SAVONAROLA, GIROLAMO - Illustration of the 48th sermon "On Amos and Zechariah" by G. S.: infidels and Christians who mark their foreheads with the sign of the cross hasten to be regenerated in the river flowing from the Cross. The sky is serene over Jerusalem while hail falls on Rome and Florence. Drawing by S. Botticelli. Woodcut from the *Trattato* of Domenico Benivieni – Florence, Bonaccorsi, 28 May 1496.
After his efforts had succeeded and he was certain that his work could neither be hindered nor interrupted, he turned to the path of reform, applying himself, according to a chronicler, “to introduce into studies and life an order almost divine.” When Charles VIII of France arrived in Italy, the expulsion of the Medici followed, while Savonarola was in Pisa, sent by the Republic as ambassador to the King; to whom he spoke frankly and boldly. He did the same in Florence after the King had entered the city with ill intentions: it is probable that the city owed its salvation to him no less than to the generous outbursts of Pier Capponi.
With the separation of San Marco (22 May 1493), which was later constituted with other convents into a congregation, the liberation of the city from the sinister Medici influence coincided; thus (and it seemed miraculous) all doors suddenly opened to the work Savonarola had designed. The State did not wish to interfere, and though it labored to establish in Florence not a hierocracy or a theocracy, but a Christian and civilly well-ordered republic, it did so in order to make of it the “City of God,” so that from it, as he said, “the reformation of all Italy” might emerge. While preaching Advent over Haggai, he not only succeeded in calming factional hatreds and halting the discordant civil impulses, but when the city seemed on the verge of falling back under an oligarchy, he brought about the prevalence of a wise democratic order that owed much to the Venetian system of government. Once the new popular state was founded, Savonarola proposed in a sermon that Christ be elected as King. Continuing his apostolate, through his sermons on the Psalms (festive season of 1495) and more especially through those on Job (Lent of 1495), he devoted himself to promoting the religious and moral renewal of the city, which proved even greater than the civil renewal he had achieved. The skeptical and pleasure-seeking city of the Magnificent soon appeared transformed; everywhere manifestations of piety and simplicity of life were to be seen: noble citizens and men distinguished by learning flocked to San Marco to seek the Dominican habit. But the suddenness and magnitude of this success, while on the one hand increasing faith in Savonarola, on the other aroused hatred and suspicion; and all who feared his power formed that sect which well deserved the name of the “Enraged,” while the Frate’s followers were called the “Weepers.” Even outside Florence, Savonarola’s large following was disliked by those rulers who, having confederated against Charles VIII in the Holy League, saw in him the most formidable instrument for keeping the Florentines steadfast in their traditional friendship with the King. Soon, therefore, the Enraged from within and princes such as Sforza from without began to incite the Pope against him. Under such influences and following entreaties made by Alberto da Orvieto, sent to Florence to secure its entry into the League, Alexander VI issued that singular brief of 21 July 1495, in which, after heaping the highest praise upon Savonarola, he ordered him to present himself before him, desiring to hear from his own lips, for his own profit, his prophecies. The trap was too obvious for Savonarola to fall into II. If he had gone, he might not have reached Rome; certainly he would not have returned to Florence. He cared little for his life but much for the work he had cherished in his adolescent dreams and now saw miraculously flourishing. Warned by physicians to abstain from preaching and even from study, and beset by enemies, he replied that on account of his bodily infirmity, the manifest danger to his life, and the harm that would come to his work, he asked to be allowed to defer his journey.
The Pope seemed satisfied with these reasons, but those who were Savonarola’s immediate enemies were not. For prudence’s sake and because he truly needed rest, he refrained from preaching. In mid-September, however, with a brief dated the 8th, another order arrived in Florence, placing Savonarola’s case in the hands of the Vicar of the Lombard Congregation: San Marco had been reunited to that congregation; Savonarola and some of his friars were ordered to transfer to Bologna, under pain of excommunication. The brief had been instigated by those who had an interest in silencing the Frate while the Medici prepared to march against his native city. Undaunted, Savonarola replied point by point, so that the Pope once again had to recognize the soundness of the reasons adduced; so much so that the brief of 8 September was promptly annulled by another of 16 October, which, though much softened, still reiterated that Savonarola should refrain from preaching until further notice. Before this brief arrived, however, he had time to revive the city with three sermons. Upon the brief’s arrival, he obeyed by withdrawing into silence and prayer.
This time the soundness of the reasons adduced was recognized; so much so that the brief of 8 September was promptly annulled by another of 16 October, which, though much softened, still reiterated that Savonarola should refrain from preaching until further notice. Before this brief arrived, however, he had time to revive the city with three sermons. Upon the brief’s arrival, he obeyed by withdrawing into silence and prayer.
