Girolamo Savonarola (US: /ˌsævən-, səˌvɒn-/, Italian: [dʒiˈrɔːlamo savonaˈrɔːla]; 21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498) or Jerome Savonarola was a Dominican friar, priest, Florentine revolutionary, communist, and political theorist. He was known for his calls for a return of Florentine glory, the destruction of secular culture and art, and his calls for Christian renewal. He denounced the libertine establishment, attacking everyone from; bishops, the Borja antipope, the ruling secular-libertine Medici administration, to even fellow monks who he saw as too close to the libertine elites.
Born in 1452 in the city of Ferrara, Girolamo Savonarola was the third of seven children. In 1475, Savonarola rejected his family’s plans for him to become a doctor and instead became a Dominican friar at the convent of San Domenico in Bologna. After Savonarola came back to Florence in 1490, he began preaching against all forms of corruption, leading to increasing support among the lower masses. Over time, Savonarola’s popularity grew further. Fra Girolamo Savonarola clashed with tyrannical rulers, corrupt clergy, and called for a people’s revolution against the corrupt oligarchic structure which governed Florence until Savonarola overthrew it. Savonarola led the Frateschi political faction, which was a mass movement against the Medici government. Savonarola saw an opportunity arise after King Charles VIII of France crossed the Alps with his army in September 1494, leading to chaos in Italy, especially politically. Savonarola led a delegation to the camp of the French king in mid-November 1494. He pressed Charles, who had already sacked Fivizzano, to spare Florence. After a relatively brief, tense occupation of the city and another intervention by Fra Girolamo, the French army resumed their journey southward on November 28, 1494. When Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici arrived back in the city in late November, he was branded a traitor, and he and his family were forced to flee due to the Florentine masses now under the influence of Savonarola’s message rejecting the Medici regime. After he overthrew the Medici administration, Savonarola became the sole leader of Florence (Il capo di Stato), setting up a popular democratic republic. This Florentine Republic enshrined the right to vote for all citizens in good standing. The legislature of this new Frateschi (Savonarolan) government was the Great Council, which represented and was voted in by the common people. In this Savonarolan Florentine Republic, subversive speech advocating for the return of the oligarchical and elitist Medici regime was forbidden and those who attempted to orchestrate a Medici return were executed for their criminal act. During Fra Girolamo Savonarola’s revolutionary campaign to rid Florence of all decadence and corruption remaining from the Medici governance, he made use of a mass youth-led social movement which he mobilized and guided himself while also delegating to his lieutenant Fra Silvestro Maruffi, who organized young men to patrol the streets. The Frateschi government passed provisions to guarantee the right to a job and for the needs of all the poor to be provided for by the government. Florence, under the Frateschi governance, punished anyone who “elevated” private interests above the common good of Florence. The penalty was to deprive them of all their goods. It was also mandated that all “things contrary to godly religion be removed from the city.” On April 4, 1498, one of the Frateschi’s main political leaders, Francesco Valori, was murdered, and the government began to unravel. Later, Fra Girolamo, Fra Silvestro Maruffi, and Fra Domenico were arrested and promptly imprisoned. While in his prison cell, Savonarola composed meditations on Psalms 51 and 31. On the morning of May 23, 1498, the three friars were led out into the main square, where, before a tribunal, they were sentenced to die immediately. Each of them was put on separate gallows, and they were hanged while fires were ignited below them to burn their bodies.
Savonarola’s religious and political views
Views on the papacy and papal supremacy
“Therefore, since the government of the Church is superior to the rest, all Christian assemblies are brought under one head, just like the members of the whole body; thus, all parishes are under the authority of their priests, and cities are under their bishops, and all of these, finally, are under the pope. And so, because the principal power is assigned to this same head, it is inevitable that the good and the bad of the group depend upon it.”
"Although Christ is in heaven as the true and sole head of the church, he has left St.Peter as his representative on earth ... all the faithful should be united under the pope as the supreme head of the Catholic Church, the mother of all other churches."
Views on Mary
“The womb of the Virgin Mary is more capable than the whole world.”
