquired the Popedom.. 
 For the first could not have been procured but by good 
 sound doctrine and virtue, and a singular reverence gained 
 from all men, whereas the other might be obtained, as it 
 often was, by sinister means or good fortune. 
 
 " Savonarola died with great intrepidity, without utter- 
 ing a word concerning his guilt or innocence, leaving the 
 passions of men unquenched, and their judgment uncertain. 
 Some called him an impostor, whilst others affirmed that 
 the confession published in his name was either false, or 
 that what he had said had been extorted by the Question, a 
 frailty which they excused, because the Prince of the Apos- 
 tles, who was neither imprisoned nor forced by torments, 
 at the interrogation of handmaids and servants, had denied 
 being a disciple of that Master Whose holy doctrine he 
 had imbibed, and of Whose many holy miracles he had 
 been an eye-witness." 
 
 Without criticism of Guicciardini, Avhose preju- 
 dice will be apparent to the reader, we shall give 
 
134 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 a notion of the opinions of other contemporaries 
 of the Frate, as Mr. Napier reports them : — 
 
 " Nardi, who although an impartial writer was no adherent 
 of Savonarola, tells us at the end of his second book, how 
 he is compelled from truth and conscience' sake to acknowl- 
 edge that a great and noble citizen who had been one of the 
 Frate's examiners, and was appointed on account of his in- 
 tense hatred, having been subsequently banished to his villa, 
 was there questioned by the historian himself about Savo- 
 narola's confession and process, to which he answered in his 
 wife's presence, 'It is true that from the Fra Girolamo's 
 confession certain things were omitted, with the best inten- 
 tion, and others added.' 
 
 " Giovanni Berlingheri also, who was one of the priors 
 for March and April, 1498, is said by Lorenzo Viole, a con- 
 temporary writer, to have preserved the original autograph 
 confession of Savonarola, which Viole saw in part, compared 
 it with the printed copies then in everybody's hands, and 
 finally declared that 'they differed as much as day and 
 night.' ' The truth was not written,' he adds, ' in these 
 printed documents ; but that only was inserted which they 
 required to prove the Frate a wicked man, for the purpose 
 of concealing their own injustice who had condemned an 
 innocent one.' There were not wanting some worthy peo- 
 ple, both before and after Savonarola's death, who endeav- 
 ored to persuade Berlingheri to publish this document, but 
 ill vain; and even on his death-bed, when his near relative 
 Alessandro Pucci and his wife Donna Maria Sibilla im- 
 plored him to give them the manuscript, he answered, 
 'Neither to you nor to any person in the world will I show 
 it, for my so doing might occasion the death of more than 
 forty Florentine citizens, and God forbid that I should 
 cause so much evil ; have patience, for it would not be well 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 135 
 
 that I should do this; nay, before I die I wish to cast it 
 into the flames and see it burn.' " 
 
 " Another actor in this tragedy, and a most important per- 
 sonage, Ser Francesco di Barone, a public notary, commonly 
 called at that time ' Ser Ceccone,' who was believed to be 
 the suggester and fabricator of the false process, is said to 
 have confessed to Lucrezia de' Medici (Salviati), Leo the 
 Tenth's sister, 'that Savonarola was a saint of Heaven, but 
 that it became necessary to impute crimes to him and feign 
 many things in order to secure his condemnation.' " i . . . 
 
 " Finally, llagliabechi, a great authority and nearer our 
 own times, exhibited proofs to his friends of the spurious 
 process, which, according to Varchi, was subsequently ex- 
 punged from the public records by the proposto, Lorenzo 
 Ridolfi, as disgraceful, unjust, and contrary to every rule 
 of equity." 
 
 Among English writers of recent date, Madden 
 deserves notice. In an exhaustive history of 
 Savonarola, whom he calls "the intrepid Domini- 
 can," and "a great Christian hero," Madden holds 
 tliat the friar " appears to have been raised up by 
 Providence at a crisis more terrible and perilous 
 perhaps than any that preceded or followed it, to 
 cry out against the iniquities that damaged the 
 Church, and to combat the enemies within her 
 gates, and those that beset her altars and her 
 throne. He had to war with all kinds of treason 
 against God, — covert heathenism in the name of 
 
 1 " Florentine History from the Earliest Authentic Records to 
 the Accession of Ferdinand III., Grand Duke of Tuscany," by 
 Henry Edward Napier, London, 18Ki-17, vol. iii., pp. G17-U20. 
 
136 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 Platonic philosophy simulating Christian prin- 
 ciples ; open disbelief in the government of a su- 
 preme power ; speculative infidelity of schoolmen, 
 secular and clerical, of rhetoricians and wrangling 
 theologians ; practical infidelity of churchmen who 
 had become simonists and sensualists, enemies to 
 truth and purity, and persecutors of just men be- 
 lieving in God and fearing His judgments. He 
 died in the struggle, and the enemies of truth and 
 justice thought they had a signal triumph. But 
 his death only served to send his opinions, apostle- 
 like, throughout the civilized world." 
 
 Briefly, in " Geschichten der RomaniscLen und 
 Germanischen Volker von 1494 bis 1514," ^ and 
 most elaborately in the " Historisch-biographischen 
 Studien," ^ Leopold von Ranke has narrated the 
 story of Savonarola's life. In the later volume he 
 describes the rise of the Medici and the political 
 variations in Florence, giving many details of the 
 political revolution of 1494, and of Savonarola's 
 leadership. The character of the new constitution 
 introduced by the friar, the subsequent distur- 
 bances in Florence, the workings of European poli- 
 tics, Savonarola's complications, trial, and death, 
 are all studiously set forth. To the political aims 
 of the Frate he attributes an unusual importance, 
 representing him as a partisan before his coming to 
 Florence, and as working while there with an in- 
 
 1 Leipzisj, 1874: Slimnntlif^hG Worke, vols, xxxiii., xxxiv. 
 
 2 Leipzig, 1887 ; see pp. 183-332. 
 
JEIiO:dE SAVONAROLA. 137 
 
 ternational party, to effect, through the aid of the 
 French king, the forcible overthrow of Alexander 
 VI. Ho^Yever, von Ranke is not unsympathetic. 
 From the shorter sketch in the "Geschichten," we 
 extract some passages, fairly presenting the learned 
 author's opinions : — 
 
 " Among these rich, influential, educated, and solemn 
 people [he had described the people of Florence], a Do- 
 minican, Hieronymus Savonarola of Ferrara, had succeeded 
 in making himself universally esteemed. He was, it is 
 true, strict with himself and others, a solitary walker, a 
 monk by inclination, and a man who also knew how to 
 control his harsh voice. He admonished his monasterial 
 brethren to give up all their property. He spared no one, 
 not one of his fellow-citizens, the Brescians, the Florentines, 
 nor his liege lords, the Pope and Lorenzo de' ^Medici, and all 
 this could not help securing him a certain influence. But 
 what made him really powerful were, before all else, his 
 doctrines and his prophetic gifts." 
 
 " He preached his theory that all true citizens ought to 
 participate in the offices of public authority ... to many 
 his scheme will appear nothing more nor less than an en- 
 larged aristocracy. Savonarola was the head of all the 
 enemies of the Italian League and the Pope. He con- 
 demned the wealth and the pomp of the clergy, for thereby 
 the barrier was broken down which should separate the 
 church and the world. . . . God's Word still endured, and 
 by no means was one bound to trust in a prelate as much as 
 in it. Xay, no one should sit in the seat of Doctrine except 
 so long as his works were not prejudicial to the operation of 
 the doctrine. Acting in accordance with these principles, 
 he-invited Charles orally, and the German and the Spanish 
 
138 JEBOME SAVONAliOLA. 
 
 kings in writing, to undertake the reformation of the 
 Church." ^ 
 
 Alongside of von Ranke we place a Frenchman, 
 M. Perrens, who, liaving studiously reviewed the 
 friar's career, in " Jerome Savonarola, his Life, his 
 Preaching, and his Times," ventui'es to express a 
 judgment on the man. Appreciating, as he says, 
 successively, the statesman, the reformer, the theo- 
 logian, the philosopher, the orator, the writer, in 
 Savonarola, the puzzled reader asks was he a 
 prophet or an impostor? The problem has been 
 solved by historians in two extreme ways. On 
 one side are those who condemn the Church in 
 order to proclaim Savonarola a saint ; on the other, 
 those who rob Savonarola of his good name in order 
 to protect the men whom he condemned for their 
 shortcomings. " We must take," says Perrens, 
 " a middle course. Savonarola was neither an angel 
 nor a devil, neither a saint nor a reprobate, neither 
 a prophet nor an impostor — 7ie was a man.^^ Per- 
 rens then proceeds, at considerable length, to illus- 
 trate his conclusion by citing the weaknesses, the 
 contradictions, the faults, of Savonarola. He also 
 enters into a long discussion to disprove Savona- 
 rola's prophetic character. He considers it to have 
 been unfortunate for Savonarola that his appear- 
 ance on the public stage began at a time when the 
 
 1 Pp. 85-02 of " Gescliichten der Romanischen und German- 
 ischen Viilker," etc. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 109 
 
 work of moral reform became confounded with the 
 question of political reform in Florence, the latter 
 impeding the success of the tormer. Had Savona- 
 rola, M. Perrens opines, been a German, had he 
 labored in the field occupied later by Luther, the 
 unhappy schism and heresy precipitated by the 
 Wittenberg friar would have long been deferred. 
 
 The views of clerical Protestant church-histo- 
 rians may not be unprofitable, so we turn to the 
 well-known Dean Milman, and quote from him at 
 some length. 
 
 " ' Savonarola died,' so wrote his admiring biographer, 
 *from this cause only, — because he was hated by the 
 wicked, beloved by the holy.' ^ 
 
 " That he died because he was a preacher of righteousness, 
 in an age and in a Church at the very depths of unright- 
 eousness, who will deny ? His absolutely blameless moral 
 character, his wonderful abilities, his command of all the 
 knowledge of his time, his power of communicating his own 
 holiness to others, even his rigid authority as regards the 
 great doctrines of his Church, who will impeach ? Let any 
 one read in Italian, and he will not be unrewarded, the 
 ' Trionf o della Croce,' and determine this point for him- 
 self. His other practical works, as on the simpleness of the 
 Christian life, if not of equal excellence, are as faultless and 
 devout. 
 
 " We have not disguised what, from our point of view, 
 seems to detract from the grandeur, the heroic, the saintly, 
 the true Christian grandeur of Fra Girolamo. It was a 
 
 1 " Una haec perditionis caussa Hieronymo, displicuisse nequis- 
 simis, placuisse sanctissimis." — Pico Mirand., in Prsefat. 
 
140 JEllOME SAVON AliOLA, 
 
 monkish reformation which he endeavored to work, and 
 therefore a reformation which could not have satisfied the 
 expanding mind of m.an. But it was the monkish reforma- 
 tion of a Church which still professed to believe monasti- 
 cisra to be the perfection of Christianity, a higher gospel 
 than that of Christ. We have touched on his extravagances 
 of religious passion, the rigor of his puritan asceticism. 
 But not only was he an Italian, he was of a chui'ch in which, 
 as witness the lives of half the saints (look especially to St. 
 Francis), those extravagances had been held up as the very 
 consummation of holiness. If he was a religious dema- 
 gogue, and mingled too much in secular affairs, how many, 
 not of the worst only, but of the best, in the history of his 
 Church would disdain to elude the imputation ! Above all 
 he did not discern the dim line which distinguishes the 
 mission of a preacher of righteousness from that of a 
 prophet of the future ; he did not, in his ecstatic fervor of 
 zeal, discriminate between the ordinary and the extraordi- 
 nary gifts of divine grace ; yet his Church believed herself 
 to be endowed with a perpetual gift of miracle, with a 
 perpetual, if more rarely exercised, gift of prophecy. How 
 many who had prophesied smooth things of her, or even 
 harsh things, had been canonized! It was not because 
 they were untrue that Savonarola's predictions were pre- 
 sumptuous, impious, but because they were unwelcome. 
 Had Charles the Eighth descended the Alps on the Pope's 
 side, Girolamo's prediction had been a revelation from 
 Heaven. We may believe the whole to have been halluci- 
 nation, part of a fond perversion of unmeaning words by his 
 partisans, part merely human sagacity, — some fortunate 
 guesses or prophecies which wrought their own accomplish- 
 ment, — but all their real criminality to Rome was their hos- 
 tility to Rome. This was felt in his own day (the reaction 
 was almost immediate) ; and it has been felt by the better 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA, 141 
 
 part of the Roman Catholic Church at all times. There 
 has been a strong demand for that highest homage to man, 
 his canonization. It was said to have been contemplated 
 even by Julius II. ; if we are to trust Dr. ]\ladden it has been 
 thought of in our own time. How far it would tax theo- 
 logical subtlety to reconcile the excommunication, the mur- 
 der, of Savonarola (we can use no milder term) by one 
 infallible Pope, with his sanctification by another, is no 
 concern of ours. 
 
 " But Italy, Rome, the Church, repudiated the reformation, 
 the more congenial and less violent reformation of Savona- 
 rola. A wider, more complete reformation — a reformation 
 on different principles — became more and more necessary 
 and inevitable. It was only by the reaction of the more 
 formidable revolution of the North, that the South at length 
 conformed to some of the views of the reformer of Ferrara." 
 [Here follows a little eulogy of Luther.] 
 
 Milman notes afterward that Savonarola's prom- 
 ise regarding the conversion of the Turks was not 
 realized, and adds : — 
 
 " His political vaticinations were at least as sadly untrue ; 
 such as the promise to Florence of an age of unexampled 
 prosperity after her tribulations." 
 
 As to Savonarola's death he sajs, : — 
 
 " He died full of confidence in his own innocence, firm, 
 calm, without the least acknowledgment of guilt, with no 
 word of remonstrance against the cruelty of his enemies, 
 at peace with himself, in perfect charity with all." 
 
 Dean Milman's views a reader may desire to 
 compare with the Rev. Mr. Creighton's. While 
 
142 JEROME SAVOI^ABOLA. 
 
 vicar of Embleton, this clever writer began a " His- 
 tory of the Papacy during the Reformation." As 
 each new volume appeared, of the six he has pub- 
 lished, the author rose at least . one step hi^;her in 
 the ministry, or the hierarchy, of the Established 
 Church of England. 
 
 " Savonarola's fate [says Mr. Creighton elegantly] is a 
 type of the dangers which beset a noble soul drawn by its 
 Christian zeal into conflict with the world. More and 
 more he was driven to fight the Lord's battle with carnal 
 weapons, till the prophet and statesman became inextricably 
 entangled, and the message of the new life was interwoven 
 with the political attitude of the Florentine Republic. 
 Little by little, he was driven into the open sea, till his 
 frail bark was swallowed by the tempest. He encouraged 
 Florence to adhere to an untenable position till all who 
 w^ished to bring Florence into union with Italian aspira- 
 tions were driven to conspire for his downfall. 
 
 " This great tragic interest of the lofty soul, overborne in 
 its struggle against the world, has made Savonarola a favo- 
 rite character for biography, romance, and devotional liter- 
 ature. But the historical importance of Savonarola goes 
 deeper than the greatness of his political importance. Sa- 
 vonarola made a last attempt to bring the new learning 
 into harmony with the Christian life. He strove to inspire 
 the Florence of Lorenzo, Ficino, and Pico with the con- 
 sciousness of a great spiritual mission to the world. He 
 aimed at setting up a commonwealth of which Christ was 
 the only king : animated by the zeal of a reformed church, 
 the state was to guide men's aspirations towards a regene- 
 rate life. The individual force and passion of Savonarola 
 was the offspring of the Renaissance, but it had to force 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 143 
 
 its way to expression through the fetters of scholasticism. 
 Savonarola's sermons present a strong contrast of the for- 
 cible utterance of personal opinion with the trivialities of 
 an artificial method of exposition. He palpitates with the 
 desire to reconcile conflicting tendencies and enter into a 
 larger world. He falls back upon the mysterious utterances 
 of prophecy to point men's eyes to a larger future than he 
 was able to define. His words are now vague to our ears, 
 his political plans are seen to be dreams, his prophetic 
 claims a delusion. But his character lives and is powerful 
 as of one who strove to restore the harmony of man's dis- 
 tracted life. 
 
 " It is unjust to Alexander VI. to represent him as the 
 chief author of Savonarola's ruin ; but he gave his sanction at 
 the last to the schemes of Savonarola's foes. It is needless 
 to discuss the technical points at issue between Savonarola 
 and the Pope ; it is enough that the papal policy in Italy 
 demanded the destruction of a noble effort to make Chris- 
 tianity the animating principle of life. Even a Pope so 
 purely secular as Alexander VI. is said in latter years to 
 have regretted Savonarola's death. Julius II. ordered 
 Raffaelle to place him among the doctors of the Church in 
 the great fresco of the ' Disputa,' and his claims to canon- 
 ization were more than once discussed. The Church evi- 
 dently grieved over his loss when he was gone, when polit- 
 ical difficulties had passed away, and the memory of the 
 fervent preacher of righteousness alone remained."^ 
 
 As an illustration of the spirit animating Do- 
 minican historians, we present to our readers a 
 few extracts embodying the judgment of several 
 of the most distinguished members of the Order. 
 
 1 " History of the Papacy," vol. ill., pp. 247, 248. 
 
144 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 Natalis Alexander, the celebrated Church his- 
 torian, describes Savonarola as "a most fei^vent 
 preacher, famous by the sanctity of his life, his doc- 
 trine, the gift of prophecies and miracles, who was 
 hurried to his death by judges resolved on his de- 
 struction before they sat for his trial." The writer 
 denounces the execution of Savonarola as most 
 iniquitous. 
 
 Touron writes that "amongst the apostolic men 
 in whose lives we have seen realized all that our 
 Lord foretold to his first disciples, the famous Je- 
 rome Savonarola holds high rank." After enumer- 
 ating his great virtues and extraordinary labors, 
 Touron continues, " The death of this truly great 
 man was another proof that he had spoken by the 
 Spirit of God." 
 
 From Marchese, who was a patient student of 
 every phase of the Frate's life, we quote freely : — 
 
 " The name of Savonarola arises from the infamy of the 
 scaffold without injury; it will ever shine; it will be re- 
 membered with affection and reverence by Italians while 
 religion and liberty remain dear to them. He was always 
 true to himself in the innocence of his life, in the love of 
 truth, in his charity towards mankind. It must be con- 
 ceded that if he erred in the choice of means to attain his 
 end, he had not, as some claim, an ambition for worldly 
 power, or for any less noble purpose ; his object was the 
 elevation of a degraded generation to the perfection of 
 Christianity." 
 
 " No one, however, though among his most furious ene- 
 mies, has ever dared to deny to him innocence and aus- 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA, 145 
 
 terity of life, together with much and varied learning. 
 Certainly a most remarkable man he was, and deserving of 
 honor, not only by his native Ferrara, but by Italy and the 
 world. The pagans would have ranked him with Cato, and 
 we may rank him with Athanasius the Great and Gregory 
 VII. For, as Athanasius, though alone and unarmed, faced 
 and conquered in his day Arius and his unusually powerful 
 sect, and as Gregory scourged simony and the concubinage 
 of the clergy, so Friar Girolamo, as long as he lived, fought 
 reviving paganism. 
 
 " Among those of our times (the moderns) I find no one 
 who resembles him so much as Daniel O'Connell, in com- 
 mon with whom he deserves praise for having tied in a 
 sisterly knot true religion and true liberty. To some his 
 social reform appears to be Utopian ; but we should cer- 
 tainly bless a Utopia designed to make men virtuous and 
 happy. 
 
