Answers Provided by Anthroposophy
Concerning the World and Life
GA 108
27 October 1908, Berlin
Translated by Hanna von Maltitz
18. The Mission of Savonarola
The word “mission” is perhaps not quite the correct term for our examination of this extraordinary phenomenon at the end of the fifteenth century. Perhaps regarding connections to Savonarola's personality could urge us to say these links would be far more important than defining the mission of Savonarola. This other aspect could come to the fore as soon as members of our Anthroposophic world-view and world movement make themselves familiar with the being of Savonarola because out of his actions and characteristics various things can be learnt. In a being such as Savonarola's we may see the dawn of a new time and up to what point the development of Christianity had reached by the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century. It is exactly clear what kind of activity was not effective. We can see what kind of activity was introduced into the development of mankind.
It is necessary to show how certain one-sided influences regarding the empowering and the presentation of Christianity became unsuitable. It didn't take long—with some single thorough strokes we would like to regard Savonarola's actions. Beside Savonarola we can place another figure, quite different in nature, of a Dominican monk. This monk of the monastery from which Savonarola's serious speeches were published, had painted the most wonderful, delicate paintings: Fra Angelico da Fiesole During this dawn of a new age it indicated how Christianity revealed itself in two gestures. This is the proof of how Christianity could be expressed through the soul at this time. This is one way, but the other way—and this is Savonarola's way—is how Christianity could be lived through during this time. One could, if one was such a person as Savonarola, with certain confidence, a strong will and a definite clear understanding, act as he did. Still comparatively young he believed that within such an Order, where the real rules of the Order should be fulfilled, a true life in Christianity could be experienced. If one still had what Savonarola had, the deepest moral courage of conviction, one could direct one's focus to everything happening in the world. One could compare Christianity with events happening in Rome, with the actual worldly life of the Pope, the Cardinals, or how it expressed itself in the wonderful creations of Michelangelo! One could observe how in all the catholic churches Mass was read according to the strictest Cult, giving people the feeling that they couldn't live without the Cult. One could also see that whoever came under the robe, the stole and chasuble, could in their civil lives honour a liberality but that this liberality which was striven for, seen in today's eyes, is by contrast mere children's games. One can take that which from a certain aspect had been striven for as a tendency, and see it become a reality up to the highest steps of the altar.
One could at that time connect the higher worlds in a glowing belief that was absolutely democratic: domination of the gods without any human rulers! This was the pull of Savonarola's heart. The Medici could be admired for all they had done for Italy and for all they had brought to Italy, but one could also, like Savonarola, see the great De Medici, of Lorenzo de Medici, as tyrants. Imagine being Lorenzo de Medici and considering allowing such a quarrelsome Dominican to preach as he wished. Lorenzo de Medici was a distinguished thinker. He could grasp various things, because things should be considered from both sides. He had drawn Savonarola to Florence but Savonarola went against the grain from the start in considering Lorenzo as his patron. When Savonarola became Prior of the monastery, he didn't even consider making the expected visit of thanks. When it was explained to him that Lorenzo had called him to Florence, he said: Do you believe that Lorenzo de Medici was the one who called Savonarola to Florence? No, it was God who called Savonarola to this monastery in Florence!
As a distinguished man Lorenzo donated something to the monastery and one can imagine Savonarola being calmed by what had been given to the monastery. However he gave all these gifts away and announced that the Dominicans were capable of regarding their vow of poverty and to gather no treasures.
Who were actually the enemies of Savonarola? All those who created the configuration and the reign on the physical plane. Nothing disconcerted Savonarola. He went straight ahead. He said: There is a Christendom. Its actual form is in fact unknown to people. The church disfigures it. It must disappear and be replaced by a new form which would reveal the true Christian spirit.—He continued preaching these proclamations. Initially his preaching was with great difficulty because he could only utter the words from his throat with great effort. However he became an orator whose following grew continuously, whose oratory talents increased ever more.
