Girolamo Savonarola

Manny Pereira

October 19, 2024 38 min read

irolamo Savonarola (1452 - 1498) was a brilliant and bold voice proclaiming the fear of God in the very heart of the Renaissance. He was the first Reformation forerunner to recover an expositional method of preaching sacred Scripture, and that in the common tongue. He remains one of the most obscure and least appreciated forerunners to the Reformation. If he is mentioned at all, he is typically associated with electrifying denunciations of moral corruptions. Some mistakenly count him a mere moralist. Yet, he was the first forerunner to explicitly preach for “regeneration” of the church and call her to be the conscience of the state. His practice matched his preaching, such that his elevated spirit, intense devotion, and blameless moral character were known by friend and foe alike. His life and ministry were shaped by and shined forth a healthy and heartfelt fear of God—a fear that knew and made known the grace and love of God through Christ crucified. But his uncompromising stance against sin, his refusal to be played or swayed by men, and his attack on corruption in both the church and city were not well received. He was eventually indicted and excommunicated by the pope. After many tortures, the Roman Catholic Church ordered his execution by burning in the Palazzo de Vecchio of Florence.

Girolamo Savonarola was born at Ferrara, Italy. The year was 1452, the same as that of Leonardo da Vinci. Though not especially wealthy, his family enjoyed a respectable social rank. Michele Savonarola, Girolamo’s grandfather, was a famous professor of medicine at Padua University and a well-reputed physician to the Duke of Ferrara, which gave Girolamo’s family entrance to the court of higher society and all that came with it.

A Tender Conscience

From an early age, Girolamo demonstrated a remarkable aptitude and appetite for learning. While others his age were playing games and sporting adventures under the sun, he preferred the shimmering light of a candle upon the pages of a book. He was drawn to the writings of some of the most learned men in history. He read Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Dante, and others. He received instruction in philosophy, logic, and medicine. Before long, he exhibited a capacious mind, a studious disposition, and an extraordinary memory. Reflecting the combination of these gifts, John Foxe described him as, “singularly well learned.” But it wouldn’t take long before his taste for things eternal would redirect the use of his mind and learning.

In these early years, Girolamo was educated by his father and grandfather. It was only a matter of time before his father, Niccolo, would urge him to likewise devote himself to natural and medical science. Quite beyond his choice, Girolamo was destined for the University of Bologna.

University of Bologna

The University of Bologna in 1470 was Italy’s proud metropolis of letters. It hosted one of the most well-reputed schools of medicine in the world. A degree from Bologna would spell success wherever Girolamo wished to go.

An Active Conscience

In addition to his gifted mind, Girolamo had an exceptionally tender conscience. University life was immersed in more than learning. Renaissance culture dominated the scene. Girolamo was repelled. In a letter home, he wrote, “To be considered a man here, you must defile your mouth with the most filthy, brutal, and tremendous blasphemies. If you study philosophy and food arts you are considered a dreamer; if you live chastely and modestly, a fool; if you are pious, a hypocrite; if you believe in God, an imbecile.”

It is at this point that a distinct captivity to the truth and holiness of God manifested itself with intensity. He had been reading and memorizing sacred Scripture in copious quantities. When he could no longer endure the moral corruption that pervaded the university environment, he made his way back home. Douglas Bond describes Girolamo’s condition at this time:

Conscious of his sin and impending damnation, he spent hours in prayer and fasting, confessing his evils and depriving himself of food for days at a time. On his first visit home from university, he had no cavalier tales of carousing and drinking; his parents looked aghast at a pale, gaunt, sober young man.¹ Douglas Bond

Back in Ferrara, he soon discovered that things were not much better. Theadore Beza later recounts Girolamo’s experience, saying that his “refined nature recoiled from the frivolity and licentiousness of his birthplace. He gave himself up to prolonged devotions. He secluded himself from society and pursued a close study of scholastic philosophy and theology.” His mighty mind and sensitive conscience were heading in a new direction.

One biographer summarizes the next several months in terms of the inner turmoil that marked Girolamo:

Thus filled with disgust for the wickedness of the world and disenchanted as to its illusions, it was natural that his thoughts should turn to a monastic life in which, he might suppose, peace, contentment and spiritual satisfaction were to be found. The project was one which he scarcely dared to entertain in view of the certain opposition of his family, yet it engrossed his mind, and refused to be dismissed. The months passed by and no decision was taken till in 1474 from a project it became a resolve. Influenced by a sermon preached by an Augustinian friar at Faenza, Savonarola made his final choice and determined in due season to assume the cowl. The pains he would endure and those which he would inflict by separation were so keenly realised that months elapsed before he could brace himself to his resolve.²

When that day finally came, providence had Girolamo at home in solitude. His family, though encouraging him to join them, left to engage with nearly the whole city of Ferrara in festivities. The attraction of peace with God and the repulsion of the world finally overcame him, compelling him to steal away from his family for a monastic life.

A Relieved Soul

Twenty-three-year-old Girolamo secretly made the trek back to Bologna, but not back to the university. This time he went to Bologna to commit himself to the monastery there, a cloister following the Catholic order of Saint Dominic. One historian recounts this move:

Impressed with terror at the wickedness which he saw about him, he finally, in his twenty-third year, fled from his home and friends and took refuge in a Dominican cloister at Bologna. Two days after his arrival in Bologna he wrote to his parents, begging their forgiveness and blessing, and averring as his excuse that he was utterly unable to endure the spectacle of the wickedness of Italian society.³

In a letter dated April 25, 1475, Girolamo expresses his heart to his parents with care and respect:

