Friday, April 7, 2023

It is the 7th of April 2023 Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org, I’m Dan van Voorhis.

So, back today into the Middle Ages, well… the Renaissance? The early Modern Era? Just a click before the Reformation? For this story and character, all of those titles can work as we see a story with Medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation implications- and a trial by fire. No, not a metaphorical trial by fire, but an actual and literal trial by fire.

You may have heard the name before Girolamo Savonarola. Back on an early Weekend Edition, we did a deeper dive into the DeMedici family, amongst the most single influential families in history. You may remember that they developed the city of Florence in Italy into the center of the early and southern Renaissance. It was their call to Florentine exceptionalism (after all, it was a republic, not an old-timey Monarchy) and their patronage of great artists such as Michelangelo, they were popes and cardinals, and one was the Queen of France.

But, being such a jewel, they were constantly wooed towards, or threatened by other powerful Late Medieval rulers, from the Pope and the Holy League to the powerful king of France.

Enter Girolamo Savonarola- a man born in Ferrara in 1452. He was initially trained as a medical doctor by his grandfather but was convicted of joining the Dominican order. He would be known for his piety, learning, and asceticism. He was eventually sent to Florence to the convent of San Marco. He was rather unremarkable but stayed until he started calling out what he considered the lax devotion of his Dominican brothers. Traveling around Italy, he was also struck by the lavish lifestyles and immorality of the people. He began a more fiery preaching style- calling for repentance and claiming that a scourge, something like Cyrus from the Old Testament, would be needed to punish the people to lead them to repentance.

 A couple of things happened: the great Medici Lorenzo died, and the Medici were overthrown by the powerful French King Henry VIII.

Afraid, besieged, and now looking for some religion, the Florentines hailed the prophet Savonarola and let him reform the city- his famous “bonfires of the vanities” cleansed the city of what he considered opulence and obscenities. Like many corporate fits of intense piety, it wouldn’t last long.

Savonarola’s attacks soon went after the clergy and the Pope. So Florence found itself once again between the Pope and the French King. His criticism of the Pope would lead to the threat of an interdict- if you remember, that’s when the Pope outlaws church and sacraments, Christian burials, and weddings for an entire country. This was too much, especially for Savonarola’s Franciscan foes.

It was the Franciscan Francesco di Puglia who suggested that Savonarola undergo a trial by ordeal: in this case, a trial by fire. Di Puglia suggested that he and Savonarola (or a representative for him) walk through the fire, and whoever survived must be correct. This kind of Old Testament prophetic challenge had been outlawed by the church hundreds of years early, but times were dire.

And thus, it was on this, the 7th of April in 1498, that the Florentine crowds gathered in the town square to watch the spectacle. After some haggling over whether or not Savonarola’s representative could carry the Communion host with him (they decided he couldn’t), the fires were prepared. And then, as if by actual divine intervention, clouds formed, and those April showers put out the fire. The crowd, some angry, some seeing this as a divine judgment of itself, rioted. In the convent of San Marco, where Savonarola was overrun with rioters, his authority was shattered, and he would be arrested, tortured, and eventually killed. Somewhat ironically, he would be praised by later Protestant Reformers, and in Wittenberg, a statue of Savonarola stands at the feet of the large Luther statue. Some have called him a saint, a madman, a prophet- it was on this day in 1498 that disaster struck with rain on the day of the infamous and literal trial by fire.

The last word for today comes from the daily lectionary- it is Good Friday in much of the church (and a note: why do Easter traditions vary across the church- check out this weekend’s Weekend Edition for a dive into Easter timing, traditions, and calendars.) This is from Isaiah chp 53:

53:3 He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account. 

53:4 Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.

53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 7th of April 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who knows a trial by fire is one way to figure out if a witch is indeed, made of wood. He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who thus knows you can also tell a witch is made of wood if she weighs the same as a duck. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.