March 8 - Savonarola

March 8 – Savonarola

Ok, it sounds a little like an interesting granola bar, but Girolamo Savonarola was a Dominican friar who transformed Florence in the late 1490s.

Lorenzo de Medici was the ‘boss’ of Florence and though he brought life to the arts and the culture of the region, he was a greedy tyrant. The church had no influence in Florence as the Medicis encouraged corruption and self-centered, wealth-conscious life to the people.

Savonarola showed up and began preaching against sin and haranguing the people about the downfall of the city that they so proudly called Christian. Crowds flocked to hear him preach.

In 1494, France attacked and the people of Florence tossed aside the Medicis in a revolution and all of a sudden, Savonarola was the new ruler. With his rule, people began radical change. Bankers and traders returned what they had stolen from their customers, people gave up their fancy clothes, quit gambling and men became interested in the monasteries again.

However, he didn’t stop with changing one city, Savonarola went after the pope and any other clergy member that was more tied to the world than to God. The pope at the time, Alexander VI had a bunch of illegitimate children out there and was tired of hearing about it. In 1495, he ordered Savonarola to stop preaching. He actually did and began studying instead. A year passed, Alexander figured that he had bested the man and allowed him to preach again. That was a mistake.

Savonarola took after him with a vengeance and in 1497 the pope excommunicated him. The people of Florence stood behind him for awhile, but in 1498 the pope threatened to excommunicate the entire city. Trade was blocked, the city leaders quickly made a choice and turned him over to a couple of papal ambassadors. They were under orders to ensure his execution.

Though they couldn’t come up with any specific charge against him, Savonarola and two of his closest friends were burned at the stake. He believed that the church should reform, a belief that was sweeping across Europe. But the time wasn’t yet right.