My honoured father, I doubt not at all that my departure hath been to you painful and distressing; and I know it to have been the more distressing from the fact that I left you secretly and unknown to you. Yet I would that by this letter my mind and intention may be fully revealed unto thee, that thus thou may be of a better courage and may understand that I was fed unto the purpose in question by no means in that light and childish spirit as I hear is believed by many persons. ... The chief reason which led me to the religious life and to a monastery, namely, the boundless misery of this world and the extreme unrighteousness of most men, the adulteries, thefts, idolatries, impurities, and hideous blasphemies, unto which this age hath so far reached that there may be found none that doeth good. ... Is it not a fitting and glorious work of virtue for a man to avoid the defilements of this world? ... Thou must not weep. Nay, thou must render unceasing thanks to the Lord Jesus in that he hath granted unto thee a son and those two-and-twenty years hath kept him safe and sound. ... do your utmost to console and strengthen my mother, of whom and of thyself I do very earnestly beseech that ye would give me your parental blessing; I, on my part, will constantly pray unto the Lord for the salvation and entire well-being of your souls. Girolamo Savonarolaletter to his father, April 25, 1475

The difficulty and pain evident in Girolamo’s separation from his family is quite telling of the compelling force that had grown within. This force, though most certainly used for good, was not in itself initially right. It could be described as the drive that comes from a dreadful fear of condemnation.

Works and Wrong Fear

Girolamo had not only seen “the boundless misery of this world and the extreme unrighteousness of most men,” his eyes had been opened to the fearsome majesty of God. This initial apprehension, like Martin Luther afterwards, reduced him to an unhealthy terror of God. He needed the gospel (“good news”).

Savonarola longed for peace with God. There was no justification by faith alone to be heard from the Semi-Pelagianism of the Roman Catholic Church surrounding him. He lived in a paroxysm of fear, daily terrified that he might have committed a mortal sin. So he deprived himself, hoping to find comfort for his soul by inflicting hardship on his body, his self-denial taking on more and more drastic measures.⁴

Extreme discipline and bodily self-mortification increased as the routine of Girolamo’s life. Again, like Luther, he had a wrong fear of God, compelling him to work his way to peace.

Here he dedicated his life to God through prayer, penance, solitude and self-denial. Vowing chastity and poverty, he commenced the monastic life, vainly attempting to achieve by his efforts what only grace can accomplish. By fasting to the point of starvation, self-flagellating to mortify the flesh, and living in quarters that would have troubled a Spartan hoplite (foot soldier), Savonarola heartily entered into the life of a friar, thereby attempting to release his soul from bondage to his body.⁵

From Learning to Life

Girolamo’s superiors eventually sought to redirect him away from destroying himself. Academics, they thought, would be the solution. But this hardly helped. Girolamo had a growing aversion to humanism and what he saw as its invasion into the church. He had studied much in the works of Thomas Aquinas, the brilliant Dominican theologian, and other scholastics to no avail. They celebrated Aristotle, “Christianizing” his principles. But Girolamo was suspicious of humanism, even among the church doctors of theology, saying, “I have not entered religion to exchange the Aristotle of the world for the Aristotle of the cloister.”

He would later vent his disdain for so many leaders in the church emphasizing and venerating Greek philosophers. Of the church leaders, he wrote, “Those ancient authors whom they praise are strangers to Christ and the Christian virtues and their art is idolatry of heathen gods.” Against Plato, he quipped, “A simple old woman knows more of the true faith.” Of Aristotle, he said, “Your Aristotle does not even succeed in proving the immortality of the soul; he remains uncertain about points so capital that I do not understand how you can waste so much labor on his pages.”

It was at this point that Girolamo turned from the books of the academy to the one book of sacred Scripture for the source of his relief. He would later describe the years that immediately followed this turning point as the happiest years of his life. Girolamo’s wrong fears were relieved, and a measure of peace was found. It would appear that it was during this time of devotion through sacred Scripture alone that Girolamo Savonarola was made a new man in Christ. Later, he called for the same from among his peers, “Instead of teaching so many other books, why don’t they expound the one book in which is the law and spirit of life—the Gospel!” The gospel had awakened his heart to the love of God through Christ crucified and risen. Even if his understanding was not fully lit in all the precision of the Greek New Testament, as would come in the Reformation, yet Savonarola had come to know the love of God in Christ Jesus as His Savior and Lord. So greatly manifest was his regeneration that the Spanish statesman, Emilio Castelar (1832-1899), could write, “No one in history personifies and represents with better right that new birth of the religious spirit presented in the gospel of Christ.”

Savonarola’s stirring reverence for God was now rooted not only in who God is but also in what He has done for us in the gospel of Christ. Savonarola was freed in the delight of gospel fear, reveling in the wonder of God’s love. He would later write,

love bound Him to the pillar, love led Him to the cross, love raised Him from the dead and made Him ascend into heaven, and thus accomplishing all the mysteries of our redemption. This is the true and only doctrine, but in these days the preachers teach nothing but empty subtleties. Girolamo Savonarola

A Fearless Herald

After approximately six years, Girolamo was directed by the Superior of his Order to transfer to Ferrara. This was short-lived. Within a year he was transferred to Florence, then Lombardy, and finally back to Florence.

Bologna

Girolamo early attempts at preaching were painful—for all.

His first attempts at preaching were without special results. His voice was harsh, his gestures awkward, his language clumsy and scholastic. His audience was not attracted.⁶

The people were accustomed to fine oratory and the man-centered rhetoric of the Renaissance. Girolamo would not fit this mold.

When the day came, Savonarola ascended the pulpit, eyeing the paintings of saints and demons lining the walls and seemingly watching him; they awed him; they terrified him; they mocked him. What followed was painful. He stammered; he mumbled; he lost his place in his notes. When it finally ended, the listeners, accustomed to the polished oratory of a university town, shook their heads, and rolled their eyes in disdain as they exited the church.⁷

He was counseled by his teachers to focus on delivery and not study, on style rather than content. He was exhorted to work on his oratory cadence, rhetorical devices, and gestures. “Savonarola felt like they were training him to be an actor in a tragedy, not a preacher in a pulpit proclaiming the Word of God.”⁸

Ferrara (1481)

In 1481 Girolamo received word that he was being transferred out of Bologna and to Ferrara, his hometown, on a preaching assignment. This was not good news to him. Although his superiors thought it might encourage Girolamo, it nearly paralyzed him. Thoughts of the vanities experienced in his childhood city flooded his mind. Nor was he eager to be scrutinized by familiar personalities acquainted with hurling taunts and jabs at him. Then there was his family.