The ruling powers were initially liberal; they didn't want to oppose him. It was an Augustinian monk who felt obliged to deliver a speech which would annihilate Savonarola's power. His speech was delivered under the theme: “It doesn't befit us to know the day and hour when the divine Creator got involved with the world.” This Augustinian monk spoke in fiery words and one could say, being cognisant of the steams flooding Christian life, the entire declaration of belief of the Dominicans domain now opposed that of the Augustinians.—Savonarola prepared for battle and spoke about the same theme: “It befits us well to know things are not as they seem. It befits us to change them and know when the day and hour arrives.” The Florentine crowds cheered like they had cheered the Augustinian monk. He wasn't only considered a danger in Florence but also in Rome and in the whole of Italy. After the unbelievable agony of torture and falsified evidence he was condemned to be burnt at the stake.
Thus Savonarola lived while at the same time another Dominican monk painted a Christianity which hardly exists in the physical world. When we search for a specific word in our thoughts which was spoken by an extraordinary man regarding Savonarola, namely Jacob Burkhardt, the famous Renaissance historian, we can develop the opinion that life was so extensive in Italy that you stood directly before secularisation of the church, which meant the church turning into a worldly organisation, then we may conclude that Savonarola was the everlasting conscience of Christianity.
What caused the ineffectiveness of Savonarola despite his fiery entrance into Christianity? He is a historical figure. This was the cause: In this dawning of a new age and in this dusk of the church where Savonarola instilled his Christianity, something was introduced which worked against the external organisation of Christianity. This test proves it, not even such a figure as Savonarola could be produced again in Christianity. The spiritual-scientifically striving person should learn from this that there is something else necessary, something objective, which makes it possible for the deep springs of esoteric Christianity to be exhausted. Such an instrument can only be Anthroposophy. The figure of Savonarola is like a distant sign lit up in the future of what Anthroposophists should be learning, not through the means which one believed at the time, to re-discover Christianity, but with the means of anthroposophical spiritual science. As Anthroposophist one can learn much from this figure.
Über Die Mission Des Savonarola
Es ist vielleicht das Wort «Mission» des Savonarola nicht recht passend gewählt für dasjenige, was der Inhalt der Betrachtung dieser eigenartigen Erscheinung vom Ende des 15. Jahrhunderts ist. Und es ist vielleicht sogar mit der Persönlichkeit des Savonarola etwas anderes verbunden, was uns nahelegt zu sagen, daß es viel wichtiger wäre, als die Mission des Savonarola zu definieren. Dieses andere wäre, daß gerade die Angehörigen unserer anthroposophischen Weltanschauung und Weltbewegung sich bekanntmachen mit dem Wesen des Savonarola, weil an seiner Tätigkeit und an seiner Eigenart mancherlei gelernt werden kann. An einer solchen Gestalt wie Savonarola können wir in der Morgendämmerung der neueren Zeit sehen, bis zu welchem Punkte die Entwickelung des Christentums bis zum Ende des 15. und Anfang des 16. Jahrhunderts gekommen ist. Und wir können gerade sehen, welche Art von Tätigkeit nicht wirksam ist. Wir können sehen, welche Art von Tätigkeit es ist, die der menschlichen Entwickelung einzufügen ist.
