appendix — Gury-Ballerini, Compendium of Moral Theology (8th ed., 1884)
Appendix. On Montes Pietatis
- A Mons Pietatis is called a heap of money or of other lendable things collected for this purpose, that the poor, after giving a pledge, may be able to receive in mutuum from it the things necessary to them.
I. Its conditions are these: 1. whatever is given in mutuum from it must be given for a certain time, for example, for a year, but nothing for an indeterminate time; 2. it is lawful to give in mutuum from a Mons Pietatis only to the poor, unless it is so abundant that without damage to the poor others also can be satisfied; 3. the borrower must give something above the principal for the expenses necessary for the wage of the ministers and the administration of the house; 4. he must also hand over a pledge equivalent to the thing borrowed, which, unless he returns what he accepted at the appointed time, must be sold. Thus commonly. St. Lig., n. 756, at the end.
II. Montes instituted under these conditions are lawful, and in no way usurious, independently of any other title whatsoever to profit. The reason is that, even independently of any other title whatsoever, they savor of no stain of usury; since satisfaction must be made for the expenses of the Mons and for the ministers, whose labor and care is truly appreciable by price. St. Lig., ibid.
- QUESTION. Can Montes Pietatis be instituted by private persons?
I answer affirmatively, more probably with Lessius. The reason is that it matters little to the notion of usury whether the institution is public or private, provided the private person receives no more than what is necessary for preserving himself unharmed.