There was one remarkable incident that occurred during his short stay in Ferrar. One Sunday he preached on 2 Timothy 3, “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:2–4). The impact was powerfully felt on his hearers. Ill-mannered sailors stared in astonishment. At the conclusion of his sermon, a certain sailor, considered the foulest among them, fell to his knees and begged Girolamo to grant him forgiveness for his sins. This left a lasting impression on him of the power of Scripture.

Florence (1481)

Word of his struggles in Ferrara got back to his superiors in Bologna and he was soon given a new assignment. San Marco, the newly refurbished Dominican monastery in Florence, would be his new post.

Life in Florence was lived large. It boasted the largest dome cathedral in the world, Santa Maria del Fiore, otherwise known as Brunelleschi’s Duomo. Being the birthplace of the Renaissance, it had a reputation of humanist opulence and cultural corruption. Even the monastery was filled with extravagant artwork from some of the finest Renaissance artists.

At this time, Girolamo was assigned to preach at San Lorenzo, the Medici’s parish church. The pulpit here was usually occupied by Fra Mariano, a Renaissance man who “epitomized the theatrics and eloquent delivery” of humanist training. The contrast with Girolamo was stark. “Heavy on the Bible, his words fell on sophisticated listeners more accustomed to the man-centred rhetoric of the humanists.”⁹ Fewer and fewer people returned until eventually there remained about twenty-five souls who would gather to hear Girolamo preach.

Girolamo struggled. Though the people were different, the corruption and filth were the same—only larger. He found himself deeply troubled by the prostitution, homosexuality, drunkenness, violence, dishonesty, immodesty, crude and foul language and greed that filled Florence. Still more, his greatest grief was that these same sins were within the church and embraced among the clergy. In his own words, he “struggled cruelly,” feeling the oppressive weight darkness all about him.

Lombardy (1486)

Largely out of care for Girolamo, his prior transferred him in 1486 to a quiet town in the lush green foothills of Lombardy. Life was simple here. The people he would minister to were mostly peasant folk, unsophisticated in manner and plain in dress. It was all very refreshing to Girolamo.

The people received him warmly. They listened intently to him with open hearts. They helped Girolamo grow into a shepherd and mature in his preaching. But his troubled soul would not rest. Though he manifestly cared for the congregation and grew more comfortable speaking to them, his passion against sinfulness did not subside. Though he spoke gently, he did not hold back from passionately denouncing sin.

On one occasion, the floodgates let loose. Girolamo threatened sinners with the misery and damnation of hell, extolling the holiness of God and calling sinners to repentance. The response was tremendous. Historians testify that it was a revival, with a rippling effect throughout the countryside. Word spread and country folk from all around came in droves to hear the Word of God preached like they have never heard before. Not only was God changing lives through Girolamo’s preaching, God was changing the preacher into an instrument of reform.

Soon Girolamo’s ministry expanded. He as sent to Milan, Venice, Padua, and other northern Italian cities to preach. His preaching drew more and more attention. The Florentine philosopher, Pico della Mirandola, came to hear Girolamo and was greatly impacted. He wasn’t impressed with his eloquence or rhetoric but was convicted by the Scriptures that Girolamo expounded. This sparked the next turn of events in Girolamo’s ministry.

Florence (1489)

Mirandola, himself frustrated with the hypocrisy in the leadership of the church, influenced Lorenzo de Medici to call Girolamo back to Florence. So it was, “with a mere stroke of the quill from the Medicis the Dominicans scrambled to bring Savonarola back to Florence early in 1489.”

Lorenzo de Medici

Lorenzo de Medici, in the legacy of his father, made Florence his home. Though keeping himself free from all titles and offices in the city, he ran the show. Florence was at this time one of the leading trading centers in the world. It was the center of fashion, the Park Avenue of Europe. It boasted of seventy banks, funding the lavish cultural industries of the city. And Lorenzo was at the top. He was an exceptionally wealthy and powerful force in Italy.

Girolamo relocated back to Florence at a most pivotal time in history. The political, cultural, and religious situation could not have been more volatile.

Prior of San Marco

With renewed focus and confidence, Girolamo reentered the monastery of San Marco. This time his lectures in the cloister demonstrated vigor and skill. More and more monks attended his teaching and now evident leadership. Soon they could not fit inside the chapel and had to go out to the monastery garden and the San Marco square. By 1491, Girolamo was promoted to prior of San Marco, meaning that he was now the head or first superior responsible to govern the monastery.

Herald of Gospel Reform

His preaching in the churches was markedly different. He was asked to preach in the Duomo, the grand cathedral of Florence. Unusually large crowds began attending to the preaching of wrath and grace, judgment and gospel from the Scriptures. Pockets of revival began. Members of the church began begging for forgiveness and repenting of sin. Bond describes the scene: “With force and clarity, he delivered his sermons to vast audiences pressing their way into the Duomo, as many as 12,000 people at a time. Attempting to copy down what Savonarola was preaching, one listener confessed, ‘I was overcome by weeping and could not go on.’” Another member of the church captured his personal impressions with these words:

The promptness of his speech. the lofty grandeur of his themes, the grace of his phrases, his clear and penetrating voice, his face not merely fervent but full of enthusiasm, and beautiful gestures, pierced the hearts of the hearers so they were not only wrapped in attention but transported beyond themselves.

Girolamo preached not in Latin, as others, but in Florentine Italian. He preached in the common tongue of the people. Not only this, but his preaching was primarily expository and sequential through books of the Bible. This was a manner and discipline foreign to his time.

