O gran bontà etc.
10.
La Croce e’l Crucifisso
Sia nel mio cor scolpito;
Et io sia sempre affisso
In gloria ove egli è ito.
O gran bontà etc.
The hymn is based on Mark 15:29, 30: “And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, Save thyself, and come down from the cross.”
Savonarola of Florence, one of the greatest of medieval preachers and reformers in the Catholic Church, was destined by his parents to enter the medical profession, but after a careful study of the Scriptures and the writings of Thomas Aquinas, he decided to enter a Dominican monastery. Here he spent many years in further study and thinking out his preaching message. Living in a time when the moral tone of Christianity was at a very low ebb, Savonarola preached boldly and eloquently against the sins of a corrupt world and a corrupt church. His relentless denunciation of the pope and priests resulted in his excommunication by Pope Alexander VI, and on May 23, 1498, he was publicly executed on one of the streets of Florence. His death as a martyr proved to Luther, across the Alps, that it is “hopeless to hope in the purification of Rome,” and gave to the reformation movement a powerful impulse.
The translation of the hymn is by Jane Elgee, daughter of Archdeacon Elgee, of Ireland. In 1851 she married Sir William Wilde, an oculist living in Dublin.