PIETRO BERNARDINO. – Follower of Savonarola, born in Florence in 1473, died in Mirandola in 1502.
A man of lowly condition, uneducated but cunning, through constant attendance at Savonarola’s sermons and reading of his writings, he had become familiar with the Bible; he was already preaching in the squares at the time of Savonarola. Upon the Dominican’s death, he was chosen as leader of some twenty of his popular followers, bound together in a secret league. He gave erroneous expression to doctrinal hints from his master, asserting that the Church had to be renewed by the sword and that after Savonarola’s death no just man remained on earth. On his own account, he claimed to confer the unction of the Holy Spirit. His followers regarded him as a prophet and pope of the true Church; they prayed only in spirit, did not attend Mass, and dressed in poverty. Persecuted by the Council of Eight, on denunciation by the Inquisition, he moved with his followers to Bologna and then to Mirandola, protected by Count Gian Francesco (nephew of the famous Giovanni Pico), who was at that moment under siege by his brothers. Once the count was defeated, Pietro Bernardino and his sectarians fell into the hands of the victors: convicted of heretical doctrines and corrupt morals, he ended on the pyre along with some of his followers.