He was also fearless. He applied the text directly to his hearers and with power, often where it hit the hardest. He was not afraid to point at the corrupt clergy or the Medicis, boldly speaking against corruption and abuses.

Against corrupt leadership in the church he said:

In these days, prelates and preachers are chained to the earth by the love of earthly things. The care of souls is no longer their concern. They are content with the receipt of revenue. The preachers preach to please princes and to be praised by them. They have done worse. They have not only destroyed the Church of God. They have built up a new Church after their own pattern. Girolamo Savonarola

Against the tyrannical depravity of the Medicis he railed:

Nor shall that dictatorship be excused on the ground that it finances literature and art. The literature and art are pagan; the humanists merely pretend to be Christians; those ancient authors whom they so sedulously exhume and edit and praise are strangers to Christ and the Christian virtues, and their art is an idolatry of heathen gods, or a shameless display of naked women and men. Girolamo Savonarola

Later Lorenzo de Medici invited Girolamo to preach to a select few attendees within his own palace. Even this did not throttle Girolamo’s piercing rebukes:

Tyrants are incorrigible because they are proud, because they love flattery and will not restore ill-gotten gains. They hearken not unto the poor, and neither do they condemn the rich. They corrupt voters, and farm out taxes to aggravate the burdens of the people. The tyrant is wont to occupy the people with shows and festivals, in order that they may think of their own pastimes and not of his designs, and, growing unused to the conduct of the commonwealth, may leave the reins of government in his hands. Girolamo Savonarola

Girolamo was not a people pleaser. As Bond well said, “His message was more like that of the Hebrew prophets: a declaration of the holiness of God, a decrying of rebellion against God’s will and ways, the promise of judgement at the hands of an angry God, concluding with an earnest appeal to repentance.”¹⁰ But he preached repentance out of a deep and abiding burden for souls to flee to Christ. He often said things like:

Flee from your sins! Behold there will come a time of darkness, when Christ will rain fire and storm upon the wicked. Fly from your sins and turn to Christ. Girolamo Savonarola

He insisted that Christ must be the center of all moral power and that Christ alone effects the change and sustenance needed for spiritual life. In his book, The Triumph of the Cross, he wrote, “Christ is the universal cause of our salvation and of the spiritual life by which we live to God.”¹¹

He preached repentance. He preached Christ. He was preaching gospel reform. Girolamo increasingly demonstrated the heart of a shepherd over his flock. He loved Florence and cared deeply for the souls of her people.

Hearing Savonarola’s bold denouncements, many have dismissed him as a harsh, unfeeling preacher. Popular as this conclusion is, it is a deeply flawed one. Tender toward the lost, like a father to the wayward son, he began calling the city, “My Florence!”¹²

Lorenzo de Medici Dies (1492)

A most remarkable dynamic existed between Lorenzo de Medici and Girolamo Savonarola. Girolamo appeared entirely ungrateful for all of Lorenzo’s contributions, including his hand in calling him back to Florence and having him promoted to prior at San Marco. Nevertheless, Lorenzo maintained a distinct respect for him. He was different. He preached hard but was consistent with what he preached. Lorenzo could trust him.

For just about two years, Girolamo fearlessly preached against sin and corruption in Florence, often pointing the finger at the Medicis. As a result, tensions rose. Social and political unrest mounted under the power of Lorenzo and his contentions with popes. It was an odd and even horrifying combination. Providence was moving in mysterious ways, but soon all would change.

Lorenzo’s health was failing. All the sacraments and services that the Medici family priest could offer were to no avail to Lorenzo. He called Girolamo, saying, “I know of no honest friar save that one.” Even here, there was tension in Girolamo’s encounter with Lorenzo. Lorenzo was seeking absolution from his multiplied sins. Savonarola was skeptical concerning true repentance. When Girolamo tested him by calling for him to restore liberty to the people of Florence, Lorenzo refused. Girolamo walked out without granting the blessing that Lorenzo requested.

A New Republic (1492)

Several politically and socially complicated maneuvers followed Lorenzo’s death. Lorenzo’s son, Piero de Medici, assumed control after his father’s death. But unlike his father, he did not listen to the counsel of his court. Instead, he looked to his peers for assistance in ruling. He proved to be an incredibly weak leader and a coward.

King Charles VIII (1470-1498), decided to invade Italy and claim the Kingdom of Naples. It was after all part of the deal that he made with Pope Innocent VIII (1432-1492). Before Charles could execute his plan, the pope dies. Rodrigo Borgia becomes Pope Alexander VI (1431-1503). He immediately changed the papal policy and issued a new decree barring Charles from Italy. Charles ignored the pope’s decree and readied his newly formed armies for invasion.

In the summer of 1494, accompanied by some 40,000 soldiers and state-of-the-art artillery, Charles VIII began making his way through the northern city states of Italy. He did not intend to battle against the northern cities, but travel was costly, and his men and animals would need food, supplies, and quartering along the way. The wake of such an intrusion could devastate a city, even Florence. Moreover, resistance to Charles was deadly. He would pound on cities with his heavy cannons until they were reduced to rubble. Nearly all of the northern Italian cities simply bowed to his wishes.

The news caused a panicking dread in Florence. Because of priori allegiances that Lorenzo made with Naples, many were terrified that Charles was going to wage war against Florence. The people of Florence flocked into the Duomo to seek comfort and encouragement from Girolamo. But they were met with one of his most terrifying sermons. He called people to repentance, acknowledging that this invasion was a judgment of God against the city.

Upon Charle’s approach, Piero attempted to negotiate with him. But Charles exploited Piero’s weakness. He placed ridiculous demands on the city and surrounding region, including 200,000 florins. Piero agreed without even consulting the Signoria, which is the official ruling city council. A revolt by the people of the city against the Medicis immediately followed. Piero gathered his family and fled the palace, evading the wrath of both Florence and Charles. The Signoria called upon Girolamo to mediate for Florence.