Es könnte ja auch nötig sein zu zeigen, wie gewisse einseitige Strömungen zur Kräftigung und Einführung des Christentums gerade ungeeignet sind. Zwar nicht lange, aber mit einigen eingehenden Strichen wollen wir uns die Wirksamkeit des Savonarola vor Augen führen. Es wird sich neben die Figur des Savonarola eine andere hinstellen, die Figur jenes anderen, ganz andersgearteten Dominikanermönchs, jenes Mönchs, der das Kloster, aus dem die ernsten Reden Savonarolas hinausgeklungen haben, ausgemalt hat mit den wunderbaren, zarten Gemälden: Fra Angelico da Fiesole. Er ist da in der Morgendämmerung dieser neuen Zeit, wie um zu zeigen, daß das Christentum damals wie in zwei Gestalten sich äußerte. Man konnte in sich tragen die ganze wunderbare Anschauung der christlichen Gestalten und Geschehnisse, wie sie leben in den Herzen der Menschen. Man konnte in anspruchsloser Weise, sich nicht bekümmernd um das, was äußerlich vorgeht, sich nicht bekümmernd um das, was die Kirche treibt, was die Päpste treiben, doch hinmalen, was man als Christentum in sich selber erlebte. Und das ist dann ein Beweis dafür, was das Christentum in einer Seele damals werden konnte. Das ist die eine Art, aber die andere Art ist - und es ist dies die Art des Savonarola -, das Christentum in der damaligen Zeit zu leben. Man konnte, wenn man ein Mensch war wie Savonarola, mit einer gewissen Sicherheit, mit einem starken Willen, mit einer gewissen verstandesmäßigen Klarheit dasjenige tun, was er tat: In einer verhältnismäßigen Jugend den Glauben haben, daß innerhalb eines solchen Ordens, wo die wahren Ordensregeln erfüllt werden sollten, wirkliches Leben im Christentum zu leben sei. Wenn man noch hatte, was Savonarola hatte, den tiefsten moralischen Überzeugungsmut, so richtete man den Blick auch hinaus auf das, was in der Welt vorging. Man konnte das Christentum vergleichen mit dem, was sich in Rom abspielte, mit dem wirklich weltlichen Leben des Papstes, der Kardinäle, oder wie es sich auslebte in den herrlichen Schöpfungen des Michelangelo! Man konnte beobachten, wie in allen katholischen Kirchen im strengsten Kultus die Messen gelesen wurden, wie die Menschen das Gefühl hatten, daß sie nicht leben konnten ohne diesen Kultus. Man konnte aber auch sehen, daß diejenigen, welche unter Talar und Stola und Meßgewand waren, in ihrem bürgerlichen Leben einer Liberalität huldigten, daß dasjenige, was heute als Liberalität angestrebt wird, ein Kinderspiel dagegen ist. Man konnte dasjenige, was heute von gewisser Seite her gewollt wird und was als Tendenz angestrebt wird, verwirklicht sehen bis zu den höchsten Stufen des Altares hinauf.
Und man konnte damals mit einem glühenden Glauben an die höheren Welten einen absolut demokratischen Sinn verbinden: Die Herrschaft dem Gotte und keinem menschlichen Herrscher! - Das war ein Herzenszug des Savonarola. Man konnte die Mediceer bewundern mit dem allem, was sie in Italien getan hatten, mit dem allem, was sie Italien gebracht hatten, aber man konnte auch, wie es Savonarola tat, den großen Mediceer, den Lorenzo di Medici, betrachten als Tyrannen.
Man konnte Lorenzo di Medici sein und konnte daran denken, einen solchen zänkischen Dominikaner predigen zu lassen, wie er wollte. Lorenzo di Medici war ein vornehm denkender Mensch. Er konnte verschiedenes begreifen; denn man muß die Dinge von zwei Seiten ansehen. Er hatte Savonarola nach Florenz gezogen, und es ging Savonarola von Anfang an gegen den Strich, den Lorenzo als seinen Mäzen anzusehen. Und als Savonarola Prior des Klosters geworden war, fügte er sich nicht einmal darein, dem Lorenzo die übliche Dankvisite zu machen. Als ihm dies bedeutet wurde und auch, daß Lorenzo ihn doch nach Florenz gerufen hatte, sagte er: Glaubet ihr denn, daß Lorenzo Medici es war, der Savonarola nach Florenz gerufen hatte? Nein, es war Gott, der Savonarola nach Florenz in dieses Kloster rief!
Lorenzo wandte aber als vornehmer Mann dem Kloster manches zu, und man konnte glauben, daß man den Savonarola doch etwas zahm machen könnte durch das, was man dem Kloster gab. Aber dieser verschenkte alle diese Gaben und erklärte, die Dominikaner seien dazu da, das Gelübde der Armut zu halten und keine Reichtümer zu sammeln.
