Romola · Chapter
The Benediction explained
On the last morning of Carnival, a crowd gathers in the Piazza di San Marco to hear the excommunicated Savonarola preach and deliver a blessing.
What happens
On the last morning of Carnival, a crowd gathers in the Piazza di San Marco to hear the excommunicated Savonarola preach and deliver a blessing. The atmosphere is tense, as the people are caught between their belief in the Frate and the Pope's threats. Savonarola appears in the pulpit, delivers a powerful blessing that forces many to their knees, and then holds up the consecrated Host, challenging God to strike him down if his work is not divine. A ray of sunlight illuminates him, and the crowd shouts, 'Behold the answer!' This is his last moment of untroubled triumph. After he disappears, the crowd's mood shifts to criticism and scorn. Tito, watching from a loggia, comments on the scene with Pietro Cennini, who defends Savonarola's sincerity.
Themes in this chapter
Political and Religious Corruption
The chapter highlights the conflict between Savonarola, who defies a Pope he deems corrupt, and the institutional Church, which has excommunicated him.
Redemption and Moral Choice
Savonarola's public challenge to God is a moment of ultimate moral choice, staking his entire mission on divine validation.
Characters to notice
- Girolamo Savonarola
Delivers a final, triumphant benediction and performs a public test of his divine mandate, which is met with a shout of acclaim.
- Tito Melema
Observes the scene from a loggia, offering a cynical commentary on the crowd's shifting mood.
- Pietro Cennini
Watches the event with Tito and defends Savonarola's faith and sincerity against the growing criticism.
Key passages
“It was his last moment of untroubled triumph, and in its rapturous confidence he felt carried to a grander scene yet to come, before an audience that would represent all Christendom, in whose presence he should again be sealed as the messenger of the supreme righteousness, and feel himself full charged with Divine strength.”
This was the final time Savonarola would feel completely victorious and at peace. In that moment of ecstatic certainty, he imagined an even more magnificent future where he would stand before all of Christendom, once again confirmed as God's messenger and filled with divine power.
This captures Savonarola's internal state of triumph and his prophetic vision of a greater destiny.
“But it was a life that shattered him.”
This way of living, driven by intense emotional and spiritual exertion, was slowly destroying his health and well-being.
This succinctly summarizes the immense personal cost of Savonarola's prophetic role.