 " During four centuries Europe has been engaged in a 
 bloody battle to obtain a liberty which flies every hour be- 
 fore her ; and when she believes she has reached it, she finds 
 within her embrace only a painted strumpet, — License. 
 Savonarola loudly proclaimed that there could be no real 
 liberty without religion, and the guaranty of its rights con- 
 sisted in the fulfilment of certain obligations. His warn- 
 ings were derided ;.but we do not fear to affirm that Europe 
 will never enjoy peace until these two truths are ingrafted 
 on modern civilization. To him who has not studied the 
 interior history of those rugged and sensual times, Savona- 
 rola's impetuosity may seem supreme folly. But the holy 
 Pontiff Adrian was not slow in amply justifying him, who 
 in the Diet of Nuremberg desired the Nuncio Ceregato 
 to confess freely before all the German princes that the 
 Pope knew that the Lutheran heresy was an infliction from 
 God especially for the faults of the priests and prelates, and 
 
146 JEROME SAVONAROLA, 
 
 therefore like unto that, as noted by Chrysostom, which 
 Christ manifested in Jerusalem. The scourging began in 
 the Temple, as He wished first to cure the head, rather than 
 the members, of the infirm body. Such having been the 
 gravity of the malady, the excessive zeal of Savonarola 
 urged him beyond bounds of propriety in mode and speech, 
 in which, nevertheless, he appears almost like the illustri- 
 ous Bishop of Carthage, St. Cyprian, who with an equal 
 impetus of inconsiderate zeal, and with a want of reason 
 and an equal bitterness, publicly assailed the holy Pontiff 
 St. Stephen ; but who, as St. Augustine remarks, did not 
 hesitate to cancel with his blood the fault that sprang 
 rather from an error of the intellect than from a guilty 
 desire. Thus he did not lose the veneration of the faithful 
 and of the Apostolic See, but he is deservedly held to be 
 one of the most splendid lights of Christianity. Such a 
 lot fell to Savonarola, who, placed amid the most difficult 
 surroundings, gave heed to imprudent councils on the ref- 
 ormation of the Church ; but his error was the result of 
 sincere zeal, and was not due to ambition or to worldly 
 cupidity.' 
 
 Echard begins liis comments on Savonarola by 
 referring to the medals struck at Rome in 1510, 
 in honor of the Prior of St. Mark's, and bear- 
 ing the inscription, " Blessed Martyr and Doctor." 
 The Holy See did not prohibit the sale or distri- 
 bution of these medals. " And deservedly," adds 
 Echard, " does Savonarola receive these titles of 
 honor; for his blameless life was spent in most 
 fervent zeal and love of God, for the welfare of 
 souls, and their advancement in virtue. Most 
 wickedly rewarding this great man, ungrateful 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 147 
 
 Florence brought him to the gibbet and the stake. 
 By this they thought to attach infamy to his name ; 
 on the contrary, however, it has become more illus- 
 trious with advancing time. Not only have the 
 books which he published during his active labors 
 been preserved and further disseminated, but 
 those works which he composed when in prison 
 are also issued for the relish and advantage of all 
 who read them." Echard maintains that the trial 
 of Savonarola was a mockery of justice, that the 
 Florentines, finding no cause, either civil or eccle- 
 siastical, for which they could condemn him, put 
 him to death for political reasons only, covering 
 these under false charges of heresy and of pro- 
 phetical imposture. 
 
 To these varying estimates of the illustrious 
 Ferrarese, expressed at different periods, by men 
 wide apart in their calling and in their creed, it 
 pleases us to add the judgment of a mind so acute 
 and so religious as that of Cardinal John Henry 
 Newman. In his sermon on the Mission of St. 
 Philip, Cardinal Newman depicts Savonarola as " a 
 true son of St. Dominic in energy, in severity of 
 life, in contempt of merely secular learning; a 
 forerunner of St. Pius the Fifth in boldness, in 
 resoluteness, in zeal for the honor of the house of 
 God, and for the restoration of holy discipline. 
 He felt his spirit stirred up within him, like an- 
 other Paul, when he came to that beautiful home 
 of genius and philosophy ; for he found Florence 
 
148 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 like another Athens, wholly given to idolatry. He 
 groaned within him, and was troubled, and refused 
 consolation, when he beheld a Christian court and 
 people priding itself on its material greatness, its 
 intellectual gifts, and its social refinements, while 
 it abandoned itself to luxury, to feast and song and 
 revel, to fine shows and splendid apparel, to an 
 impure poetry, to a depraved and sensual charac- 
 ter of art, to heathen speculations, and to forbidden, 
 superstitious practices. His vehement spirit could 
 not be restrained, and got the better of him. He 
 burst into a whirlwind of indignation and invective, 
 which for the moment certainly did a great deal 
 more than St. Paul was able to do at the Areopa- 
 gus. St. Paul only made one or two converts 
 there, and departed ; whereas Savonarola had great 
 immediate success, frightened and abashed the 
 offenders, rallied around him the better disposed, 
 and elicited and developed whatever there was of 
 piety, whether in the multitude or in the upper 
 class. It was the truth of his cause, the earnest- 
 ness of his convictions, the singleness of his aims, 
 the impartiality of his censures, the intrepidity of 
 his menaces, which constituted the secret of his 
 success." ^ 
 
 1 The student may further consult Muratori's " Annals," Sis- 
 mondi's " Italian Republics," the work of Dr. Clark, or Mr. J. S. 
 Harford's *' Life of Michael Angelo Buonarotti." 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 After the intaglio bv Corniola. 
 
JEROME SAVON ABOLA, 149 
 
 II. 
 
 THE TRUE CHARACTER OF THE FRIAR. 
 
 HavljsG placed before our readers the esti- 
 mates of Savonarola formed by various writers, 
 Catholic and non-Catholic, at different periods, 
 we may briefly present the true character of the 
 friar.^ He was a man of " most rare virtues. He 
 
 1 Savonarola's full baptismal name "^as Jerome Mary Francis 
 Matthew. A description of his personal appearance will be of 
 interest to our readers. From the metrical " Cedrus Libani" by 
 F. Benedict, we render one stanza literally: — 
 
 " He was small of body, but very liealtliy, 
 His limbs were rather delicate, 
 His holy hand seemed transparent, 
 Ever joyous, never disturbed. 
 His glance was quick, penetrating, 
 His expression was pleasing, his eye beautiful, 
 His hair was wavy and black, 
 His mouth was large, his nose arched ; 
 When his soul lighted up his face 
 It shone with such beauty and grace. 
 That he seemed to have come from Heaven." 
 
 From this description, and from the accounts left by Burlamacchi 
 and Pico della Mirandola, we may state that Savonarola was of 
 middle height and slight figure, graceful in movements, refined 
 in his manners, of a nervous temperament, a believer in the doc- 
 trine of " cleanliness next to godliness." He had an orator's mouth, 
 and a nose such as belongs to all great men. His general expres- 
 sion was one of gravity, meditation on serious things having left 
 its indelible traces. His likeness proclaims a "homely" man; 
 
150 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 was benignant and pleasant with all, humble and 
 gentle with his novices, of great affability. His 
 agreeable manners gave joy and gladness to others. 
 Those who once came to know him felt the strong- 
 est desire and eagerness for his company; and 
 when he discoursed on spiritual things, no one who 
 heard him would withdraw from his presence."^ 
 
 He was a man of frequent prayer, of deep medi- 
 tation, of constant study of Holy Writ. Knowing 
 the Bible thoroughly, he made it the well-spring 
 of his spiritual instructions, and even applied it 
 to political affairs by way of interpretation and 
 adaptation of figures. Some of the copies of the 
 inspired Book which he read and annotated are 
 still preserved. They bear striking testimony to 
 his great learning, wonderful spirituality, and in- 
 tense Catholicism. Not a single text which Luther 
 or his followers distorted from the hitherto accepted 
 meaning, received from Savonarola aught but the 
 most faithfully Catholic comment. Savonarola 
 professed and practised, as a true Dominican, a 
 most tender devotion to our Lady. He was a dis- 
 ciple of the Cross, on whom the seal of suffering 
 
 "but nobility of character, gentleness united with firmness, a cer- 
 tain melancholy sweetness, are clearly outlined. Various portraits 
 of Savonarola are in existence, among them one on canvas by Fra 
 Bartolommeo in the Academy of Fine Arts, Florence ; a fresco in 
 Savonarola's cell, also by Fra Bartolommeo; a third, an intaglio, 
 by the celebrated engraver on gems, Giovanni della Comiola, now 
 in the Ufiizi Gallery, Florence. Another cameo by the same artist 
 was in the possession of the Jesuits at Rome when Marchese wrote. 
 1 Burlamacchi. 
 
JEBOME SAVONAROLA. 151 
 
 had been early set.^ Plis love for our Lord in the 
 Holy Eucharist was a marked cliaracteristic of his 
 spiritual life. In the chapel he was often known 
 to spend hours in prayer, rapt at times as if in 
 ecstasy ; a radiant flood of light was often visible 
 to those who witnessed his fervor. While celebrat- 
 ing Mass his face was illumined, as with the fire of 
 his love, and in consequence of this prodigy he was 
 accustomed to seek the privacy of such altars as 
 hid him from all save his attendant. 
 
 His religious life was one of loyal observance of 
 vows and rules. Truly detached from the world, 
 single in his aims, pure in his motives, a model of 
 simplicity, which neither learning nor honors ever 
 disturbed, an example of humility, fortified by true 
 courage accompanied by an utter disregard of hu- 
 man respect, he wore his white habit in honor to 
 the end. As a superior he lived among the mem- 
 bers of his community a model of every virtue, a 
 tender father watching over his beloved children 
 with unfailing care.^ His priesthood was one sus- 
 
 1 We cannot state whether Savonarola knew of the prophecies 
 alleged to have been made concerning him which we find recorded 
 in Burlamacchi. We refer especially to one by a canon of the 
 Duomo, Prospero Pitti, who was explicit in his declaration as to 
 a Dominican who was destined to suffer and die for ungrateful 
 Florence. The report and preservation of such prophecies are at 
 least an evidence of the exalted state of feeling prevailing among 
 Savonarola's followers. 
 
 2 Burlamacchi has left a picture of the family life of St. Mark's 
 community under the direction of Savonarola that reveals the 
 great man in the true light of religious simplicity : — 
 
 " After the siesta, the brethren would gather around the Father, 
 
152 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 tained, brave, generous effort to bring souls to 
 God. Enjoying an extraordinary insight into the 
 human heart, his influence as a confessor, director, 
 or spiritual guide, was remarkable. 
 
 As a preacher, he ranks among the greatest of 
 all time. Judged by his success he may be con- 
 sidered a prince among orators. Sustained by un- 
 impeachable honesty, by a devotion that even his 
 enemies could not deny, by a learning that the 
 scholars of the day were compelled to admire, fired 
 by the conviction of a divine mission, a conviction 
 in which his hearers shared unquestioningly,^ his 
 eloquence had a matchless influence, day after 
 
 in cheerfulness and eagerness, to hear some passage of Holy Writ 
 explained. While they walked in the garden he would comment 
 on the sacred text, thus mingling innocent recreation with pious 
 meditation. Sometimes he would take the life of a saint for the 
 subject of his discourse; again they would sing joyous hymns. 
 At other times he would bid them dance, accompanying them by 
 the humming of an appropriate air. A practice often followed 
 was that of robing a young novice to represent the Divine Child. 
 Then they would sit around him, giving, as to the beloved Jesus, 
 their hearts, and asking graces for themselves and others." An- 
 other picture, beautiful and touching, is that of the Father sur- 
 rounded by his " angels," the dear young boys whom he loved to 
 train for the heavenly life, going abroad in the fields, and having 
 indulged in that godly hilarity which has ever been a virtue with 
 religious, resting briefly in the pleasant shade of the trees. On 
 one of these occasions he entertained the brethren by taking from 
 the tender branches their pith, and deftly and artistically forming 
 it into little doves which he distributed among his angels as sym- 
 bols of their innocence and purity. On such features, the inner 
 life of Savonarola, it would be delightful to dwell, for the world 
 knows him chiefly as the preacher, the reformer, the man mighty 
 in word, and strong in the battle for right. 
 
 1 The claim that an angel was at times seen near him when ho 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA, 153 
 
 day, during the years he preached, swaying intel- 
 lect and heart alike, ruling as from a throne the 
 young and the old, men even more notably than 
 women, and exercising what has not inaptly been 
 termed a "heavenly despotism" over a city in 
 which vice and irreligion had formerly established 
 a stronghold.^ 
 
 preached, and again a dove, we mention as a proof of the enthusi- 
 astic reverence of his followers, without vouching for its truth. 
 
 1 "As a political orator he was scarcely inferior to Demosthe- 
 nes and Cicero. These two appeared when Greece and Rome 
 were corrupted and divided, their liberty menaced by insidious 
 and powerful enemies. They defended and sustained their coun- 
 try by the power of their eloquence. The wealth, the arms, the 
 subtlety of Philip of Macedon had no more stubborn opponent 
 than the eloquence of Demosthenes inspired by patriotism. In 
 the same way Piero de' Medici vainly attempted with gold, 
 arms, and snares, to oppress his country, once the eloquence of 
 Savonarola fired the hearts of the Florentines with love for reli- 
 gion and liberty. Regarding the conspiracy of Bernardo del Nero, 
 Savonarola resembles Cicero, who discovered and punished the 
 wicked plots of Catiline and of his abandoned satellites. Savona- 
 rola, if not with arms, certainly with the word, preserved Florence 
 for a long time from the conspiracies of the Medici and the Co7n- 
 pagnacci. There was no lack of such plotters against liberty. 
 As Cicero chastised the rapine of Verres and the gilded vices of 
 Vatinius and of Cras'sus, so Friar Giroiamo scourged those of the 
 Sforzas, the Medici, and of the degenerate clergy. Savonarola 
 differed from Demosthenes in this : The Greek orator bound in a 
 confederation all the cities of Greece, opposing them to the Mace- 
 donian armies; whereas Giroiamo dissuaded the Florentines from 
 the League, which alone could debar the entrance to the enemies 
 of Italy, preferring rather the safety of Florence than the uncer- 
 tain results of the League. Demosthenes, being condemned to 
 banishment and death, voluntarily shortened his days with poi- 
 son. Cicero, however, was a victim more like the friar. As 
 CjEsar Oct.avius, who was loved by Cicero, bought the friendship 
 of Marc Antony, thus sacrificing his own benefactor, so the 
 
154 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 As a prophet Savonarola's place cannot be de- 
 termined with accuracy. Many of his predictions 
 were fulfilled. In what spirit he made all of these 
 we cannot decide, whether as a keen reader of the 
 times, a close student of events, or as a man directly 
 under the divine influence ; but we readily under- 
 stand how so many who heard him, and so many 
 who have only read his words, should believe that 
 he enjoyed a special heavenly assistance. The nat- 
 ural enthusiasm of his disposition, the impetuosity 
 of a zeal, that perhaps needed, at times, the rein of 
 greater caution, the warmth of his splendid imagi- 
 nation fired to a hot glow by meditation, by con- 
 templation of the Apocalyptic prophecies and the 
 books of the Old Testament, may have led him to 
 make applications, especially to Florence, in a 
 manner not altogether undeserving of adverse 
 criticism. But allowing for all these probabili- 
 ties, one may be tempted to hold that, occasionally, 
 he was granted an extraordinary light. 
 
 As a politician Savonarola has been most se- 
 verely censured, though not always with reason. 
 He deserves no condemnation for loving true lib- 
 erty, the liberty of Christianity ; nor for desiring 
 that this spirit of liberty should influence the do- 
 
 Florentine politicians, thinking to gratify Alexander the Sixth, 
 sacrificed Savonarola. I shall not attempt a further comparison 
 between the Greek and Roman orators and Savonarola. I shall 
 only say that nature probably endowed Savonarola with elo- 
 quence as great as that with which she enriched Demosthenes or 
 Cicero." — Father Marchese, O. P. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 155 
 
 main of civil government ; nor for attempting to 
 reform the citizens of Florence morally, thus assur- 
 ing the political welfare of the state. His ideal, 
 originally, was beautiful : to build up a kingdom 
 of love, mercy, and peace ; and this ideal he pre- 
 sented to the people continually. Thanks to the 
 friar, Jesus Christ was King of Florence during 
 two years at least; King over all in name, and 
 over many in truth. " Why," says Villari, " should 
 Savonarola be robbed of his fame as a statesman, 
 when we behold a people called back to life, as it 
 were, by his breath, and see that the government 
 he framed is the admiration of all writers, both in 
 old times and new ? " ^ 
 
 Around this wonderful man there gathered 
 three groups of supporters, — one filled with deep 
 conviction and holiest purpose, and to the indis- 
 cretion of some of whom, no doubt, a portion of 
 Savonarola's troubles may be imputed; another 
 that felt, in a superficial Avay, the religious influ- 
 ence of the preacher; and a third whose only 
 motive was political ambition, or sordid gain. 
 However much we admire Savonarola, we cannot 
 be blind to his mistakes and defects. The selfish 
 and imprudent advice and encouragement that he 
 
 1 "Savonarola was no demagogue," writes Dinwiddie. "He 
 was as much alive to the evils of an unguarded democracy as he 
 was to those of an oligarchy or an absolute monarchy; and his 
 great design was to secure the establishment of a just, well-or- 
 dered and stable government, which should promote both the 
 earthly and the spiritual welfare of the community." 
 
156 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 too freely accepted from this third class of sup- 
 porters, misled him. Unconsciously he became an 
 active politician, thus assuming a role seldom, if 
 ever, becoming to a cleric. As a preacher, occu- 
 pying a lofty position, expounding principles of 
 government, even though his plan was Utopian, 
 condemning vice among public men especially, 
 and pleading for the reign of justice and of mo- 
 ralit}^, his position was dignified, sound, and sure.^ 
 
 1 Some notion of his teaching may be gained from the follow- 
 ing extracts: — 
 
 "If you have heard it said that states are not governed "with 
 Pater I^'osters (a remark attributed to Cosimo de' Medici), remem- 
 ber that this is the theory of tyrants, of men who are the enemies 
 of God , and of the common weal, — a theory devised to oppress, and 
 not to elevate and free the state. On the contrary, if you would 
 have a good government, you must return to God. If it were 
 not so, I should certainly not trouble myself about the state." 
 
 " O my people! " he exclaims, " you know that I have never 
 wished to enter into the affairs of the state; think you that I 
 should do so now if I did not see that it was necessary for the 
 safety of men's souls? You would not believe, but now you see, 
 that my words are all proved true ; that they are not mine, but 
 that they come from the Lord. Give ear, then, to one who seeks 
 only your salvation. Purify your hearts, give heed to the common 
 good, forget private interests ; and if you thus reform your city in 
 this disposition, it will be more glorious than it has ever before 
 bean . 
 
