[13] See Savonarola and the Reformation—a Reply to Dean Farrar, by the present writer (Catholic Truth Society).
[14] First Epistle of St. Peter iii. 15.
[15] Given by Quetif, Annales O. P., vol. ii., p. 125. An English translation of the letter is to be found in Savonarola and the Reformation, before referred to, at page 114.
[16] “When we look up to the sky and contemplate the heavenly bodies, what can be so evident and so clear, as the existence of a Deity, with a most marvellous mind, by whom all these bodies are governed?” (Cicero, De Natura Deorum, lib. ii.)—Editor.
[17] E.g., St. Ignatius the Martyr, St. Polycarp, St. Clement of Alexandria, etc.—Editor.
[18] As this expression occurs frequently in the following pages, it may be well, for the uninitiated in scholastic phraseology, to explain its meaning. Savonarola, in the 10th chapter of this 1st Book, defines Pure Act as being “superior to all matter and possibility” and in the 2nd chapter of the following Book, he writes: “God is not a body, but Pure Act”. The term Pure Act is applied to the Most High by theologians, to exclude all imperfection, and all possibility of change, or of any further acquisition. St. Thomas in his Summa Theologica (Pars prima, Quaest. xxv. art. 1) distinguishes between that which is in actu, and that which is in potentia. To say of anything that it is in potentia (or possibility) implies that it may still receive something, or become something which it has not or is not, something which it lacks; and that, therefore, it is wanting and imperfect (deficiens et imperfectum)—e.g., a child is in potentia to become a man—he may some day be a man; or an ignorant man is in potentia to learning—he may become a learned man; there is a possibility of it—therefore, as yet, he is imperfect. In actu, on the other hand, means that it actually possesses some special gift or perfection. God has everything that He possibly can have, He is everything that He possibly can be in the scale of perfection—nothing is wanting to Him, nothing further is possible to Him. Hence St. Thomas concludes: “God is Pure Act simply and universally perfect; nor is there any imperfection in Him” (ibid.). No creature can be called Pure Act; because every creature is in potentia—he may receive or become something which he has not or is not. The term is applied to God alone.—Editor.
[19] De Simplicitate Vitæ Christianæ. This little work consists of five short treatises, or, as the author calls them, “Books”. It is from the pen of Savonarola himself. It was first published in Italian at Florence in the year 1496, and afterwards, in Latin, at Venice, and at the Ascension Press in Paris. As the title suggests, it treats of certain practical and simple rules, which help souls to attain to the perfection of the Christian life. I do not know of any existing English translation of this booklet.—Editor.
[20] The author, probably, had in his mind the dream of Nabuchadonosor, interpreted by the prophet Daniel (Dan. ii.).—Editor.
[21] [See Introduction, p. x.]
[22] The reader will, naturally, recall the words of St. Thomas, in the Lauda Sion:—