Florence, having lost its
independence as a republic, was completely under the sway of the Medici,
who became arrayed against Savonarola, who aimed at establishing an
ideal Christian commonwealth. When he attacked the Pope Alexander VI.
his doom was practically sealed. In 1495 he was forbidden to appear in
the pulpit, and four years later was excommunicated. He rebelled against
papal authority, but the people of Florence grew tired of the strict
rule of conduct imposed by his teaching, and he was imprisoned and tried
for heresy and sedition. On May 23, 1498, he was hanged and his body
burned. His puritanism, his bold rebuking of vice, his defiance of every
authority excepting that of his own conscience, seem to anticipate the
efforts made by Calvin to regenerate Geneva. Both men failed in their
splendid attempts at social reformation, but both left an example of
heroic altho somewhat short-sighted unselfishness, which has borne fruit
in history.
SAVONAROLA
1452--1498
THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST[1]
[Footnote 1: Reprinted by permission of Messrs. G.P. Putnam's Sons from
"The World's Orations," the translation having been copyrighted by
Messrs.
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