Girolamo Savonarola

Life

Savonarola was born in Ferrara in northern Italy. He first studied medicine, but in 1475 he abandoned his studies and entered the Dominican Order in Bologna. The Dominicans are a Catholic religious order that emphasizes preaching and learning. He went on to gain a reputation as a theologian and preacher. In 1490 he returned to Florence to work at the Convent of San Marco, and in 1491 he became its prior.

In 1494 King Charles VIII of France invaded Italy, and the Medici family, which had ruled Florence, was expelled. Savonarola then became a figure of great influence in the new republic. His conflict with Pope Alexander VI, however, led to his excommunication (a penalty expelling a person from the fellowship of the church) in 1497. In the spring of 1498, one of his followers accepted a challenge to an "ordeal by fire," in which passing through fire was meant to determine whether Savonarola was a prophet approved by God. While the two sides quarreled over the procedure, rain began to fall, and the ordeal was called off. Afterward an angry mob descended on the Convent of San Marco, and Savonarola was arrested along with two close associates. Tortured on charges of heresy, he confessed to having fabricated his prophecies. On May 23, 1498, he and his associates were hanged in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, and their bodies were burned.

Ministry and Achievements

Savonarola drew large audiences with sermons proclaiming God's judgment on sin, taking his texts from Revelation and other books. He fiercely criticized the corruption of the clergy and the abuses of those in power. As prior of San Marco, he revived the strict original rule of the order. After the departure of the Medici, he helped establish a republic with citizen participation. He also pressed for a rigorous moral reform that cracked down on gambling, blasphemy (words and acts that dishonor God), and sexual immorality. His followers held events known as "bonfires of the vanities," at which luxury goods, paintings, books, gaming implements, and similar items were publicly burned; the bonfire of 1497 is particularly well known. While in prison, he is said to have written meditations on Psalms 51 and 31. The painters Botticelli and Michelangelo are also said to have been influenced by him.

Influence on the Korean Church

Savonarola is not directly connected to the history of the Korean church, and few sources have been identified that show any specific influence on it. In Protestant church history, however, he is often presented alongside John Wycliffe and Jan Hus as a reformer before the Reformation.

Assessment

The Martin Luther Monument, erected in Worms, Germany, in 1868, includes statues of four forerunners surrounding Luther: Wycliffe; Peter Waldo, founder of the Waldensians; Hus; and Savonarola. As this monument shows, Protestants regard him as a figure who anticipated the Reformation, citing his denunciation of the papacy's errors and his exaltation of the authority of Scripture.

There are also opposing views. Some Protestant scholars point out that he acknowledged the primacy of Peter (the doctrine that Peter and his successors, the popes, hold first place in the church) and encouraged devotion to Mary, arguing that doctrinally he remained within Catholicism to the end. An older Catholic encyclopedia holds that he was not a heretic in matters of faith. At the same time, it judged him guilty of fanaticism, obstinacy, and disobedience, and argued that it is inappropriate to honor him as a forerunner of the Reformation. Because of their severity, his moral reforms in Florence are also said to have frequently provoked opposition among the citizens.