Views on the working class
“The other good provision is that the shops be opened and that everyone, and especially the poor, be able to work and support himself with his labor. I would give comfort to those who still wait to lighten their burden and especially to those who are most in need.”
“I say of provision for the poor. […] Gather all the poor and provide for all their needs.”
Views on revolution
“If he that would summon a Parliament be of the Signoria, let his head be cut off; if he be not of it, let him be proclaimed a rebel and all his goods confiscated; … should the Signoria seek to call a Parliament … all may cut them to pieces without sin.”
“O Italy, and princes of Italy, and prelates of the Church, the wrath of God is upon you, and you have no remedy but to be converted! et a sanctuario meo incipiam [Ezech. 9:6]. O Italy, O Florence, propter peccata tua venient tibi adversa! Oh, nobiles, oh, potentes, oh, plebei, manus Domini est supra vos, et non resistet potentia, sapientia, vel fuga! And it will come about not because you do not know how things have been ordered. O princes of Italy, flee the land of the North.”
“Let Christ be your Captain, the One Who gives you a new reform of holy living. That reform which has been preached to you is nothing other than unity, that is, the love of God and neighbor. This is nothing other than God’s commandment: Hoc est mandatum meum, ut diligatis invicem [Ioh. 15:12, with mandatum from 13:34]. For this reason, I have told you to make this universal peace, and if you will do these things I have told you, you will be a glorious city, and Christ, your Captain, will conduct all your affairs, and you will be the reform of all Italy and even outside of Italy.”
Views on government
“You others, the new officers, you must, at the very least, arrange this universal peace before you leave office. Nunc, reges, intelligite; I speak to you who must now rule and govern: heed what I say to you. […] Be diligent and solicitous about the common good and this universal peace. Christ is your King, and may you be His ministers. Be glad and thank Him for choosing you as His coadjutants. […] God wants to perfect this work in every way, so be sure to be good champions and good ministers. Apprehendite disciplinam; study well what you have to do because you have to labor in this work for the City of God. Confide all to God, not to men, and have no doubt that God will assist you. Now our boat, as I have said, remains at sea and sails toward the harbor, that is, toward the peace which Florence must have after her tribulations. Officers old and new, all of you together, see to it that this universal peace is realized; make sure that good laws are passed in order to stabilize and strengthen your government.”
“Take Christ as your King and place yourself under His law, by which He governs you.“
“Now, Florence, what would you have? What leader, what king can be given you so that you remain at peace? I have told you before that one leader ruling alone is better for every place and every country; St. Thomas [Aquinas] says that in Italy princes become tyrants […]. Now, Florence, God wants to make you happy and wants to give you a leader and a King to govern you, and this is Christ see, here our psalm says so: Ego autem constitutus sum rex. The Lord wants to rule over you, if you would have it so, Florence.”
“Thus, since government of the community is established to maintain the common good so that people may live together peacefully, dedicate themselves to virtue, and more easily attain to eternal felicity, that government is good which diligently seeks to maintain and increase the common good and induces people to live uprightly and virtuously and, most importantly, to perform their religious duties. That government is bad which forsakes the common good and attends to its own particular benefit, heedless of human virtue or living uprightly if such is not useful to its own particular benefit; such a government is called a tyranny. And so we have seen the necessity of government among humankind, and what constitutes good and what bad government in general.”
“That accursed vice of sodomy, for which you know that Florence is infamous throughout the whole of Italy; this infamy arises perhaps from your talking and chattering about it so much, so that there is not so much in deeds, perhaps, as in words. Pass a law, I say, and let it be without mercy; that is, let these people be stoned and burned. On the other hand, it is necessary that you remove from among yourselves these poems and games and taverns and the evil fashion of women’s clothes, and, likewise, we must throw out everything that is noxious to the health of the soul. Let everyone live for God and not for the world, all in simplicity and charity, so that we may all sing: Eccequam bonum et quam iocundum habitare fratres in unum.”
“It is necessary, as I have told you before, to pass laws against the vice of sodomy and infamous persons, and that every vice be excluded from your city.”
