Download Girolamo Savonarola - Grace Reformed Baptist Church

Church History
Forerunners of the Reformation
Church History
Ancient Church History
Ca. 30AD
Medieval Church History
Modern Church History
590 AD
1517 AD
Apostolic Church
The First Medieval Pope
Reformation &
Counter Reformation
Apostolic Fathers
The Rise of the Holy Roman Empire
Church Councils
The Crusades
Golden Age of
Church Fathers
The Papacy in Decline
The Pre-Reformers
Rationalism, Revivalism,
& Denominationalism
Revivalism, Missions,
& Modernism
?
 Failure of the Clergy
 Growing Middle Class
 Papal Taxation
 Rise of the Nation State
 Babylonian Captivity
 Great Schism
Internal Reform
 Waldensians
External Opposition
....
 Renaissance
...
 Reforming Councils
 Nation State
 Mystics
 Greek Orthodox Church
 Forerunners of the Reformation
......
Girolamo Savonarola
1452
1498
23 years
Early Years
6 years
8 years
Dominican
Cloister
Early
Preaching
Ministry
8 years
2 Great
Controversies
1492 Columbus said the ocean blue
1450
Printing
Press
Leonardo DaVinci 1452 - 1519
Michelangelo 1475-1564
Girolamo Savonarola
1452
1498
23 years
Early Years
Born in Ferrara, in nothern Italy
Girolamo Savonarola
Sept. 21, 1453 to
May 23, 1498
Born in Ferrara, in nothern Italy
3rd of 7 children
His grandfather was a famous
physician. He was pious and
wealthy.
Described as bookish & broodish,
he entered the study of medicine
under his grandfather
Disappointed in love, despairing
in joy, disturbed by the worldliness
& wickedness all around him, he
fled to Bologna
Girolamo Savonarola
Sept. 21, 1453 to
May 23, 1498
Girolamo Savonarola
1452
1498
6 years
Dominican
Cloister
At Bologna he entered the cloister
of the Dominican order, the Order
of Preachers
I could not endure any longer the wickedness of the blinded peoples of
Italy. Virtue I saw despised everywhere and vices exalted and held in
honor. With great warmth of heart, I made daily a short prayer to God that
He might release me from the vale of tears. “Make known to me the way,”
I cried, “the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul unto Thee,” and
God in His infinite mercy showed me the way, unworthy as I am of such
distinguishing grace . . . . The reasons which drove me to become religious
are these: the miserable condition of the world and the evils of which men are
guilty, such as rape, immorality, robbery, pride, idolatry, cursing, all in such
grave measure that it may be said that no one can be found who has any
regard for what is good.
Savonarola – writing to his parents to explain his departure
Girolamo Savonarola
1452
1498
6 years
Dominican
Cloister
At Bologna he entered the cloister
of the Dominican order, the Order
of Preachers
He studied the Scriptures, the writings
of Aquinas & Augustine, gave himself
to prayer & fasting, and committed
large portions of scripture to memory
He became a Hebrew & Greek
tutor
Girolamo Savonarola
1452
1498
Leaves cloister & returns to Ferrara
to preach where he made little
impression
“The brothers must be in great
need of workers.”
The threat of war causes him to go to
Florence.
8 years
Early
Preaching
Ministry
Florence was a city of the Renaissance &
under the influence of the Medici family.
Cosimo de Medici built St. Marks cloister
where Savonarola would end up in 1481.
Initially his preaching met with no success,
so he discarded philosophy and scholastic
learning and preached the Bible.
Girolamo Savonarola
1452
1498
8 years
Early
Preaching
Ministry
“His preaching was composed of
Scripture, mysticism, dramatic ‘flashes
of lightning and reverberations of
thunder,’ attacks upon corrupt and
insincere clergy, and prophetic insight
(an acute political and religious
intuition) – enhanced in the eyes of people
when some bold forecasts came true.”
King Charles VIII of France
attacked Italy
Girolamo Savonarola
1452
1498
Lorenzo de Medici – the Magnificent
controlled Florence and brought it
to its Renaissance heights.
8 years
2 Great
Controversies
The best known of the Medicis was Cosimo’s grandson,
Lorenzo, who was known as “Lorenzo the Magnificent.”
Lorenzo was not only a shrewd banker and clever politician; he
was also a scholar and a poet. Under Lorenzo’s leadership,
Florence became one of the most beautiful and prosperous
cities in Italy, as well as a center of the Renaissance.
Girolamo Savonarola
1452
1498
Lorenzo de Medici – the Magnificent
controlled Florence and brought it
to its Renaissance heights.
Lorenzo sought to win Savonarola
over by blandishments and praise.
Piero, Lorenzo’s son, comes to lead
the de Medici family.
King Charles VIII of France invades
northern Italy.
Becomes leader of Florence, w/out a position,
and begins reforms, “Bonfire of the Vanities”
8 years
2 Great
Controversies
Girolamo Savonarola
1452
1498
Pope Alexander VI, corrupt pope
8 years
2 Great
Controversies
Pope Alexander VI.
1431 to 1503.
Pope from 1492 to 1503
Girolamo Savonarola
1452
1498
Pope Alexander VI, corrupt pope
Savonarola attacked the Pope’s immoral lifestyle
in sermons.
Pope Alexander tried to bribe with money, a cardinal’s
hat, and then forbid him to preach.
8 years
2 Great
Controversies
The Pope threatened the city with an interdict, that would
have ruined the financial stability of the city. They began to turn
on Savonarola.
Letters were intercepted written by Savonarola to other European heads of state
calling for a General Council
Savonarola arrested, medieval test of ordeal, rainstorm, the mob stormed St. Marks.
Savonarola tried, convicted, hung and his body burned.
Lessons Learned From Savonarola
 An example of relying on the authority of the Scriptures.
 True reform does not come through political reform, but through
regeneration.
 Popular favor is very fickle.