Girolamo Savonarola – birth, Sep. 21, 1452

“My Lord was pleased to die for my sins.”  – reported to be his final words.

 

Girolamo Savonarola was born this date, 9/21/1452 at Ferrara, Italy.  He became a studied the OT prophets and the Book of Revelation and from this background began to preach zealous, powerful, and somewhat prophetic messages to the corrupt society of his day calling for repentance before God sent judgment.  He also became involved in helping create a cleaner more free government.  His actions and his opposition to the worldliness and corruption of the clergy came to the attention of the then bishop of Rome, one called Alexander VI.  Alexander offered him a “padded” position in Rome.  When Savonarola did not allow this to side-track him, he was arrested, tortured, and in 1498 hung and his body burned.

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Maltie Babcock – death, May 18, 1901

This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.

 This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.

 This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world: the battle is not done:
Jesus Who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one.

 This is my Father’s world, dreaming, I see His face.
I ope my eyes, and in glad surprise cry, “The Lord is in this place.”
This is my Father’s world, from the shining courts above,
The Beloved One, His Only Son,
Came—a pledge of deathless love.

 This is my Father’s world, should my heart be ever sad?
The lord is King—let the heavens ring. God reigns—let the earth be glad.
This is my Father’s world. Now closer to Heaven bound,
For dear to God is the earth Christ trod.
No place but is holy ground.

 This is my Father’s world. I walk a desert lone.
In a bush ablaze to my wondering gaze God makes His glory known.
This is my Father’s world, a wanderer I may roam
Whate’er my lot, it matters not,
My heart is still at home.

 Maltie Davenport Babcock died this date (5/18/1901) at Naples, Italy,

 Babcock attended both Syracuse University and Auburn Theological Seminary.

He pastored a Presbyterian Church in Lockport, New York, Brown Memorial Church, in Baltimore, Maryland, and followed Henry Van Dyke at the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City.

 Babcock published nothing in his lifetime; his wife, Catherine, collected and published many of his writings after his death. This Is My Father’s World is thought to be associated with the area Babcock liked to hike in NY with a view of farms, orchards, and Lake Ontario.  He was born 8/3/1858 at Syracuse, NY.

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Dante (Alighieri Dante) – sentenced, Mar. 10, 1302

When I had journeyed half of our life’s way,
I found myself within a shadowed forest,

for I had lost the path that does not stray.

Canto I, 1

 

“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”

Canto III, 8

 

There is no greater sorrow,
than thinking back upon a happy time,
In misery.

Canto V, 121

 

Alighieri ( (ä”leg•yā’ re) Dante was sentenced this date (3/10/1302) to be burned to death in Italy for political reasons.  He was able to avoid this by agreeing to enter exile.  This allowed him to live but he never saw his wife again.  The above are quotes from “The Inferno” the first third of his Divine Comedy and the third worth reading.                          

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