 " What have you given me for trying to govern you? Where 
 are the presents you have sent me? O Friar, you say, you have 
 tliousands of ducats! If any one says so, he does not speak the 
 truth; T have nothing, and I want nothing. It is you who want 
 to be first (referring to the aristocratic obstructors of the pro- 
 posed constitution), and that is your reason for disliking the coun- 
 cil. He who wants to be first seeks to overthrow the government 
 of the whole people ; he will have no magistrates nominated with- 
 out his permission; he must be consulted about everything, even 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 157 
 
 Once, however, that he sided with a political fac- 
 tion, he ran risks, — the risk of envies, jealousies, 
 calumnies, and the common risk that all simple 
 men run, the risk of base ingratitude, the risk of 
 being sacrificed by greedy fellows who no longer 
 
 to the appointment of a priest to the Churcli of Santa Reparata 
 [iivi patron saint of Florencej. For my part, I endeavor to main- 
 t lia the council. Accuse me no more, then, of wanting to rule 
 your city. Christ alone, I tell you, is your King! " 
 
 How admirable is the following: — 
 
 " Well, Florence, God is willing to satisfy thee, and to give thee 
 a Head, a King, to govern thee. This King is Christ. The Lord 
 will govern thee Himself if thou wilt consent, O Florence! 
 Suffer thyself to be guided by Him. Do not act as did the Jews 
 when they required a king of Samuel. God said to Samuel, 
 ' Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto 
 tliee ; for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, 
 that I should not reign over them.' O Florence, do not imitate 
 this people! Take Christ for thy Master, and remain subject to 
 His law. 
 
 "Magistrates," he says, "it is to you that I address myself. 
 Put down these vices, destroy these sins, punish this horrid pas- 
 sion which is against nature. And not merely by a private fine, 
 but in public, that all Italy may know it. Expose all the courte- 
 sans in a public place, and send them off to the noise of trumpets. 
 But you say, O Father! there are so many of them that this would 
 be to upset the whole city. Well, then begin. with one, then go 
 on to the rest ; and if you cannot give them chastity, you can at 
 least teach them decency. 
 
 " Punish gamblers; for be well assured gambling still goes on. 
 Give orders, signors, that no one shall play in the streets at great 
 games or small. Have the tongues of blasphemers pierced. St. 
 Louis, King of France, had the lips of the blasphemer cauterized, 
 and said, ' I should have been happy to have as much done to 
 myself, if I could at such a price have my kingdom cleared of 
 such offenders.' Put down dancing, too, for this is not a time 
 to dance. Prohibit balls in town and country." He refers here to 
 the penitential season. The playing he would interdict was not 
 of pastime, but of gambling. 
 
158 JEB02rE SAVONAROLA. 
 
 accounted him useful. And indeed such was the 
 Frate's painful experience. Seeing him in the 
 pulpit, honored, poAverful, a master, who would 
 have dreamed of seeing him on a scaffold, ne- 
 glected, despised, helpless.^ 
 
 1 The esteem in which the Prior of St. Mark's was held in 
 his own convent, may he measured by the remarkable fact, noted 
 by Bzovius, that, of the eighty novices there at the date of his 
 execution, not one returned to the world, nor did one go over to 
 the Roman, or to the Lombard, province. 
 
 Among his most bitter opponents, more than one was touched 
 by remorse after the Frate's death. Touron tells us that Fra 
 Mariano, repenting his enmity, publicly acknowledged his error, 
 stating that, of his own knowledge, Savanarola was a man of 
 extraordinary virtue and the recipient of rare heavenly favors. 
 
 Lodovico the Moor, according to Bzovius, acknowledged, dur- 
 ing his imprisonment in France, that Savonarola had been grossly 
 calumniated, in order that his ruin might be more surely effected. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 159 
 
 III. 
 
 [ BIS INFLUENCE ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION, 
 
 LITERATURE, AND ART. 
 
 On education, literature, and art the influence 
 of Savonarola was mighty, truly beneficial, and 
 pre-eminently Catholic ; yet in the " Introduction 
 to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Six- 
 teenth, and Seventeenth Centuries," Hallam does 
 not even mention the name of this great man ! 
 However, there is no lack of authorities. 
 
 From the splendid work of M. Rio, "Du Van- 
 dalisme et du Catholicisme dans TArt," we shall 
 make a few extracts. The name of this author, 
 who was a staunch Catholic of La Vendee, and a 
 professor of history in the Royal College of Louis 
 the Great, is well known to scholars. This distin- 
 guished Frenchman, whom Montalembert congrat- 
 ulated for having " reconquered for the Church the 
 glory and genius of Savonarola," devoted a consid- 
 erable portion of his great book on Vandalism and 
 Catholicism in Art to a vindication of the illustri- 
 ous Prior of St. Mark's. M. Rio says : " Not to 
 recognize in Savonarola the powerful dialectician, 
 the accomplished orator, the profound theologian, 
 the bold and far-reaching genius, tlie universal 
 
160 JEROME SAVOJSTABOLA. 
 
 philosopher, or rather the competent judge of all 
 the schools and systems of philosophy, would be 
 giving the lie with too much effrontery to history 
 and to his contemporaries." The man thus glo- 
 riously endowed, whose sentiments on the true, the 
 good, the beautiful, are scattered as gems through 
 his discourses, proclaiming him at once poet and 
 artist, was also crowned with virtues that Avere the 
 most precious fruits of a truly religious life. With 
 this splendid equipment, Savonarola stood forth 
 as the champion of the Christian school. Christian 
 literature. Christian art. 
 
 "Nothing less," again we quote M. Rio, "than 
 supernatural assistance was required to purify all 
 that paganism had defiled ; for there was not a 
 single branch of the sciences or of the arts, not a 
 single faculty of the human mind, that had escaped 
 the contagion. By dint of prostrating themselves 
 before this ancient idol, men had come, at last, to 
 be ashamed of the ignominy of the Cross ; and 
 Burlamacchi tells us that Savonarola found Flor- 
 ence full of those who, while adorned by noble 
 birth and genius, and rich in the treasures of hu- 
 man wisdom, had not only lost their faith, but even 
 derided those who kept it, and still more, those 
 who defended it. There w^ere artists of the high- 
 est grade Avho declared boldly that they had never 
 had the faith ; and amongst those who kept more 
 within bounds to avoid scandal, the profession of 
 Christianity was confined most frequently to some 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 161 
 
 external observances. The teachers who had the 
 charge of public education fed the minds of the 
 youth, for the most part, only with a poisoned diet, 
 systematically turning their admiration towards 
 the fables of the Greek mythologies, or the heroes 
 of the ancient republics, and not permitthig them 
 even to suspect that Christianity had her heroes 
 too who had surpassed them all." 
 
 This is a sad, a humiliating picture, but it is 
 only a hint, a suggestion. In general terms M. 
 Rio describes the condition of affairs confronting 
 the great preacher and teacher, but he does not go 
 into details. Contemporary chronicles assure us 
 that the craze of the revival of letters so possessed 
 teachers and parents in the second half of the fif- 
 teenth century that paganism's worst "literature " 
 was set before the little ones, — the licentious 
 verses of TibuUus, Catullus, and Ovid, besides 
 certain eclectic compilations that were the very 
 refuse of heathen filth. 
 
 These abominable methods, followed in what 
 we would call primary and grammar schools, Ave re 
 developed in philosophy and even in theolog}^ as 
 taught in the universities. The shadow of pagan- 
 ism rested on the holiest treasures of Catholic in- 
 tellectual life. As we have already remarked, the 
 Gospels were Platonized. The terminology of some 
 writers, even ecclesiastics, was so blasphemously 
 degraded that they spoke of- nuns as Vestales, ves- 
 tals ; of the Blessed Virgin as Diva-^ the goddess ; 
 
162 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 of our Blessed Lord as Minerva springing from the 
 head of Jupiter, etc. 
 
 It was against this flood-tide of iniquity that 
 Savonarola put forth his splendid strength. With 
 an utter disregard of human respect, he fearlessly 
 arraigned false teachers occupying places high or 
 low. He thought tenderly and anxiously for the 
 children, on whom he rested his hopes, and for 
 whom he pleaded with the parents. His sermons 
 also abound in passages addressed directly to the 
 little ones, in which his marvellous power is won- 
 derfully displayed. The duties of father and 
 mother in the education of their children he dis- 
 cussed with great earnestness and clearness. A 
 friend of true classical scholarship, he deprecated 
 only the vile, the degrading. He saw beyond mere 
 form ; and though he would not exalt the less per- 
 fect Latin or Greek of the Fathers as contrasted 
 with the Pagan writers of the golden ages of antiq- 
 uity, he eloquently maintained that substance and 
 truth must not be forgotten.^ Thus, while approv- 
 ing the polish which comes of classic finish, he 
 strenuously insisted on the solid culture which only 
 
 1 " It is well known," says Symonds, " that Savonarola's objec- 
 tion to classical culture was based upon his perception of its world- 
 liness." And in confirmation of Savonarola's view as to the Pagan 
 tendencies of his time, Symonds quotes a passage from Erasmus, 
 who expressed his fear that the culture of the Renaissance period 
 would be the occasion of a revival of paganism among those who 
 held to Christ only in name, their spirit being with the heathen. 
 Melanchthon was of the same opinion. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 163 
 
 truth can generate ; and so he demanded that with 
 Homer and Virgil and Cicero, the Christian fathers, 
 a St. Jerome, a St. Ambrose, and a St. Augustine, 
 should be studied. He would balance the lessons 
 of Plutarch's great men by the inspiring story of 
 Christian heroism and sanctity in every walk of 
 life. The evil which Savonarola combated so ener- 
 getically, and for a time so successfully, in the 
 lower schools, was of monstrous growth in the 
 academies and universities. Into the cloisters, too, 
 this spirit had penetrated, and even some members 
 of his own community had not entirely escaped the 
 tendencies of the times. The power of the pulpit 
 had not been uniformly used for Christian educa- 
 tion ; rather were many of the clergy indifferent to 
 it, because they aspired to be classical according to 
 the fashion. 
 
 Can we wonder that at such a time and under 
 such conditions literature was corrupt in its sub- 
 stance and influence, and that artists were wanting 
 in faith ? Must we not also deplore the degrada- 
 tion of morals, and even of faith, among youth grad- 
 uated from such schools, and whose subsequent 
 intellectual life was determined and moulded, to 
 a great extent, by the lectures, books, paintings, 
 sculptures, that were the productions of a neo- 
 pagan culture ? Assuredly Christian taste was 
 vitiated ; Catholic instincts suffered grievously ; 
 the sanctuary of the home was defiled, and the 
 house of God profaned. 
 
164 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 It needed a man of splendid courage, of heroic 
 virtue, to attack the monstrous evil. Savonarola 
 did not hesitate. Poet, scholar, and lover of the 
 arts, the calumnious shafts of his enemies — the 
 enemies of virtue and faith — fall harmless, though 
 rained against him in a very shower by the Pagans 
 of his own day, and by the bigots of succeeding 
 times.-^ True history absolves from all taint of 
 iconoclasm the noble friar who stood alone, while 
 Italy idly beheld his dauntless struggle against the 
 multi'tude, " to re-establish the reign of Jesus Christ 
 in the hearts and souls of the people ; to enlarge 
 and extend the blessings of redemption to all the 
 human faculties, and to all their operations. The 
 enemy that he combated, with all the energy of liis 
 soul and all the power of his word, was pagan- 
 ism, of which, as we have said, he had everywhere 
 found traces, — in arts and morals, in ideas as well 
 as acts, in the cloisters as well as in the schools of 
 his age." 2 
 
 Savonarola may also be reckoned among the 
 reformers of philosophy. Opposing the tendency 
 Avhich leaned excessively to the authority of Aris- 
 totle, and combating the abuses then prevalent in 
 
 1 TheRationalisthistorian,Villari, says pointedly: ""While re- 
 garded by sceptics and pedants as one bent on reviving the past, 
 Savonarola was held by great souls of Michael Angelo's stamp to 
 be, as he truly was, the precursor of a new era, in which the power 
 of Christianity would again be revived without prejudice to nature 
 or antiquity." 
 
 2 M. Rio. 
 
JEROME SAVONABOLA. 165 
 
 scholastic philosophy, he raised this study to a 
 higher plane by adapting tlie methods and prin- 
 ciples of St. Thomas, whom he called " the Giant," 
 to the issues and needs of his day. 
 
 In his "Apology for the Art of Poetry," Savona- 
 rola made a conclusive answer to his critics. This 
 treatise embodies the thoughts and sentiments 
 wliich he frequently expressed in his sermons, and 
 is a beautiful exposition of the true and the good. 
 He denounces false poets, and defends himself 
 cleverly against their charge that he is an enemy 
 of poesy, because he has ridiculed rhymesters who 
 called themselves poets, knowing only the turn of 
 a dactyl or a spondee, and whose "babbling, lawless 
 productions " foreboded for genuine scholars the 
 " coming of the age, not of iron, but of tinsel and 
 gossamer." He had excited the anger of these 
 scribblers when he revived among the people the 
 old songs, and set them, with patriotic fervor, 
 against the licentious ballads then prevailing. 
 
 While enemies attacked him, and left their dia- 
 tribes as a basis .of calumny to succeeding ages, 
 the success of Savonarola's crusade was acknowl- 
 edged by many of the literary celebrities who were 
 his contemporaries. " I do not think," writes M. 
 Rio, "that there has ever been a hero in history 
 whose name has been transmitted to posterity with 
 a more imposing escort of men illustrious in every 
 department ; and we can hardly persuade ourselves 
 that we are dealing with nothing but a simple 
 
1G6 JER02IE SAVONAROLA. 
 
 friar, ^^ lieu we read the enumeration of the philos- 
 ophers, the poets, and the artists of every kind, — 
 architects, sculptors, painters, and even engravers, 
 — who offered themselves to him, almost in a body, 
 with enthusiasm, to serve, each in his own sphere, 
 as a docile instrument of the great social reforma- 
 tion." 
 
 Thus Ficino became his apologist, and resolved 
 to give the remainder of his life to religion. The 
 famous Benevieni was a most energetic defender 
 of his doctrines and prophecies. Pico della Miran- 
 dola sold his property, gave the proceeds to Savo- 
 narola for the poor, and sought the habit of St. 
 Dominic, in which he was buried. Politian, the 
 most learned man of letters in his day, also asked 
 the favor of the Dominican habit as he lay on his 
 death-bed. The famous Nicholas of Schomberg, 
 professor in the University of Pisa, abandoned his 
 chair, followed the great prior to St. Mark's, and 
 subsequently rose to the episcopacy and the car- 
 dinalate. These are only a few of the more notable 
 among the many that felt and acknowledged the 
 powerful genius of the man who was the apostle 
 of Christian education. Christian literature. Chris- 
 tian art, in the very citadel of neopaganism ; who 
 stemmed the tide of the Renaissance, diverting its 
 flood into safe channels, and preventing, in a meas- 
 ure, the excesses which he could not overcome, and 
 which culminated in an age miscalled "golden," 
 and under a Pontiff whose brother Savonarola had 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 167 
 
 driven from the city but lately ruled by tlieir 
 father, Lorenzo the Magnificent.^ 
 
 1 Keferring to the " blasphemers," as she too vigorously desig- 
 nates the assailants of Savonarola as an enemy of the arts, Mrs. 
 Oliphant speaks of the glory of St. Mark's, the Convent of the 
 Blessed Angelico and Fra Bartolommeo: "No other monastic in- 
 stitution has had such a double crown, and it is curious to find the 
 home and centre of the great mission of Savonarola — he who was 
 the burner of vanities, and the enemy, as his enemies say, of the 
 beautiful — thus nobly distinguished by art." 
 
 For an interesting account of the influence exerted by Savo- 
 narola on the artists of his time, see " Lives of the Most Emi- 
 nent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects of the Order of St. 
 Dominic," by the Dominican, Father Marchese. This valuable 
 work was translated into English by the Rev. C. P. Meehan, and 
 published by James Duffy, Dublin, in 1852. The reader of these 
 volumes will also find the names of the illustrious artists who, 
 through Savonarola's influence, joined the Dominican Order dur- 
 ing his lifetime and after his death. 
 
168 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 IV. 
 
 SAVONAROLA AXD LUTHER. 
 
 We now come to the question of Savonarola's 
 faith, and to the charge that he was a forerunner 
 of Luther. The assumption that the Prior of St. 
 Mark's anticipated the German friar, and souglit 
 to " reform " the Church after the manner of the 
 northern heretic, rests on two counts : (1) He is 
 accused of teaching the pet doctrine of Luther, 
 justification by faith without good Tvorks ; ^ and 
 (2) he is ranked with those who have denied the 
 supremacy of the Holy See. A brief examination 
 of the first count will be sufficient, but we shall 
 re-enforce the refutation by a few reflections. The 
 second count we shall consider in the following 
 chapter. 
 
 A contrast of the two men in their personal life 
 and in the results of their work cannot fail to be 
 instructive. The character of Savonarola we have 
 already seen, — beautiful in faith, in piety, in good 
 
 1 "When Villari, SismonJi, and others speak of " the new doc- 
 trine" of Savonarola, they mean the newness of life, the moral 
 regeneration which he introduced in Florence, not a change in 
 articles of faith. A misunderstanding or a perversion of this fact 
 we have observed in some Protestant writers. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 169 
 
 works, in loyalty to his vows as a religious. He 
 labored for the elevation of his Order to a greater 
 fidelity to rule and observance, and for the trans- 
 formation of private and public life in Florence. 
 Hear the testimony of one of his opponents who 
 wrote: "To me indeed (and the same is admitted 
 by every one) the city seems much changed from 
 that which I formerly knew. It is daily becom- 
 ing more like a second Nineveh ; for just as the 
 latter converted itself to God at the preaching of 
 Jonas, so also does the former at the exhortation 
 of our preacher." Verily this was a true reform 
 of men and manners. Luther inaugurated his 
 " reform " by violating his solemn vows, and by 
 inducing a nun to commit a like sacrilege. His 
 gluttony, drunkenness, and grossness in various 
 ways are a scandal to humanity. As to his work, 
 we let himself speak : " Since we have begun to 
 preach our new doctrine the devil triumphantly 
 walks about, the world grows daily worse, more 
 impious, more shameless. Men are more avari- 
 cious, more impure, than they were under the Pope. 
 Everywhere we find abominable passions, — drunk- 
 enness, immodesty, disgraceful disorders, schisms, 
 sects, complete ruin of order and morality. Li- 
 cense and vice are carried to such excess that 
 people know no check ; they live without shame, 
 as untamed beasts, a prey to every vilest pleas- 
 ure." And again : " Now everybody, anybody, 
 knows the Gospel better than Dr. Luther, or even 
 
170 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 St. Paul himself. Nobles, citizens, peasants, de- 
 spise the pastors of God, or rather the God and 
 Master of pastors." How sad a picture ! How 
 accurately did Montaigne sketch it when he wrote 
 in the essay on " Physiognomy " his denunciation 
 of " reformation by the utmost of deformations." 
 
 And of the man who precipitated this ruin, let 
 his friends speak. Zwinglius declares that the 
 devil had so far mastered Luther that it foreboded 
 his entire possession. Melanchthon wrote that he 
 trembled when he thought of Luther's passions, 
 which yielded not in violence to those of Her- 
 cules. Oecolampadius said that he was seduced 
 by Satan, being full of pride and arrogance, and 
 another cried out against him as a madman ever 
 combating truth. " How disgusting are his mor- 
 als," was the complaint of the new church estab- 
 lished at Zurich; "his words seem to be those of 
 the devils who carry him along." 
 