Girolamo first met with Charles in Pisa. His words were diplomatic but uncompromising, and surprisingly well received. Charles did not commit but deferred to answer upon arriving in Florence. On that day, a single thin Dominican friar spoke these words to an invading world power:

Most Christian king, listen carefully to my words and bind them to your heart. Be merciful, especially with Florence, where God has many servants, despite its sins. Guard and defend the innocents — widows, orphans, the wretched and above all the chastity of the women’s convents. God elected you in the interest of the church. You must obey the Lord. Girolamo Savonarola

Some say it was truly miraculous. Leaving Florence untouched, King Charles VIII departed with armies just days later on November 28, 1494.

By December 2, the people of Florence gathered for the inauguration of a new government. The initial proposal was not well received. Many cried out for Girolamo to lead. In the meantime, Girolamo drafted a new constitution, modeled after Venice’s, the most stable city-state in Italy. He proposed a “Great Council” which would function like a parliament and he discouraged given any one man power. Though the people requested his official leadership, he refused to have any seat on the council. He said that his place was to serve the soul of the entire people. By December 23, the Great Council was installed and Florence was officially reestablished as a new republic (though all official operations were not completed until the next June).

Moral Reforms

Under a new constitutional order, Florence was being renewed. Tax reductions, lowered interest rates, and ceilings on marriage dowries were effective almost immediately. But the real change would take a little longer. Girolamo would preach:

The Lord bids you renew everything and destroy the past; nothing must remain of our bad laws, our bad habits, and our bad government. This is a time when words must yield to facts, and vain ceremonies to true feelings. The Lord has said, “I was hungry, and ye gave me meat; I was naked, and ye clothed me.” He did not say, “Ye have built me a beautiful church or a fine convent.” He desires only labours of love; love must renew all things. Girolamo Savonarola

Florence began to flourish under Girolamo’s reforms. Donations to San Marco soared. Ministries to the poor began and grew. Cultural modesty changed. Even the language on the street was impacted. The great Reformer, Theodore Beza wrote,

The reform of manners extended to those of the children. At Carnival time the youth of Florence had been permitted to extort money in the streets wherewith to carouse, and to kindle bonfires in the squares round which they danced and sang indecent songs, winding up with pelting one another with stones in so reckless a manner as frequently to leave bleeding and even dead bodies on the field of combat. But at the Carnival of 1496 the young people of Florence gathered round small altars erected at street corners, sang hymns and begged contributions, not for self-indulgence, but for distribution among the poor. On the last day of the festivities upwards of six thousand children perambulated the leading thoroughfares, entered the principal churches singing hymns, and ended by handing over what they had collected to “the good men of St. Martin.”¹³ Theodore Beza

He led campaigns of selling gold, silver, and gems displayed in the monastery and church, furnishing food and goods for the poor.

Bonfires of the vanities

This is when his famous bonfires of the vanities began. It was an intentional move by Girolamo to counter the corrupt practices that accompanied their annual carnival customs.

There were masks and gaudy costumes, lewd entertainments, drinking and dancing in the streets, and huge bonfires that blazed late into the night. Wild as the official festivities were, things often spun out of control into violence. Obscene behaviour and debauchery gave way to gang fights. barricades, property damage, robbery, rape, knifings and other thuggery.¹⁴

On February 16, 1496, Girolamo dispatched many hands to help gather into massive piles pornographic paintings and books, gambling apparatus, and vain clothing. These piles were then ignited on fire.

Papal Conflict

Meanwhile, as Girolamo continued as the active conscience of a new thriving Florence, his preaching continued to expose abuses in church leadership, and particularly papal corruption. This was only complicated by the political maneuvers of the pope and southern Italy. Some published pamphlets, spreading Girolamo’s words far and wide. Pope Alexander VI responded by trying to transfer Girolamo out of Florence. He refused. The pope was enraged.

People continued to pack into the Duomo to hear Girolamo denounce corruption. Yet, by June of 1497, the pope had issued a decree of excommunication against Girolamo. By Roman decree, Girolamo was barred from preaching.

Tide Turn

Silencing his preaching, his popularity plummeted. Even the social reforms began to unravel. Rivals and despisers of Girolamo encircled with attacks. Some have rightly ascribed “his downfall to the envy of the people, who can never long endure the spectacle of one great character towering above all the others.”

When Girolamo continued serving and leading at San Marco, even singing and leading processions around San Marco square, the people of Florence demanded that Girolamo be punished. Then the pope offered to lift Girolamo’s excommunication if Florence would join his political league against King Charles. Girolamo refused. He would no go against his word to King Charles. The city began to see that they were losing trade because Girolamo insisted on keeping his word. Opposition, especially among the wealthy, grew.

A majority in the Signoria was now in opposition against Girolamo. The pope wrote to the Signoria, demanding that they silence Girolamo or he would place Florence under an interdict. This would cripple the city religiously and financially. No baptisms. No funerals. No weddings. No burials! According to the Roman Catholic Church, it essentially places the entire city under the sentence of damnation to hell. Interestingly, the Signoria decided to let him continue.

The pressure mounted severely. From Rome. From merchants. From neighboring cities. Finally, the Signoria yielded and ordered Girolamo to desist from preaching. Girolamo obeyed. But he set to writing letters to the sovereigns of France, Spain, Germany, and Hungary requesting a general council be organized for the reform of the church. One of the letters was intercepted by papal allies and delivered to Pope Alexander VI. It sealed Girolamo’s earthly doom.

Ordeal by Fire

Girolamo had pronounced from his balcony a request to God to consume him with fire if he had acted from unchristian motives. This led to a rival challenge. A Franciscan monk challenged Girolamo to an ordeal by fire to prove (miraculously) that he was innocent and that his excommunication was not of God. Several zealous Dominicans readily embraced the challenge on Girolamo’s behalf. It was a stand off between the Dominicans and the Franciscans.

