The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-01-18
THE ORIGIN OF PAWN SHOPS
Founded by ST. Eernardine of siena to
Aid the Poor.

The legacy OF twenty thousand ooI-
lars, recently bequeathed by the Mar
quis de Query for the redemption OF
objects pledged by the poor at the
Paris pawnbroking establishments, is
an act of charity of a kind by no
means uncommon in France, and one
which is worthy of the religious origin
of the Mont-de-Piete says the Ave
Maria. When M. Santos-Dumont, the
pioneer of mechanical flight, won the
M. Deutsch de la Meurthe prize OF
twenty thousand dollars, he gave half
the amount for a purpose similar to
that to which the Marquis de Guerrys
legacy has just been devoted; only
STIMULATING that the money should be
used for the redemption of articles OF
actual necessity such as wearing ap-
parel and the bedclothes. From which
it may be inferred that the spirit OF st.
Bernardine of Siena, founder OF the
pawn Office, still lives in France,
where so much that testified to the
benevolent and humanitarian infiu-
ence of the Church has been ruthless
ly swept away. There, too, the State
pawn offices-and every establish
ment of the kind is State property in
France-still retain their title OF
Monte-de-Piete, or Mount of Piety; al
though it is doubtful if the general
public pauses today to think how the
term originated.
One of the symbols of st. Bernar-
dine of Siena is green hill composed
of three mounds, with either cross,
or a standard bearing an image of
the dead Christ, on the mound for
which the remaining two form, as it
were, pedestal. The Italians call
this image Pieta; hence the name
Monte-de-Pieta; which in France be-
came Mont-de-Piete.
In every large city in which he gave
a sermon, st. Bernardine founded a
| Mount of Piety, or society for lending
small sums to the very poor on tri1-
ing pledges. Before his death, branch
societies had spread all over Italy,
and he saw the system adopted in
France as well. The honor of found
| ing the pawn Office is said to have
been shared with st. Bernardine of
Siena by another monk of the same
name Blessed Bernardine of Feltri.
Indeed, some writer's seem to place
him first in the field. Mention is
made of him as preaching, in the year
1888, in the church of Santa Croce at
Florence, on the necessity of having
Monte-de-Pieta in that town.
The word pawn" is derived from
the French term "pan," meaning a
pledge; and there is probably some
connection between the three golden
balls used as a pawnbroker's sign in
England and the three mounds of st.
Bernardine of Siena Another ex-
PLANTATION of the English sign, how
ever, is often given; and this is that
the custom of using three golden balls
| for the purpose alluded to-, can be
traced to a wealthy Italian banker,
who was a member of the princely
house of Medici and had three golden
pills in his coat of arms. AS the repu-
tation of the Italian bankers grew,
the bankers of other lands, England
among them, also assumed the SlSu
of the three golden pills.
Today the national flag floating
from the doorway, and the words
"Mont-de-Piete" placed above the en-
trance, alone indicate the pawn Office
in France; but something of the
charitable scheme of its holy founder
is still evident in the system followed
by the administration. For instance,
if an object has been in pledge for
twenty years, and the interest has
been paid regularly, at the expiration
of that period it is returned to the
owner, free of all cost. If depositor
fails to redeem pledge, or to pay the
interest, it is sold at the expiration of
| fourteen months from the date of
pledging; but even then he has three
years in which-if the pledge has
been sold for more than the sum orig
| inally lent on it-he can claim what
ever was paid in excess by the pur-
chaser. If no such claim is made, the
money is given to the Assistance
Publique, a charitable institution for
the relief of the poor in France, some
what similar in system to the English
Charity Organization.