few days in Florence, Savonarola again began to
experience the feeling of isolation. For he speedily detected the
unbelief and frivolity under the surface of the intellectual culture of
the people. Even in St. Mark's Monastery there was no real religion.
Savonarola was soon invited to preach the Lenten sermons in St. Lorenzo.
His discourses produced no special effect, for the Florentines preferred
preachers who indulged in Pagan quotations and rhetorical elegancies
rather than in expatiating in the precepts of Christianity. But a
stirring event was at hand.

Savonarola was sent by his superiors to Reggio to attend a Chapter of
the Dominicans. During the discussion he was suddenly impelled to rise
to his feet and to plunge into a powerful declamation against the
corruptions of the Church and the clergy which transfixed his hearers
with astonishment. This outburst was a revelation of his extraordinary
powers. It instantly secured his fame and from that moment many sought
his acquaintance.

Savonarola's mind from that moment became strangely excited and it is
not surprising that he should have seen many visions. He on one occasion
saw the heavens open. A panorama of the calamities of the Church passed
before him and he heard a voice charging him to proclaim them to the
people. In that year, 1484, Pope Sixtus died. The election of his
successor, Innocent VIII. destroyed the hopes of honest men. For the new
Pope no longer disguised his children under the appellation of nephews,
but openly acknowledged them as his sons, conferring on them the title
of princes.

We may imagine the storms of emotion excited in the soul of Savonarola.
Fortunately, he was sent to preach Lenten sermons at San Gimignano, the
"City of the Grey Towers" in the Siennese hills. Here he found his true
vocation. His words flowed freely and were eloquent and effective. Next
he was sent to Brescia, where his predictions of coming terrors and his
exhortations to repentance produced a profound impression. During the
sack of that same city in 1512 by the fierce soldiers of Gaston de Foix,
when 6,000 citizens were slain, the stricken people vividly remembered
the Apocalyptic denunciations and predictions of the preacher from
Ferrara.

Through the wonderful success of these Lenten sermons the name of
Savonarola became known throughout Italy, and he no longer felt
uncertain as to his proper mission. Yet, the more popular he became the
greater was his humili