Heroes of Modern Europe

								

Alexander Borgia, whose aim was to crush a reformer of the Catholic
Church likely to attack his evil practices.  He was, however, forbidden
to preach, and had to be silent at the time when Florence held her
carnival.
The extraordinary change in the nature of this festival was a tribute
to the influence of Savonarola.  Children went about the streets,
chanting hymns instead of the licentious songs which Lorenzo dei Medici
had written for the purpose.  They begged alms for the poor, and their
only amusement was the capannucci, or Bonfire of Vanities, for which
they collected the materials.  Books and pictures, clothes and jewels,
false hair and ointments were piled in great heaps round a kind of
pyramid some sixty feet in height.  Old King Carnival, in effigy, was
placed at the apex of the pyramid, and the interior was filled with
comestibles that would set the whole erection in a blaze as soon as a
taper was applied.  When the signal was given, bells pealed and
trumpets sounded glad farewell to the customs of the ancient carnival.
The procession set forth from San Marco on Palm Sunday (led by
white-robed children with garlands on their heads), and went round the
city till it came to the cathedral.  "And so much joy was there in all
hearts that the glory of Paradise seemed to have descended on earth and
many tears of tenderness and devotion were shed."  So readily did
Florentines confess that the new spirit of Christianity brought more
satisfaction than the noisy licence of a pagan festival.
In 1496 the Pope not only allowed Savonarola to preach, but even
offered him a Cardinal's Hat on condition that he would utter no more
predictions.  "I want no other red hat but that of martyrdom, reddened
{49} by my own blood," was the firm response of the incorruptible
preacher.  He was greeted by joyful shouts when he mounted to the
pulpit of the Duomo, and had reached the height of his popularity in
Florence.
When a year had passed, Savonarola faced a different world, where
friends were fain to conceal their devotion and enemies became loud in
their constant menaces.  The Arrabiati (enraged) had overcome the
Piagnoni and induced the Pope to pronounce excommunication against
the leader of this party.  The sermons continued, the Papal decree was
ignored, but a new doubt had entered the mind of Florentines.  A
Franciscan monk, Francesco da Puglia, had attacked the Dominican,
calling him a false prophet and challenging him to prove the truth of
his doctrines by the "ordeal by fire."
Savonarola hesitated to accept the challenge, knowing that he would be
destroyed by it, whatever might be the actual issue.  The Piagnoni
showed some chagrin when he allowed a disciple, Fra Domenico, to step
into his place as a proof of devotion.  On all sides there were murmurs
at the Prior's strange shrinking and obvious reluctance to meet with a
miracle the charges of his opponents.