Protestant Reformers S

Protestant Reformers S continues the online Christian library with the works of the Italian Reformer, Girolamo Savonarola, and John Sleiden of Luxembourg.

Savonarola, Girolamo (1452-1498) (Italian Reformer)

1 The Life and Martyrdom of Savonarola - Illustrative of the History of Church and State Connection. Volume 1 (1853)

2 The Life and Martyrdom of Savonarola - Illustrative of the History of Church and State Connection. Volume 2 (1853)

3 The Life and Times of Girolamo Savonarola by Linda Villari (1836-1915). Volume 1 (1888)

4 The Life and Times of Girolamo Savonarola by Linda Villari (1836-1915). Volume 2 (1888)

5 The Spiritual and Ascetic Letters of Savonarola. (1907)

Sleiden, John (Sleidanus Johannes) (1501-1556)

(Luxembourgish Reformed Historian)

1 The Memoirs of Philip de Comines or The Secret History of Lewis XI, Charles VIII, and Charles the Bold of France. Volume 1 (1906)

2 The Memoirs of Philip de Comines or The Secret History of Lewis XI, Charles VIII, and Charles the Bold of France. Volume 2 (1823)

Protestant Reformers S

The Italian Reformer, Girolamo Savonarola, was known for his calls for Christian renewal, denouncing clerical corruption and exploitation of the poor. By his continuous railing against the Roman Catholic church, he was first excommunicated, then, after recantation, martyred with two other friars in the main square of Florence.

Three years later Johannes Sleidanus was born at Schleiden, Luxembourg (part of the Spanish Netherlands). While studying in France, he developed Protestant views. As a natural historian, he was appointed the official historian of Philip of Hesse, finishing his first volume in 1545, and completing the task in 1554. He died in poverty in 1556.

The following is an excerpt from the Introduction of The Life and Martyrdom of Savonarola - Illustrative of the History of Church and State Connection. Volume 1 (1853):

There was a monk in Florence, at the close of the fifteenth century, who was of opinion that the mortal enemy of Christ's Gospel, in all ages of the world, had been mammon; that simony was the sin against the Holy Ghost; that the interests of religion were naturally allied with those of liberty; and that the Arts were the handmaids of both, of a Divine origin, and were given to earth for purposes that tended to spiritualise [sic] humanity.

Men of all creeds, who believe in Christianity, have an interest in the life and labours of this monk--Girolamo Savonarola, of Ferrars--the great Dominican Missionary, and champion of Christ's truth of the fifteenth century; who, in a dark and degenerate age, proclaimed the necessity of allying the interests of religion with those civil liberty and civilisation [sic], and who directed all his teachings, preachings, and writings to one grand object, for the accomplishment of which it seemed as if it were his destiny to "live, move, and have a being," namely, the separation of religion from all worldly influences.