(Courtesy of the Marchese Ridolfi) Savonarola, Girolamo – Autograph outline of the terrifying *praedicatio* of Lent 1491. Florence, Museo di San Marco.
This silence, however, opened the way to his adversaries, who perhaps aimed at this through the papal briefs; nor can it be surprising that his supporters strove to ensure that his voice might be freely heard, while his enemies redoubled their efforts to silence him. The Signoria pressed for Savonarola to be allowed to preach Advent, and efforts were intensified as Lent approached. Alexander VI, pressed by political considerations, resisted; nor did he hesitate to tell the Florentine ambassador frankly: the League did not wish him to grant the Frate permission to preach. Finally, however, though refusing to formally revoke the brief of 16 October, he gave verbal permission for Savonarola to return to the pulpit. On 17 February 1496, he thus began his sermons on Amos, which are among his most beautiful and powerful. If there had been hope of a more cautious tone from him, he had given no indication of it; he was not a man to compromise or shirk his duty, and he did not. At times he seemed to allude to the scandalous life of the Pope himself. The latter began to voice bitter complaints; but once again he was moved above all by political considerations. Threats of thunderbolts were made. A council of theologians expressly convened could achieve nothing against Savonarola. For this reason, but more out of fear of a new invasion by the king, the curial wrath subsided. The fruits of these sermons were abundant: it suffices to mention the reform of the young; according to a contemporary witness, Florence seemed to have become “a foretaste of paradise.” On 8 May he began his sermons on Micah, without any complaint coming from Rome.
The fame of St. Savonarola had reached its zenith, and not only in Florence. At this time are to be dated some of his letters to the princes of Italy, who sought his counsel or to whom he freely addressed himself to exhort and correct them. Even the Pope then sought to win him over, offering him the cardinal’s hat on certain conditions. He replied in his sermon of 20 August: “I want no hats, no mitres large or small; I want only what you have given to your saints: death. A red hat, a hat of blood, this I desire.”
At this time his treatise *De simplicitate christianae vitae* was being printed, and meanwhile he was working on the *Triumphus Crucis*. To attend to these works and to rest, he had left the pulpit; but on 28 October he was obliged to return to it, for the Florentines were terrified by the arrival of Maximilian, King of the Romans, who was besieging Livorno by land and sea. Savonarola promised the people that God would deliver them, and great was the enthusiasm of the city when Maximilian’s fleet was shattered by a storm and he abandoned the enterprise.
But the political fortunes of Italy were turning against Savonarola. Alexander VI was constantly pressed by the League and the *Arrabbiati*, who urged him to be rid of the Friar. The surest way seemed still to deprive him of the independence he had gained by separating from the Lombard Congregation; and this the Pope resolved to do by the Brief of 7 November, by which many convents were united to those of San Marco in a new congregation in which Savonarola would lose all authority. It was alleged that the purpose was to propagate the observance he had introduced, whereas the effect would be quite the opposite. The hidden aim, moreover, which was later revealed in further Briefs, was that if Savonarola obeyed he would lose himself and his work; if he disobeyed he would incur the censure threatened in the Brief against whoever opposed it, and thus be driven to certain ruin. Though he did not remain silent in his *Apologia della Congregazione di San Marco* regarding what would have been uncharitable to conceal, he cannot be said to have disobeyed or opposed the Brief, for no superior presented himself to him to enforce the papal orders or to remove him from his office as Vicar.
Savonarola therefore continued on his way, the way of charity. In Advent he began the sermons on Ezekiel, which he continued through Lent 1497; and as the choice of so terrible a prophet foretold, it was a terrible preaching. The machinations of his enemies, far from making him cautious, kindled his indignation and moved him to great and fervent pity that the corrupt body of the Church, like Lazarus, might rise again. But his fortunes, which until then had continued to grow despite fluctuating events and had received a symbolic triumph on 7 February 1497 in the first “bonfire of the vanities,” began to decline. Famine, the prolonged war with Pisa, Charles VIII’s truce with the League, and the mounting wrath of the Pope were all causes that alienated the fickle Florentines. To these adverse circumstances must be added the decline of his health, which had deteriorated to the point of forcing him to shorten and sometimes interrupt his sermons.