 In his history of Charles the Fifth, the Scotch 
 Protestant, Robertson, says of Luther : " His doc- 
 trines encouraged, and his life set the example, of 
 the utmost licentiousness of manners." This un- 
 fortunate man, an acknowledged drunkard, whose 
 immoralities shocked even licentious followers, 
 whose advice to Melanchthon, " sin boldly, but have 
 more faith than sin," is an appalling blasphemy, 
 stands before the world as the leader of " reform," 
 and is acknowledged and even reverenced by 
 many (despite the palpable contradiction involved 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 171 
 
 in resting their faitli on the authority of one whose 
 fundamental teaching was the rejection of all au- 
 thority save that of private, personal judgment) as 
 the originator of a great and heavenly blessing to 
 humanity. He feigned that Savonarola was his 
 forerunner, and in proof of his absurd claim per- 
 verted the prior's truly Catholic teaching, when 
 he published in German some of the latter's com- 
 mentaries on the Psalms.^ 
 
 The linking of the name of such a man to that 
 of the pure and devout Savonarola assuredly can- 
 not be attempted on personal grounds. If any 
 ties exist, they must be of theory, for the practical 
 effects of their doctrine were wholly dissimilar. 
 In his commentaries on the Thirtieth and Fiftieth 
 Psalms, written in prison, Savonarola speaks of 
 faith and good works. A passage was wrested 
 from its just meaning, and a forced interpretation 
 put upon it, not only by Luther when he published 
 these treatises at Strasburg in 1524, and hailed 
 Savonarola as a forerunner who had placed all jus- 
 tification in faith, but also by many writers since 
 Luther's time.^ 
 
 " It is absolutely false," says the Protestant Vvo- 
 fessor Villari, " that he ever renounced or neg- 
 lected to maintain the value of good works and 
 
 1 Consult Appendix I. 
 
 2 Notably the German biographers of Savonarola, Rudelbach 
 (1835), Meier (1836), Hale (1851), all of whom signally failed to 
 sustain their plea. 
 
172 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 religious ceremonies." The tenor of his whole life 
 proves this ; his last writing in prison, the re- 
 membrance to his jailer, confirms his unwavering 
 Catholic doctrine. " Therefore," he concludes, 
 " perseverance in virtuous living, in good works, 
 in Confession, in Communion, in all that draws us 
 nearer to grace, is the true and certain way to pro- 
 cure its increase." Commenting on this, Villari 
 says, " If any one should fail to recognize that this 
 doctrine is purely and exclusively Catholic, and 
 that Savonarola remained steadfastly true to his 
 creed till the close of his life, it would be impossi- 
 ble to find other proofs by which to convince him." 
 The unity of the Church, as the same authority 
 insists, was his most cherished aim. Luther, on 
 the contrary, rent the seamless robe of Christ, and 
 rejected those Sacraments which to Savonarola 
 had always been the divinely appointed channels 
 of grace and strength. Savonarola longed for a 
 reformation, but only in discipline and morals. 
 This is acknowledged by Villari when he says that 
 the prior never attacked the dogmas of the Church, 
 but only those who corrupted them.^ And another 
 
 1 Referring to the Piagnoni after the death of Savonarola, 
 "Villari writes: " As we have seen, their religious creed was inva- 
 riably and strictly Catholic. Even when Rome was besieged by 
 Protestant hosts, and the Florentines were warring against the 
 deadly attacks of the Pope, the Piagnoni refused to coalesce with 
 the followers of the Reformation, and indeed the few Protestants 
 existing in Florence were marks for the popular fury. This was 
 undoubtedly another and most evident sign that Savonarola's 
 doctrines were very different from those of Luther." 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 173 
 
 Protestant, tlie Swiss Sismondi, declares tLat in 
 seeking to reform the Church, Savonarola never 
 deviated from the pale of orthodoxy. He did not 
 claim the right of examining doctrine, of "private 
 judgment ; " rather did he devote all his efforts to 
 the restoration of discipline, to the reformation 
 of the lives of the clerg}^, and to the winning of 
 priests and laymen to a more perfect observance 
 of the Gospel precepts. 
 
 " The spirit of Savonarola," wrote Lord Macaulay, 
 " had nothing in common with the spirit, religious 
 or political, of the Protestants of the North." 
 
 Quoting Savonarola's utterance on the power of 
 Peter and his successors, his Protestant biographer. 
 Dr. William Clark, says, " When we remember 
 that these are the words of a man then sufferingr 
 under a Papal excommunication, we may easily 
 perceive how far he was removed from that which 
 we mean by the name of a Protestant. He was 
 no heretic ; he was no schismatic ; for he liad 
 plainly declared that the Chair of Peter was the 
 centre of the Catholic Church." 
 
 Mr. Brownson, in his Revieiv for April, 1852, 
 claimed that Savonarola had not yet been cleared 
 from error and proved to have been a good Catlio- 
 lic. This is not only vague, but untrue. We 
 refer to it merely to contrast it with the judgment 
 of intelligent Protestant writers and with the facts. 
 
 The ex-Calvinist and freethinker, Bayle, who 
 venomously collected in his dictionary every opin- 
 
174 JEBOME SAVONAROLA, 
 
 ion inimical to the friar, expresses his surprise at 
 the Protestant assumption of Savonarola's kinship : 
 " It is very strange that Protestants should num- 
 ber among their martyrs a friar who during his 
 lifetime had always celebrated Mass and invoked 
 the saints, and who at the hour of his death went 
 to Confession and Communion, made an act of 
 faith in the Real Presence, and humbly accepted a 
 Plenary Indulgence granted to him by the Pope." 
 
 The Protestant historian von Ranke dismisses 
 the claim of Savonarola's precursorship of Luther 
 with a few words : " Luther wished chiefly a refor- 
 mation of the doctrine, Savonarola a reformation 
 of the morals and the constitution ; " and in the 
 same essay he describes Savonarola as " a reformer 
 who did not fling off the cowl, but who contended 
 with the Papacy, remaining just what he was — 
 a friar." 
 
 " He was no apostle of reform (as understood by 
 Luther)," writes John Addington Symonds, in liis 
 " History of the Renaissance ; " " it did not occur 
 to him to reconstruct the creed, to dispute the dis- 
 cipline, or to criticise the authority of the Church." 
 He never went to the length of braving Alexander 
 by burning his bulls, and by denying the authority 
 of Popes in general. He desired to purge the 
 Church of sin, but to retain its hierarchy and its 
 dogmas inviolate. He stoutly maintained the riglit 
 of the Holy See to temporal dominion, and in this 
 he antagonized the subsequent teaching of Machi- 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 175 
 
 avelli and Guicciardini, who wished to strip the 
 Pope of civil power. Mr. Symonds also compares 
 Savonarola to St. Bernardine of Siena and other 
 Catholic reformers, and emphasizes the fact that 
 none of these ever changed doctrines ; they sought 
 only renewal of morals, — a thing, adds this preju- 
 diced writer, that removes Savonarola immeasuiably 
 from Huss and Luther. 
 
 The well-known Protestant Church historian, 
 Mosheim, ranks Savonarola among the wisest and 
 best men of his age, a pious, eloquent, and learned 
 man, who "having probed the Romish ulcers too 
 freely, suffered for his rashness." Allowing for 
 the peculiarities of gentlemen who say " Romish," 
 we quote this writer who is representative, but he 
 makes no claim to Savonarola as a forerunner of 
 Luther. 
 
 Canon Creighton, from whom we have already 
 quoted, readily distinguishes the German Protes- 
 tant from the Italian Catholic. " The last daj's of 
 Savonarola," says Creighton, " were spent in writ- 
 ing a meditation on the Fifty-first Psalm. This, 
 together with his other devotional writings, enjoyed 
 a wide popularity, and went through many edi- 
 tions. It fell into the hands of Luther, who re- 
 published it in 1523, with a preface in which he 
 claimed Savonarola as one of his own predecessors 
 in setting forth the doctrine of justification by 
 faith only. He Avrites, in his usual trenchant 
 style, ' Though the feet of this holy man are still 
 
176 JEROME SAVONABOLA. 
 
 soiled by theological mud, nevertheless he upheld 
 the doctrine of justification by faith only without 
 works, aud therefore he was burned by the Pope. 
 But he lives in blessedness ; and Christ canonizes 
 him by our means, even though Pope and papists 
 burst with rage.' It is not worth while to examine 
 Luther's grounds for such a statement. Savona- 
 rola's words are full of ardent faith in Christ, but 
 Luther's position was far from his mind. He taught 
 nothing which was opposed to the accepted doc- 
 trines of the Church, he never denied the Papal 
 headship, and he received submissively the plenary 
 indulgence which Alexander the Sixth granted 
 him before his death." ^ 
 
 Rev. W. H. Rule, the title of whose work, " Sa- 
 vonarola and the Dawn of the Reformation," suffi- 
 ciently testifies to the author's Protestantism, 
 deplores the fact that Savonarola did not get at 
 the heart of Evangelical Christianity, justification 
 by faith without good works. Indeed, while Mr. 
 Rule is willing to call Savonarola a hero, he re- 
 fuses to place him among the martyrs, just because 
 he was only " a reformer of morals, and not of 
 doctrines." ^ 
 
 Another Protestant writer, to whom we have 
 alread}^ referred, Mr. Dinwiddle, though he con- 
 
 1 Vol. iii., p. 246. 
 
 2 See also the admissions of the anonymous author of "The 
 Life and Times of Savonarola, Illustrating the Progress of the 
 Reformation in Italy during the Fifteenth Century." London, 
 1843. 
 
JEROME SAVONABOLA, 111 
 
 tends that Savonarola's preaching helped the work 
 of the Saxon friar, still denies that the former had 
 any fellowship with Luther or with any of his fore- 
 runners, so-called.^ 
 
 We close our references from Protestant author- 
 ities with a quotation from Mrs. Oliphant. Speak- 
 ing of Savonarola's excommunication she says : 
 ''Tills was the moment in which, had he been a 
 Luther, his Protestantism would have developed ; 
 but such was not the turn of his mind. It did not 
 occur to him to doubt the institutions of his Church, 
 or to question her authority." 
 
 Of the genuine reformation that was wrought 
 in the sixteenth century by Popes and bishops and 
 saints, Savonarola may be called a forerunner; 
 and to his influence in life, his teachings, his ex- 
 ample in death, we may ascribe, in a measure, 
 the salvation of Italy when the floodtide of heresy 
 and iniquity flowed over Northern Europe, and 
 submerged the nations that had accepted the leader- 
 ship of Luther in revolt against the See of Rome, 
 and in repudiation of the doctrines of the Church 
 of Jesus Christ.2 
 
 * *• Times before the Reformation." 
 
 2 For a very satisfactory and exhaustive discussion of this 
 phase of Savonarola's life, we refer the reader to an excellent 
 brochure entitled " Savonarola and the Reformation," by the Very 
 Reverend Father John Procter, O.P., of Haverstock Hill, London. 
 Had Savonarola lived under a Pope such as Gregory VII. or St. 
 Pius v., the results of his labors, we believe, would have been 
 more salutarv. 
 
178 JEROME SAVONABOLA. 
 
 V. 
 
 THE CONTEST WITH THE POPE. 
 
 The contest between Savonarola and Pope Al- 
 exander VI. is tlie crucial point in a life other- 
 wise flawless. In the course of our narrative we 
 related the events as they transpired ; we here 
 note the difference between Luther and the Prior 
 of St. Mark's in their attitude towards the Sover- 
 eign Pontiff. At the outset we must put aside all 
 questions as to the personality of the Pope, this 
 being a consideration that is not essential to his 
 authority. Admitting the indictments that have 
 been proved against Alexander, we must bear in 
 mind the words of St. Leo I., " The dignity of 
 Peter does not fail even in an unworthy suc- 
 cessor." Nor are we justified in arbitrarily judg- 
 ing motives. Villari is unfair in his frequent 
 charges that Alexander always acted from sinister 
 motives in dealing with Savonarola, nor for these 
 serious accusations does he offer proof. The Pope 
 was obliged to act. He showed considerateness, 
 deference even, for Savonarola. We should ab- 
 stain, therefore, with greater reason, from imputing 
 to the Pope evil purposes, even if we fail to agree 
 with his policy. 
 
JEROME SAVOXAROLA. 179 
 
 Savonarola deified Alexander, but chiefly in con- 
 nection with matters political. Bewailing also the 
 abuses of his time, and yielding to the impression 
 that Alexander was not a validly elected Pope, 
 that his acts and commands were neither binding 
 nor effective, Savonarola, holding to the notion, 
 then not uncommon, that a Council was superior 
 to the Pope, subsequently took the stand of an 
 appeal to a Council which he tried to have assem- 
 bled. 
 
 In the beginning he was ready to yield obedi- 
 ence, as we have seen ; and liis language, in ad- 
 (h-essing the Holy Father, was reverential and 
 submissive. Even when the contest had become 
 acute, the prior maintained a tone of devoted loy- 
 alty to the Chair of Peter, of belief in Papal 
 infallibility. Against the authority of the Church 
 he did not intend to strive, but only against an 
 individual whom he erroneously considered as in- 
 validly holding the Papacy. This judgment, aris- 
 ing from his belief as to Alexander's simoniacal 
 election, involved a decision which it was not for 
 him to make. Here was the grievous error. In 
 his most fiery denunciations against the evils of 
 the day and the abuses in the Church, not one 
 word will be found of disrespect to the teach- 
 ing power, to the divinely established Papacy. 
 Towards Alexander his language is usually re- 
 spectful ; even when he speaks of wrong-doing, he 
 is not wanting in personal regard for the Pontiff. 
 
180 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 Contrast this conduct with the actions and 
 words of Luther towards Leo X. Between them 
 the contest was one entirely theological, the doc- 
 trines and sacraments of the Church alone enter- 
 ing into the dispute. Luther was summoned to 
 Rome. What was his answer? "Do you know 
 what I think of Rome? It is a confused collec- 
 tion of fools, idiots, simpletons, blockheads, demoni- 
 acs, and devils ! Pope and Jackass are synonymous 
 terms ! " And then, with the gentleness which 
 marked his later career in speech and writing, he 
 proceeds to tell Pope Leo that he would like to 
 wash his hands " in the blood of the corrupt teach- 
 ers, cardinals, and Popes, the Roman Sodom con- 
 taminating the Church ! " 
 
 Why add to this? It is evident, not only from 
 the German friar's defiance, but from succeeding 
 events and results, that historical truth is shocked 
 and the name of a saintly Catholic is outraged by 
 associating it with the name and teaching of Mar- 
 tin Luther. The Luther monument, erected in 
 Worms in the year 1868, is, therefore, so far as 
 it represents Savonarola, a monumental falsehood. 
 The central figure is that of Luther; other images 
 are those of Melanchthon, Reuchlin, Philip of Hesse, 
 and Frederick of Saxony — all agreeable society. 
 At the base is a smaller group representing Waldo, 
 Wickliffe, Huss, and Savonarola, as the forerun- 
 ners of the rebel friar of Wittenberg. No calumny 
 uttered during his life would have hurt the Flor- 
 
JEBOME SAVONAROLA, 181 
 
 entine prior so keenly as does this infamous slan- 
 der, published in an enduring form, four hundred 
 years after his death. 
 
 "The banner of revolt will be raised against the 
 Church by another, a son of perdition, an instru- 
 ment of God's terrible judgments," was Savonaro- 
 la's latest prophecy. The visitation then predicted 
 came with the sack of Rome, when Clement the 
 Seventh was taken prisoner, and when the ruffianly 
 German soldiers robed themselves in the cardinals' 
 attire and proceeded to elect as Pope — Martin 
 Luther ! He had raised the standard of rebellion, 
 and Savonarola was his foreteller, but not his fore- 
 runner. 
 
182 JEROME SAVONABOLA. 
 
 VI. 
 
 SAVONAROLA VENERATED BY SAINTLY MEN AND WOMEN. 
 
 A PECULIARLY interesting feature of Savona- 
 rola's history is the veneration entertained for 
 him by saints. Assuredly God guided the chosen 
 souls whose heroic virtues the Church has crowned 
 by canonization, or by the minor dignity of beati- 
 fication, through which they are numbered with 
 those to whom public and solemn honors may be 
 rendered. That Dominicans should privately re- 
 vere the memory of a saintly brother is not sur- 
 prising.^ The outspoken homage of acknowledged 
 
 1 We must here dissent from Dr. Pastor's charge that the 
 Superiors of the Dominican Order had for a hundred years inter- 
 dicted the name of Savonarola, thus antagonizing the veneration 
 entertained for him among his brethren. The term " superiors " 
 is very vague. As to the action of local superiors in such an 
 affair, we simply state that it carried only the weight of individ- 
 ual opinion, for the matter was beyond their jurisdiction ; as to 
 the supreme heads of the Order, who alone could outline its 
 policy, history does not hear out the sweeping statement of Pastor. 
 Prudence probably dictated such restrictions as the authorities of 
 the Order imposed on the veneration of Savonarola's picture and 
 the claims made for his saintliness during a troubled period, when 
 as yet the name of the martyred prior had not been vindicated 
 through critical research and historical analysis of the records of 
 his time. In only two instances, however, did a general of the 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA, 183 
 
 saints is more significant. Among those who thus 
 regarded Savonarola we may mention the Blessed 
 Catharine of Raconigi, of whom the Breviary states 
 that in heavenly glory she ranks with St. Catharine 
 of Siena, less only in the earthly splendor of can- 
 onization ; Blessed Sebastian Maggi ; Blessed 
 Osanna of Mantua ; Blessed Columba of Rieti ; 
 Blessed Mary Bartholomew Bagnesi ; St. Catha- 
 rine of Ricci, and St. Pius V. St. Catharine al- 
 ways kept in her cell a portrait of Savonarola 
 painted by Bartolommeo with the inscription, " A 
 true likeness of Father Jerome, a prophet sent by 
 God." She also possessed, as a sacred relic, one of 
 
 Order take action against tlie veneration of Savonarola. The 
 first occurred four years after his death, when a command was 
 issued forbidding the brethren of St. Mark's to call him a saint, 
 a prophet, or a martyr. Burlamacchi does not hesitate to ascribe 
 this prohibition to the influence of a friar named Sacromoro (whose 
 name we have not previously mentioned), who was regarded as 
 the Judas Iscariot of Savonarola in the hour of his sore need. 
 More than eighty years passed^ when, in 1585, the Master General, 
 Father Fabri di Luca, issued another prohibition to all his sub- 
 jects, forbidding them to mention Savonarola's name ; to treat of 
 his life, miracles, companions ; to have his image or picture. At 
 that time one of the Medici family, Octavian, was Archbishop of 
 Florence. Father Marchese does not hesitate, on the authority 
 of a letter written by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, which he dis- 
 covered in the Florentine archives, to indicate this prelate as the 
 occasion of the new edict. St. Catherine de Ricci entered a most 
 respectful but vigorous protest against this prohibition, caution- 
 ing the Master General not to take this step. Forty years before, 
 the Tuscan Grand Dake, Cosimo I. had expelled the brethren from 
 St. Mark's, though he was soon compelled by Pope Paul III. to 
 restore thera. Thus politics and persecution followed Savonarola 
 even after bis death. 
 
184 JEROME SAVONAROLA, 
 
 his fingers,^ and did not hesitate to ascribe to him 
 the power of miracles. In her life we find the rec- 
 ord of various apparitions reported to have been 
 made to her by Savonarola and his two companions 
 in death. The saint declared that he had cured 
 her of a serious illness. Outside of the Dominican 
 Order, St. Francis of Paula, who had prophesied 
 his martyrdom twenty years before it occurred, 
 regarded him as a chosen servant of God. Blessed 
 Juvenal Ancina and Blessed John Fisher also held 
 him to be a saint. St. Philip Neri venerated him, 
 kept his image with rays of glory about the head, 
 lovingly called him the Apostle of Florence, and 
 reverently prayed to him.^ These facts deserve 
 the attention of Catholic writers who are tempted 
 to be more orthodox than the holy men and women 
 that displayed so great devotion to Savonarola. 
 
 1 The flames did not entirely consume the body of Savonarola ; 
 various relics were secured among the ashes. 
 
 2 The publication of an Office in honor of Savonarola by devout 
 admirers we cannot commend. Such a recognition can come, of 
 right, only from the Holy See. We consider claims to sanctity 
 based on such " offices " to be without the pale. Proclaiming them 
 as "proof," as indiscreet panegyrists have done, serves no good 
 purpose. 
 
