The Rudolf Steiner Archive

18. About Savonarola's Mission

[ 1 ] Perhaps the word “mission” is not quite appropriate for what we find when we consider this peculiar phenomenon from the end of the 15th century. And there is perhaps something else connected with Savonarola's personality that suggests to us that it would be much more important to define Savonarola's mission. This something else is that precisely those who belong to our anthroposophical worldview and world movement should familiarize themselves with the nature of Savonarola, because much can be learned from his activities and his unique character. In a figure such as Savonarola, we can see at the dawn of modern times how far the development of Christianity had progressed by the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries. And we can see precisely what kind of activity is ineffective. We can see what kind of activity needs to be incorporated into human development.

[ 2 ] It might also be necessary to show how certain one-sided currents are precisely unsuitable for strengthening and introducing Christianity. We will briefly, but with a few detailed strokes, bring to light the effectiveness of Savonarola. Next to the figure of Savonarola stands another, the figure of that other, very different Dominican monk, the monk who painted the monastery from which Savonarola's serious speeches resounded with wonderful, delicate paintings: Fra Angelico da Fiesole. He is there at the dawn of this new era, as if to show that Christianity at that time was expressed in two forms. One could carry within oneself the whole wonderful vision of Christian figures and events as they live in the hearts of men. One could, in an unpretentious way, without worrying about what was going on outside, without worrying about what the Church was doing, what the popes were doing, still paint what one experienced as Christianity within oneself. And that is proof of what Christianity could become in a soul at that time. That is one way, but the other way—and this is the way of Savonarola—is to live Christianity in that time. If you were a person like Savonarola, you could do what he did with a certain certainty, with a strong will, with a certain intellectual clarity: in your relative youth, you could believe that within such an order, where the true rules of the order were to be fulfilled, it was possible to live a true Christian life. If you still had what Savonarola had, the deepest moral conviction, you also looked out at what was happening in the world. You could compare Christianity with what was happening in Rome, with the truly worldly life of the pope, the cardinals, or as it was lived out in the magnificent creations of Michelangelo! One could observe how Mass was celebrated in all Catholic churches with the strictest observance of ritual, how people felt that they could not live without this ritual. But one could also see that those who wore cassocks, stoles, and chasubles were, in their bourgeois lives, devotees of a liberalism that makes what is today aspired to as liberalism seem like child's play. One could see what is desired today by certain quarters and what is being strived for as a trend, realized up to the highest levels of the altar.

[ 3 ] And at that time, one could combine a fervent belief in higher worlds with an absolutely democratic spirit: rule by God and no human ruler! That was Savonarola's heartfelt conviction. One could admire the Medici family for everything they had done in Italy, for everything they had brought to Italy, but one could also, as Savonarola did, regard the great Medici, Lorenzo di Medici, as a tyrant.

[ 4 ] One could be Lorenzo di Medici and think of letting such a quarrelsome Dominican preach as he pleased. Lorenzo di Medici was a man of noble mind. He was capable of understanding different points of view, for one must look at things from two sides. He had brought Savonarola to Florence, and from the very beginning Savonarola had been averse to regarding Lorenzo as his patron. And when Savonarola became prior of the monastery, he did not even deign to pay Lorenzo the customary visit of thanks. When this was pointed out to him, along with the fact that Lorenzo had summoned him to Florence, he said: “Do you believe that it was Lorenzo Medici who summoned Savonarola to Florence? No, it was God who called Savonarola to Florence, to this monastery!”

[ 5 ] However, Lorenzo, being a noble man, gave many gifts to the monastery, and one might have thought that Savonarola could be tamed somewhat by what was given to the monastery. But he gave away all these gifts and declared that the Dominicans were there to keep their vow of poverty and not to accumulate riches.

[ 6 ] Who were Savonarola's enemies? All those who had given the configuration, the rule on the physical plane. Nothing deterred Savonarola. He went straight ahead. He said: There is one Christianity. In its true form, it is unknown to people. The Church has distorted it. It must disappear, and new forms must take its place, in which the true Christian spirit can be seen shaping external reality. He preached these sentences over and over again. At first, he preached with great difficulty, as he could only bring the words out of his throat with effort. But he became an orator whose following grew larger and larger, whose oratorical talents increased more and more.

[ 7 ] The ruling powers were liberal at first; they did not want to do anything against him. An Augustinian monk was persuaded to give a speech intended to sweep away Savonarola's power. And one day an Augustinian monk spoke on the subject: “It does not behove us to know the day or the hour when the divine Creator will intervene in the world!” The Augustinian monk spoke with fiery words, and one might say, knowing the currents that flooded Christian life at that time, that the entire Dominican order stood against the Augustinians. Savonarola prepared for battle and spoke on the same topic: “It is fitting for us to know that things are not as they are. It behooves us to change them and then to know when the day and hour will come!” The Florentine people cheered him as they had cheered the Augustinian monk. He was considered dangerous not only in Florence, but also in Rome and throughout Italy. After terrible torture and falsified documents, he was condemned to death by burning.

[ 8 ] That was Savonarola, who lived at the same time as the other Dominican monk, who painted a picture of Christianity that existed only to a very limited extent in the physical world. And if we recall a word spoken by a remarkable man, we can see what connection it has with Savonarola: Jacob Burckhardt, the famous historian of the Renaissance, formed the opinion that at that time the development of life in Italy had progressed so far that it was on the verge of secularizing the Church, that is, of turning the Church into a secular organization. We see that Savonarola represented the eternal conscience of Christianity.

[ 9 ] Why was it that Savonarola, who stood up for Christianity with such fervor, remained ineffective? For he is a historical figure. This was the reason: in this dawn of the New Age and in this twilight of the Church, where Savonarola represented the conscience of Christianity, something had to be done against the external institutions of Christianity. This proves that even a figure such as Savonarola was unable to restore Christianity. Those who strive for spiritual science should learn from this that something else is necessary, something objective, something that makes it possible to tap into the deep sources of esoteric Christianity. Such an instrument can only be anthroposophy. The figure of Savonarola is like a distant sign shining into the future, teaching anthroposophists not to use the means that were believed at the time to restore Christianity, but rather the means of anthroposophical spiritual science. As an anthroposophist, one can learn much from this figure.