But the worst came from two Signories hostile to him. The first was led by Bernardo del Nero, head of the Medici faction, under whose Gonfalonierate Piero de’ Medici made his attempt against the city—a dangerous move because of the Gonfalonier’s standing, but miserably failed as Savonarola had foretold. The second was led by Piero degli Alberti, chief of the *Arrabbiati*, who for two months lorded it over the city, indulging in every kind of excess. On Ascension Day they provoked a tumult during his sermon to make a scandal and, had it succeeded, to kill the preacher. When the plot failed, they set about stirring up the Pope so that the excommunication, repeatedly urged, might at last be promulgated. The principal argument in this work of subversion was, more than the calumny of despising the Keys, the refusal of the Florentines to enter the League, laid to Savonarola’s charge. To these arguments they added the weight of two wealthy Florentines, who persuaded certain prelates to overcome the last resistances by evil suggestions.
Thus Alexander VI, though against his will—as he later confessed—resolved on 13 May to issue the fatal Brief. Drawn up in an unusual form and, apart from its surreptitious origin, vitiated in substance, it reached Florence only on 17 June, for the courier dared not enter Florentine territory and finally entrusted it to others. The Brief was read in only five churches, the others having refused to do so for want of proper form.
Meanwhile a humble letter had reached Alexander from Savonarola, written on 20 May in protest when he learned the Brief had been dispatched; he affirmed that his sole aim was to rekindle Christian faith in human hearts. But this letter, and the one Savonarola wrote on 25 June—consoling the Pope on the death of his son and exhorting him to aid the work of faith—could do nothing now but deepen the Pope’s belated remorse. When Alexander had these read in Consistory, he praised them and even declared that the censure “displeased him and was altogether against his intention.” Soon after, a Signory favorable to Savonarola was elected, which immediately pressed for his absolution—an impossible task, for Alexander, after his first dismay following the tragic death of his son, had relapsed into worse ways than before.
To the other evils afflicting Florence was now added the plague; and on this occasion Savonarola’s Christian virtues shone forth anew. At the same time he was revising the *Triumphus Crucis* for the press and attending to other minor works: the *Treatise against the Astrologers*, the dialogue *De Veritate prophetica*, and perhaps the second redaction of *Solatium itineris mei*. While the Signory continued to press the Pope for the revocation of the censures, Savonarola, unjustly accused by later writers of pride and obstinacy, wished to make a solemn act of submission to the Roman Pontiff. Thus on 13 October 1497 he wrote him a letter manfully humble, begging absolution. But it availed him nothing.
Pur sollecitato dal popolo a predicare, perseverò il Frate nel suo doloroso silenzio, in ossequio ai comandamenti papali. Finalmente, come fu chiaro che neppure per intercessioni potenti avrebbe riavuto la predicazione, e che quindi la sua opera era condannata a sicura rovina, egli decise di seguire quella voce che tante volte gli aveva mostrato la via. Raffermò la sua determinazione e il suo sdegno certo il baratto proposto alla Signoria, subordinante l'assoluzione all'entrata dei fiorentini nella Lega. Risaliva dunque sul pulpito del Duomo l'11 febbr. 1498, per dar principio a quelle prediche sopra l'Esodo che dovevano segnare il suo esodo dal pulpito, dalla grande opera sua, dalla vita. Fino dalla prima predica s'intese che il S. era deciso a conseguire o un'ardua vittoria contro le malefiche forze che gli si opponevano o quella corona di sangue che tante volte aveva domandato e che quella mattina invocò ancora, offrendosi in sacrificio. Nello stesso stile continuò nelle prediche successive, reiterando essere stato il Papa circonvenuto, il breve mal fatto e quindi la scomunica non valere. E, pur continuando la predicazione, componeva a istanza del gonfaloniere Salviati il Trattato del reggimento e governo della città di Firenze. Il giorno di carnevale si celebrò il secondo bruciamento delle vanità. Ma da Roma si minacciava la città d'interdetto se non consegnava il S. o almeno non lo riduceva al silenzio. E così la Signoria, che, pure essendo in prevalenza contraria al S., aveva con fermezza replicato ai brevi papali, ordinò al Frate, ridottosi frattanto a predicare in S. Marco, di cessare le prediche: ciò che subito fece, dopo un accorato saluto al suo popolo. Cadutagli così l'arma più potente, non gli restava altro modo di difendere sé e l'opera sua che un Concilio, dove la sua voce si sarebbe levata ancora una volta, più solenne, a denunziare e ad ammonire. Ma sebbene non mancassero le condizioni per una convocazione, contro la volontà del Papa, sebbene l'idea di un Concilio fosse già largamente diffusa fra i principi e i buoni prelati, all'ultimo il suo gran cuore cristiano non soffrì di sommuovere, sia pure per un fine santo, la Chiesa; ed abbruciò le lettere che aveva già cominciato a scrivere. Questa rinunzia gli chiudeva l'ultima via; altro non gli restava se non la via del martirio. L'intempestivo ardore del suo più fido discepolo, fra' Domenico da Pescia, fece precipitare gli eventi.
