He was much beloved in Florence for his calm
upright nature and good qualities. He delighted in the society of pious
and learned men, spent much time in the convent, where he had many
friends among the monks; yet with all he kept still faithful to his
early friend Mariotto, whose life was cast so differently. Savonarola's
faction was powerful, but the Medici had still adherents who stirred up
a strong party against him.
His spirit of reform at length aroused the ire of the Pope, who forbade
him to preach. He disobeyed, and the sermons on Ezekiel were scenes of
tumult; no longer a group of rapt faces dwelling on his words, but
frowns, murmurs, and anathemas from a crowd only kept off him by a
circle of armed adherents round his pulpit.
At length, on June 22nd, the excommunication by Pope Alessandro VI.
(Borgia) fell like a thunderclap, and the Medicean youths marched in
triumphant procession with torches and secular music to burlesque the
Laudi; no doubt Albertinelli was one of these, while Baccio grieved
among the awestruck friars in the convent.
In 1498 Savonarola again lifted up his voice; the church was not large
enough, so he preached beneath the blue sky on the Piazza San Marco;
and Fra Domenico Buonvicini da Pescia, in the eagerness of
partisanship, said that his master's words would stand the ordeal of
fire.
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