Question — Bontempi, Palladium Theologicum V · from Schola Thomistica
Question III: Whether it is lawful to lend on the pact that the borrower confer an office or an ecclesiastical benefice
D. Bonaventure TEACHES that this is usury in speculo animae, cap. 2. §. Item, ut dictum est. Aragon follows him quaest. 78. art. 2. disp. 2. Medina sum. lib. 1. cap. 14. §. 23. Lopez part. 1. cap. 56. Medina, Complut. quaest. 4. de usuris, Reginaldus tract. 2. lib. 25. cap. 11. num. 202. Rebell. part. 2. lib. 2. quaest. 14. num. 23. who proclaim it a simoniacal usury. For it is usury insofar as he intends utility from the loan; but simony hands over a spiritual thing. So also Tanner. num. 89. Nauar. super caput si foeneratoris, 14. quaest. 15. Bensseldius quaest. 4. in cap. Consuluit.
An liceat mutuare cum pacto, ut qui recipit mutuum, conferat officium, vel beneficium Ecclesiasticum.
HANC esse usuram docet D. Bonaventura in speculo animae, cap. 2. §. Item, ut dictum est. Sequuntur Aragon quaest. 78. art. 2. disp. 2. Medina sum. lib. 1. cap. 14. §. 23. Lopez part. 1. cap. 56. Medina, Complut. quaest. 4. de usuris, Reginaldus tract. 2. lib. 25. cap. 11. num. 202. Rebell. part. 2. lib. 2. quaest. 14. num. 23. qui eam simoniacam usuram conclamant. Est enim usura pro ut ex mutuo utilitatem intendit; simonia vero vel rem spiritualem tradit. Sic etiam Tanner. num. 89. Nauar. super caput si foeneratoris, 14. quaest. 15. Bensseldius quaest. 4. in cap. Consuluit.
DIANA p. p. Tract. 8. resol. 61. admonishes, with Peter Navarro, that an agreement introducing the (immediate) conferral of a benefice would not be usury, because an obligation to do an act, lasting only a short time, is not estimable by price: Therefore, to lend with an agreement that the borrower immediately confer a benefice is not usury. The same is said by Malder. 2. 2. tract. 5. cap. 3. dub. 6. who says that, if anyone gives a loan, not as the price of an Ecclesiastical benefice, but to provoke in this way the friendship of the dearer man, or to bestow a grace which he does not wish to bestow unless the other immediately gratifies him by conferring a benefice, it is probable that it is neither simony nor usury.
DIANA p. p. Tract. 8. resol. 61. admonet cum Petro Nauarro, quod deducte in pactum collationem faciendam (statim) beneficii, non esset usura, quia obligatio ad factum, cum modico tempore duret, non est pretio aestimabilis: Ergo mutuare cum pacto, ut statim mutuatarius conferat beneficium, non est usura. Idem ait Malder. 2. 2. tract. 5. cap. 3. dub. 6. qui ait, quod, si quis mutuum datet, non ut pretium beneficii Ecclesiastici, sed ut hac ratione provocet amicitiam collaroris, aut ut gratiam praestet, quam non vult praestare, nisi alter statim gratificetur conferendo beneficium, probabile est, non esse simoniam, vel usuram.
AND Lessius lib. 2. cap. 20. dub. 9. num. 64. asserts: If you lend to another with an agreement that he confer an Ecclesiastical benefice, it is partly usury, partly Simony; provided that agreement be of justice, otherwise if it be of friendship. But Bassaeus, under the word Usura, primo, num. 7. et 2. num. 3. seems to wish that it be Simony, not usury, if the agreement was not entered into from justice.
ET Lessius lib. 2. cap. 20. dub. 9. num. 64. asserit. Si mutues alteri cum pacto, ut conferat beneficium Ecclesiasticum, partim est usura, partim Simonia; modo istud pactum sit iustitiae, secus si sit amicitiae. At vero Bassaeus, verbo Usura, primo, num. 7. et 2. num. 3. videtur velle, esse Simoniam, non usuram, si pactum non ex iustitia sit initum.