1993
SAVONAROLA GIROLAMO
reo; per timore che questi, davanti al suo popolo, proclamasse la verità. Lo stesso gonfaloniere disse in una consulta che il S. non doveva uscire da Firenze per evitare che si ridiscutesse; essendosi fatti i processi come si sono fatti, per quiete della città. Lasciato tranquillo per alcuni giorni, poté comporre la mirabile meditazione sopra il Miserere, nella quale confortò con l'esempio di Pietro la sua tristezza per il rinnegamento estortogli sotto i tormenti; poi cominciò quella sul salmo In te Domine speravi. Ma il 20 maggio ebbe principio un terzo processo, fattogli dai commissari apostolici. Nuovamente torturato, a tratti il suo grande animo vinceva la carne inferma, ritrattando le forzate ritrattazioni e riaffermando con commoventi parole la sua missione profetica.
Anche gli storici avversi al S. sono concordi sulla iniquità e sulla falsità di questo processo, non meno che dei precedenti. Sul quale fu pronunciata dai commissari la sentenza che condannava il S. e i suoi compagni, fra' Domenico e fra' Silvestro Maruffi, eretici e scismatici, ad essere consegnati al braccio secolare che, come era stato più tempo prima deciso, li avrebbe impiccati e poi arsi. La infame sentenza, comunicata ai condannati il giorno 22 maggio, ultimo del processo, fu eseguita la mattina di poi. Le parole e gli atti del S. furono nella funebre veglia esemplari, né si possono leggere senza una commozione profonda. La sua morte fu un mirabile esempio di virtù cristiane, come n'era stata la vita: né poteva esserne più degno suggello. Comunicandosi prima del supplizio, pronunciò ad alta voce una breve preghiera che è una bella professione di fede cattolica. Altre commoventi parole disse, quando gli fu tolto il suo abito domenicano. Ricevuta dai commissari apostolici la indulgenza plenaria, salì al patibolo recitando il Credo piccolo. Acceso il rogo sotto i corpi degli impiccati, e consunte le salme, ne furono raccolte le ceneri per sottrarle alla venerazione popolare e gettate in Arno. Fu verificata così la profezia che il S. pronunciò fino dal 1491: «Andranno gli empi al santuario, con le scure e col fuoco le porte spezzeranno e abbruceranno, e piglieranno gli uomini giusti e nel luogo principale della città li abbruceranno; e quello che non consumerà il fuoco e non porterà via il vento, gitteranno nell'acqua».
Dopo il primo smarrimento che i falsi processi, le persecuzioni degli avversari, i comprensibili rigori dei superiori, avevano cagionato nell'animo di molti devoti, cominciò non solo la riabilitazione, ma il culto del S., entrato ben presto nella liturgia di alcuni conventi toscani, che già nel 1499 ne celebravano la festa solenne. Lo stesso Alessandro VI è fama ne rimpiangesse la morte, scusandosi col dire di essere stato male informato. Giulio II dichiarò che lo avrebbe volentieri canonizzato. Ai primi del sec. XVI furono compilate tre distinte raccolte di miracoli a lui attribuiti, e nella redazione di una di esse ebbe parte la B. Maria Bagnesi; S. Caterina de' Ricci, che da lui riconobbe due volte la guarigione, gli diceva l'Ufficio e ne celebrava la festa annuale nel suo convento di Prato: le quali pratiche furono oggetto di dispute ma non d'impedimento nel processo di beatificazione. Né minori devozione ebbero per lui s. Filippo Neri, la B. Colomba da Rieti, la B. Caterina da Racconigi, la B. Maddalena del Paradiso. Di una canonizzazione del S. si parlò sotto Clemente VIII, che pur molto gli era devoto; tanto che il generale dell'Ordine, Sisto Fabbri, ne fece comporre tre diversi Uffici propri. Negli Acta Sanctorum il suo nome è incluso fra i *praetermissi* del 23 maggio.
Necessariamente le drammatiche vicende della sua vita, la stessa ingiustizia da lui sofferta, la qualità dei tempi, i salutari rigori della Controriforma prolungarono oltre il rogo la guerra intorno al S. La sua dottrina, rigorosamente disaminata nel Sinodo fiorentino del 1516, nel V Concilio lateranense, nella Congregazione dell'In