The mentality of this event brings us back to the darkened superstition of the medieval church. It apparently was inspired by a legend. It was said that “in the twelfth century a monk had cleared himself of slanderous charges by walking over red-hot ploughshares—without getting burned.” An ordeal by fire was expected to reveal which man received God’s approval.

Some held Girolamo to his incautious claims to be a prophet, demanding a miracle to prove himself. The entire ordeal turned out to be a disaster. Disagreement over details between the parties delayed the event until finally a heavy rain drenched the scene, sending everyone home with no show. The greater share of disappointment fell against Girolamo.

Arrest and Inquisition

The next day, which as Palm Sunday, a mob disrupted the church service in the Duomo, being held by a loyal friend of Girolamo. After violently showing the church with rocks, they redirected their hostility to San Marco, where Girolamo was.

The friars at San Marco heard the mob approaching. Tensions were high, and violence seemed likely. Friar Silvestro, a dear friend of Girolamo, had armed the monastery with guns, swords, crossbows, and halberds. Some friars were former soldiers. They knew how to use weapons—and what would happen if they didn't.

Girolamo urged them to put down their weapons. He abhorred the thought of the shedding of blood because of him. The attackers were quite disappointed at Girolamo’s lack of resistance. Quickly the magistrates apprehended Girolamo. He was immediately imprisoned. Examinations followed, both by commissioners with tortures and before a clerical tribunal. Again, Beza recounts the scene:

Repeatedly did they subject the delicate frame and sensitive nerves of the Italian to cruel and protracted torture, employing the pulley, the rack and hot coals in order to extort confession. They mangled, dislocated and lacerated the body to such an extent that reason gave way and their victim became delirious.¹⁵ Theodore Beza

They tormented him in the tortures of inquisition for nearly two weeks. His tortures reported to the pope: “We’ve had to deal with a man of most extraordinary patience and suffering. Even with the help of torture, we can scarcely pull anything out of him.”

Charges

Girolamo and two of his friends, Silvestro and Domenico, were charged with heresy and causing disorder in the state, and were sentenced to death. John Foxe records the list of charges raised against him:

1. The first article was as touching our free justification through faith in Christ.
2. That the communion ought to be ministered under both kinds.
3. That the indulgences and pardons of the Pope, were of no effect.
4. For preaching against the filthy and wicked living of the cardinals and spiritualty.
5. For denying the Popes supremacy.
6. Also that he had affirmed, that the keys were not given unto Peter alone, but unto the universal church.
7. Also that the Pope did neither follow the life nor doctrine of Christ, for that he did attribute more to his own pardons and traditions then to Christs merits and therefore he was Antichrist.
8. Also that the Popes excommunications are not to be feared, and that he which doth fear or flee them is excommunicate of God.
9. Item that auricular confession, is not necessary.
10. Item that he had moved the citizens to uproar and sedition.
11. Item that he had neglected and contemned the Popes citation.
12. Item that he had shamefully spoken against and slandered the Pope.
13. Item that he had taken Christ to witness of his naughtiness and heresy.
14. Also that Italy must be cleansed throw gods scourge for the manyfold wickedness of the princes and clergy.

Execution

On May 23, 1498, Girolamo Savonarola and his two friends were led to a tall scaffold in the Palazzo de Vecchio, the central town square of Florence. Church officials defrocked them, stripping away every blessing and association with the church. It was calculated not only for public humiliation but to symbolize their eternal damnation. When asked in what spirit he would bear the sentence of execution as a heretic, Girolamo replied, “My Lord was pleased to die for my sins; why should not I be glad to give up my poor life out of love to him?”

Girolamo sought to comfort and strengthen his friends in the last moments of their earthly life. Silvestro was most outwardly shaken, crying out nervously, “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!” Domenico seemed more prepared, reciting the Te Deum just before his execution, “We praise thee, O God: we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.”

Girolamo was to watch both of his friends executed before him. The bishop pronounced that he was now separating Girolamo from the church militant and triumphant. Girolamo replied, “Militant, not triumphant, for you have no power to separate me from the church triumphant to which I go.” These would be his last words. The executioner did his work and Girolamo’s life swiftly left his body. The three were burned and their ashes dumped into the Arno River that flows just a few paces from the palazzo.

Regrets

Shortley after his death, the fickle tide turned again. A group known as the Piagnoni, which means weepers, fought to preserve his memory. The Renaissance artist, Raphael, painted Girolamo as one of the doctors of the church in the Vatican! “The Franciscans received the reward promised for their opposition to the father; but when the first payment was made to them, the chamberlain said, as he handed over the money, ‘Take the price of the blood of the just.’”¹⁶

Even Pope Alexander VI, the very pope that executed him, later absolved him of the charges that sentenced him to death. He also declared that the writings of Girolamo Savonarola were “free from all blame.”

Many Reformers such as Luther and Beza esteemed Savonarola as a martyr for the gospel. Surely, his life and cause is worthy of our stewardship.

A Pre-Reformation Reformer

Though in our day Girolamo Savonarola may be one of the least known pre-Reformation reformers, he should rightly stand out among them as one of great significance. Notwithstanding certain blunders, superstitions, and some lingering theological vestiges from medieval Catholicism, Savonarola was Scripture saturated. From storing up God’s Word in his heart, the full counsel of God flowed in his thinking, and the gospel was upheld against medieval church corruptions.

Though the following doctrines were identified and articulated more fully and distinctly in the Reformation, Savonarola’s Scripture-saturated mind anticipated them. Even if he proclaimed them incompletely, he touched the nerve of each of these great truths in his reforms.

Regeneration

Conspicuously, Savonarola preached regeneration in a time when it was almost entirely unheard of. He specifically called for a “regeneration” of the church, saying, “I preach the regeneration of the church, taking the Scriptures as my sole guide.” This he heralded in contradistinction to the Renaissance’s claim to be a movement of rebirth through the classics. Savonarola was explicitly calling for a spiritual rebirth, a regeneration performed by God, not through the learning and efforts of men, but through the power and grace of God. He was calling for a spiritual reformation of the church with the most precise language of any forerunner.

