SAVONAROLA 



5226 



SAVONAROLA 



year, nor total more than S3,000. In the United 

 States the regulation is that the total interest- 

 bearing deposits of an individual shall not be 

 above SI, 000, but larger amounts are accepted 

 if the depositor wants no interest. No one may 

 deposit less than one dollar at a time, but sav- 

 ings of smaller amounts may be made by pur- 

 chasing a ten-cent card and attaching ten-cent 

 stamps to it until it is worth one dollar. Two 

 per cent interest is paid in the United States, 

 three per cent in most other countries. W.F.Z. 



School Savings Banks. In Europe, special 

 banking arrangements for school children have 

 existed for a century, but in the United States 

 only since 18S5. The usual method is for a 

 school to accept deposits from its children, and 

 to place the total sum in a savings bank. When 

 a child has a certain sum, say one dollar, to his 

 credit, he is given an individual account. Money 

 cannot be withdrawn except in the presence of 

 a parent or guardian and with the written con- 

 sent of the teacher. Millions of dollars have 

 been saved by American children in this fash- 

 ion. The stamp system is less successful be- 

 cause stamps may be lost or sold. 



In Canada. The Parliament of Canada passed 

 an act authorizing the establishment of school 

 savings banks in 1906. The act requires that 

 all money collected in school banks shall be 

 deposited in the Government Post Office Fund. 

 The head office of the Canadian Penny Bank 

 System is in Toronto. By law the work of the 

 managing board must be done without any re- 

 muneration. In Ontario the Boards of Educa- 

 tion are authorized by statute to purchase the 

 necessary books and stationery. A bank in 

 each district receives the amount collected each 

 week, and once a month forwards to the head 

 office the amount collected for the month. 

 Each child is given a book in which his depos- 

 its are entered. There are over $400,000 on de- 

 posit in the Penny Banks of Canada. J.L.H. 



SAVONAROLA , sav onaro' la, GIROLAMO 

 (1452-1 498), an Italian monk and reformer, born 

 at Ferrara. In youth he became familiar with 

 medieval learning, and it is thought that an 

 unhappy love affair caused him to discontinue 

 his medical studies and become a monk. He 

 joined the Dominican Order at Bologna in 

 1475, where he gave himself up to the severest 

 kind of penance and humility. 



In 1482 Savonarola began to preach fiery, 

 spontaneous outbursts of indignation against 

 the wickedness of the world; he went from 

 Ferrara to Florence, then to Brescia, and again, 

 in 1490, back to Florence. The following year 



found him elected prior of Saint Mark's. His 

 sermons were impassioned denunciations of ex- 

 isting conditions in both Church and State. 

 Lorenzo de' Medici, of the reigning house (for 

 Florence was not at this time a democratic 

 republic), tried to 

 win over Savo- 

 narola to his side, 

 but his death in 

 14C2 prevented 

 the accomplish- 

 ment of this. 

 Thereafter the 

 Piagnoni , or 

 Democratic 

 party, came into 

 power and Savo- 

 narola was greatly SAVONAROLA 

 strengthened by their fervent support. The in- 

 vasion of Charles VIII of France only added 

 to the confusion and hastened the destruction 

 of the Medici. 



A great change swept over the pleasure-lov- 

 ing city of Florence while Savonarola, as dic- 

 tator, swayed the emotions of the people by 

 his fervent puritanical exhortations. He ex- 

 pected too much, however, of the Florentines; 

 their ardor cooled, and wearying of virtue they 

 deserted their leader. Pope Alexander VI had 

 not escaped the reformer's bitter attacks and, 

 fearful of his increasing power, decided to ex- 

 communicate him. For refusing to listen to 

 the Pope, Savonarola was deprived of his in- 

 dependence by the joining of Saint Mark's to 

 a new branch of the Dominican Order. 



A Franciscan friar challenged Savonarola to 

 prove the truth of his teachings by an ordeal 

 by fire ; this was undertaken, but the experiment 

 was not carried out, as a heavy rain quenched 

 the flame while they were still wrangling over 

 preliminaries. The zealous monk's life was then 

 in constant danger. The infuriated mob had 

 been deprived of an exciting spectacle, and 

 demanded his arrest and trial for heresy. In 

 prison he was tortured to such an extent that 

 he became physically incapable of resisting at- 

 tacks. With two fellow victims he was finally 

 executed by a slow and tortuous process, to the 

 very end refusing to recant. 



Mystical, given to dreams and visions, en- 

 thusiastic and too zealous to be a good judge 

 of what the Florentines would be ready to ac- 

 cept, Savonarola suffered a martyr's death, but 

 it was a death ennobled by high ideals and 

 unswerving devotion to his chosen work. His 

 final words on the scaffold, in reply to the 