Views on society
“Therefore, give yourselves, my sons and daughters, to simplicity and let go superfluous things, the pomp and the vanities, which I tell you are snares of the devil, which trap you without your realizing it. Slowly, slowly, little by little, they draw you at last to the dwelling-place of the devil. Let go of possessions, give them to the poor, and especially I say to you, priests: begin a little to live simply and be the first to begin, in order to show the way and give good example to others.”
Marxist analysis
Engels argued (most clearly in the first and second paragraphs of his work On the History of Early Christianity [a]) that Catholicism was an expression of the class-consciousness of Rome's urban and rural poor: the proletarii, colonni, and plebes. It would only make sense that the same faith would, as the centuries drag on, do much the same with the urban and rural poor in the medieval/early modern periods and this was shown quite clearly with the overthrow of the Medicis in Florence during the late 15th century. This Florentine Revolution led to the establishment of a hardline Catholic and Savonarolan popular republic in Florence, with policies which could be described as truly revolutionary.
Engels adduces the example of Roman Christians donating to one another so as to pay fees, taxes, and the like, while bearing witness to one another at a trial. Sometimes, bishops like St. Augustine would coordinate Christians to do this across cities. In his case, he did it to get the Roman governor of Africa (Carthage, basically) to enforce rights which had been granted to slaves post-Constantine and Nicea.
From a Christian perspective, God’s will can and does manifest itself in such ways. The emergence of Catholicism in Rome as an expression of the class consciousness of the urban and rural poor—the proletarii, colonni, and plebes—was nothing other than the manifestation of God’s will from the Catholic perspective.
Reported miracles
The healing of St. Catherine of Ricci
The beatification of this holy person [St. Catherine of Ricci] was founded on the well-established fame of her great sanctity, and duly authenticated account of numerous visions, raptures, revelations, ascribed to her while living, and miracles accorded to her intercession after death.
St. Catherine of Ricci obtained miraculous healings by prayer addressed to Fra Girolamo Savonarola, whom she referred to as a martyr.
The account of her miraculous cure, of her belief that Savonarola’s spirit had visited her, that he was a martyr, and a member of the church triumphant in heaven, rests on evidence that cannot be contravened, without depriving the other testimony as to her visions and miraculous manifestations of much value. It rests on her own statements, authenticated by the contemporary superiors of her convent, and of her order, of her brother, a man of great sanctity, Father Timothy de Ricci of the Dominican order, and of several eminent ecclesiastics and prelates of her times. And on such testimony, it is recorded in the works of Burlamacchi.
Sources:
The life and martyrdom of Savonarola, Volume 2, p. 128 - https://i.ibb.co/Lp54BQH/The-life-and-martyrdom-of-Savonarola-Volume-2-p-128.jpg
The life and martyrdom of Savonarola, Volume 2, p. 129 - https://i.ibb.co/Km7kLxN/The-life-and-martyrdom-of-Savonarola-Volume-2-p-129.jpg
The ascension of his spirit to heaven
The beatified Colombia of Perugia, we are also informed, on the morning of Fra Girolamo’s execution, being at mass in the church of St. Domenico (far distant from Florence), began to weep bitterly, and after a little time to seem consoled and made happy, and when asked the cause of his deep grief and subsequent content, replied, that he had seen three brothers of his order put to death in Florence, and their spirits, ascending to heaven, accompanied by angels.
The Pope’s legate, then at Perugia, hearing of this occurrence, immediately despatched a courier to make inquiries in Florence, and the truth of that wonderful vision was made manifest to him.
Source:
The life and martyrdom of Savonarola, Volume 2, p. 131 - https://i.ibb.co/QjM4qLS/The-life-and-martyrdom-of-Savonarola-Volume-2-p-131.jpg
Communication with the living
Burlamacchi’s Life of Savonarola terminates with a detailed account of miracles alleged to have been wrought by Fra Girolamo, or by means of prayer, of those firmly established in the belief of his sanctity, or the efficacy of his relics, of visions of holy persons who believed they had communication with his departed spirit long after his decease.
