We may imagine the storms of emotion excited in the soul of Savonarola.  Fortunately, he was sent to preach Lenten sermons at San Gimignano, the “City of the Grey Towers” in the Siennese hills.  Here he found his true vocation.  His words flowed freely and were eloquent and effective.  Next he was sent to Brescia, where his predictions of coming terrors and his exhortations to repentance produced a profound impression.  During the sack of that same city in 1512 by the fierce soldiers of Gaston de Foix, when 6,000 citizens were slain, the stricken people vividly remembered the Apocalyptic denunciations and predictions of the preacher from Ferrara.

Through the wonderful success of these Lenten sermons the name of Savonarola became known throughout Italy, and he no longer felt uncertain as to his proper mission.  Yet, the more popular he became the greater was his humility and the more ardent was his devotion to prayer.  He seemed when engaged in prayer frequently to lapse into a trance, and tradition even alleges that at such times a bright halo was seen to encircle his head.

IV.—­1491

Returning to Florence, Savonarola by his Lenten sermons in 1491 drew immense crowds to the Duomo.  From that moment he became the paramount power in the pulpit.  His vivid imagery and his predictions of coming troubles seemed to produce a magical effect on the minds of the people.  But this growing influence was a source of considerable vexation to Lorenzo de’ Medici and his friends.  Savonarola vehemently denounced the greed of the clergy and their neglect of spiritual life for the sake of mere external ceremonialism, and he with equal insistence inveighed against the corruption of public manners.  As Lorenzo was already considered a tyrant by many of the citizens, and as he was universally charged with having corrupted the magistrates and appropriated the public and private funds, it was generally inferred that Savonarola had had the audacity to make allusion to him.

This only enhanced the Friar’s reputation and in July, 1491, he was elected Prior of St. Mark’s.  The office made him both more prominent than before and also more independent.  He showed this to be the case by at once refusing to go according to custom to do homage to the Magnificent, declaring that he owed his election to God alone, and to God only would he vow obedience.  Lorenzo was deeply offended, yet he judged it discreet rather to win the new Prior over by kindness than to wage war with him.

The Seignior only deepened Savonarola’s contempt by sending rich gifts to the convent and by sending five of the chief citizens to him in order to induce him to modify the strain of his preaching.  The gifts were immediately distributed among the poor, and Savonarola in a pulpit allusion observed that a faithful dog does not cease barking in his master’s defence because a bone is flung him.  To the five citizens, who hinted to the Prior that he might be sent into exile, he replied that they should bid Lorenzo do penance for his sins, for God was no respecter of persons and did not spare the princes of the earth.