Wer waren eigentlich die Feinde des Savonarola? Alle diejenigen, welche die Konfiguration, die Herrschaft auf dem physischen Plan gegeben hatten. Nichts beirrte den Savonarola. Er ging geradewegs vor. Er sagte: Es gibt ein Christentum. In seiner eigentlichen Gestalt ist es den Menschen unbekannt. Die Kirche hat es entstellt. Sie muß verschwinden, und neue Gestaltungen müssen an ihre Stelle treten, in welchen sich zeigt, wie der wahre christliche Geist die äußere Wirklichkeit wird gestalten können. - Er predigte diese Sätze immer wieder. Er predigte zuerst mit großen Schwierigkeiten, da er anfangs die Worte nur mit Mühe aus der Kehle bringen konnte. Aber er wurde ein Redner, dessen Anhang immer größer und größer wurde, dessen oratorische Talente sich immer mehr erhöhten.
Die herrschenden Mächte waren anfangs liberal; sie wollten nichts gegen ihn tun. Es wurde ein Augustinermönch veranlaßt, eine Rede zu halten, durch welche die Macht Savonarolas hinweggefegt werden sollte. Und es sprach eines Tages ein Augustinermönch über das Thema: «Es geziemt uns nicht zu wissen Tag und Stunde, wann der göttliche Schöpfer in die Welt eingreift!» Mit flammenden Worten sprach das der Augustinermönch, und man möchte sagen, wenn man so die Strömungen kennt, die durch das christliche Leben geflutet haben: Es stand das ganze Bekenntnis des Dominikanertums gegen das Augustinertum. - Und Savonarola rüstete sich zum Kampf und er sprach über dasselbe Thema: «Es geziemt uns wohl zu wissen, daß die Dinge nicht so sind, wie sie sind. Es geziemt uns, sie zu ändern und dann zu wissen, wann Tag und Stunde kommt!» Die Florentiner Bevölkerung jubelte ihm zu, wie sie dem Augustinermönch zugejubelt hatte. Man fand ihn nicht nur gefährlich in Florenz, sondern auch in Rom und in ganz Italien. Nach ungeheuren Folterqualen und gefälschtem Aktenmaterial verurteilte man ihn zum Feuertod.
Das war Savonarola, der in derselben Zeit lebte, wo der andere Dominikanermönch ein Christentum hinmalte, von dem allerdings nur wenig in der physischen Welt existierte. Und wenn wir uns ein Wort, das ein merkwürdiger Mann sprach, ins Gedächtnis rufen, was es für eine Bewandtnis hat mit Savonarola: Jacob Burckhardt, der berühmte Geschichtsschreiber der Renaissance, bildete sich die Meinung, daß damals die Entwickelung des Lebens in Italien so weit war, daß man unmittelbar davor stand, die Kirche zu säkularisieren, das heißt, die Kirche zu einer weltlichen Organisation zu machen, so sehen wir, daß Savonarola das ewige Gewissen des Christentums darstellte.
Woran lag es, daß Savonarola, der mit solchem Feuer für das Christentum eintrat, doch wirkungslos blieb? Denn er ist eine historische Gestalt. Dieses war der Grund: Daß in dieser Morgendämmerung der Neuen Zeit und in dieser Abenddämmerung der Kirche, wo Savonarola das Gewissen des Christentums darstellte, etwas ins Feld zu führen war gegen die äußeren Einrichtungen des Christentums. Es ist die Probe darauf geliefert, daß selbst nicht von einer solchen Gestalt wie Savonarola das Christentum wieder herzustellen war. Die geisteswissenschaftlich Strebenden sollten daraus lernen, daß noch etwas anderes notwendig ist dazu, etwas Objektives, etwas, was es möglich macht, die tiefen Quellen des esoterischen Christentums auszuschöpfen. Ein solches Instrument kann nur die Anthroposophie sein. Die Gestalt des Savonarola ist wie ein fernes, in die Zukunft leuchtendes Zeichen, was die Anthroposophen lehren soll, nicht mit den Mitteln, mit welchen man damals glauben konnte, das Christentum wiederzufinden, sondern mit den Mitteln der anthroposophischen Geisteswissenschaft. Man kann als Anthroposoph viel an dieser Gestalt lernen.
About Savonarola's Mission
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.
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.
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.
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!”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.