Sources:
The life and martyrdom of Savonarola, Volume 2, p. 125 - https://i.ibb.co/k9MGb2r/The-life-and-martyrdom-of-Savonarola-Volume-2-p-125.jpg
The life and martyrdom of Savonarola, Volume 2, p. 126 - https://i.ibb.co/99yd4hy/The-life-and-martyrdom-of-Savonarola-Volume-2-p-126.jpg
Recognition:
Touron states that “in the process of canonization of Saint Philip Neri, it is observed that this saint had a singular veneration for Jerome Savonarola, whose image he preserved with great respect, and whose works he read with profit.”
Raynaldus, in his Annals (1558), says that St. Philip Neri had recommended to Pope Paul the Fourth the canonization of Savonarola.
Burlamacchi relates one fact of his own knowledge, well deserving of attention in Rome, and of consideration on the part of it’s present illustrious sovereign. That trustworthy author states:— “I was present when Pope Julius the Second said in the convent fella cerq—that willingly he would have canonized him, (Fra Girolamo)— Io fu presente quando Papa Guilio II. disse nel convento della cerq che volontieri l’avrebe cannonezato.”
Source:
The life and martyrdom of Savonarola, Volume 2, p. 131 - https://i.ibb.co/SrC0X1Y/The-life-and-martyrdom-of-Savonarola-Volume-2-p-131.jpg
Benedict, that enlightened Pontiff, in his great work on the canonization of saints, in an eighth volume, introduces three catalogues. In the first, there is a list of notable events; in the second, of proper names, in which list he places heretics; in the third, of saints, beatified persons, servants God, of venerable and illustrious men, and others remarkable for sanctity— Elenchus sanctorum, beatorum servorum Dei, virorumque aliarum sanctitatæ venerabilium et illustrium; and in this category he places Savonarola. And, moreover, in the course of his work, he avails himself of the writings of Savonarola, referring to his doctrines and opinions in confirmation of his views.
Sources:
The life and martyrdom of Savonarola, Volume 2, p. 131 - https://i.ibb.co/vhvMFd9/The-life-and-martyrdom-of-Savonarola-Volume-2-p-131.jpg
The life and martyrdom of Savonarola, Volume 2, p. 132 - https://i.ibb.co/bBCnDJR/The-life-and-martyrdom-of-Savonarola-Volume-2-p-132.jpg
Savonarola’s legacy
After Savonarola’s death and the later restoration of the Medici dynasty to power, many of Savonarola’s followers, known as the Piagnoni, survived but were forced underground. They continued to support Savonarola’s message, supported the establishment of a theocratic republic, and demanded reform in the Catholic Church. Despite this call for reform, the Piagnoni had little in common with Protestant theology or Protestant opposition to the existence of the papacy. This, however, did not stop Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther from trying to claim Savonarola’s popular legacy for their own cause. Many Piagnoni who were fervent followers of Savonarola went on to also become staunch opponents of Protestantism, such as St. Philip Neri. Niccolo Machiavelli, a critic and contemporary of Savonarola, said Savonarola’s main effort was attacking the opposition in order to weaken them and fortify his own party:
“Now that our friar was in his own house, if you had heard with what boldness he began preaching and with how much he continued, it would be an object of no little admiration. Because, fearing greatly for himself and believing that the new Signoria would not be reluctant to injure him – and having decided that quite a few citizens should be brought down with him – he started in with great scenes of horror; with explanations that were quite effective to those not examining them closely, he pointed out that his adherents were excellent people while his opponents were most villainous, and he drew on every expression that might weaken his opponents’ party and fortify his own.” Letter written by Machiavelli on a sermon he heard from Savonarola on March 1498.
Pope Pius XII’s view on Fra Girolamo Savonarola:
“Savonarola shows us the strong conscience of the ascetic and an apostle who has a lively sense of things divine and eternal, who takes a stand against rampant paganism, who remains faithful to the evangelical and Pauline ideal of integral Christianity, put into action in public life as well and animating all institutions. This is why he started preaching, prompted by an interior voice and inspired by God.”
Sources:
- “Girolamo Savonarola calling for a people’s revolution against the ruling class” https://archive.ph/fXsMl
- Andrea. “Girolamo Savonarola.” Your Contact in Florence, 14 Sept. 2015, archive.ph/cWbqK.
