.:: J 3 N d E L a ::.: Savonarola

You know, I really should quit writing at this moment and start working on my paper. But since I lost the appetite to write anything scientific at this very moment, I drowned my self with this book [the rule of four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason), supposedly to get some inspiration or encouragements or spirits or whatever it is necessary to write. Which I did, I did get some inspirations to write, but unfortunately not for the paper =)).

experiment, the book was a little bit puzzling, with the back-and-forth-plot and loads of stories on Italian renaissance history imposed. But I like the book. Reading this book really makes me want to go to Florence (I know…it’s an impossibly big project of saving money to Florence, but I can’t help from wanting to go) and the glimpse of historical fact on Italian renaissance has strongly pulled me into them. Now I am beginning to read anything about Italian renaissance.

Of all inspiring people during the renaissance era in Italy, there was one person who perhaps not as crazily famous as the renaissance artists, but his shadows had permanently casted on the glory of Italian renaissance history. His name is Girolamo Savonarola.

Savonarola was a friar from Dominican order who sent to Florence to work at St.Marco as a prior. He was widely known with his prophecy (claimed to communicate with God personally) and his unusual approach to preach. Before Savonarola put his hand on Florence, the city was in a bit “mess” [from religious point of view]. Drunk, gambled, doing nude

painting, homosexuality et cetera et cetera. In shorts, their way of life seemed to moving away from what the bible had taught them. And Savonarola

thought that he could put the mess back in order by putting some force in it. He came across the city, preach people about sin, wrath of God, torture in hell and stuff like that. Surprisingly Florence people who apparently felt bit tired with all the hedonism and crying out for reformation, saw this religious route offered by Savonarola as an appealing alternative.

And Savonarola became unstoppable ever since. He later collected every art product existed in the city [painting, sculpture, ornament, music instruments], books, dresses, cosmetics, cards, dice and anything that may turned their heart away from Christianity, piled them as a huge pyramid and set them on fire. This event later recalled as “bonfire of vanity”. Many popular artists and scientists abandoned Florence and moved to other cities and left Florence in the power of Savonarola. For some time, Savonarola held the power to rule Florence, he even declared Florence as a Republic. He also founded a task force who wandered around the city, house to house, along the streets to enforce some law on morality to the citizen by taking away or stopping any thing that may endanger their faith. It did not took long for the entire universe to conspire to get him off his power.

This is another story about what would happen when people try to enforce a belief to others with a firm hand. Things are quite delicate when in comes to belief or faith or religion. It is like a coin with two faces looking into different direction. There is always a soft and hard sides that coexist. And when in comes to religion, there is a matter of heart and mind involved in determining the level of faith for each person. A firm hand might work to some people. But to some other, that is not how religion suppose to be. Religion should brings peace, not otherwise. It should helps create harmony in diversity. And most of the time, the iron hand failed to drag that to the world.