JEROME SAVONAROLA. 185 
 
 YH. 
 
 ATTITUDE OF THE HOLY SEE TOWARD SAVONAROLA, 
 
 We shall close our sketch with a few words 
 touching the attitude of the Holy See towards Sa- 
 vonarola. Alexander VI. acknowledged that he 
 had been misinformed, admitted the virtues of the 
 prior, repudiated all blame for his death, and, ac- 
 cording to Burlamacchi, declared his willingness 
 to enroll him among the saints. 
 
 Julius II., who succeeded Alexander after the 
 brief pontificate of Pius III., knew well the career 
 of Savonarola. That he authorized the painting 
 by Raphael of his likeness with that of St. Thomas 
 Aquinas in the famous fresco, "The Dispute on 
 the Blessed Sacrament," cannot be understood in 
 any but a favorable light. 
 
 In 1516 Leo X. journeyed to Florence, and hav- 
 ing gone to St. Mark's, granted an indulgence 
 of ten years and ten Lents to all who would 
 devoutly visit the prior's cell.^ In this humble 
 
 1 Pastor insinuates that it was not in honor of Savonarola that 
 Leo X. thus favored this cell. An insinuation is no argument, 
 and it becomes conspicuously "svorthless, and even suggestive of 
 bias or prejudice, when it ignores facts. Leo X. understood his 
 own mind. To what extent he may have thought of reparation 
 
186 JEROME SAVONAROLA. 
 
 room various relics are still preserved, telling with 
 mute eloquence of the religious life and devotion 
 of the illustrious man whose spirit seems still to 
 pervade the place, now no longer the house of 
 prayer, but a " national monument " by the " favor " 
 of Italy's infidel and confiscating government. 
 
 One hundred years after the death of the Frate, 
 Clement YIII. declared that if Ferrara fell into his 
 hands he would canonize her most illustrious son, 
 — Savonarola. 
 
 Benedict XIV. deemed him worthy of canoniza- 
 tion, and allowed his name to appear in a cata- 
 logue published during his pontificate, containing 
 a list of blessed servants of God and of other ven- 
 erable persons illustrious by their sanctity.^ 
 
 And yet he has not been canonized, and prob- 
 ably this honor will never be accorded to him. 
 To us the reason seems simple. That the Holy 
 See should vindicate its dignity by withholding 
 from one who had failed in submission, even under 
 the circumstances of Savonarola's case, the supreme 
 mark on earth of crowned sanctity, ought not to 
 
 to the memory of the great prior, we may not judge ; we know, 
 however, that he designated his room as the place of favor. 
 Had it been the Pope's purpose to honor St. Mark's simply, why 
 did he choose this particular cell ? If he wished to signalize his 
 esteem for another of the distinguished brethren, why did he not 
 single out the cell of the sainted archbishop, Antoninus, or that 
 of the blessed and angelic painter ? 
 
 1 Madden states that he had it on high authority that one of 
 the earliest designs of Pius IX. w.is the canonization of Savo- 
 narola. 
 
1* ^t ^^I^^^^H! 
 
 J 
 
 SAVONAROLA'S CELL, 
 In the Convent of St. Mark, Florence. 
 
JEROME SAVOJ^AROLA. 187 
 
 occasion surprise. Moses failed only venially, by 
 a moment's hesitation, a needless stroke, and yet, 
 despite his splendid services, his heroic virtues, 
 this man, meekest among all, went up to Mount 
 Nebo to die, looking out with wistful eyes over 
 the Promised Land, past whose borders he might 
 never go ! 
 
 It may be, therefore, that Savonarola's name will 
 never be placed on the calendar of the saints. In 
 heavenly glory, however, we believe that he en- 
 joys the beatific vision ; for, mindful of the saints 
 who sinned and repented, and applying to him the 
 oft-quoted words of St. Augustine touching St. 
 Cyprian, " If he had faults wherewith to reproach 
 himself regarding his conduct to the Pope, he has 
 fully expiated them by his glorious martyrdom," 
 we may claim that blood and fire washed away 
 whatever stain may have tarnished a career so 
 pure and illustrious. 
 
APPENDIX I. 
 
 SAVONAROLA'S DOCTRINES, OPINIONS, AND SENTIMENTS 
 ILLUSTRATED FROM HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 
 
 Father Quetif, 0. P., divides the published works 
 of Savonarola into four classes : (a) ascetic ; (b) pro- 
 phetic ; (c) dogmatic ; (d) controversial and apologetic. 
 Of the first class there are thirty-eight different pub- 
 lications, including leaflets, tracts, pamphlets, and 
 regular volumes. Under nine other headings he num- 
 bers thirty sermons on the Sundays and Festivals; 
 forty-eight sermons on the Prophets Amos and Zach- 
 ary ; twenty-nine on the Book of Ruth ; forty-nine on 
 Ezechiel ; a volume on Exodus ; and one on the Psalms. 
 The second class includes all the sermons on special 
 texts of the Old and the New Testaments. The third 
 class contains eight volumes, and the fourth ten. 
 
 These writings, covering a great variety of subjects, 
 offer indisputable evidence of Savonarola's complete 
 and unwavering Catholic faith. An edition of his 
 works was published during the lifetime of Alexander 
 VI., but this Pontiff expressed no word of condemna- 
 tion. Under succeeding Popes, Paul III., Julius III., 
 and Paul IV., they were subjected to a rigorous ex- 
 amination, and were declared free from error. ^ Dur- 
 
 1 A few sermons — fifteen in number — and the dialogue on 
 prophetic truth were suspended for reasons of prudence, because 
 
 188 
 
APPENDIX I. 189 
 
 iiig this final examination, St. Philip Neri, who had 
 previously assisted in the publication of a memoir 
 in defence of Savonarola, was constantly engaged in 
 X-raying that God might crown his venerated patron 
 with Rome's approval. At the very hour, as we read 
 in his life, when the decision was rendered, St. Philip 
 was in the Dominican Church of the Minerva, Rome, 
 most fervently and hopefully praying, and there re- 
 ceived the divine assurance of victory. Paul III. 
 declared that he would regard as suspected of heresy 
 any man who would charge Savonarola with heresy. 
 
 " The Triumph of the Cross " became a text-book in 
 seminaries, and St. Philip Neri made it a part of his 
 spiritual direction to urge upon his penitents the read- 
 ing of Savonarola's books. ^ 
 
 We have made a few selections from various parts 
 of his writings, believing that his own words, even 
 though given without special order or connection, and 
 under limitations that involve some obscurity and even 
 some injustice to the writer, will reveal in a manner 
 the character of Savonarola. From his treatise on 
 government we give no extracts. A clear exposition 
 of the principles underlying government, a vivid pic- 
 ture of the evils of tyranny, this brief but most 
 pithy essay must be read in its entirety, to be judged 
 
 the circumstances which gave rise to them no longer existed. 
 This prohibition was not a condemnation. It was merely a pre- 
 cautionary measure. 
 
 1 Cardinal Barberini, a brother of Pope Urban the Eighth, left 
 by will five hundred ducats to meet the expenses of a new edition 
 of "The Triumph of the Cross," and of the commentaries on the 
 Fiftieth Psalm. 
 
190 APPENDIX I. 
 
 aright.^ From other works we would have been 
 pleased to draw more copiously did our purpose and 
 scope permit. 
 
 His meditation on the Fiftieth Psalm, " Have mercy 
 on me, God, according to Thy great mercy," fur- 
 nishes a passage which has been wrenched from its 
 context, and unjustly offered as a proof that he 
 taught the uselessness of good works, and that salva- 
 tion comes through faith alone : — 
 
 " Hast thou faith ? Well, know then that this is a great 
 grace from God, for faith is His gift ; it cannot he obtained 
 by our works, lest any one should glory in himself." 
 
 These words simply proclaim the Catholic doctrine 
 that faith, one of the virtues known as theological in 
 distinction from those that are moral, is absolutely 
 •the gift of God, the beginning of our supernatural re- 
 lations with Him, the foundation of our spiritual life. 
 
 1 This treatise consists of an Introduction and three parts, each 
 containing three chapters. In the first part he discourses on the 
 following heads : (a) that government is necessary in human 
 affairs — what kind of government is good, what had ; (6) although 
 government by one (a monarchy), when it is good, is of its nature 
 the best, it is not the best for every state ; (c) the citizen govern- 
 ment (a Republic) is the best for Florence. In the second part he 
 proves (a) that government by one, when it is bad, is the worst, 
 particularly when that one, from a citizen has made himself a 
 tyrant, of whose malice and wickedness he treats in (b), reserving 
 for (c) a consideration of the welfare of a state imperilled by a 
 tyrant, and of the special injury wrought by such a ruler in Flor- 
 ence. In the third part he tells (a) of the institution and manner 
 of government by citizens ; (6) what citizens should do in order to 
 perfect a republican government ; and (c) of the happiness of those 
 who rule wisely and well, and of the misery of tyrants and their 
 followers. 
 
APPENDIX I. 191 
 
 And in tMs very tliougL.t is involved the building of 
 the superstructure of good works, which must be freely 
 done by man, aided by the power of divine grace. 
 Our salvation depends on our willing it. Hence Savo- 
 narola, in other parts of his exposition of this Psalm, 
 emphasizes the need of good works, springing from a 
 good will. •• AVho is he that puts bounds to the mercy 
 of God ? Hast thou not heard the Lord say that 
 when the sinner repents and turns away from his sins 
 He will no more remember his iniquities ? Hast thou 
 fallen ? Arise, and mercy shall receive thee. Hast 
 thou been ruined ? Cry, and mercy shall come to 
 thee." Assuredly "repenting," '"turning from sin,'' 
 " arising," " crying to the Lord," are evidences of 
 man's will, and work and share in his salvation ; and 
 no honest reader of Savonarola's meditation on the 
 Miserere can arrive at any other conclusion than that 
 of his entire Catholicity of teaching. 
 
 In further testimony, however, we add an extract 
 from his treatise on humility and prayer : — 
 
 " The virtues of charity and humility are as the two extremes 
 of the spiritual edifice ; humility is the foundation, charity is 
 tlie completion, of the structure. Therefore the faithful should 
 abase themselves before God, recognizing that of ourselves we 
 can do no good, that without God's help our deeds would be 
 evil. It is not sufficient that the mind assent to this principle, 
 the soul must feel it profoimdly. The will of man being free, 
 he must, therefore, use all his endeavors to crush pride, and 
 become a vessel of grace. For this, outward actions ic'tll be 
 not only useful, but necessari/. A man of faith must humble 
 himself before his superiors and his equals. Let him humble 
 himself even before his inferiors. But if on reaching this 
 
192 APPENDIX I. 
 
 stage he considers that he has accomplished much, then out- 
 ward humility will have increased at the expense of his soul ; 
 he will lose all merit. Let him, therefore, ever be mindful 
 of his own unworthiness. 
 
 "Let a man pray every day fervently and long. But we 
 should always remember that prayer must be accompanied by 
 humility and charity or it will be of no avail. As there should 
 be fervor in prayer, and as fervor may be considered prayer, 
 so in doing deeds of charity, it may be said that we pray." 
 
 And from one of his sermons on the Psalms we 
 take a passage that marks his clear teaching of the 
 necessity of grace as the foundation of all supernatu- 
 ral merit: — 
 
 "Let all Paradise come here [he exclaims], let the angels 
 come, let the patriarchs and prophets come, let the martyrs 
 come, let the doctors and all the saints come, one by one, 
 that I may dispute with them. Come, all the elect of God, 
 that I may dispute with you. Say the truth, give glory to 
 God, confess the truth, if you have the glory, if you are happy 
 and blessed by your own merits alone, and by your own 
 strength, or by divine goodness. Come here, you especially 
 who have been immersed in sins. Tell me, O Peter, tell me, 
 O Magdalene, why are you in Paradise ? You certainly sinned 
 like us. Thou, Peter, who didst confess the Son of God, who 
 didst converse with Him, heardest Him preach, sawest His 
 miracles, nay more, who alone with two other disciples sawest 
 Him transfigured on Mount Tabor, and heardest the Father's 
 voice, and nevertheless at the word of a mere woman didst 
 deny Him three times, and yet wast restored to grace and 
 made head of the Church, and now possessest heavenly glory, 
 — whence hast thou obtained such great mercy ? Thou wilt 
 say, perhaps, because thou didst return in heart, because thou 
 didst begin to weep bitterly ? Yes, O Peter, thanks to the 
 divine goodness which looked upon thee, as the Evangelist 
 says, ' The Lord turned and looked upon Peter ; and Peter 
 
APPENDIX L 193 
 
 went out and wept bitterly.' Thou didst not weep until the 
 Lord looked upon thee ; thou didst not return in heart until 
 the Lord touched thy heart. Confess, then, Peter, it is not 
 by thy merits, but by the goodness of God, that thou hast 
 obtained such blessings." 
 
 In another discourse lie asks, "Do you wish Jesus 
 Christ to be your friend ? Answer, then, His divine 
 appeal. Your Lord asks you to give Him your heart. 
 Do something for Him then.'^ Assuredly all this is 
 Catholic doctrine. 
 
 In the "Rule for a Christian Life," his remem- 
 brance to his jailer, he wrote : — 
 
 " Holy living depends on grace ; therefore we must strive 
 to obtain grace, and having secured it, we must endeavor to 
 increase it. To examine our conscience, to meditate on the 
 vanity of earthly things, are means of grace. Confession and 
 Communion move our hearts to receive it. Certainly it is a 
 free gift of God ; but when we have contempt for the world, 
 when a strong desire turns us to spiritual things, then we may 
 feel assured that grace does work. Therefore perseverance 
 in virtuous living, in good works, in Confession, in Communion, 
 in all that draws to us grace, is the sure way to increase it." 
 
 His acknowledgment of the Primacy .of the Holy 
 See is complete : — 
 
 *' The Church is one, under one head, in the likeness and 
 as the image of the Church triumphant in Heaven under the 
 reign of Jesus Christ. ' Thou art Peter, and upon this rock 
 I will build My Church, and I will give unto thee the keys of 
 the Kingdom of Heaven, so that whatsoever thou shalt bind 
 on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever thou 
 shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.' These words 
 cannot be applied to Peter alone ; for as God has promised that 
 the Church shall continue till the end of time, they must apply 
 
194 APPENDIX I. 
 
 also to Peter's successors. Therefore it is manifest that all 
 the faithful should be united under the Pope, as the supreme 
 head of the Church of Rome, the mother of all other churches. 
 WJioever departs from the unity and the doctrines of the lioman 
 Church, unquestionably such a one departs from Christ.'''' 
 
 When he began preacliing after his long silence, 
 he made a public profession of his faith : — 
 
 *'I have always believed, and do believe, all that the Holy 
 Roman Church believes. I have written to Rome that if I 
 have preached or written anything heretical, I am content to 
 amend and recant here in public. I am always prepared to 
 obey the Holy See, and I say that he who does not obey will 
 be damned. ... I declare and confess that the Church will 
 never fail even to the Day of Judgment ; and that my meaning 
 may be clear, as there are various opinions as to what is the 
 Catholic Church, I refer myself to the decision of the Roman 
 Church established by Jesus Christ." 
 
 Enumerating the seven Sacraments (five of which 
 the Eeformers in England and Germany rejected), 
 Savonarola taught : — 
 
 "They are instruments, the means established by Jesus 
 Christ for the working out of our salvation. As these Sacra- 
 ments are the channels of grace, and as no one can be saved 
 without grace, we must receive them as instruments of the 
 divine help." 
 
 On Confession he writes clearly : — 
 
 " Legal judgment is necessary that proper punishment may 
 be inflicted for sin ; so it is necessary that the penitent who 
 submits himself to Christ to be healed must await the judg- 
 ment which Christ makes known through Ilis minister. But 
 since a correct judgment cannot be pronounced on unknown 
 
APPENDIX I. 195 
 
 sin, Confession is needed, so that the wound which had been 
 concealed is laid bare to the minister of Christ in order for a 
 proper healing." 
 
 This is from the third book of "The Triumph of 
 the Cross." In language equally plain he discourses 
 on contrition and satisfaction. From the same vol- 
 ume, the following passage sets forth Savonarola's 
 faith concerning the Holy Sacrijhce of the Mass : — 
 
 "We believe and declare that imder the appearance of 
 bread, no matter how small, is the Body of Christ, whole and 
 entire ; and that under the appearance of wine, even a drop, 
 is the Blood of Christ, whole and entire ; and we believe that 
 Jesus Christ, whole and entire, is at the same time in Heaven. 
 We say that the Body and Blood of Christ are present in the 
 Blessed Eucharist, in virtue of the words of consecration, not 
 because He comes there from some other place, but because 
 the substance of the bread and the wine is changed. By the 
 power of the words through which Transubstantiation takes 
 place, there are in the Eucharist the Body and Blood of 
 Jesus Christ under the appearances of bread and wine, be- 
 cause such is the meaning of Transubstantiation. By natural 
 concomitance the Soul and the Divinity are also present." 
 
 Of the Thirty-nine Articles embodying the " faith " 
 of the " reformed " Church of England, the twenty- 
 second brands devotion to our Lady as a thing " vainly 
 invented, founded upon no warranty of Scripture, but 
 rather repugnant to the word of God." As an illus- 
 tration of Savonarola's love for the Queen of Heaven, 
 we here give an English version of the hymn written 
 by him during the plague in Florence, and sung by 
 the people with great fervor and confidence. It is 
 an evidence of Savonarola's poetic talent as well as 
 
196 APPENDIX I. 
 
 a proof of Ms tender devotion to our Lady, a point 
 on which, despite his numerous and loving references 
 throughout his sermons and his commentaries on the 
 Hail Mary, he has been cruelly misrepresented. It 
 is entitled: — 
 
 MARY, THE STAR OF THE SEA. 
 
 O Star of Galilee, 
 Shining o'er this earth's dark sea, 
 Shed thy glorious light on me, 
 Maria Stella Maris. 
 
 Queen of Clemency and Love, 
 Be my Advocate above, 
 And, through Christ, all sin remove, 
 Maria Stella Maris. 
 
 "When the Angel called thee blest. 
 And with transports filled thy breast, 
 'Twas thy Lord became thy Guest, 
 Maria Stella Maris. 
 
 Earth's purest creature thou. 
 In the heavens exulting now, 
 With a halo round thy brow, 
 Maria Stella Maris. 
 
 Beauty beams in every trace 
 Of the Virgin Mother's face, 
 Full of glory and of grace — 
 Maria Stella Maris. 
 
 A Beacon to the just. 
 
 To the sinner Hope and Trust, 
 
 Joy of the angel host, 
 
 Maria Stella Maris. 
 
 Ever glorified, thy throne 
 Is where thy Blessed Son 
 Doth reign: through Him alone, 
 Maria Stella Maris. 
 
APPENDIX I. 197 
 
 All pestilence shall cease, 
 And sin and strife decrease, 
 And the kingdom come of peace, 
 Maria Stella Maris. 
 
