Part Three – The Monte di Pietà or deposit of charity
This series is an excerpt from a presentation by Friar Joseph Wood.
Part 1 – Introduction
Part 2 – Why Franciscans & Finance?
The Monte di Pietà (deposit of charity) was a type of pawnshop system (the precursor of the modern credit union) whereby the friars would offer financial assistance to help the poor in time of need. The poor could deposit some object of value and get a loan of money, either without interest or at a low rate of interest. In most cases people, who were unable to pay back the full amount of the money borrowed, could pay a lesser amount or have the debt erased entirely. Both Observant and Conventual friars necessarily became generous financiers, often absorbing the loss if the loan could not be repaid.
The friars realized that their involvement was the only way to counteract usury (by anyone); those lenders who took advantage of the disadvantaged. The “letter-of-the-law” of any scriptural reference that forbade Christians to charge interest (or regular late fees) needed to be matured and adapted by what the friars understood as a “living” scriptural tradition. The violent and unjust times demanded such a responsible evolution.
“Blessed” Barnabas of Terni, (1398-1474/77) (unofficially referred to as “Blessed”), was considered the idealist and inventor of the Monte. He was from a noble family in Terni, the Counts of Manassei. He first entered the University of Perugia to study medicine. Suddenly he abandoned the world and entered the Friars Minor when he was 32. He became a renowned preacher but really sought a life of contemplation. During his itinerant preaching engagements, he saw how the poor were being abused financially. By 1451, he laid the foundations for the first Monte di Pietà in Perugia. He is buried in the Carceri in Assisi.
Blessed Bernadine of Feltre, (1439-1494) (officially beatified), was born into nobility. He grew up with a speech impediment. After hearing St. James of the Marches preach at Padua during Lent, he felt a call and joined the Friars Minor in May 1456. His speech impediment was miraculously cured at his ordination. He became a travelling preacher throughout Italy and was noted for his fiery sermons against usury. In 1484 he began to establish and promote the Monte di Pieta. He organized more than thirty Monti throughout Italy. St. Bernardine of Siena invoked St. Joseph as the “Patron of the Monte.”
This series is from a presentation by Friar Joseph Wood, Assistant General for the CFF.
In part four – a little more about the ‘deposit of charity’ –
