Alton High School - Tatler Yearbook (Alton, IL)

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 THE T A T LER.” 26 T II E A P O S T L K T O T II E F L O It E N T I N E S . LWAYS in the history of the world, at times of special need, Providence has raised a leader to meet the crises; but the powers of darkness will claim their victim and too often the inspired leader has sealed with his blood his divine mission. Joan of Arc saved France and perished at the stake; Lincoln struck the shackles from the slaves and died at the hands of an assassin; and Savonarola, the apostle to the Florentines, drained to the dregs the bitter draught of the world’s cruelty. Does intellectual training alone tend to elevate men morally? Has art this power? No. History proves only too clearly that moral degradation can exist side by side with keen intellect, exquisite culture and fine artistic sense. Tt was true of Greece, it was true of Rome, it was true of Florence. Picture to yourselves the Florence of the fifteenth century; it was an epoch of marvelous intellectual awakening—the time of Columbus, of Michael Angelo, of Titian, of Raphael. Florence was known as the “mecca of culture,” yet beneath its boasted wealth, art and learning, lay a deep gulf of moral depravity. Villari says, “Artists, men of letters, statesmen, nobles and people were all equally corrupt in mind, devoid of public or private virtue, devoid of all moral sense.” Lorenzo the Magnificent, chief ruler of Florence, was one of the most cultured and brilliant men of all Italy; yet he was a cruel, dishonorable, licentious profligate. Under such a leader, is it wonderful that the pleasure-loving Florentines were so utterly regardless of God and duty and self-restraint? that Florence was a continuous scene of revelry and dissipation? But God called to the city a man who became master of the situation—a man who boldly faced the stupendous evils ot his time and made them ashamed—a pure, whole-souled, strong, courageous, independent, passionate man—Girolamo Savonarola. When first he saw fair Florence, Savonarola was thirty years of age; but no native-born Florentine loved Florence with a more passionate love than did this adopted son; no native-born Florentine sorrowed more deeply over its moral degradation—was more ready to shed his blood for its liberty than was Savonarola.

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“TH E TAT LER.” 25 a mighty sermon on the value of integrity and sincerity in the lives of Luther, the poor miner’s son. who. through fidelity to God and his convictions, became the founder of Protestantism, and of Wolsey. who gained great power by the sacrifice of his honor and the interests of his God, only to fall miserably “from his high estate.” Hut perhaps history’s favorite lesson is this; that the ridicule, opposition, and cruel injustice of a man’s contemporaries are matters of small moment. She shows us a Socrates in his cell, a Wesley, ridiculed and despised, a Lincoln, maligned and scorned: and then she shows us the names of these “immortal dead” written in letters of gold in the imperishable temple of fame. Thus history proceeds, prophesying, preaching, and teaching men and nations. For, as an eminent teacher has said, “to instruct man bv telling the story of h'.s more serious and valuable experience n the most important spheres of his activity—in politics, war. religion, art. industrial achievement, education, scientific discovery and moral endeavor”—such is the mission of history. Alida C. Bowler. “A man severe he was, and stern to view, I knew him well, and every truant knew; Full well they laughed with counterfeited glee At all his jokes, for many a joke had he. —Mr. Richardson.

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• • T H E T A TLE R.’ 9 27 How was this diffident, melancholy, austere monk to realize his fond dream—to restore liberty to his adopted city and to regenerate its people? to make of pagan Florence a Christian republic? There was only one possible weapon for a man in his position—eloquence. But to the cultured, refined Florentines, his northern accent seemed harsh, his manners and speech rough, his gestures awkward and his sermons neither attractive nor impressive. Yet through the agony of repeated failures he was trained to success, until he became the greatest orator of all Italy. I ord says: “He was transcendant in his oratorical gifts, the like of which has never before nor since been witnessed in Italy; he was as vehement as Demosthenes, as passionate as Chrysostom, as electrical as Bernard; he was a torrent that bore everything before him. His voice was musical, his attitude commanding, his gestures superb.” But the man was greater than the orator; it was his character that lent force to his words; his personality that dominated the people. Independent, honest, courageous, he extorted admiration and respect even from his enemies. He did not prophesy “smooth things”—he was unsparing in his terrible denunciation of vice in high or low places. Lorenzo tried in vain bv bribes and threats to silence his bold antagonist. Yet when the prince lay dying at Careggi, it was the immovable Prior of St. Marks whom he summoned. Then occurred that famous interview in which the patriotic monk who loved God and Florence, commanded the dying prince to restore liberty to the city. On no other terms would the stern patriot grant absolution to the dying tyrant. And when two years later, Florence, torn by internal dissensions and threatened by foreign foes, tottered on the verge of ruin, the citizens turned in their despair to the patriotic Prior who had so courageously demanded the restoration of their liberties from the dying Lorenzo. The great preacher became also a great statesman, guided the bewildered city to safety and for three years was practically dictator of Florence. Yet he attended no political meetings—he simply preached those wonderful sermons and his utterances became the laws of the assembly. The Florentines forsook their evil ways and looked to Christ as their leader; the city was completely transformed. And what clear-sightedness, what courage, what sublime faith Savonarola exhibited during this desperate struggle with the forces of evil! “If you ask me in general, what shall be the end of the contest,” he said, “then T answer—victory, but if you ask me in particular, I answer—torture and death.