 He warns the faithful against unwarranted reading 
 of the Bible, in which counsel he shows his Catholicity 
 as opposed to the radical error of Protestantism : — 
 
 "He who undertakes to read the Holy Scriptures without 
 being enlightened by a supernatural light, ^ embarrasses and 
 deceives himself. He who thus reads will not understand, 
 he will spend his time in vain. Natural sciences can be ac- 
 quired through the natural light which reason gives to us ; but 
 the divine science cannot be learned without a special ray of 
 light from God. Hence it happens that many of those who 
 read the Holy Scriptures do not comprehend their beauty, 
 nor do they understand. They fulfil the word of Isaias: 
 ' The visions of the Prophets shall be unto you as the words of 
 a book closed and sealed, for the blind cannot see colors.' " 
 
 Then he proceeds to show the necessity of pnrity 
 of heart that the divine light may be of profit : — 
 
 " Let him, therefore, who would profit by reading the Holy 
 Scriptures, purge himself of sin; let him free himself from 
 worldly cares ; let him begin with prayer and in humility ; let 
 him withdraw, in the spirit of faith, to the solitude of his 
 chamber. Thus prepared, and fortified by his good icorks, he 
 will deserve a share in heavenly light whereby he may read 
 unto profit." 
 
 In his commentary on the '^ Our Pather," he 
 
 writes : — 
 
 " As it is absolutely necessary that grace and our free will 
 should concur, in order that we may obtain the remission of 
 our sins, it is needful, O my soul, if we would deserve God's 
 
 1 The guidance and assurance in interpretation of the Church. 
 
198 APPENDIX I. 
 
 grace, that we do all in our power, lest in asking pardon for 
 our faults, and persevering in evil, we come to be of the num- 
 ber of those who wilfully tempt God." 
 
 Had Luther honestly read this passage he would 
 nob have quoted Savonarola in defence of his theory 
 of justification without good works. The words of 
 the Dominican are an anticipated protest against 
 Luther's blasphemy : ^' Sin strongly, but have still 
 stronger faith." 
 
 How touching is his letter to his father, written 
 when he left his home to become a Dominican : — 
 
 " The motive which decides me to enter Religion is simply 
 this: the wretchedness and misery of the world ; the wicked- 
 ness of men, their thefts, impurities, and robberies ; the pride, 
 idolatry, and blasphemies which so defile our times that we 
 find few who try to lead a good life. Hence these lines often 
 come to my mind, and bring tears to my eyes : — 
 
 'Fly from this heartless land, 
 Fly from this covetous shore.' ^ 
 
 Indeed, I can no longer endure the appalling wickedness that 
 exists in parts of Italy. Everywhere piety is despised and 
 vice is honored. What keener sorrow can this life ever 
 bring me ? Day after day, therefore, I have implored our 
 Lord Jesus Christ to save me from the abyss ; while my heart 
 unceasingly cries out, ' Show me, O God, the way in which I 
 should walk, for unto Thee have I lifted up my soul.' In His 
 infinite pity God has deigned to show me the way, and I have 
 entered upon it, although it is a grace of which I am entirely 
 unworthy." 
 
 How like \ Kempis is the letter to some Dominican 
 Sisters who had importuned him for instructions : — 
 
 1 Virgil. 
 
APPENDIX I. 199 
 
 *' Continual writing is useless, if those who read take no 
 profit by it. Repetition may be useful in sermons, as the 
 spoken word passes and flies, and does not remain impressed 
 on the heart. But written words should be read again and 
 again. The Gospel was not written on paper, nor on stone; 
 it was imprinted on the hearts of the Apostles, and so it 
 wrought miracles. 
 
 "You seek new exhortations, new epistles; but reading 
 much, without profit, you learn nothing. It was more profit- 
 able to St. Antony that he learned the words, ' Go, sell all 
 that thou dost possess, and give to the poor, and follow Me,' 
 than it advantages many theologians to turn over the whole 
 matter of theology. Wherefore, dear Sisters, as there are 
 already enough works in the vernacular for the salvation of 
 the world, we must not needlessly swell the number of tracts 
 and epistles. Rather should we diligently read and meditate 
 on those already composed, endeavoring to put their precepts 
 and counsels into practice." 
 
 This lesson to his disciples is one that every true 
 Christian should follow : — 
 
 " Above all things love God with all your heart. Seek His 
 glory more than the salvation of your own souls. Strive ear- 
 nestly to purify your hearts by frequent Confession and devout 
 Communion that your affections may be raised above earthly 
 things. Never regard yourselves as better than others, even 
 the most sinful. Think ill of no one, well of every one. 
 Often observe silence ; be as much alone as your duties per- 
 mit. Shun all murmuring, detraction, idle words ; let deceit- 
 ful words and slander be far from your ears, and farther from 
 your tongues. Pray often ; meditate (that is, think of God) 
 every hour. Show no haughtiness in word or action. Be not 
 over familiar with those under you ; manifest rather a cour- 
 teous gravity. Being always fearful of sin, and remembering 
 the presence of God, ever ask the grace of perseverance. Re- 
 new; your good resolutions every day, and thus confirming 
 yourselves, with God's grace, in virtue, despair not for any sin." 
 
200 APPENDIX I. 
 
 He concludes by asking prayers that his own life 
 may be conformable to his preaching. 
 
 The following is a beautiful as well as practical 
 thought : — 
 
 " O women, who glory in your dress, your hair, your hands, 
 I tell you you are not beautiful ; you are ugly. If you would 
 behold not hideousness, but true beauty, look at some devout 
 person that is guided by the Holy Ghost. Observe such a one 
 in prayer, and with the Divine radiance after prayer! You 
 will see the beauty of God reflected on her countenance made 
 like to that of an angel." 
 
 He disregards sufferings, and looks forward to a 
 violent death : — 
 
 " Let the Lord's will be done, for the greater our sufferings 
 on earth, the greater will be our crown of glory in Heaven. 
 Let us, therefore, leave all to the Lord. He is the Master 
 that useth the tool to His own ends, and when He no longer 
 needs it. He casts it aside, even as he permitted Jeremiah 
 to be stoned to death. Even so will it be with us when we 
 have served His end." 
 
 After returning from his interview with King 
 Charles, he spoke to the people thus : — 
 
 " This is a time in which words must give way to deeds, 
 and vain ceremonies to true sentiments. The Lord hath 
 said : * I was hungry, and you gave me no meat 5 I was naked, 
 and you clothed me not.' He never said: 'You built not a 
 beautiful church, or a fine convent.' He speaks only of works 
 of charity. We must begin our work of renovation, then, with 
 charity. 
 
 Of the goodness of God, he says : — 
 
 " Good is of its own nature diffusive, and therefore I, Who 
 am the Supreme Good, diffuse Myself in creation, and I have 
 
APPENDIX I. 201 
 
 given being to all creatures, so that every good which is in 
 them is a participation of My goodness. For this I came 
 down among men, was made man, and died upon the cross. 
 This, then, will be the sign by which it will be known who is 
 good. "When any one diffuses his goodness among others, 
 and makes them partakers of that good which he has in him- 
 self, then he is truly good, and participates in My goodness. 
 Christian life," he goes on, "does not consist in ceremonies, 
 but in being good, and he who is good cannot refrain from 
 showing his goodness. And in this consists the Christian 
 religion, which is founded in love and charity." 
 
 His reference to ceremonies must be taken in the 
 sense in whicli God Himself condemned of old the 
 ceremonies instituted by Himself when they were no 
 longer animated by faith and love. 
 
 "Faith [he said] is omnipotent, and despises the life of 
 earth, because it is assured of the life of Heaven. The times 
 predicted are drawing near, — the hour of danger, when it 
 will be seen who is truly on the Lord's side. The wicked 
 thought to hinder me from preaching to-day ; but they must 
 know that I have never shrunk from my duty through fear of 
 men. No man on earth, be he great or small, can boast of 
 having hindered me in my office. O Lord, deliver me from 
 these adversaries, w^ho call me a seducer ; deliver my soul, for 
 I have no fear for my body. I call as witnesses the Lord, the 
 Blessed Virgin, the angels, and the saints, that the things re- 
 vealed by me come from God, and that I have received them 
 by divine inspiration in the vigils which I have passed for the 
 good of this people who now plot against me." 
 
 He describes the rewards of heaven, and the trials 
 of earth : — 
 
 "But what, O Lord, shall be the reward granted in the 
 other life to him who is victorious in battle ? A thing which 
 the eye cannot see, which the ear cannot hear, — eternal 
 
202 APPENDIX I. 
 
 blessedness. And what the reward granted in this life ? 
 ' The servant shall not be greater than his master,' answers 
 the Lord. ' Thou knowest that after preaching I was cruci- 
 fied ; so martyrdom will befall thee also. O Lord, Lord, grant 
 me, I pray Thee, this martyrdom, and make me ready to die 
 for Thee as Thou hast died for me. Already the knife is 
 sharpened for me. But the Lord tells me, ' Wait yet a little 
 while, so that the things may come which have to follow ; 
 and then thou wilt use that strength of mind which shall be 
 given thee.' " 
 
 He warns the righteous of evils soon to come : — 
 
 "It is the will of God that I should be the first to endure 
 them. I have already told you that I shall meet with great 
 ingratitude, and the lukewarm will treat me as did the broth- 
 ers of Joseph, who sold him to the Egyptian merchants. These 
 say that I am no prophet ; but they are only bringing about 
 the fulfilment of my predictions. I repeat to you that Italy 
 will be devastated by barbarous nations ; and when they shall 
 promise peace and safety, then sudden and repeated destruc- 
 tion shall come upon this perverse Italy. 
 
 "But you who are righteous make your prayers unto the 
 Lord, and you shall have help. And as for the wicked. Lord, 
 be not angry with them ; convert them, forgive them, for they 
 know not what they do. You believe, O sinful men, that you 
 are fighting against the friar, but you only make war on the 
 Lord ; because I do not fight against you from hatred of you, 
 but from love of God." 
 
 In a sermon against usury and immoderate gains, 
 he says : — 
 
 " Therefore, owing to avarice, neither you nor your chil- 
 dren lead a good life. You have already discovered many de- 
 vices for gaining money, and many modes of exchange which 
 you call just, but are most unjust; and you have likewise cor- 
 rupted the magistrates in their functions. None can persuade 
 
APPENDIX I. 203 
 
 you tliat it is sinful to lend at usury, or to make unjust bar- 
 gains. On the contrary, you defend yourselves to your soul's 
 damnation ; nor does any man take shame to himself for lend- 
 ing at usury, but rather considers those to be fools that refrain, 
 from it. And thus you fulfil the saying of Isaiah : 'They de- 
 clare their sin as Sodom; they hide it not,' and that of Jere- 
 miah, 'Thou hadst a strumpet's forehead ; thou refusest to 
 be ashamed.' Thou sayest that the good and happy life con- 
 sists ill gain ; and Christ says, ' Blessed are the poor in spirit, 
 for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.' Thou sayest that the 
 happy life consists in pleasure and voluptuousness ; an I Christ 
 says, ' Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted,' 
 Thou sayest that the happy life consists in glory ; and Christ 
 says, ' Blessed are you when men shall revile you and perse- 
 cute you.' The way of life hath been shown to you, yet none 
 follow it, none seek it, none learn it. Therefore Christ la- 
 ments over you. Having endured much to show you the way 
 of life, that all might be saved. He is justly incensed against 
 you, and has declared by the mouth of the prophet, 'I am 
 weary with calling, my tongue cleaves to the roof of my mouth ; 
 for all day do I cry with the voice of the preachers, and no 
 one hearkens unto me.' " 
 
 The following passage shows the tenderness of the 
 Frate's heart : — 
 
 "Behold what love can effect. Take the example of a 
 mother with her child. Who has taught this young woman, 
 who has had no children before, to nurse her babe ? Love. 
 See what fatigue she endures by day and by night to rear it, 
 and how the heaviest fatigue seems light to her. What is the 
 cause of this ? It is love. See what ways she has, what 
 loving caresses and sweet words, for this little babe of hers ! 
 What has taught her these things ? Love. . . . Take the exam- 
 ple of Christ who, moved by the deepest charity, came to us as 
 a little child, in all things like unto the sons of men, and sub- 
 mitting to hunger and thirst, to heat and cold and discomfort. 
 What has urged Him to do this ? Love. He spoke now with 
 
204 APPENDIX I. 
 
 just men, again with publicans and sinners. He led a life that 
 all men and all women, small and great, rich and poor, may 
 imitate after their own way, and according to their condi- 
 tion, and thus undoubtedly win their salvation. And what 
 made Him lead so poor and marvellous a life ? Undoubtedly 
 charity. . . . Charity bound Him to the pillar, charity led Him 
 to the cross, charity raised Him from the dead, and made Him 
 ascend into Heaven, and thus accomplish all the mysteries of 
 our redemption. This is the true and only doctrine, but in 
 these days the preachers teach nothing but empty subtleties." 
 
 He deplores the folly of superfluous reading, and 
 the evil works of worldly and sinful priests : — 
 
 '* For if thou lackest the spirit of grace, what will it avail 
 thee to carry about the whole book ? And, again, still greater 
 is the foolishness of those that load themselves with letters 
 and tracts and writings, so that they are like unto stalls at a 
 fair. Charity does not consist in written papers ! The true 
 books of Christ are the Apostles and the Saints ; the true read- 
 ing of them is to imitate their lives. But in these days men 
 are made books of the devil. They speak against pride and 
 ambition, yet are plunged in both up to the eyes ; they preach 
 chastity, and maintain concubines ; they prescribe fasting, 
 and feast sumptuously themselves." 
 
 " They call me [he says, referring to the installation of a 
 new Signory] the son of perdition. Let this be sent back 
 for answer: ' The man whom you thus designate has neither 
 harlots nor concubines, but gives himself up to preaching the 
 faith of Christ. His spiritual children, those w^ho listen to his 
 doctrine, do not pass their time in the commission of crimes; 
 they go to Confession, to Communion; they live virtuously. 
 This friar labors to exalt the Church of Christ, and you try to 
 destroy it." 
 
 Replying to Ludovico the Moor, who had accused 
 him of teaching disobedience to the Pope, he pro- 
 tests : — 
 
APPEXBIX I. 205 
 
 "It is not true that I have ever declared absolutely that 
 the Pope ought not to be obeyed, because this would be very 
 reprehensible, and contrary to those sacred canons according 
 to "which I have always governed myself. And so, too, it is a 
 false accusation to say that I have spoken against your lord- 
 ship. I am affectionate to all, and have no right to speak 
 against any one in particular, but if your lordship be turned 
 to God in that mind which you declare to be yours, then you 
 have only to persevere; and in this matter you can have no 
 better judge than your own conscience." 
 
 In his defence of liis attitude towards the Pope, 
 he said : — 
 
 " Who does not know that the Brief was issued to support 
 my enemies and those of the Republic who disseminated false- 
 hoods and calumnies against me ? Who does not know that 
 my departure would not only be most dangerous to my own 
 life, but also injurious to this people, and ruinous to its liberty; 
 that good customs would be abandoned, and religion come to 
 the ground? It is this indeed that my enemies desire. I 
 therefore believe that the Holy Father has been deceived by 
 the false accusations of my detractors ; and I obey rather that 
 which I believe to have been his intention, and will not sup- 
 pose that he desires the ruin of a whole people." 
 
 We give Savonarola's words. Our comment has al- 
 ready been made : " Let justice be done though the 
 heavens fall ; " and so say we of obedience to proper 
 authority. 
 
 The letter of Savonarola to Alexander YI., in which 
 he gives the reasons why he thought the Pope's or- 
 der not binding, we print in full : ^ — 
 
 ^^ Host Holy Father [he writes], I prostrate myself at the 
 feet of your Holiness. Why is my Lord angry with his ser- 
 
 1 See Part I., xvii. 
 
206 APPENDIX I. 
 
 vant, or where is the wrong that I have done ? If the sons 
 of iniquity have spoken falsely of me, why does my Lord not 
 inquire of his servant and hear his account before believing 
 them ? For it is not easy to persuade a mind which is already 
 prejudiced. 
 
 Many dogs have cornpassed me, the assembly of the wicked 
 have enclosed me, and they say : ' Behold ! his God cannot 
 help him or save him.' For your Holiness holds the place of 
 God on earth, and they accuse me of treason towards you, 
 saying that I do not cease to blame you and find fault with 
 you, and so in many ways they twist and cruelly pervert the 
 meaning of my w^ords. 
 
 The same thing was done two years ago, but thousands 
 who heard me can witness to my innocence, as well as my 
 own words, faithfully taken down at the time and printed and 
 scattered abroad. Let these be brought forward, and read and 
 examined, that it may be seen if in them there is anything 
 offensive to your Holiness, as these liars so often assert. 
 
 Is it likely that I would say one thing and write another, 
 and so lay myself open to the charge of flagrant contradiction ? 
 What could be the object or the intention of such a line of con- 
 duct ? I only wonder that your Holiness does not see their 
 wicked madness. As for this great and renowned preacher, 
 he must have little shame or honesty to accuse an innocent 
 man of the very crime of which he is guilty. 
 
 His words cannot be hidden away. There are numerous 
 witnesses who have heard him openly attacking your Holiness, 
 and lest I should be accused of falsehood, I could, if necessary, 
 bring forward legal proof. But I have not forgotten that his 
 insolence has already been silenced and condemned, since it 
 is sinful to calumniate any one, no matter how lowly he may 
 be, much more one who is the Ruler and Pastor of ail. Who 
 so senseless as to be ignorant of this ? 
 
 For, thanks be to God, I am not so utterly abandoned, so 
 utterly forgetful of my duty, as, without any reason or excuse, 
 to dare to attack and insult the Vicar of Christ, to whom, above 
 every one else on earth, reverence is due. As for the rest, I 
 
APPENDIX I. 207 
 
 have never uttered a word contrary to the Holy Catholic Faith, 
 or contrary to the teaching of the Eoman Church, to whose 
 judgment and authority I have ever submitted myself, and 
 ever shall, whenever I am called upon. 
 
 And this is what I have always taught, and shall teach with 
 all my strength, at the same time doing my best to rouse men 
 to sorrow for sin and amendment of life by awakening their 
 faitli in our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 The work which I shall shortly bring out on the Triumph 
 of the Cross is a witness to my faith, and from it can be seen 
 if I have ever taught heresy or in any way opposed the Catholic 
 Faith. 
 
 Will your Holiness, therefore, turn a deaf ear to these envi- 
 ous and lying tongues, and only believe what has been exam- 
 ined and proved, since many of their falsehoods have already 
 been openly detected. But if all human help fail me, and the 
 wickedness of these impious men gain the day, I will still hope 
 in God and in His help, and make their wickedness so public 
 to the whole world that perhaps at the very last they will 
 repent of their evil designs. 
 
 I most humbly commend myself to your Holiness. 
 
 Fkom: the Coxvext of St. Mark, 
 Florence, May 22, 1497." 
 
 The character of the sermons he delivered with a 
 view to the reformation of art and artists may be 
 judged from one quotation : — 
 
 " In what does beauty consist ? In color ? Xo. In form ? 
 Ko. Beauty, so far as composite things are concerned, springs 
 from the harmony of parts and colors ; in simple things, beauty 
 is their light. Behold the sun and the stars ! Their beaiity is 
 in the light they shed. Behold the blessed angels and heavenly 
 spirits ! Their beauty is in light. The Divine Beauty, God 
 Himself, is eternal Light. Thus the beauty of man or woman 
 is greater, more perfect, as it approaclies the primary beauty. 
 What, then, is this beauty ? It is a quality resulting from the 
 
208 APPENDIX I. 
 
 harmony ana proportion of parts and members of the body. A 
 woman is not beautiful because she has a beautiful nose or 
 beautiful hands, but when all the parts are in correspondence 
 and agreement. The source of this beauty is the soul." 
 
 Then he proceeds to show the power of virtue and 
 the effects of vice. He lashed the painters of his day 
 who defiled the house of God by representing the 
 Blessed Virgin and the saints after the likenesses of 
 women too well known in the city of Florence, " a 
 great profanation of Divine things with which they 
 filled the churches.'' 
 