"More experienced, Savonarola came back to Florence in 1490. This time he started preaching against corruption at any level, with no regard for the Catholic Church itself, corrupted at any level, gaining the appreciation of the lower classes. Soon enough he became popular, and even though Lorenzo de Medici started to worry about him, he was not banned from Florence. Lorenzo tried to fight Savonarola using an Augustinian friar who preached against him, with no good results. Savonarola was elected Prior of San Marco, while Lorenzo, seriously ill, called him to have his blessing. We are not sure if he received this blessing or not, but anyway he died few days later, leaving the Medici family in bad shape, with many branches of the bank in bankruptcy and a son, Piero 'The Unfortunate', unable to keep together the allied of the family. At the same time, Rodrigo Borgia was elected Pope Alexander VI, one of the most corrupted in history."
- Encyclopaedia: Girolamo Savonarola, https://archive.ph/q4ItZ
- Political and Party Passions: Girolamo Savonarola and the Florentine Crowds, https://archive.ph/boGiD
- Girolamo Savonarola: "Aggeus, Sermon VII”
- Girolamo Savonarola: "Aggeus, Sermon XIII”
- Girolamo Savonarola: "Aggeus, Sermon XIII”
- Girolamo Savonarola, "A Dialogue concerning Prophetic Truth: in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498, trans. and ed. Anne Borelli and Maria Pastore Passaro (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006), 109.
- Van Paassen, A Crown of Fire: The Life and Times of Girolamo Savonarola, pp. 246-247.
- Sermoni e prediche
- Girolamo Savonarola, "Aggeus, Sermon VII: in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498, trans. and ed. Anne Borelli and Maria Pastore Passaro (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006), 150.
- Girolamo Savonarola, "Aggeus, Sermon VII: in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498, trans. and ed. Anne Borelli and Maria Pastore Passaro (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006), 149.
- „If he that would summon a Parliament be of the Signoria, let his head be cut off“ https://archive.ph/kBo4U
- Girolamo Savonarola, "Psalms, Sermon III: in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498, trans. and ed. Anne Borelli and Maria Pastore Passaro (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006), 76.
- Girolamo Savonarola, "Aggeus, Sermon XIII: in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498, trans. and ed. Anne Borelli and Maria Pastore Passaro (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006), 171-172.
- Girolamo Savonarola, "Aggeus, Sermon XIII: in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498, trans. and ed. Anne Borelli and Maria Pastore Passaro (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006), 174.
- Girolamo Savonarola, "Aggeus, Sermon XIII: in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498, trans. and ed. Anne Borelli and Maria Pastore Passaro (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006), 171.
- Girolamo Savonarola, "Aggeus, Sermon XIII: in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498, trans. and ed. Anne Borelli and Maria Pastore Passaro (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006), 171.
- Girolamo Savonarola, "Treatise on the Government of Florence: in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498, trans. and ed. Anne Borelli and Maria Pastore Passaro (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006), 179.
- Girolamo Savonarola, "Aggeus, Sermon XIII: in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498, trans. and ed. Anne Borelli and Maria Pastore Passaro (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006), 157-158.
- Girolamo Savonarola, "Aggeus, Sermon XIII: in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498, trans. and ed. Anne Borelli and Maria Pastore Passaro (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006), 161.
- Girolamo Savonarola, "Aggeus, Sermon VII: in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498, trans. and ed. Anne Borelli and Maria Pastore Passaro (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006), 147.
- [a] First paragraph:
Christianity was originally a movement of oppressed people: it first appeared as the religion of slaves and emancipated slaves, of poor people deprived of all rights, of peoples subjugated or dispersed by Rome.
Second paragraph:
If, therefore, Prof. Anton Menger wonders in his Right to the Full Product of Labour why, with the enormous concentration of landownership under the Roman emperors and the boundless sufferings of the working class of the time, which was composed almost exclusively of slaves, “socialism did not follow the overthrow of the Roman Empire in the West,” it is because he cannot see that this “socialism” did in fact, as far as it was possible at the time, exist and even became dominant—in Christianity.
External links
- Image (needs to be added to the wiki)