The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-02-17
a FALSE view OF sAyoNARoLA
The Opinions and ArEu nj ents OF . WELL
known Protestant scholar.


To THE EDITOR or The sUS-Sir: How
could so sensible and usually SO well-informed
q paper as tho Independent talk such nonsense
as to call Savonarola "a pre- Reformation re-
former 2" II 1t had been wycliffe or Huss It
would have been all very well. They were
rightly recognized by Rome and by themselves
as having abandoned the ground OF tho Latin
theology. But Savonarola. the Italian. the
Dominican. remained from beginning to end
immovably faithful to the teachings OF tho
Latin Church.
Bishop Creighton shows how. to find a pre-
text for destroying him. the evil Pope Alexander
lad to invent a charge OF horesy. yet the real
ground OF the quarrel was not religi Gus at all.
but political. Borgla was against tho French
In Italy, Savonarola Tor them. and the Pope put
Savonarola out OF the way as a blow against
France. When he was gone. says Creighton,
the Church silently mourned him: and. as We
know. the question of his canonization has been
raised more than once at Rome. Has anybody
ever dreamed ofscanonizing Wycliifo or Huss?
Benedict NV. puts .Sayonarola among the
servants or God" in the eminent sense. DO
we see II in our day recommended by a Domini-
can and a Jesuit to regard favora6ly the project
Of canonizing Peter WRldo2 Yet n pamphlet
again suggesting Savonarola rs a worthy can
didRie for sainthood. IL body knows whether
Professionalism Turks In n man. IL ought surely to
So little did Alexander vi. really imagine
FriRr jerome n hereto that, without procuring
ANY TtthntutlDu from MINI, lie sent MIN anu Ils
two absolutely unmalleable companions out Of
the world with a p!enary indulgence. The In
vocation OF him as q snint and marsyr imlme-
din;ely spread over all Italy. yet the Pope mado
no objection. Julius II. had Savonaroln's por-
trait put up IN the Vatican. Raphael, with FUN
doctors Of the Church. At last Rome, who has
never lacked the instinct OF distinguishing her
friends from her enemies. in 1863 solemniy do
clared that the writings OF Fra Girolamo were
altogether agreeable TO Catholic truth. although
she Judged tina, certain OF his sermons were too
RRytFR hRalnSI The FulpTs Of tho Church In le
profitable reading IN n very different age,
Now. who were he TWO main agents in this
They were -. Philip Neri, the flower OF the re.
stored Catholicism. and Pope Plus ". who hated
pro,e.,antism with persscntinG intensity. And
we are to suppose that these two men reestab-
lished an ein6rvo Protestant by mistake!
When will Protsstants give over their invet-
crate assumption that the Reformation and the
Count.r-reformatiOn were simply good matched
avainst evili They were nothing OF the Kind.
nevertheless remarks that from a sufficiently
elevated point OF view the two antngonistic
forms OF GGrls'iInIIy may very possibly have
ungodliness quite rs intensely ns John Calvin.
and under him Rome was as truly n reformed
profoundly Puritan reformation, long main
tained Itself, and very slowly. declined.
nation. but OF the Counter:reiormatlon. In
deed, Plus v. may well be called q ! lesser Savon-
arola In the Papai chair.
setting down every mar OF old that loved God
and hated cyl a. "a rciormer before the
Reformation" The struggle was not between
good and evil. but between the established Latin
and the rising Northern theology, Had SR-
yonsrols lived to see the birth OF the latter he
would doubtless as n true son Of the Italian
Church have opposed It AS intensely as those
men Of God, Michael Ghislieri. Philip ,Neri. and
their fellow men, bu; they hated Professionalism
70 the death; and there Is nc. reason to suppose
out OF Italy any more than they did.
ASDovER, Mass, Feb. IL. TE~uToNICUs.