 We subjoin a few scattered thoughts from his 
 spiritual letters : — 
 
 " The lukewarm Christian does not have many tribulations 
 in this life, for Satan does not persecute his own." 
 
 " The fervent follower of Christ must encounter great op- 
 position, because he is the adversary of the devil." 
 
 " There are three arms, against which Hell's power cannot 
 prevail, which the world cannot overcome, which secure the 
 success of every good work, — strong faith, constant prayer, 
 and humble patience." 
 
 "All cowardice of spirit comes from want of faith, from 
 igorance of the goodness of God." 
 
 " The goodness of God is so great that we can surely ob- 
 tain from Him all we desire for His honor and for our soul's 
 salvation." 
 
 Mindful of his experience of men, and as a proof 
 of his devoutly Christian spirit, we close with a quo- 
 tation from a letter addressed by him to the Brethren 
 of St. Mark's : — 
 
 *' Beware of ingratitude, for it is as a scorching wind that 
 dries up the fount of mercy. I beseech you tbat you be mind- 
 
 ^ 
 
APPENDIX I, 209 
 
 ful of the benefits which you have received from God ; espe- 
 cially remember that He has enlightened you, and opened the 
 eyes of your soul, enabling you by the grace of Christ and 
 the renewal of the Holy Spirit to come to perfection. Thus 
 enriched by God, above others, it behooves you, above others, 
 to manifest your gratitude and praise." 
 
 LIST OF SAYONAKOLA'S CHIEF WORKS. 
 
 The Triumph of the Cross. 4 Books. 
 
 On the Simplicity of Christian Life. 5 Books. 
 
 On Jewish Astrology. 3 Books. 
 
 Explanation of the Our Father and Hail Mary. 
 
 Treatise on Humility. 
 
 Treatise on the Love of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Treatise on Widoivhood. 
 
 The Lament of the Spouse of Christ. 
 
 The Soul and the Spirit. 7 Dialogues. 
 
 Reason and Sense. 3 Dialogues. 
 
 Prayer. 2 books. 
 
 Rules of Prayer and Devout Life. 
 
 Explanatio7i of the Commandments. 
 
 The SacHjice of the Mass and its Mysteries. 
 
 Frequent Communion. 
 
 The Sign of the Cross, Advantages and Meaning. 
 
 Union loith God. A Discourse. 
 
 Letter on taking the Habit of Religion. 
 
 On the Perfection of the Religious State. 
 
 Letters to the Brethren of the Order of St. Dominic. 
 
 Spiritual Reading, For Sisters of the Third Order. 
 
 Perfection of Spiritual Life. 
 
 The Seven Rules of a Religious. 
 
 Meditations on the Psalm, Diligam te, Domine, 
 
 Meditations on Various Psalms. 
 
 The Mystery of the Cross. 
 
 Manual of Confessors. 
 
 Sermons for Sundays and Festivals. 
 
 Sermons for Lent ; Homilies. 
 
 Treatise on Government. 
 
APPENDIX II. 
 
 SAVONAROLA AND CHRISTIAN ART IN FLORENCE. 
 
 To one having the slightest knowledge of the his- 
 tory of Florence during the fifteenth century, it must 
 be apparent that the reform initiated by Savonarola 
 would have been incomplete, insignificant, and indeed 
 wholly vain, if the ardent preacher, having combated 
 the pagan education and morals of the time, had spared 
 the paganized art. Florence was another Athens, in 
 which the cult of beauty had assumed a character 
 wholly naturalistic and sensual. True Greeks, by rea- 
 son of their inconstancy, their levity, their insatiable 
 appetite for novelties ; captivated by theories as fan- 
 ciful as dreams ; fond of luxury and of pleasure, — 
 the Florentines were foremost in reviving the antique, 
 and in elaborating an art which, almost wholly ex- 
 cluding the Christian ideal, sought perfection in form 
 alone. Their city, it is true, was speedily filled with 
 magnificent monuments. Even the glory of Eome it- 
 self was eclipsed by that of the ^' City of Flowers." 
 From Germany and beyond, men first sought Florence 
 before visiting the venerable capital of the Eoman 
 world. 
 
 It was the Medici, and especially Lorenzo the Mag- 
 nificent, who, above all, directed and encouraged a 
 
 210 
 
APPENDIX 11. 211 
 
 movement that resulted in a decadence of art, quite as 
 much as in a renascence : a decadence from the point 
 of view of religion ; a renascence from the materialis- 
 tic and technical point of view. During the epoch 
 with which we are concerned, between 1450 and 1491, 
 after the passionate study of the antique marbles ; 
 after the discoveries of Uccello ; after the wholly pro- 
 fane audacities of Pollajuolo, of Signorelli, and even 
 of Botticelli, to mention no others ; after the scanda- 
 lous adventures of Era Filippo Lippi, the license of the 
 painters w^as restrained by no bounds ; and the facts 
 noted by contemporary writers show the absolute, the 
 urgent need of the reform inaugurated by the cele- 
 brated prior of St. Mark's, a reform based on an 
 ideal more austere and more elevated. The Madonnas 
 were customarily draped after the fashion of courte- 
 sans. Vasari relates that a certain father of a family, 
 indignant at the liberties taken by a painter with the 
 very person of the Mother of God, asked him for a 
 Virgin whose religious expression should at least ex- 
 clude from the mind every impure thought. The 
 painter, Nunziata by name, fulfilled this commission 
 by handing his -patron a Madonna wearing a long 
 beard.^ In Florence there was more than one artist 
 of renown who boasted of never having had the Faith. 
 The philosophy of Plato was the vogue, along with 
 elegant verses, erotic stories, and indecent pictures. 
 One would hardly believe, were it not affirmed by more 
 than one writer, that mythological subjects were ex- 
 posed in the very churches, and that the paganism 
 
 1 Rio : L'art Chretien, tome 2^; Savonarole. 
 
212 APPENDIX 11. 
 
 which had corrupted society affected diseased imagi- 
 nations and debased hearts at the foot of the altar 
 itself. I mentioned Era Filippo Lippi. Who does 
 not know that many of his Madonnas are sacrilegious 
 portraits, and that, at the age of fifty, he was not 
 ashamed to carry away from her convent a young 
 novice, whose features he reproduced, time and again, 
 in religious pictures ? A crowd of young people, at- 
 tracted by this novelty, gathered curiously about the 
 compositions of the debauched Carmelite ; and it is 
 easy to imagine the impression produced on a society 
 thus depraved by examples emanating from the sanc- 
 tuary, and therefore not less alluring than dangerous. 
 Some, indeed, of the disciples of Era Angelico, ar- 
 tists endowed with nobler, purer souls, endeavored to 
 stem the torrent. A Benozzo Gozzoli, a Lorenzo di 
 Credi, a Sandro Botticelli, still did honor to Christian 
 art. Perugino held the sceptre of religious painting ; 
 a sceptre that would soon break in the feeble hands 
 of this master of the Umbrian school. When Peru- 
 gino's star declined, it was beneath clouds so dark 
 that they obscured not alone his great fame, but even 
 the memory of himself. Botticelli sought to combine 
 mythology with Christianity, fiction with faith, nu- 
 dities intended to be chaste with devotional compo- 
 sitions intended to excite piety. The task was as 
 difficult, as repulsive, then, as it would be to-day. 
 Against the prevailing tendencies, what could the few 
 heirs of the genius of the primitives effect ? However 
 sure their talents, neither means nor influence could 
 they command. 
 
APPENDIX 11. 213 
 
 What they could not do, artists as they were, a man 
 who was neither sculptor nor painter nor architect, 
 but who inspired architects, painters, and sculptors, 
 did effect. This man was gifted with a soul all 
 aflame ; with an oratorical talent seldom, if ever, sur- 
 passed ; with a profound faith and a transcendent 
 genius ; and through these gifts and acquirements, 
 swaying men, he was enabled to perform prodigies. 
 Savonarola it is who did for art in Florence what no 
 other man could do. Studying the celebrated friar 
 of St. Mark's, what astonishes us is not his possession 
 of certain special gifts, which have indeed been con- 
 ferred by God on other men in an equal degree ; but 
 rather the universality of his gifts, and the variety 
 and breadth of the influence he exercised over his 
 contemporaries. That he should have been a theolo- 
 gian, a philosopher, an orator, and a writer, may not 
 surprise us ; but when we see him engaged with the 
 smallest details of pedagogy, dictating political con- 
 stitutions, discussing in the ateliers with painters or 
 sculptors questions wholly artistic ; when Ave note that 
 no single subject about which the human mind can be 
 exercised, escaped his clear-sighted vision ; and that, 
 through the power of the word, he was a master in all 
 these matters, and that he made his power felt, then 
 indeed we are amazed ; and we cannot help regarding 
 Savonarola as one of the most extraordinary men of 
 whom there is a record in the annals of history. " Sa- 
 vonarola," says an historian, " might have chosen any 
 career other than that of the cloister ; he would have 
 handled the chisel as well as the pen, the brush as 
 
214 APPENDIX IL 
 
 well the word ; had lie wished, he could have been a 
 greater philosopher than Ficino, a more skilful rheto- 
 rician than Politian, a poet more admirable than San- 
 nazaro. Reading his sermons, it is evident that he 
 was familiar with all the literary sources known in his 
 day ; that he drew inspiration from the Bible, and from 
 Homer, Plato, and Aristotle; that he was acquainted 
 with the doctrine of the so-called Alexandrian school ; 
 that he had studied astronomy, physics, mechanics, 
 the natural sciences ; and that he had especially med- 
 itated on the laws of Greece and of ancient Italy." ^ 
 
 What a commotion there was in Florence — shall 
 we not say, what a pious revolution — when unworthy 
 magistrates, merciless usurers, lying doctors, insti- 
 gators of debauchery, and indecent artists were, one 
 and all, reprobated by the sovereign orator whose elo- 
 quence flashed like the lightning, and pealed like the 
 thunder ! Lascivious songs were replaced by chaste 
 canticles, taken out of the old melodic treasures of 
 the church; instead of scenes of violence there were 
 processions of children ; and all the arts paid homage 
 to God, the source of every beauty. 
 
 It should, of course, be remembered that Savona- 
 rola belonged to a religious order in which the fine 
 arts had been always cultivated. Hardly had the 
 Friars Preachers been founded when two architects of 
 genius were enrolled among the members, Fra Sisto 
 and Fra Ristoro, both of whom passed almost their 
 whole lives at Florence.^ They completed the palace 
 
 1 Audin., Hist, de Leon X, vol. i., chap. viii. 
 
 2 Approximately the dates are 1225-1285. 
 
APPENDIX 11. 215 
 
 of the Podesta, reconstructed the Carraja bridge, and, 
 as a monument witnessing to the peace established 
 between Guelf s and Ghibellines, erected the beautiful 
 church of Santa Maria Novella, which Michael An- 
 gelo charmingly called " his bride,'^ and which E.icha 
 and Fineschi declare to be, in its style, the most se- 
 vere, and at the same time the most pleasing, design 
 in all Italy. To these two friars, and not unreason- 
 ably, the design of the church of the Minerva, in 
 E-ome, is also attributed ; there they worked several 
 years, assisting in the construction of the Vatican 
 palace. 
 
 Among the pioneers of the order, we find a sculp- 
 tor too, Fra Guglielmo da Pisa, who devoted a splen- 
 did talent to ornamenting the tomb of St. Dominic, at 
 Bologna. In Florence, Giovanni da Campi and Jacopo 
 Talenti were not the only gifted friars who continued 
 the artistic traditions of the order, or who transmitted 
 them to well-trained pupils. The first Dominican 
 miniaturists, and among these the illustrious cardinal. 
 Blessed John Dominici, we trace to Santa Maria No- 
 vella and to St. Mark's. Next comes Era Angelico, 
 who, like his brother Benedetto, was a miniaturist 
 before being a painter. God has indeed blessed the 
 Dominicans, giving to the order the prince of Chris- 
 tian painting as well as the prince of Theology. And 
 what is beauty but the splendor of truth ! 
 
 Florence, more than any other city in the world, is 
 rich in the treasures left her by the Blessed Angelico. 
 His vsublime compositions on the walls of the Convent 
 of St. Mark showed forth to Savonarola the realiza- 
 
216 APPENDIX 11. 
 
 tion of the ideal as conceived by both these great men. 
 Surely it was not without a providential design that 
 the reformer dwelt in the cloisters sanctified, as well 
 as decorated, by the artist ; and that the orator, by 
 the power of his word, gave new life to the peaceful 
 apostolate initiated by the brush of Angelico. And 
 yet it may be that the apostolate of the painter, by 
 its very nature, was more enduring than that of the 
 preacher ; for the voice of the orator dies away ; we 
 tire of reading his phrases, but we never tire of look- 
 ing at pictures. As the Blessed Lorenzo de K-ipafracta 
 so well said to Era Angelico and Pra Benedetto when 
 the two youths were being trained in the virtues most 
 becoming their state of life, in the novitiate at Cor- 
 tona : " You have an advantage of which orators are 
 deprived. The word cannot reach those who are far 
 off, nor does the most eloquent tongue deliver oracles 
 from the tomb ; but the influence of your heavenly 
 compositions will be immortal. During the ages they 
 will persist as authentic witnesses, as efficacious 
 preachers, of religion and of virtue." ^ 
 
 Shall we make no mention of Blessed James of 
 Ulm, and of his school of painting on glass ? Or 
 of the renowned Fra Bartolommeo della Porta, a spir- 
 itual son of Savonarola, and one of those most faith- 
 ful to his memory ? Besides these, I might name 
 Fra Damiano da Bergamo, than whom none has been 
 more cunning in marquetry ; Fra Marcillat, distin- 
 guished as an architect and as a painter in oils, and 
 unrivalled as a painter on glass ; Fra Domenico Por- 
 1 Vie du B. Laurent. Ann€e Dominicaine. Fev. 18. 
 
^ 1^= 
 
APPENDIX IL 217 
 
 tigiano, tlie master founder — but pages would not 
 suffice, were I to complete tlie list. In his great work 
 on the Dominican artists, Father Marchese notes more 
 than forty-five painters of renown, fifty-five architects, 
 twenty-two painters on glass, twenty-eight miniatur- 
 ists, six sculptors, five artists in marquetry, not to 
 speak of all those, who, in Italy, France, Holland, and 
 elsewhere, have studied and solved the most intricate 
 problems in mechanics. Though I have confined 
 myself to the arts of design, I may justly record the 
 name of Jerome of Moravia, who, more learnedly than 
 any one else, has written of the ecclesiastical music 
 of the Middle Ages.^ Were it my purpose to do jus- 
 tice, not alone to our masters of long ago, but also to 
 those nearer to us in time, and whose lives form a 
 part of our own, I could not forget Father Besson, 
 and the paintings in Santa Sabina, or Father Danzas, 
 and the splendid windows of the church of the Domin- 
 icans at Lyons. 
 
 The aesthetic theories of Savonarola may have 
 appeared extravagant to some, and it is indisputable 
 that, considered in themselves, and without a due 
 regard to the circumstances and to the moral depra- 
 vation of Florentine society, they may not easily be 
 defended against a charge of exaggeration. He for- 
 bade absolutely the study of the nude, or of nature 
 by means of the living model. The antique statues 
 
 1 See, in the Revue Thomiste for August, 1893, a remarkable 
 article, in which Father J. Berthier, O.P., prints an eloquent 
 list of the Dominicans who have been leaders and initiators in 
 the various branches of human learning. 
 
218 APPENDIX IL 
 
 found no favor in Ms sight. More than one master- 
 piece of sculpture, it is said, was forever lost in the 
 so-called " destruction of anathemas/' ^ when cards, 
 dice, and other instruments of gambling were burned, 
 along with harps, guitars, violins ; with musical scores 
 of indelicate songs, volumes of improper verse, per- 
 fumes, powders, essences, immodest portraits, lascivi- 
 ous paintings, and costly carvings, willingly sacrificed 
 by owners anxious for the salvation of their souls. 
 What was possible at a time when Faith still held 
 sway would certainly be impracticable to-day ; but 
 why judge mercilessly acts that should be measured 
 according to time and place. The public exposure of 
 nudities has always been, and ever will be, dangerous. 
 For a great number, and especially for the young, the 
 study of the nude has proved a snare, in which too 
 many have been caught at the expense of virtue. 
 Savonarola knew whereof he spoke, we may well be- 
 lieve, when from the pulpit he declared that if the 
 artists were conscious, as he was, of the ruin done to 
 simple souls by indecent pictures, they would detest 
 their own works. Eecalling the fact that among the 
 people certain statues, were designated by the familiar 
 names of the more notorious Florentine beauties, one 
 will readily excuse the severity of the friar in his ef- 
 fort to destroy works which, in the minds of the peo- 
 ple, were associated with real objects, only too well 
 known. In an enterprise so arduous, it was, more- 
 over, diflB.cult to trace the exact line at which excess 
 began. Art, forced backward, quickly retakes its 
 1 A name which he gave to profane objects. 
 
APPENDIX II. 219 
 
 rightful place. Thus, when I see Lorenzo cli Credi 
 and Bartolommeo della Porta cast into the flames their 
 studies of the nude, I call their action grand, noble, 
 an act of courage, exemplary, ef&cacious, educational. 
 To all the admirers of mere beauty of form, these 
 painters taught the lesson that in art all things are 
 not permissible, and that, to save art from degenera- 
 tion and from decadence, certain principles of morality 
 must be defended and practised. 
 
 The artists of renown who may justly be called 
 disciples of Savonarola are : Sandro Botticelli, Lorenzo 
 di Credi, Perugino, Fra Bartolommeo, and Michael 
 Angelo, who, though a mere youth when Savonarola 
 was active in preaching, ever remained jjassionately 
 attached to the ideas, and was ever a student of the 
 writings, of the reformer. Notwithstanding the in- 
 evitable differences due to temperament and educa- 
 tion, each of these great men was, in his own way, 
 spiritually minded and religious. Botticelli we recog- 
 nize at a glance by his mannered elegance. His 
 Madonnas are beautiful and full of expression. The 
 Virgin composing the " Magnificat " has always been 
 considered a masterpiece, in which a most artful dis- 
 position of the figures is combined with the expres- 
 sion of a sentiment both intense and deep. Lorenzo 
 di Credi was pious and chaste ; all he needed was con- 
 tact with Savonarola, in order that the ideal he had 
 never ceased contemplating should be exalted still 
 higher. Perugino, notwithstanding the decline nota- 
 ble in the work of his later days, did honor to reli- 
 gion with his brush. To have been the father of a 
 
220 APPENDIX 11. 
 
 wliole generation of artists was glory enougli; but 
 even tliis glory was enhanced by the fame of his 
 pupil E-aphael, through whom Perugino may be said 
 to have touched the topmost point that the art of 
 painting should attain. Among these men, it was 
 Fra Bartolommeo whose imagination was the more 
 naturalistic. Familiarity with the works of Fra An- 
 gelico caused no change in his manner. He draws 
 most like to Raphael, and his coloring is that of a 
 Venetian, but occasionally his outlines are hard, and 
 his coloration pleases the eye more than it affects the 
 soul ; still he is a great artist, and one of the bright- 
 est luminaries of Dominican art. 
 
 What can one say of Michael Angelo ? His bold- 
 ness Savonarola would not, perhaps, have always ap- 
 proved. But how much more chaste he is in treating 
 the nude than were certain Florentines of the fifteenth 
 century who were pleased to call their compositions 
 religious. That he exaggerates the cult of the hu- 
 man form, that he counts the muscles too minutely, 
 indeed that he invents muscles in order to enjoy our 
 admiration of the display, — I do not deny ; but how 
 puissant he was, how profound, how sublime ! And 
 because of these very qualities, is he not related to 
 Savonarola, the reformer ? 
 