Sola Scriptura

Savonarola gave special emphasis to the authority of the Bible. As indicated in his preaching of the regeneration of the church, he said, “I take the Scriptures as my only guide.” This prefigured the Reformation’s battle cry for sola Scriptura.

Savonarola was a man of the Word. He committed most of Scripture to memory, with several historians testifying that he knew the whole Bible almost by heart. This is truly remarkable. Accordingly, he emphasized the centrality of Scripture in the life of the church and individual believers. As noted above, he criticized the clergy for expounding other writings and not the Scriptures:

Why, instead of expounding so many books, do they not expound the one Book in which is the law and spirit of life! The Gospel, O Christians, ye should ever have with ye; not merely the letter, but the spirit of the Gospel. For if thou lack the spirit of grace, what will it avail thee to carry about the whole book. Girolamo Savonarola

He stressed that Scripture should be interpreted according to its plain meaning. He was critical of the scholastic interpretations that he felt were overly complex and detached from the plain reading of Scripture. John Foxe explains his conviction with further insight:

In all his preaching, he desired to teach no other thing then the only pure and simple word of God, making often protestation that all men should certify him if they had heard him teach or preach anything contrary there unto, for upon his own conscience he knew not that he had taught anything but the pure word of God, what his doctrine was all men may easily judge by his books that he hath written.¹⁷ John Foxe

Overall, Savonarola’s teachings on Scripture were revolutionary for his time, challenging corruptions and abuses of church authorities and advocating a return to what he saw as the foundational truths of the Christian faith.

Sola Fide

In a time and theological mindset that taught faith as faithfulness or the human labor of loyalty rather than trust in God, Savonarola preached the basic idea of justification by faith alone. Martin Luther himself would write of Savonarola, “Although some theological mud still adhered to the feet of that holy man, nevertheless, he maintained justification by faith alone without works.”

In a letter written to Pope Alexander VI, dated June 25, 1497, Savonarola writes with remarkable clarity,

Faith ... is the one and only true peace and consolation of the human heart. For in that it transcends sense and reason and rests on the divine power and goodness, bearing the soul away to things invisible ... The just man, indeed, is one who lives in faith, as the Lord attests, Who says: ‘My just one shall live in his faith’. Blessed, therefore, is the one who is called by the Lord to this grace of faith, without which no one can have peace, as Isaias says: ‘There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord, my God’. And so, let Your Holiness, Most Blessed Father, respond to this, because suddenly ‘sorrow may be converted into joy’; for sweet is the Lord, Who in the immeasurableness of His kindness passes over our sins. Every other consolation is trivial and false, because time is short and we transmigrate to eternity; faith alone brings joy from a distant land. Girolamo Savonarolaletter to Pope Alexander VI, June 25, 1497

Plain and powerful, and before Luther’s discovery, Savonarola writes that “faith alone” is the sinner’s consolation, peace, life, means of receiving forgiveness, and joy. When Savonarola was tried and condemned as a heretic, Foxe recounts that in the charges of the commissioners, “The first article was as touching our free justification through faith in Christ.”¹⁸ Sola fide is a scriptural truth that Savonarola would not recant.

Sola Gratia

Against the backdrop of a whole system of sacraments, Savonarola preached that salvation was by grace alone and not by the merit of men. In his Prison Meditations, he asked himself, “Do you have faith? Yes: this is a great grace of God, for faith is His gift, not of your works, that no one may glory in them.” He said, “None are saved by their own works. No man can boast of himself; and if, in the presence of God, we could ask all these justified of sins – have you been saved by your own strength? All would reply as with one voice: ‘Not unto us O Lord! Not unto us; but to Him be the glory!’”

In a prayer dated February 7, 1497, Savonarola plainly identifies God’s sovereign grace as His electing means of our salvation, saying, “Since You, Lord Jesus, have chosen us through Your grace, inflame our hearts now with Your love.”¹⁹ Again, in a sermon dated February 27, 1498, he speaks of grace not as a substance to be received through sacraments, but as the active and powerful favor of God to effect change in the human heart, saying, “It has been the grace of God, then, which has made you turn back.”²⁰ Even when addressing moral reform in his book with that title, he explains the working of regenerating grace in the life of the redeemed in plain language:

Have no doubt that we shall uproot sins in every way with the grace of the Lord, because He is the One Who converts every sinner. Qui convertit petram in stagna aquarum [Psalm 113:8]. This is the Lord Who converts stone into pools of water. The stone is the hard heart. O my Lord, how many hearts of stone have You converted into pools of water? You have converted my heart into a pool of tears. Et rupem in fontes aquarum [Psalm 113:8]. You have converted high cliffs into fountains; the high cliff is the proud mind; You have converted it into a fountain of tears; You have subjugated it to humility. And this has been through Your grace, not through the merit of men.²¹ Girolamo Savonarola

As Savonarola was being severely tortured on the rack, he prayed: “O Lord … I do not rely on my own justification, but on Thy mercy.” To his death, he relied on grace alone for his acceptance before God.

