Girolamo Savonarola
Girolamo Savonarola (1452–1498) was a Dominican friar who preached in Florence and was executed there in 1498. His writings are given here in Italian or Latin beside a Claude translation, apart from the early church writings.
Prison meditations
- Meditation on Psalm 51 ("Infelix ego") · 1498 (written in prison, May 1498)
Savonarola's meditation on the Miserere, written in prison after his torture and before his execution. - Meditation on Psalm 31 ("Tristitia obsedit me") · 1498 (written in prison, May 1498; left unfinished)
Savonarola's last writing, a meditation on Psalm 31 (In te Domine speravi), left unfinished at his death.
Letters
- Letter to his father on entering the Dominicans (25 April 1475) · 25 April 1475
Girolamo, aged 22, explains to his father Niccolo why he has secretly left home to become a Dominican friar. - Letter to Pope Alexander VI (13 March 1498) · 13 March 1498
Savonarola protests to the pope that, after his own defence, the pope has believed his enemies and left him without help. The letter calling the Christian princes to a council (1498) was not found in a clean public-domain text and is not yet staged.
Treatises
- The Triumph of the Cross (selected chapters, Italian version) · 1497 (Latin); Italian version 1497
Savonarola's defence of the Christian faith on reason alone, in four books. The Italian version is his own; this text is the selection printed by Villari and Casanova. - Treatise on the Government of the City of Florence · 1498 (written December 1497 to 1498)
Savonarola's treatise in three books on the best government for Florence, the worst, and how to found and keep the good one.
Sermons
- Sermon 13 on Haggai: on the government of Florence · 12 December 1494 (third Sunday of Advent)
After the Medici fell, Savonarola first speaks plainly of politics and counsels a government of the whole people. - Sermon on the Renovation of the Church (Psalms, sermon 3) · 13 January 1495 (1494 Florentine style)
Savonarola restates his teaching that the church will be scourged and then renewed. - Sermon on Ascension Day 1497 (broken off by a riot) · 4 May 1497
Preached on the day his enemies planned to disrupt him, shortly before his excommunication; the passages that Villari and Casanova print. - Last sermon, on Exodus (sermon 22) · 18 March 1498 (1497 Florentine style)
Forbidden to preach, Savonarola takes leave of the people and commends the faithful to God; his last sermon.