 For the most part, the disciples of the friar were 
 true to the memory of their master. In the Convent 
 of St. Mark, the sacred fire of great art burned ever 
 brightly ; and from St. Mark's, as a centre, radiated 
 the light of the teachings of which Savonarola was 
 the apostle. Spread far and wide, the writings of the 
 
APPENDIX II. 221 
 
 illustrious preacher perpetuated Ms creative word, 
 which, notwithstanding the tragical events of the 
 year 1498, had not lost its potency. There is not a 
 single historian of the fine arts who fails to mention 
 Savonarola, or to note the influence exercised by him 
 on the artists of his time. This influence writers 
 may estimate favorably or unfavorably, but none can 
 deny that it was profound and permanent. 
 
 Such is the destiny of the orator. The enthusi- 
 asm he excites, the tears he causes to flow, the im- 
 mediate effect produced on the crowd by his word, 
 we know from experience. But to confine within 
 these narrow limits the good that the orator may do 
 to the souls of men ; to measure precisely the dura- 
 tion of the effect of his word ; to follow the currents 
 that, flowing from his lips, are transmitted down 
 through the ages, — this is impossible. All we need 
 say is that history echoes and re-echoes the great ora- 
 tor's name, and that, to generation after generation, 
 the mere sound of that name recalls the aim and end 
 to which his life was devoted. 
 
 F. BER^S^AKDIN" MERLIN", O.P. 
 KosARY Hill, April, 1898. 
 
APPENDIX III. 
 
 A BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 To the reader who may desire to study more closely 
 the history of Florence as it is identified with the ca- 
 reer of Savonarola, and the conditions of the times in 
 which he was born, as well as of the age in which he 
 lived, we desire to present a useful bibliography. 
 
 The " Lives '' of Savonarola, by Burlamacchi, and 
 by Pico della Mirandola, are not readily found in 
 public or private libraries. The edition of Delia 
 Mirandola's " Life " which we have used, is the one 
 printed at Paris in 1674. Besides the " Life " this 
 edition contains the same author's, ^^ Apology for 
 Savonarola, as against his unjust (?) excommunica- 
 tion." This "Apology" was published as a separate 
 volume *as early as 1521, at Wittemberg ; and this 
 earlier edition we have controlled, as well as the 
 later. The " Life " by Burlamacchi may be found in 
 the ^^ Miscellanea^^ of Stephen Baluzius (edited by 
 Mansi), published at Lucca, in 1761. Besides the 
 " Life," this volume also contains valuable letters of 
 Savonarola, of Alexander VL, and of contemporary 
 princes ; as well as Father Paul Bernardine's defence 
 of Savonarola under excommunication. 
 
 The " Cedrus Lihani,''^ by Father Benedict, is 
 
 222 
 
APPENDIX III. 223 
 
 printed in the ArcJdvio Storico Italiano. His "Vul- 
 nera Diligentisj^ so-called from the text he used, 
 '' Better are the wounds of a friend than the kisses 
 of an enemy," is rare. In the "Vulnera Diligentis,^^ 
 Benedict, after his return from exile (a punishment 
 inflicted on him for his armed defence of Savonarola 
 on the night when St. Mark's was stormed), began 
 by voice and pen to prove the forgeries of the iniqui- 
 tous Ceccone, the notary who corrupted Savonarola's 
 statements. Benedict resorted to sarcasm as well as 
 to criticism, mercilessly lampooning the friar's ene- 
 mies. He excited such opposition that he was finally 
 imprisoned and tortured. While confined to a cell, 
 his undaunted spirit devoted the lingering hours to 
 the writing of the ^^ Vulnera Diligentis,''^ an animated 
 and loyal defence of his master. 
 
 Noting works within the reach of all students, we 
 mention first the writings of the Frate's contempora- 
 ries : — 
 
 i. The Memoirs of Philip de Commines. 
 
 De Commines was the French ambassador to Flor- 
 ence in the time of Savonarola, and was personally ac- 
 quainted with the stirring events of that period. 
 
 2. History of the City of Florence, by Nardi, an eye- 
 witness of the execution of Savonarola. 
 
 3. History of Florence, by Machiavelli, 
 
 a work of less value than the preceding, apart from the 
 character of the author and his dangerous principles. 
 
 4. History of Italy, by Guicciakdini, 
 
 of whom Montaigne says in his " Essay of Books," that 
 *' of so severall and divers armes, successes and effects 
 
224 APPENDIX III. 
 
 he judgetli of ; of so many and variable motives, alter- 
 ations and counsels that he relateth, he never refer- 
 reth any one unto vertue, religion, or conscience, as 
 if they were all extinguished and banished the world ; 
 and of all actions how glorious soever in appearance 
 they be of themselves, he doth ever impute the cause 
 of them to some vicious and blame-worthie occasion, 
 or to some commodities and profit.'^ At greater 
 length Montaigne exhibits the Florentine's methods 
 of writing history, but this warning word is sufficient. 
 Following these, we place, in due order : — 
 
 5. The tliird volume of the Dominican Father Touron^s 
 Histoires des Homines Illustres de VOrdre de S. Dominique, 
 
 6. The continuation of the Annales Ecclesiastici of Cardi- 
 nal Baronius, by F. Abraham Bzovius, O.P. 
 
 7. Scriptores Ordinis Proedicatorum^ by Father Que- 
 TiF, O.P., continued by Father Echard, O.P. 
 
 8. The DoMiNiCAisr Father Marchese's writings. 
 
 a. San Marco, Illustrato e Inciso. 
 
 b. Appendices 23 and 25 in the Arcfiivio Storico Ita- 
 
 liano (very valuable for the insight they give 
 into Savonarola's private life). 
 
 c. Lives of the Most Eminent Painters^ SculptorSy and 
 
 Architeets of the Order of St. DominiCy 
 
 whose title is given in English, the Eev. C. P. Mee- 
 han having translated this work, and published it at 
 Dublin, in 1852. Father Marchese worked diligently 
 and well in bringing to light many previously un- 
 known letters and documents, and has written con- 
 scientiously and learnedly in defence of Savonarola. 
 
 9. Jerome Savonarole, sa vie, ses predications, ses ecritSy 
 par F. T. Perrens, published in France in 1853, but not as 
 yet translated into English. 
 
APPENDIX III. 225 
 
 10. Hlstoire de Florence depuis la domination des Medicis 
 jusqiCa la chute de la Bepublique. 3 vols. Paris^ 1888-1890, 
 par F. T. Perrens. 
 
 M. Perrens, as we have stated in the body of this 
 book, received generous assistance from the Domini- 
 can Father Marchese. The studies of M. Perrens are 
 good. His conclusions, however, do not always agree 
 with our own. 
 
 11. The Life and Martyrdom of Girolamo Savonarola, Il- 
 lustrative of the History of Church and State Connection, by 
 R. R. Madden. 
 
 This work, published at London in 1853, is of con- 
 siderable value. It is full, exhaustive, perhaps need- 
 lessly detailed. The author's purpose was to offer 
 proof of the evils arising from a connection between 
 Church and state. His historical references and re- 
 flections are copious. He is an ardent admirer of 
 Savonarola, but professes to view the field impartially. 
 To the teachings and prophecies of the friar he de- 
 votes several chapters, giving generous extracts from 
 his writings, notably a translation of the treatises 
 on the rule of Florence, on prayer, and on the Our 
 Father ; and also a spirited version in English of 
 several of Savonarola's hymns, together with the ori- 
 ginal text in Latin or Italian ; and, in an appendix, a 
 list of all his works. A second appendix containing 
 an enumeration of biographies and histories consulted 
 by Mr. Madden will be found helpful. To this author 
 we are indebted for the metrical translation of the 
 hymn in honor of our Lady published in the second 
 part of our sketch. Despite some inaccuracies indi- 
 
226 APPENDIX III. 
 
 eating hasty writing, but not of sufficient importance 
 to detract from the substantial value of his work, and 
 despite the fact that he wrote as an opponent of the 
 temporal power of the Pope, and with a set purpose 
 of supporting a theory (a disposition which urges a 
 man to subordinate even his hero to his purpose), these 
 volumes by Mr. Madden will be found of interest. 
 
 12. Gli Eretici d' Italia, by Cesaee Cantu. 
 
 13. Storia d' Italia, by Cesare Cantu. 
 
 14. Storia Universale, by Cesaee Cantu. 
 
 These learned works, by one of the greatest among 
 modern historians, need no commendation here. 
 
 15. Milman's Essays on Savonarola, Erasmus, etc. 
 
 16. Vieio of the State of Europe during the Middle AgeSj 
 by Henry Hallam ; and his 
 
 17. Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fif- 
 teenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries. 
 
 Two works of great research and broad scholarship, 
 notwithstanding the author's prejudices, and his omis- 
 sion, in the latter, of all mention of Savonarola. 
 
 18. Michelefs Renaissance, a part of his "History of 
 France." 
 
 Michelet's bitter prejudices are so well known that 
 we are not inclined to esteem highly his estimate of 
 any person, be it favorable or unfavorable. 
 
 19. Ueber die Kunst der Bominicaner in 14 und 15 Jahr- 
 hundert, by Hettner, 
 
 and his 
 
 20. Renaissance und die Dominicanerkunst. 
 
 21. Renaissance in Italy, by John Addington Symonds, 
 a work in five parts that practically form a complete scheme 
 of treatment. 
 
APPENDIX III. 227 
 
 In " The Age of the Despots," considerable space is 
 given to Savonarola. As Mr. Symonds is a gentleman 
 who uses the word " Eomish," and rolls under his 
 tongue, as a choice morsel, '• Jesuitical hypocrisy," 
 we believe that further criticism is unnecessary. 
 
 22. The Italian Bepubllcs, by Sismondi, and his 
 
 23. History of the Bevival of Liberty in Italy ; of its Prog- 
 ress, its Decline, and its Fall. 
 
 Sismondi was a Swiss Protestant, an inheritor of 
 Genevan traditions, and therefore a man who will 
 bear watching when he touches matters concerning 
 the Papacy. We quote Sismondi and Symonds chiefly 
 because of their testimony to the Catholicity of Savo- 
 narola. 
 
 24. The Life of Lorenzo de'' Medici, called the Magnificent, 
 by William Roscoe, and his 
 
 25. Life of Leo the Tenth. 
 
 Mr. Roscoe's works, which were once highly es- 
 teemed because of the rarity of English books dealing 
 with the Italian Renaissance, have little value so far 
 as the personal history of Savonarola is concerned. 
 According to the distinguished Englishman, the great 
 Italian was a dangerous fanatic who met a deserved 
 fate. 
 
 26. Du Vandalisme et du Catholicisme dans rArt, par M. 
 Rio, a part of whicli, La Poesie Chretienne dans VAj-t, con- 
 tains a beautiful tribute to Savonarola. 
 
 27. Life of Michael Angelo Buonarotti, by J. S. Harford. 
 
 Of Mr. Harford's interesting work, we have already 
 spoken in a note. 
 
 28. Storia delta Letteratura Italiana, by Tiraboschi, who 
 was a Medicean. 
 
228 APPENDIX III. 
 
 29. Storia della Letteratura Italiana, by Cantu. 
 
 30. Christian Schools and Scholars, by Key. Mother Ra- 
 phael I) KANE, O. P. 
 
 This work holds a high place in its line ; indeed, 
 it may be considered a classic. 
 
 31. Lives of the Most Celebrated Painters, Sculptors, and 
 Architects, by Yasaki. 
 
 As a Medicean, this author's judgment is partisan. 
 
 32. The Life of St. Philip Neri, by Cardinal Capece- 
 
 LATRO. 
 
 33. The Life of St. Catherine de Ricci, by Pere Bayonne, 
 O. P., done into English by the Dominican Sisters, Albany, 
 N.Y. 
 
 34. The Life of St. Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence, by 
 F. TouRON, O. p. 
 
 35. The Life of Blessed Giovanni ofFiesole, better known as 
 Fra Angelico, by the same. 
 
 36. History of the Popes, by Dr. Ludwig Pastor. 
 
 This is the latest and best work that has appeared 
 on the Papacy. It supersedes all others, and renders 
 needless any special reference to the work of Chris- 
 tophe, " Histoj-y of the Papacy in the Fifteenth Cen- 
 tury,'' or to von Eanke's '' History of the Popes." 
 
 37. Von Ranke's Savonarola und die Florentinische Ee- 
 publik gegen Ende des fiinfzehnten Jahrhunderts, an essay 
 published in 1887, as a part of a volume entitled Historisch- 
 Biographische Studien. 
 
 Of this suggestive study we have already spoken. 
 Following it is a " Criticism of the accounts of Sa- 
 vonarola by Pico (della Mirandola) and by Burlamac- 
 chi." Von Ranke argues that the work attributed 
 to Burlamacchi, and written in Italian, is not his ; 
 though it may be an edition of a manuscript of his, 
 
APPENDIX III. 229 
 
 to whicli another writer made additions, using freely 
 the Latin life written by Pico. Von Ranke's cri- 
 tique is supported by quotations from the text of 
 Pico as well as from that attributed to Burlamacchi. 
 The facts are, no doubt, as he states them, but von 
 Eanke's conclusions do not affect the credibility of 
 either one of the time-honored authorities. Though 
 Pico and Burlamacchi frequently agree verbally, yet 
 the two writers are none the less distinct and original 
 sources. To explain their agreement may not be easy, 
 but it is their differences that establish their inde- 
 pendence and their reliability. 
 
 38. Savonarole et la Statue de Luther a TFbrms, par le 
 Pere Rouaed de Card, O. P. 
 
 39. The Life and Times of Jerome Savonarola, from the 
 Italian of Pasquale Yillaki, the latest edition having been 
 published at New York in 1890. 
 
 Professor Yillari is not a Catholic. He writes as 
 an advocate for his hero, and sees little good or 
 honesty in Alexander YL, whom he does not treat 
 with fairness. The political side of the great prior's 
 character he contemplates with special satisfaction. 
 Nevertheless, he views with more sympathy than does 
 Pastor the mystical and the prophetical spirit in Savo- 
 narola, and renders a more competent judgment than 
 that of the distinguished German in discussing the 
 merits of Father Bayonne's " Study.'' Por historical 
 facts Yillari may be safely followed, despite the color- 
 ing of his opinions. In the preface to his work he 
 refers freely to what might be called the Savonarola 
 literature, especially of the nineteenth century. 
 
230 APPENDIX. 
 
 40. Etude sur Jerome Savonarole d ^apres des nouveaux Do- 
 cuments, par le Rp. Bayonne, O. P. 
 
 Father Bayonne died before he could realize his 
 entire plan. He earnestly labored to prove the pro- 
 phetic power and saintliness of Savonarola ; but his 
 VvOrk was withdrawn from circulation for reasons of 
 prudence, and not because of ?.ny official censure. 
 "\Ye refer to Bayonne's work because it is so fre- 
 quently mentioned in biographies and histories of Sa- 
 vonarola ; Ave also desire to characterize it as required 
 by the law of the Dominican Order. 
 
 41. II vero Savonarola e il Savonarola di L. Pastor, Paolo 
 LuoTTO, published in Florence, 1897, by Le Monnier. 
 
 An English translation of this book is now under 
 way by Eev. S. H. Glendon, 0. P. 
 
 Like Pere Bayonne, Professor Luotto died before 
 he could see the crown of his labors in behalf of 
 Savonarola. His important work in the volume 
 named is the latest addition to Savonarola literature, 
 if we except the centennial review mentioned in this 
 Appendix. Professor Luotto defends Savonarola 
 against the charges brought by Pastor, who, in a 
 subsequent pamphlet, replies to the Italian writer, 
 though he advances no new argument, merely re- 
 affirming the statements made in his " History of 
 the Popes." The unfriendly article that appeared in 
 the Civilta Cattolica (March 5, 1898), reviewing both 
 of these publications, has occasioned much indigna- 
 tion among the admirers of Savonarola, who cannot 
 understand the motive inspiring the severe treatment 
 accorded to the Dominican. 
 
APPENDIX III. 231 
 
 Pastor's pamphlet was published in Freiburg, by 
 Herder, and is entitled '' Zur Beurtheilung Savona- 
 rolas Kritische Streifziige." 
 
 42. Savonarola and the Reformation^ by Rev. J. Pkoctek, 
 O. P. 
 
 This is not the last word of Rev. Father Procter 
 in defense of the much maligned Frate. 
 
 43. Savonarola. His Life and Times, by William Clakk. 
 Though the volume is pleasantly written, the author 
 
 is inimical to the Papacy. 
 
 44. Studies in Church History, by Rev. Reuben Parsons. 
 The third volume deals with Iiuss, the Councils of 
 
 Basel and Constance, the conspiracy of the Pazzi, 
 Alexander VI., Savonarola, etc. 
 
 45. The Makers of Florence, by Miis. Oliphant. 
 
 This work treats of Florence in a very interesting 
 manner. To Savonarola a good portion of the volume 
 is dedicated, while the chapter on the Piagnoni paint- 
 ers may be considered a supplement to his life. Mrs. 
 Oliphant is a champion whose spirit may be judged 
 from one sentence : " And Florence, to which such 
 springs of new life and freedom had come, inspired 
 by that Dominican whom she slaughtered in her pub- 
 lic square, fell into a decay of all her noble qualities, 
 which was not beautiful." 
 
 46. Bomola, a romance by George Eliot. 
 
 The noted Englishwoman gives a vivid picture of 
 Florence in the last decade of the fifteenth century, 
 and a fairly accurate portrait of the great preacher. 
 
 47. Savonarola, a Tragedy, by the present Poet Laureate 
 of England, Alfred Austin. 
 
232 APPENDIX III. 
 
 48. History of Philosophy, by Cardinal Gonzalez, O. P. 
 
 Though written in Spanish, and as yet only trans- 
 lated into French, we give the English title of this very 
 valuable work of Cardinal Gonzalez as a translation of 
 it, will, we hope, soon be published. 
 
 49. Apology for Christianity, by Rev. Albert M. Weiss, 
 O. P. 
 
 This very able work has already been rendered into 
 French from the original German. An English edi- 
 tion is in course of preparation. Father Weiss is 
 justly regarded as among the foremost sociologists of 
 the world. He treats, in an admirable manner, the 
 E-enaissance. 
 
 In this list we have not set down the works of 
 Napier, Dinwiddle, and others named in our earlier 
 pages. We have enumerated only volumes easily ob- 
 tained. Villari and Madden mention others, available 
 chiefly to the scholar or to the searcher in great libraries. 
 
 A review entitled : Quarto Centenario della Morte 
 di Fra Girolamo Savonarola (Fourth Centenary of the 
 Death of Friar Jerome Savonarola) is in course of 
 publication at Florence. 
 
 Besides letters addressed to the committee in charge 
 of the celebration, by the present Master-General of 
 the Dominican Order, the Most Reverend Father 
 Friihwirth; by Cardinal Bausa^ 0. P., Archbishop oi' 
 Florence ; and by other cardinals, bishops, and emi- 
 nent persons, ecclesiastic and lay, an interesting ac- 
 count will also be found, in this review, of the entire 
 celebration commemorating the fourth centenary of 
 Savonarola's death. 
 
JUN 6 1^08 
 
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 Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
 
 Treatment Date: DEC - #>«^ 
 
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 PreservationTechnologies 
 
 A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 
 
 111 ThofTison ParX Drive