Solus Christus

Savonarola was a champion herald of Christ. Though he did not articulate a more fully developed doctrine of solus Christus, there is no doubt that the whole of his understanding of the gospel centered on Christ crucified. This conviction was evidenced often in his preaching and writing. For instance, Savonarola wrote a book entitled, Triumphus Crucis (The Triumph of the Cross). In it he made this simple but defining statement: “Christianity is the only true religion. And if this be the case, and if there be no salvation except through the faith of Christ, all, save Christians, must be living in error.”²² Not only is there no salvation except through faith in Christ, but, said Savonarola, “Christ is the universal cause of our salvation and of the spiritual life by which we live to God.”²³ In contrasting Christ to the philosophers celebrated in the Renaissance, he wrote,

But our Saviour, Jesus Christ, has enlightened even women and children, to understand clearly many things incomprehensible to philosophers, and has enabled them to hold His doctrine with a firmness invincible even by death. … but only great wisdom can instruct, in a short time, men of mean understanding, and women and children, and can reform notorious sinners. Christ alone has succeeded in effecting these wonders throughout the whole world. Therefore, He alone is endowed with incomparable wisdom.²⁴ Girolamo Savonarola

Douglas Bond writes, “Savonarola knew that outside of the grace of Jesus Christ, ‘Siamo perduti!’; we are, in fact, ruined. Because of this certain knowledge, he attempted to fix all eyes in Florence on ‘Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.’ For this, Girolamo Savonarola deserves the regard of every Christian, in every age, who loves and delights in the gospel of Jesus Christ.”²⁵ He described Christ’s work as a work of love: “Love led Christ to the cross, love raised Him from the dead and made Him ascend into heaven to accomplish our redemption.” To say that Christ accomplished our redemption is to depart from medieval ideas and enter into Reformation preaching.

These matters only sharpened as opposition increased. In an open letter publishing his official answer to excommunicate, he wrote,

But because they could not find a just cause to excommunicate me, they have suggested falsehoods to the Pope in place of truths, saying that I disseminate pernicious doctrine and heresies, even though the whole world bears witness that I preach only the doctrine of Christ, not in corners but in churches where all Christians can gather. And if this doctrine preached by me, or rather by the Holy Spirit, is, as my adversaries have suggested, a perverse dogma, let them stay with that which pleases them, for we are determined to die for this one.²⁶ Girolamo Savonarola

Savonarola’s defense against charges of heresy was simply this: “I preach only the doctrine of Christ.” He then openly proclaimed that he was determined to die for this truth. There is no doubt that this resolve reflects his conviction that salvation is found in no other but Christ alone. In his last sermon, while under attack, he urged those gathered to “have courage, embrace the cross, and you will find the port of salvation.” Savonarola determined to know and preach nothing but Christ and Him crucified.

Soli Deo Gloria

The Reformation cried soli Deo gloria (to God’s glory alone) to guard precision and clarity of the gospel. If salvation is truly by grace alone then it is just as truly to the glory of God alone. Again, though Savonarola did not articulate the more fully developed doctrine of soli Deo gloria, his Scripture-informed understanding led him to proclaim God as the only one deserving of glory in the salvation of men. In this, he foreshadowed the Reformation.

“A voice crying in a moral wasteland,” writes Douglas Bond, “Savonarola was consumed with zeal for God’s glory in Renaissance Florence.”²⁷ Indeed, Savonarola was preoccupied with the glory of God. He was marked by a peculiar zeal for God to be glorified. This zeal most fully reflects Savonarola’s sense of “gospel fear” or a reverent awe and respect for God, rooted in the majesty of Christ’s person and work as revealed in the gospel. In this, Savonarola acknowledged God's holiness and justice, while resting in His grace and forgiveness.

In a sermon, dated February 27, 1498, just a few months before being martyred, Savonarola exalted God while preaching, “May You be glorified, may You be blessed a thousand times, for the sake of Your mercy and Your truth.”²⁸ He passionately extols the glory of God in response to the gospel of grace. He concludes this sermon with these telling words:

But we who live, that is, we who have spiritual life and the life of Your grace, will praise You eternally and shall never cease to give praise to Your Majesty, Who, not for our merits but because of His benevolence, has given us His grace and has redeemed us with the most precious blood of His Son. May You be praised, then, and blessed by us, Lord our God, and Your sweetest Son, Christ Jesus, our Redeemer, to Whom is honor, glory, and power forever and ever. Amen.²⁹ Girolamo Savonarola

While suffering during the last few days of his earthly life, Savonarola asked himself:

Sinner that I be, where shall I turn? To the Lord, whose mercy is infinite. None may take glory in himself; all the saints tell us: Not unto us, but unto the Lord be the glory. They were not saved by their own merits, nor their own works; but by the goodness and grace of God, wherefore none may take glory to himself. Girolamo Savonarola

Here, he plainly wrestles in his final hours with the ground and basis of his sense of security. The vast repository of Scriptures stored up in his mind conspired to calm his insecurities with certainty anchored in grace—a gospel that would extol the glory of God all the more intentionally and intensely:

Wherefore, I will put my hope in the Lord, and He will haste to deliver me from all tribulation. And by whose merits? Not by mine, O Lord, but by Thine. I offer not up my justice to Thee, but I seek Thy mercy. The Pharisees took pride in their justice; wherefore it was not the justice of God, the which is only to be attained by grace; and no one will ever be justified in God’s sight for solely performing the works of the law. … Hast thou faith or hast it not? Yes, I have faith. Well, then, know that this is a great grace of God, for faith is his gift, and is not to be attained by our works, lest any one should take glory to himself. Girolamo Savonarola

Conclusion

Savonarola vocalized the sacred Scriptures like none other in medieval times. He did not have the Greek New Testament, nor the necessary support, nor the length of days to bring about lasting reform in the church. What he did have, he used mightily. What he did know is that faithfully and fearlessly preaching the Word of God is what the church needs most. He also knew that the authority of the church is in sacred Scripture alone, that Christ alone is the Savior, and that salvation is truly a gift. Preaching Christ’s Word will always revive and reform Christ’s church.

On a trajectory away from medieval theological error, he proclaimed the gospel of grace, according to the light he had been given in his time and place, with a great deal more boldness, zeal and power in his preaching than tragically in many pulpits today.³⁰

Savonarola was a fearless herald of gospel reform. Depicting the church as spiritually comatose in a self-made grave of dead religion, he cried out, “I tell you that we must burst this sepulcher. Christ wants to resuscitate his Church in spirit, we must all pray for this renovation.” In the course of a few years, the Lord would answer this prayer and shake Rome to its core. Indeed, Christ did resuscitate His church through the rediscovery of the gospel in all the clarity and precision of the Greek New Testament.

Forerunners of Reformation