e the very spirit of Christianity,--He
that loseth his life shall gain it: take no thought for your life.

[Illustration: THE CRUCIFIXION

_By Fra Angelica. S. Marco, Florence_

_Alinari_]

It was here, then, amid all this mystical and heavenly beauty, that
first S. Antonino and later Savonarola sought to oppose the "new
religion of love and beauty" which had already filled Florence with a
new joy. At first, certainly, that new joy seemed not unfriendly to the
mysterious and heavenly beauty of the Christian ideal. It is not till
later, when both have been a little spoiled by love, that there seems to
have been any antagonism between them. It is true that it was only with
reluctance that S. Antonino accepted the Arch-bishopric of Florence, but
this seems rather to have been owing to humility, the most beautiful
characteristic of a beautiful nature, than to any perception that he
might have to oppose that new spirit fostered so carefully, and indeed
so unwittingly, by Cosimo de' Medici, his benefactor. Born of Florentine
parents in 1389, the son of a notary, Antonino, at the age of sixteen,
had entered the convent of S. Domenico at Fiesole, not without a severe
test of his steadfastness, for Fra Domenico made him learn the whole of
Gratian's decree by heart before he would admit him to the Order. Later,
he became priest, wrote his _Summa Theologicae_, and was called by
Eugenius, who loved him, to the General Council in Florence in 1439;
while there he was made Prior of the Convent of S. Marco. Having set his
Congregation in order, and, as such a man was bound to do, endeared
himself to the Florentines, he set out for other convents, not in
Tuscany only, but in Naples, which needed his presence. He was absent
for two years. During that time the See of Florence became vacant, and
Eugenius, to the great joy of the city, appointed Antonino Archbishop.
Surprised and troubled that he should have been thought of for such a
dignity, he set out to hide himself in Sardinia, but, being prevented,
came at last to Siena, whence he wrote to the Pope begging him to change
his mind, saying that he was old, sick and unworthy. How little he knew
Eugenius, the on altogether inflexible will in all that time, so full of
trouble for the Church! The Pope sent him to S. Domenico at Fiesole and
told the Florentines their Archbishop was at their gates. So, with
Cosimo de' Medici at their head, they went out to meet him, but he
refused to enter